How I Got the Shot #1

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful (and warm!) NEO weather that we've been having. I've been working feverishly to process the last few weddings we've done, so I know its been a while since I've had a chance to post. I just wanted to take the opportunity to introduce a new section of the blog I decided to begin called "How I Got the Shot".

This was inspired by a good friend of mine who happened to stop in the office the other day. He's a bit of a photography buff so we got to talking about how I captured different images that I have up on display. That's when it occurred to me just how many people ask about many of my images. With the advent of digital photography that has made photography much more mainstream and accessible, lots of people are now following their interest in the craft as a hobby.

So I thought many people would enjoy hearing the how-to and story behind some of my favorite shots! You can take the opportunity to learn more about the technical side of getting the shot, or just find out what is running through my mind when I'm shooting. Please enjoy and I'm looking forward to lots of feedback about these!


Featured Image:

So the background story on this shot is pretty interesting. I think it was a Saturday night early this summer and I had been craving the idea of just going out on a walk around downtown with the camera. I probably do this three or four times during the summer and I always enjoy the sense of exploration that I get from it. So I managed to convince the boyfriend to go with me. (No way I'm walking around downtown by myself at night with a big camera! I'm not that crazy! Besides, he likes to play with the good old 35mm :)

We spent almost the entire night walking around shooting, even when a light rain began. This shot was taken at around 3am, hence no cars on the road. This is the middle of Broadway, facing South, which is opposite of the normal flow of traffic on this street. To the right is the John S. Knight convention center and Quaker Square can be seen further down on the left. I just loved the way the street lights were glimmering on the wet pavement making an unexpectedly eerie feeling. So I thought the best way to capture the light on the asphalt would be to lay in the middle of the road to make the street take up the majority of the frame. I exposed the frame at 1/10 of a second at f5.6, with 400iso. It was turned black & white in photoshop and I punched up the contrast to really show off the lighting.

Now this image hangs in the office as a fine art gallery piece as a huge 30x40 print on metallic paper. I think it is by far one of my favorites and it usually ends up being a conversation starter!