July 31: Snap Shots

I'm working on a variety of projects now:
An ad campaign for a ski company.
A promotional book for a pool company.
A documentation/submission for a textile artist.

I've also been traveling and riding my bikes. I've taken a break from hauling a heavy pack, so here are a few point'n'shoot full auto snap shots. (unedited)

The road to CA last week.

The road home. Vanessa snapped this one.

Mill Creek Canyon, overlooking the valley.

East Canyon, a great road for cycling. And it's freshly resurfaced!

It also has a steep MTB route. Watch out for deer on the white-knuckle descent.

I'll try to get some images up from this week's studio shoots.

July 14: BCC Cars

I tried some climbing in Big Cottonwood, but my injured knee prevented me from doing much.
I made it about 2 moves up the wall before the pain convinced me that the knee is not yet ready for action.
Without a tripod or shutter release, I shot this series.


BCC Cars from Jeremy Koons on Vimeo.


I used my climbing shoes and backpack to support the camera, and a dedicated trigger finger to get the shots.
I combined them in PhotoShop to create this final image.

                    

I'd like to try again with the right gear and a different angle.

July 7: Sample Stills

I'm still organizing video and compiling image sets into timelapse clips.
Here're are a few stills from the forthcoming clips.

Sometimes in the car.

Sometimes with rotation.

Sometimes at night.

Sometimes on the bike.

Sometimes wider.

Sometimes in tunnels.

Sometimes in camp, usually tired.

Sometimes posed.

And sometimes hanging by a web.

Sometime, at some point, I'll get some of this edited, and I'll post something, somewhere, somehow.

July 5: Oregon Preview

 Returning from adventure, I have roughly 5000 new images, and hours of video.
(~125GB total media)
It will take some time to get things sorted (let alone edited...), but here's one set that works.

I can't decide what to call it.
It fits somewhere between Body Balance and Cloud Dancing.
'Stick Yoga' just doesn't quite do it.
Suggestions?

Dec '09: Head Shots

Nieces and Nephew.
Duck, Duck, Goose!

May '09: Race Cars

Seeing a friend post some nice panning images made me look back at some of mine from a year ago.
1/80 f/18 280mm  (on a 1.3 crop sensor)   100mph?

Now at 1/200

I like the second one better, with a touch more sharpness to the car. The wheels also help provide a speed reference.
But, neither is very interesting.
I'd still rather have good composition than good camera techniques.

June 11: Family Portrait

Brace yourself for something new.
I'm usually runnin' around with a 40lb pack, skiing/biking/etc, to get my photos.
This week, I shot some family portraits.

We went to Antelope Island near SLC to find some nice background scenery.

Later, when patience was running low, and the bugs were devouring us all, the composition broke down.

Notice that the baby's parents (far left) are the only ones not paying attention to the baby. Although, I expect they probably deserve a little break.

Before that happened though, we shot this headshot for the man of the hour, before he leaves for 2 years.

And one of his sister, (a friend of mine).

And brother, sis-in-law, & niece.

And, of course, the proud parents.

I used artificial lighting (mixed with sunlight) in all of the above images. The cloud cover made it difficult to get the light balance correct, as some images were in bright sun (ex: sister) and others were soft shade.
For most shots, only fill was needed. In some, like his headshot, I used the strobe as the key light.

Now, let's do some photoshop work.
In this image, mom looks good, but the cloud reflection ruins the other half of photo (and dad isn't looking).

Then, in another image, dad looks good, but mom is buried in clouds.

It proved too difficult to get this shot done right in camera. (If I had remembered my polarizer, it would have been simple. Oops.)
So, I wanted to combine the good halves of the two photos into one composite image.

Check out this screencast video of how it went.


PhotoShop Composite from Jeremy Koons on Vimeo.




And here's the final image.

June 8: PMTS Shoot

I shot a few images for Paul Mitchell The School, in SLC.
The images went out in emails to their clients.

The School wanted an image to showcase the professional products,

an image showing the new pedicure tubs,

and an image showing the facial room,

And I created this one to capture the mood.

End notes:
Good PhotoShop work should be undetectable.
I'm pretty happy the the clever lighting in the 3rd image. I used a speedlight on each individual table, then merged them into the darker (but warmer) background image. Without this composite lighting, the room is very flat.
The 4th image is also a composite. I won't give away as many details, but the candles, flowers, background, and bed are 4 individual shots, pulled together in the computer.
Take a photo of a candle using your flash and you'll see why the composite is necessary.

June 8: Click Here

I've had some images published from the Peru trip, along with images by Forest Woodward and Matt Catalano.

Check out the images and stories on these links:

http://www.livinginperu.com/blogs/features/1373

http://www.socialearth.org/social-entrepreneur-surfer-dude-puts-waves-to-good-work

http://surfermag.com/travel/reinventing_surf_tourism/

More of Forest's images: http://www.forestwoodward.com/

More of Matt's images: http://www.imagekind.com/MemberProfile.aspx?MID=964b185a-acc7-41b9-9e1e-762b71d2e09b

And, here's another image you will like.

http://kimberhansen.blogspot.com/2010/06/drifting-jeremy-vanessa-teaser.html

June 4: Women's Bike

We're selling a women's road/cruiser bike.
We bought it from Bingham Cyclery in late '08. Due to summer travel and a broken foot, it's been ridden less than 100 miles, and only in fair weather.
Stored inside.

2008 Specialized Globe City 7.

Suited for a woman about 5'0" to 5'4". Specialized says it's a '53,' but check their 'Geometry' tab if you like to see lots of numbers.
http://www.specialized.com/it/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=34520&menuItemId=0&gold_ses=

It comes with an integrated fender/rack/lighting system, which attaches easily with stock braze-ons.
The lights, front and rear, are powered by the wheels. No batteries required.

Or take them off to save a little weight.

The rear light is also a reflector, for added visibility.

The bike is basically new. With a quick dusting, it could be on the showroom floor. I didn't even clean it for the photos. Look how shiny the cassette is! I wish my other bikes looked this good.

We paid $700 for it. In it's like-new condition, I think $475 is a good price, but I'd like to sell it soon so I'm willing to negotiate.

Email is convenient, as I am often outside. Jeremy@JeremyKoons.com
Call 801-906-8588 if you'd prefer.

Thanks

-Jeremy

May 25: Snow Melt

What's the deal with snow in late May?

Wet heavy snow coated the neighborhood, snapping off branches on the bigger trees. I measured one broken limb with a 10" diameter. Yikes.

Our crab apple tree is limber lumber compared to the old oaks.

Watch it pick itself up off the grass.
Awaken from hibernation.
Shake off the snow.
Rise to meet the sun.
Welcome in Spring.
etc etc etc.
Choose your own personification if you like.


Spring Melt from Jeremy Koons on Vimeo.

~2hrs elapsed time.

~1000 frames.

May 19: Bah! Hamas

Sometimes my high expectations come crashing down. Of the 1000 images I shot in the Bahamas, very few are any good.

For example, here's my best image from our snorkeling adventure.

I jacked up the underwater ones. Something about my soft-focus fishes makes them rather uninteresting.

We had a good time though.
We ate (a lot of) good food.
We relaxed outside.

As the sun set over the harbour.

And told jokes as night arrived.

INTERMISSION.
When the camera can't do it, let photoshop do it.
1, nice water reflections, but the boats are too soft. (check masts, poles, rigging, etc.)

2, nice boats, but the water is too hard.

3, combo. Layer mask. Gradient tool. 10 seconds. (It takes longer to load them into PS than to combine them.)

Okay, well, it doesn't really show up very well at this scale. The third is noticeably different than the first. Unless you're really into "Where's Waldo" just trust me and move on.

Back to the beach, where it was windy. 24 hrs/day, 7 days straight. Wind.
The skies cleared and we finally saw a nice sunrise on the last morning, on the way to the airport.

INTERMISSION 2.
Another PS trick.
When your split ND filter is buried in your bag, packed for travel, but you still want to shoot something with an 8-stop range, try this:
Take a shot to get the sunrise.

Note the foreground is rather black.
Now shoot one for the foreground (+2 compared to the first).

Now, combine in PS.
Align Layers (since you shot it handheld, stupid), Layer Mask, Gradient.
(Effectively, this is my digital 2 stop ND graduated filter)

(Obviously, it's not very clean, since it's hand held and quick'n'dirty.)
I'm not yet a fan of HDR, but a simple grad filter can do a lot for landscapes. PS makes it awfully easy to get away with errors/laziness too.

Now for something different.
My favorite image from the weak week.

Now, back from vacation, it's time to get things rolling on the bike trip. One month to go, before 400 miles of Oregon Coast.