Portraits with the Relatives...

Copyright 2008 Matt Mortensen

Well, I arrived on Wed the 8th, just in time to get here before my grandparents from California. The Hamiltons arrived around midnight and we had an eventful week. It all culminated in a portrait session on Saturday the 18th that took place on multiple locations. I did not make it into many shots, but I think I had the most fun. The three lessons I learned are as follows. 1) using an off-camera flash as a fill light when the key light is an open window results in weird shots with one blurry side and one too-sharp side. A very large diffuser is needed to balance out the quality of light and even then it must be placed very near (12 inches or less) the subject. 2) When shooting large outdoor shots with an entire tree as background, you need a very wide-angle (10 or 12 mm) or to take multiple shots and stitch them together, that way a tighter crop will still have good resolution. And 3) you absolutely must have color management under control when making the print. The same file on different printers will ALWAYS have varying tones!! For this reason I will always require subjects to purchase the prints and not the files. No one will take into consideration that maybe the photographer was excellent but there $99 printer makes bad prints.
I love to learn and I love photography so I am sure I had the most fun on my first portrait session!!!

Changes to Format...

Given the current changes that have been taking place around here, 'Dr. Matt's Blog' will now reflect those more consistently. All postings will now be geared towards photography or community service/emergency response topics. According to Harvard Business School a good work/life balance is one of four* important parts of success. This blog will now be solely free from work (chemistry or DA, etc.) and will be my outlet for photography-related rants, tips, and technique sharing OR reporting event and impressions from Red Cross, CERT, etc. activities. Please check back often if any of these areas interest you!

(*The other three are: leadership, decisiveness, and ethical-behavior)

No More School Days...

Copyright 2008 Matt Mortensen

Well, no more school days for me! Finally into the "real" world and I can't wait to start getting things done. Not only will the work be great but also volunteering if I can ever get a hold of the CERT people! More exciting times...

Community Matters....

I am slowly realizing that I am doing what is right for me, what I can feel in my bones is what I should be doing. I can't wait to start getting some things done but I need some capital to start flowing and most likely a car. One things for sure, anyone who can do what I did in graduate school can do what I plan on doing next.