Approximately 65 classmates gathered to reminisce about their high school days and catch up on the goings on in their lives.

One of the final events of the weekend was a memorial Mass honoring 25 of their classmates. Celebrated by their classmate, Monsignor Vincent Haut, the Mass was moving and meaningful. A beautiful way to finish a special weekend.

Following Mass, the entire class gathered for a class picture. It was great to witness folks seeing friends they had not seen for some time and to recall the special place that brought them all together during some of the most important years of their lives.

Bishop Kenny pride and tradition indeed lives on in this very special group.

To view the images from Mass and the class photo please go here.

My photography however, will remain. Just the site will change.

I hope to have my new site up and running in the next couple of weeks.

If I can be of assistance, please email me.

If you would like to view the event galleries, click here.

It’s just one week until the season opener for the Crusaders and they were participating in an intrasquad scrimmage. The boys looked sharp as they lined up against one another. Friday night will be the test. That’s when they put it all on the line against the Raiders of Orange Park High School.

If you have a chance, come out and support the Crusaders this season. J. Joseph Parete Field is located on the Saint John’s River right across from Everbank Field – home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

If you’d like to take a peek at the team and individual photos and some snaps from the scrimmage, take a look at the gallery here.

Good luck this season Crusaders. Turn on the lights – it’s Friday night!

Usually these shots are done in the late afternoon in a pretty shaded spot. That makes the lighting pretty easy. Today the sun was fully behind all my subjects. That made for some great back light and some different looking images from the usual. I like changing things up.

Here is a sample of the team photo and an individual shot.

Thanks Flying Fish for having me again as your team photographer! I appreciate it.

Best of luck in RCSL Championships.

The online line gallery is here!

The Pool Cats are in the River City Swim League and perennially contend for the league championship.

They indeed have a tradition of excellence.

Here are the team photos-

The Guppies

The Big Team

If you have yet to order your photos, or need to select a proof, the online gallery is here.

Thanks for having me as your team photographer Pool Cats!

I wish you all the best in championships!

The 3 C’s of Yearbook

CREATE

COMMUNICATE

COLLABORATE

FILE MANAGEMENT -

Backups

keep in 3 locations – both on and off site

media for storage = storage card, DVD, external hard drives, servers

Adobe CS Bridge

An introduction to Bridge

http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=47761

In Bridge you can -

1) create folders

2) rename files – unique file names are a must! Develop a file naming protocol and stick to it!

3) edit EXIF data

4) tag photos – people places photographer event spread section

5) move/copy images between folders

Storage

Folders organized – use a system that works for your staff – workflow, workflow, workflow

Suggestions -

1) year

2) month

3) day

4) event shot

5) intended section

6) intended spread

7) pages

Photoshop

Ya shot it, not whaddya do with it?

1) rough edit – delete the out of focus/poorly exposed shots – be collaborative – photographer, designer, adviser involved in rough edit process

2) ID’s – know the people in the shot

3) quotes – ties emotion to the photo and as a result, the reader

4) filename – UNIQUE – you are dealing with thousands of images – make sure you have no duplicate names on separate images

5) EXIF data – shutter speed, aperture, ISO, mode, focal length, camera,

6) tags – event, name, subjects, photographer, spread etc – bulk tag files using Metadata append tool

7) post production – journalism standard vs creative standard – tell the story accurately!
basic color correction – histogram, color space, auto levels = “BAD!”, monitor calibration, room lighting affect monitor color reproduction

10) crop to proper size and resolution

11) save in proper format

Practice Makes Perfect – The histogram and contrast/color cast correction with levels in Photoshop

If you get into the habit of using the levels command to correct minor color cast and exposure issues, you’ll find that you can do a pretty good job of getting accurate color on your images by following the tips in the tutorial below. Don’t try to eyeball color correction on an uncalibrated monitor – it is not accurate!

Let Deke show you how -

Recommended Tutorials -

Levels Tutorial Video with Deke McClelland

http://www.photoshopsupport.com/photoshop-blog/cs4-online-training-videos/levels-command-video.html

PhotoShop Top 40 with Deke McClelland

http://blog.lynda.com/tag/photoshop-top-40/

It is my privilege to be one of the instructors at the seminar. My specialty is photography and PhotoShop and the kids seem to love these course offerings. While the courses are pretty basic, I often wonder how many aspiring photographers leave with even more love for the art of photography.

Tonight’s first session with the lab group was spent on introductions and getting familiar with the camera. Many students shoot either in full automatic or one of the preset modes and make the camera do all the work. I always emphasize that a good photographer creates images with their camera by shooting in full manual or a priority mode. This technique allows the user to be the creative force and make the decisions on shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings that will produce a well exposed image on the squeeze of the shutter button.

After showing and explaining how to set the camera to run in manual or priority mode, the students went out to shoot and had a good time exploring how each setting would affect the resulting image. Lots of good images and some rather strangely exposed shots made for some good learning. Keep practicing and shooting, your skills will improve in no time! I’ll pop some samples on to the post a bit later.

After having a short comment and critique session on their efforts, it was time for the daily assignment. One comment on last year’s lab sessions was that we did not shoot enough. I have coem up with several shooting assignments that will allow the aspiring photgraphers more shooting time. Their first assignment is to document their yearbook staffs in the planning sessions that go on into the wee hours of the morning. I encouraged 3 things in these photos. Look for creative angles, fill the frame and shoot a variety of photos that can be used to create a two page spread for their book. Let’s see what they come up with for tomorrow!

It is important to read about current trends, evaluate other photographers’ work and keep up with advances in gear. Here are some links to get started -

http://www.sportsshooter.com

http://digital-photography-school.com/

http://www.shortcourses.com/

http://www.aphotoaday.org/

http://www.strobist.com

Until tomorrow – keep shooting!

This morning I headed out to Blue Cypress Park where the University Swim Association Stingrays train. It was a hot morning, but a fun one as we made photos of the Stingray swimmers. Afterward, the team chased a greased watermelon around the pool. They had a blast on an easy morning of practice.

Here are a couple of samples from the shoot this morning.

See the gallery -

http://www.imagequix.com/photog.php?id=S99Z99G&ec=usa

Under the lights at Bishop Kenny.

Bishop Kenny hosted Ponte Vedra High in state baseball playoff action Friday, May 7. It was a regional semi-final game which saw two talented pitchers go head to head.  It was Elliot Warford for PV and Blaine Foster for BK dueling on the bump.

Both teams went back and forth and were deadlocked 5-5 at the end of seven. In a huge eighth inning explosion, PV scored 12 runs  off the Crusader relievers for which Kenny had no response in their half of the eighth. The final – Ponte Vedra 17 Bishop Kenny 5.

The Sharks face Wakulla in regional final action this coming week.

Did I mention we had 20 or so high school kids with us? So romantic!