Trying something different at a basketball game

During games I try to take a few minutes from shooting the normal stock action and focus on other things. For this shot I was at the USC versus Oklahoma basketball game. I found a hotspot on the court (from the lights) while I was walking around the arena on the top level. So I grabbed my 70-200 and 1.4 extender, exposed for the hotspot to make it silhouette the players and turn their shadows black. (iso 200, shutter speed 1000, and f5.6) The color in the floor is a color shift from the lights.
If you have any questions about the shot, please leave a comment or email me.
Thanks for looking.

The hotspot on the court

Here are some other general shots from the game, mostly OJ Mayo...actually all four.

I had to take a photo of OJ Mayo's Shoes for work.


OJ Mayo as he is announced in the starting line up. (They lowered the lights and put a spot on him, I layed on the ground underneath 3 giant bball players to get a shot.

My Christmas Card

If you want one, leave your address! When there printed, Ill send you one.

This year, I wanted to do something fun for our christmas card. We always plan out one but never follow through with it. So this year I had to go all out. What better way to start, than with a crude 1st grader like drawing that took about a minute.



Then we add the models. This was a tough one because peanuts (our dog) schedule is very full and doesnt like to be photographed and Rachel gets tired of me taking pictures of her almost immediatly after I start.
First we started with peanut. To get this amazing poise Rachel held a treat above her head to make her stand up. The viscious craze in her face was just a bonus.
Then we added us. I had to place my camera on a tripod and use remote to trigger the camera. To light it, I used 4 alien bees, a large soft box for the main light , 2 lights behind to give some highlights, and one on the background.



I then took the photos and cut them out using OnOne's Mask Pro 4.1 (free trial!) This is a really cool program and a huge time saver. I toned the images together and gave our legs shadows under to make the photos blend together better. I then took the head of Peanut and rotated it down. Then I put it on a green background (using a new layer and paint bucket) to clean up the rest of the pic.


Then I needed a background. So I found a sky picture on a free stock photo page on the internet.


We just moved to Los Angeles this year from washington so what better way to show that than the Hollywood sign. (courtesy of my friend and his point and shot camera) I obviously took the liberty of making the hill the sign sits on a little more rounded. I did this by taking the left side and pasting it at an angle on the side, then blended it.



I added some palm trees to make it more california like and birds cause we were flying and needed company.



Finally I changed peanuts paws in the rear to look more like she is not standing on something. I did this by copying her front paws and then transforming them and blending them in. Then I put a motion blur on us and peanut to make it look like we are going fast (and cause its fun)

Thats it! If you have any specific questions leave me a comment.
Thanks for looking! Special thanks to our dog for being a trooper.

Arizona State vs. UCLA Football

Touchdown! Shot laying on the ground with a 70-200 with a 1.4 teleconverter.

Sack! Shoot from directly behind (near goal post) with a 400mm 2.8 and 1.4x converter.





This shot was taken in the tunnel before the game. 16-35mm lens on Canon 1d MArk III

A hail mary under hand shot while he was signing autographs. I used a canon 1d mark III and a 16-35 2.8 at 16 and faced it straight up, the camera was almost touching the ground underneath him.

PAC-10 Basketball Portraits

One room, one chair (which i stole from the lobby..err ask politely for), and like 30 people with an average of 1-5 min each. Here are some of my favorites.

Remember to click on the photos for larger sizes and true color.

Bryce Taylor, Oregon

Taj Gibson, USC



O.J. Mayo, USC



Kevin Love, UCLA
Dustin Snipes, Awesomeville

The set up, it was different depending on the person but this is the room i was in. The white background over on the wall was used for headshots. The table had a white table cloth on it and we used it as a reflector. The shot with the dark background was done with a black table cloth held up by Ric.
Thanks for looking!

Oregon's takes down USC

Be Sure to Click on the Photos for LARGER Sizes!

I had to battle the band and security guards to get up to the top of the stadium. Then when i did, I had the wrong lenses. Besure to check out the bottom right corner.

The light was fantastic and horrible. On this shot, it was sorta an accident because I was exposed for the great light but then he ran into shadow hence the people in the right partially in light.

Touchdown

Fumble during the opening kick off.

Sacked!

People rushing the field after the game. And also crazys, which are differnt than people, jump out of the stands.

HULK! (jordan)

Well, I was a little board so I took this really badly lit shot of my friend jordan (who was standing in as a test subject for the athlete that never showed) and turned him in to the HULK!

Here are the before and after shots.

Hope you have as much of a laugh as I did.

You have to love photoshop!

USC vs. Arizona

Fumble

Fumble

Here are some photos from the USC versus Arizona game in LA. Ill post more later. Also, I will hopefully post some of my Eddie Adams workshop photos too later this week when I get them back.

Thanks for looking.