I pass them four times a week and mentally plot my photographic assault.  The highway is a bit dangerous and pulling off to shoot the house seems irresponsible.  Especially since someone else might see a lone female on the side of the highway with a nice camera and decide to try and take advantage of the situation.  It also seems a waste of gas to bring my husband along on a 25 miles drive I already make twice a week, just to photograph a decaying house.

My best option, it seems, is a drive-by shooting.  I got my camera all prepped before heading off to work yesterday.  I wanted to get all my settings dialed in before my commute.  I did this to avoid reckless driving that might have ensued because I was more concerned about my white balance setting than the lanes of the highway.  I selected a fast shutter speed, 500, to compensate for my 55 mph speed.  I set the white balance to sunlight since it was a clear day.  I also decided to capture the images in RAW since it would give me the most forgiveness in editing my exposure.  (I’m glad I did  because the camera read for the bright sky and the house was majorly underexposed.)

I am pleased and intrigued with my results.  I don’t know quite why I am so drawn to this place, but it really speaks to me.  It is like the house is trying to hide behind the large tree.  Perhaps it has grown ashamed of its shoddy appearance since once it was clearly a grand dwelling.  I may just have to drag Bubba along for further exploration.  Here is my drive-by sequence:

If I were to try again I would zoom out a bit, to really show the huge emptiness around the place.  I might also try shooting later in the day for some better lighting.  But this really isn’t too bad, for a first attempt.

So now without further ado, I present to you the Hays’ collective wisdom on marriage! (Anyone that was unable to attend the gathering is certainly welcome and encouraged to add their wisdom via comment below.)

Grandma: Put the seat down on the John.

Grandpa: Told a joke that I will not repeat here.  I am sure he would be more than happy to meet you in his garage for a re-telling.  The essence of his wisdom, however, can be stated thus: Remove your pantyhose.

Elizabeth: Tell your truths, and be sure to listen to other’s truths.

Steve: Learn how to argue when you are not angry.

Tiger: The goal of an argument is not to win, it is to be on the same side.

Katy: Acknowledge how the other person is feeling and then stop talking. (Clamp mouth shut if necessary.)

Jess: Learn how to care for each other, even when you can’t care for yourself.  Take time to enjoy the simple moments.

Elyse: The Golden Rule is bunk, do for the other person what they like, not what you like.  One size doen’t fit all.

April: Find the positive in all the negative around you.  Allow yourself time and space away from your partner to heal and breathe.

Jules: Find contentment within the limitations of both people in the relationship.

Bubba: Have sex.  Be supportive of each other’s passion.

Grandma: Marry someone like Ralph.  Develop patience.

Materials you need: camera with a delay-timer, greycard, tripod, at least two lamps and yourself.

If you don’t have a tripod you can ghetto-rig it by setting the camera on a table or a chair using a bag of rice to stabilize it.

Step 1: Polish your appearance.  I am not saying that you need to get a facial and a professional hair style.  But at least select a nice shirt, I recommend solid colors since patterns and logos really detract attention from your face.  You don’t have to put on a ton of makeup (especially if you are a guy) but do wash your face and shave since stubble and oil will really show up in your portraits.

Step 2: Set up.  Select a background.  For a more minimal look you can choose an empty corner in your house or if you love your bookshelves-like I do, set up there.  I recommend using a blank corner as opposed to a wall, since a wall will bounce light back at the camera causing glare and hot spots, while a corner will bounce the light back on you.  Grab two lamps from your house, preferably ones that you can direct the lights.  Set a chair or stool in the corner of your choice, or just stand, but make a mental note where you will be every time.  Then put the lights on either side of the chair.  Arrange them a bit like a baseball diamond, with the chair as home plate and the lights as first and third base.  Then your tripod will be set anywhere from the pitcher’s mound to second base.  This is called butterfly lighting and tends to be very flattering.  Here’s an image of my corner setup:

Try to avoid any outside light by closing the curtains and doors.  I say this because natural light from the sun will cast a blue hue on your face while light from your lamps will be more yellow.  The camera will compensate for only one color of light at a time.  So for the interior purposes, try for only artificial light from tungsten bulbs.  (Fluorescent bulbs will look greener than tungsten.)

Step 3: Camera Settings.  All cameras have a varying degree of manual capability, but if you cant adjust much, set your camera to portrait.  If you can get away with a 400 ISO then set it there.  For this shot I had to use 800 ISO, the higher number the lower light it can handle.  But the image gets grainy, so decide what you need.  Turn on your delay setting and give yourself 5 to 10 seconds to run from the camera to your chair and get settled.  If you have a remote that is great too so you don’t have to run back and forth.  Experiment with both manual and auto-focus and see which brings you most success.

Set your white balance to tungsten or if you have a preset option, use a greycard to tell your camera the exact value.  My greycard is just a grey piece of fabric that is actually a lens cleaning rag.  But I just stand where I will be shooting, go into my white balance settings, select preset and then take a really  close up picture of the greycard to tell the camera what the lighting is like.

I purposely didn’t adjust the white balance in this shot, so you can see how yellow that grey actually is due to the tungsten lighting.  White balance is important since it keeps your skin tone looking natural and not seasick (green) or jauniced (yellow).

Step 4: Exposure.  For a portrait you generally want your face in focus and then you want to allow the background to fall out of focus so it doesn’t detract attention.  If you camera has an Aperture priority setting, use that and set the F/stop between F/5.6 to F/8.  This will give you enough leeway to get all your features in focus without allowing the background to be too sharp.  I also use Manual setting too, keeping the F/stop in that range and then allowing the shutter speed to be above 1/20th of a second.  Anything slower tends to blur if I blink or exhale.

Step 5: Shoot!  Experiment with different head tilts, shoulder tilts, camera heights and facial expressions.  Some people look best with the camera at eye level, some look better with the camera higher than their head.  Move your lights around and see if you like to cast a shadow on your face.  This is my corner shot with butterfly lighting.

I like the even lighting and the tilt of my head adds some dynamism to the frame.  But the focus is a tad off, and I don’t like my thyroid surgery scar being visible.  So I moved over to shoot in front of my bookshelf because I think the colors are dynamic and it speaks about my personality better than a white wall.  Here’s my setup:

I kept the baseball diamond lighting setup because it lights my face evenly.  Here is the closeup I chose:

I like the higher camera angle to soften my huge forehead, and the back shoulder tilting away from the camera minimizes the appearance of the scar on my throat.   Plus I feel safe with my books behind me and I think this showed up in my expression.

Take lots of photos!  You can never have too many.

Step 6: Editing.  Put those photos on your computer and only delete them there.  The camera review screen is too small to rule out an image from that preview.  You might be surprised that you like something that looked bad on the camera screen.  Use whatever photo editing software you have to enrich your exposure, since no matter how tight your camera settings are, there is usually a bit of darkness and the software will take that away.  Crop out anything you don’t like and Voila!  You have a headshot.

If you like this tutorial and get a successful headshot from it, send it to me, I want to see your work! juleshays@gmail.com

Now go clean up, because if you are anything like me, you tore up your living room to get these shots and you don’t want your husband to come home and see the mess.  Happy Shooting!

I took a walk with my sweet pup Maverick on Wednesday afternoon and brought my camera along to document our progress.

You might be wondering why we would go to such trouble to arrange this setting.   Well actually it wasn’t for our own enjoyment.  We created this romantic setting for another young couple-at the request of the gentleman half of said couple.  Bubba and the Gentleman scouted the location the night before and decided the waterfront would make for a lovely setting.  If you haven’t met my husband Bubba yet, you need to know that he is about the most  charming person on the planet.  This is surprising given that he is huge, tattooed and bald.  But he could make friends with a rock and  get it to turn itself into Mount Rushmore if he wanted it to.  So Bubba approached one of the Suisun waterfront homeowners and asked for the use of his patio for the following evening.  Naturally the homeowner, Joe, agreed.  Obviously, since who has ever declined Bubba’s requests?

The reason Bubba needed to work his charm to secure the waterfront patio use, was that the Gentleman accompanying him was planning to ask his girlfriend to marry him the following night.  The two men were working together to create a special place to ask that very important question!

Last night, around 7:30pm Bubba and I found ourselves knocking on Joe’s door with a bottle of wine in hand to present him as a  gift for hosting.  Sunset was at 7:51 pm so we had a scant 21 minutes to create the stage for a romantic scene and then disappear into the woodwork without being spotted by the special couple.  I named us ninja sidekicks, due to the stealthy nature of our assistance.  I juggled candles while Bubba arranged the tablecloth. I silently cursed myself for forgetting to iron out the creases of the antique tablecloth.  We waited to the last minute to open the champagne so that the prospective groom wouldn’t have to fumble nervously with the cork before his proposal.  When the text came that the couple had arrived and were strolling down the waterfront towards our patio setup, Bubba and I popped the cork and scampered off into the bushes giggling at the excitement to come.

The couple strolled up this walkway to the patio at the left.

Bubba and I waited anxiously, eager to know if she said “Yes” and it was time to celebrate or, God forbid, she respectfully declined.  If the latter we may have needed to pick up the shattered glass and torched bouquet that the Gentleman smashed in frustration at the rejection.  Peeking down the waterfront after a few moments we were given a wave by the excited couple.  Taking this for good news, Bubba and I skipped back up the path to the patio where the pair was happily hugging and laughing.

I found tears coming to my eyes as we approached the patio because the Gentleman was actually my younger brother!  Congratulations and best wishes to Scott and Ravi, may God bless your engagement.  (And thank you for letting us be your ninja sidekicks, it was really fun!)

Yesterday I got to work with Monica for a headshot session.  I am realizing more and more how a headshot differs from a traditional portrait.  I am learning how to use photoshop to my advantage and how to find a person’s best angle in a short amount of time.  Here are a few of my favorite shots.  Thanks to Monica for letting me practice with her.

I love the combination of organic and geometric forms is this shot below:

Honestly the most fabulous collection of galoshes/garden boots I have ever seen.

They were so glorious, I had to include a second shot.

I love how the store organizes their merchandise displays. in bold blocks of color.

Who knew a hardware store could be so appealing?  But I actually look forward to going here.  Definitely take the time to browse the aisles, and if you brave the long checkout line, just remember the queue is so long because the store is so great.

After leaving Pacific Hardware we meandered down the street to Starbucks, purchased a chilled beverage and busted out our box of dominoes.

The above image illustrates my childish domino viewing arrangement.  I just set them up to stand on their sides.  Below illustrates the legit way of holding one’s dominoes, clutching them between the fingertips and the palm of the hand to hide how many actually remain in your hand.  Bubba knows the ways of the ‘noe.

The interview was probably the worst I have participated in, and I usually slam dunk interviews.  We made small talk about Aveda Tea for two seconds before the boredom set in.  Since Aveda Tea tastes a lot like stewed mint compost it is hard to imagine this as the high point of my interview.  But everything went downhill from there.  The man I was meeting with was clearly bored with the company and spent about 20 minutes explaining the corporation, the nature of their work and the requirements of the call center position.  He literally only opened his eyes once every thirty seconds.  Mostly he tapped his chubby fingers on the table as he slept sitting up explaining to me the nuances of licencing to purchase salvaged vehicles in all 50 states.

We were seated in the rather large employee break room and people were constantly coming and going.  Each employee looked more disconsolate than the next.  I don’t think that anyone in that building washed their hair anytime this week.  They moved with the lethargy bred from indifference.  The vertical blinds even wavered in their resolution to block out the sun.

The man interviewing me only asked me one question during the 30 minutes we spent together and it was more a command than a question: “Tell me about your work experience.”  That is how we got into the Aveda Tea bright spot since two jobs ago I was the Sales Manager for an Aveda Salon.

I found myself struggling to breathe normally as he pontificated about the auto salvage industry.  He then mentioned how the company was in the process of moving to Texas and that the lease was ending on the building in which we were sitting.  The phrase “Sinking Ship” ran across my field of vision as I struggled to look interested in “dumping the call queue after thirty minutes on hold.”  Remember my gag reflex every time “call center” is mentioned.  I probably looked like I had Tourettes as I worked to hide my constant retching.

“What questions do you have for me?” my interviewer queried.  I managed to ask a few relatively intelligent questions, but he spent more time tapping his badge on the table that actually looking at me so I knew he wasn’t interested in my bilingual call center -gag- aptitude.  When our 30 minutes were up, he graciously walked me back out to the entry lobby but even his directions were robotic, “And a left here, head to the double doors.  You can give your badge to the receptionist.”  I thanked him as effusively as possible and flashed my winning smile.  As he disappeared into the abyss of the building I ripped the badge from my jacket and passed it back to the receptionist.  She didn’t bother to look up from the Facebook page on her computer screen as she gingerly accepted my badge.  I say gingerly because, and this is not an exaggeration, she was painting her fingernails as I left.  Bright pink, in case you were wondering.

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as I sprinted across the parking lot to my car.  My laughter quickly converted to tears as I realized that they might actually offer me a job.  I convulsed in sobs and I fled the business plaza and prayed earnestly that I wouldn’t receive an offer.  I don’t know that I could bring myself to turn down full time employment at $13 and hour, no matter how hellish the work.

My salvation arrived at 3pm when the temp agency called to inform me, “The client went ahead with another candidate.”  I thanked her, hung up, and danced merrily around my house.  Job is hunting is such a joy.