Daniel Payne Photography

My blog has been moved

2011-07-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

Thank you for visiting my blog.

I've moved to a new WordPress blog at www.danieljpayne.com/blog/ so come and visit to see what's new.

Steps For Life

2011-05-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Becky from the Pregnancy Resource Center invited me again this year to take photos of the Steps For Life. This event builds awareness for the pro-life cause and brings together supporters from the Portland Metro area to hear music, speakers and of course walk the streets of Portland. I'm inspired to be among so many like-minded people who believe in a just cause.

More group photos.

An Awards Banquet

2011-04-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Every year the Tualatin Chamber of Commerces honors people and businesses in the community that truly stand out and deserve special recognition.

I was asked to tell the story with candid photos.

See all the photos.

The room is very dimly lit however the windows let in some outdoor light. My typical camera settings for an indoor event like this are:

Manual mode
ISO 800 because it is so dim
f/4.5 at 1/60th of a second
Flash bounced into a Lumiquest bouncer
Metz Flash set to Auto

I used to shoot flash with a Canon brand however I've found that Metz produces a much more consistent exposure.

With event candids I wait for just the right expression then click. The American flag in the background helps tell part of the civic event.

Enjoy the story.

What a Photographer Does on His Day Off

2011-02-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

On Friday I had the pleasure of going on a field trip into Portland with my youngest son, now in the 3rd grade. Of course I had to bring my camera along to document the fun and adventures that we had.

I was responsible for five students and can report that they all made it back to school alive, and with giant grins on their face.

See all the photos here on my photography gallery.

Josh Loves Baseball

2010-11-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Josh to create senior portraits that would capture his love for baseball. We met in Tualatin at Atfalati Park on a sunny day. His father came along and I put him to work holding the reflector and diffuser. Enjoy the portraits:

Corporate Portrait Choices

2010-10-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Background color plays an important role in communicating a mood or feeling about a person. When you consider Apple computer most of their web site and advertising use a pure white background, creating a very clean look and young feeling.
With a recent client we decided that the mood should be more formal and serious, mostly because her business is the insurance industry. After a clothing consultation we came up with a low-key background and dark clothing.

Family Portraits at the Tualatin Commons

2010-08-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Jackie asked me to create family portraits with her children and grand children at the Tualatin Commons. We had a wonderful session on an overcast day and the children got to play and run around.

Three generations of family on a relaxed Sunday morning.

How to Photograph Fireworks

2010-07-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

I love the 4th of July because it reminds me of how great our country is, and the liberties that we all enjoy as Americans.
Fireworks are a wonderful tradition and it is exciting to capture the beauty and colors of these with a camera. Here are some of my fireworks photos from last year:

My setup is this:

Mount my camera to a tripod
Set the camera to manual mode, ISO 100, f/5.6, 4 to 8 seconds
Set the zoom on my lens to fill the frame with fireworks
Use a cable release to click the shutter instead of pressing it with my finger

The color balance is not so critical with fireworks, so you can use Auto White Balance on your camera.
The histogram will look mostly blank, don't panic though, if you can see color in your preview LCD then you are probably OK. If you see flashing highlights in your histogram then you've over-exposed a bit so change your f-stop to a higher number instead.
You may also want to take your lens off the Auto Focus setting and just manually adjust it instead.
Have a patriotic and fun 4th of July in 2010!

Patriotism

2010-06-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

I joined the local Tualatin VFW this year as an expression of my patriotism. In May I created portraits of fellow patriots who also joined the Men's Auxiliary. You're invited to breakfast any Thursday from 7:30AM to 8:30AM in Tualatin.

Ben Tripp

Dale Lembke

Daniel Payne

Dave Troyer

Don Comstock

Jerry Preator

Jerry Tucker

John Goodhouse

Jonathan Crane

Kevin Ferrasci O'Malley

Michael Wilson

Ryan Miller

Terry Pennington

Memorial Day 2010

2010-05-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

I had the honor and privilege to attend the Memorial Day ceremony held today at the Winona Cemetery in Tualatin, Oregon. Retired Marine Lt. Colonel Norb Murray was the featured speaker at the 11 am Memorial Day Service. A Vietnam helicopter pilot, Lt Col Murray went on to serve as President Carter's personal help pilot. He is a life member of Tualatin VFW Post 3452.
Other highlights at the event included the Tualatin Police Honor Guard, Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue, Oregon Senator Richard Devlin, Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden.
View all 70 photos .

Hazelbrook Middle School - Music Program

2010-05-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

My daughter Annie used to attend Hazelbrook Middle School and sing in the choir, so I started a fund-raiser for the music program by creating portraits of the students. This year I returned and helped raise money for the music program. Pictured above is me handing a check to Melissa Davis, a music teacher for band, orchestra and percussion.
I love to help out worthy causes and music is always one of those causes.

Baby dedications at Rolling Hills Community Church

2010-05-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day last week we had several families dedication their children to the Lord.

2009 Celebrate Tualatin - Outstanding Community Service

2010-04-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, April 22 I was presented with an award by the Tualatin Chamber of Commerce for Outstanding Community Service in 2009.
It was a humbling experience to be nominated by my peers at the Chamber and I never really expected it.
My community involvement in 2009 included:

Event photography and webmaster for the Chamber
Rolling Hills Community Church - Celebrate Recovery
The Foundation for Tigard Tualatin Schools - webmaster
American Marketing Association - webmaster
Donating auction items to raise money for local charities

See all the photos here.
May God bless your day and let's make Tualatin the best place to live and work.

A Beautiful, Professional, e-newsletter

2010-04-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Jerry Preator just sent me one of the most attractive e-enewsletters that I've seen this year:

Green is a popular color used on both the background and header.
The blue horizontal lines bend and create an interesting curve.
I am so pleased to see my portrait work being used in such a fine newsletter and I wish Jerry all the best as a Health Coach.

The Easter Bunny in Tualatin

2010-04-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's me with the Easter bunny, spotted in Tualatin this morning at 10AM.

I was there to make sure that my son Zechariah enjoyed his last year at age 8 in the mad scramble to collect eggs.
This fun event is sponsored by the Lion's Club and we appreciate it.
See all the photos

Wooden Shoe Bulb Company

2010-03-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

My brother John and I went to the Tulip fields in Woodburn yesterday:

My sister in-law Stacey shot this image after we got Mt. Hood perfectly lined up in the background. The sunlight was just perfect because it was just behind the clouds creating a very soft light, soft enough that we could look straight toward the sun without hurting our eyes.

I met another photographer there with a $20,000 digital Hasselblad camera, so I asked him, "Are you a commercial photographer?"

His reply was, "Oh no, I just shoot for the fun of it."

Wow, to have the money to shoot with a $20K camera, now that's what makes America so great.

Here are my favorite photos from the trip:

Jerry's Favorite

2010-03-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

My friend Jerry just phoned from Mt. Hood while riding the chair lift and selected his favorite portrait:

Enjoy your skiing and snow-boarding today Jerry, and enjoy your new portrait.

On the Portland Waterfront

2010-03-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

My client sells real estate in Portland and we selected the skyline as our backdrop last week.

Before she arrived I enjoyed capturing the West bank of Portland on a very sunny morning.

MAX Award - American Marketing Association

2010-02-25T20:19:00.000-08:00

Thursday night I photographed at the annual awards banquet for the American Marketing Association, Oregon Chapter. They call this the MAX Event - Marketing Award of eXcellence.

See all 105 event photos here.

Event Photography Work flow

2010-02-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to do formal portraits at a corporate party in March so I'd like to share with you how I've automated my workflow to better serve clients. Here are my work flow objectives:

Allow clients to be photographed, see proofs and order in a few minutes.
Minimize any waiting in lines.
Have fun, create lasting memories.

To achieve these objectives I've assembled the following technologies:

Shoot with a Canon 5D tethered to an iMac. Uses the EOS Viewer and EOS capture software from Canon.
The full size images are too large to be quickly proofed, so a custom Applescript detects each new image arriving from the tethered camera, then re-sizes for proofing and a thumbnail. These smaller images are then automatically copied to a folder on the Web Server, a PC running Windows 7.
I use a custom proofing and ordering system to show clients thumbnail and larger images on a standard web browser. Three computers (iMac, Windows 7, Windows XP) are networked to show clients proofs and accept their orders.

Here's how the computers and camera are all connected:

I'm a geeky guy so I wrote my own Applescript to re-size and copy images, plus the proofing and order system was written with PHP, MySQL, Javascript, Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

My web server on the PC is using the popular XAMPP tools, which are Open Source.

Shooting
I operate my Canon 5D just like always, on full manual with custom white balance, everything metered so there are no surprises. Using the USB2.0 cable it takes about 6 seconds for an image to go from the camera to the iMac. I shoot JPEG for event photos to save time and they look just great.
.
Applescript
This script takes about 5 seconds to re-size the full-size image into a proof and thumbnail size images, then copies them over to a folder on the PC where the web server is running.

Proofing and Ordering
The client uses a web browser to see their proofs. At first they see thumbnails. Clicking a thumbnail brings up a larger image with a price list.

Post Event
When I arrive back home after the event, then I run another web page to take my batch credit card orders and process them. Yes, I wrote that one too.

Summary
I've been able to achieve my event photography work flow objectives by using some standard technology and some custom technology to get the job done. My clients can be photographed, proof and order in a few minutes. They're happy and I'm busy sending orders to my lab and then delivering prints to clients.

Jerry Preator

2010-02-19T10:58:00.000-08:00

Last week I created portraits with Jerry Preator, owner of Heroe's Journey Consulting. He is a very upbeat, enthusiastic person with a great life testimony. We first met at a Tualatin Chamber of Commerce networking event.

See more portraits from the session.

2010-02-06T15:16:00.001-08:00

I recommend Walts Appliance in Sherwood. They just repaired my dryer.

Thomas

2010-02-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

Senior Session at Jurgens Park in Tualatin, Oregon.

Pro-life Rally

2010-01-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

Today was the annual pro-life rally in Portland, Oregon at the Pioneer Courthouse Square. I enjoyed hearing from the many speakers and seeing familiar faces of Christians that I know. What a wonderful cause to be part of. More photos here.

Family Favorites

2010-01-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

From my client on December 31st:

Dec 31st, 2009

2010-01-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

This beautiful baby boy had so much fun in our portrait session yesterday.

All three generations of a loving family. I had the pleasure of photographing the new couple's wedding two years ago.

A Different Kind of Bank

2009-12-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

Friday evening my wife and I attended an annual party at Umpqua Bank in Tualatin. Here's a photo of me with Marc Satterlee, an Umpqua store manager.

Some of the more innovate activities that Umpqua has done over the years to connect with the community:

Annual Holiday party with wine, fine foods, cookies, coffee, cider, Tualatin High School choir, humane society, arts and crafts, etc.
Tualatin Crawfish festival where they hand out free ice-cream!
Tualatin Library - reading books to children
Pilates classes
Chair massage while your children have books read to them
Tualatin Chamber networking host
BNI networking host

They call their bank a store, and it looks different from all other banks. When you enter it's like the lobby of a hotel, complete with a concierge-like greeter, free coffee, HD TV with business news, two computers, color printer, and cookies on Friday's. The folks at the counter know you by name and ask about your business.

Umpqua is doing banking very differently, my wife and both daughters bank there and are simply delighted. On occassion I visit and use their conference room for clients.

Tualatin Chamber - Annual Holiday Auction and Banquet

2009-12-05T16:17:00.000-08:00

View all the event photos here.

Is there a Barbie Doll for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders?

2009-11-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, there was a limited edition version of 40,000 dolls created and it sold out in just three days. I learned this at the American Marketing Association luncheon today.

See more event photos here.

Regatta 5K run in Tualatin today

2009-10-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

See all the photos from this fun run today.

How about a Sepia Portrait?

2009-10-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

This three generation family portrait was created in their beautiful backyard. I love this kind of location portrait because family members are much more relaxed and the image tells a story of how they live.

Senior portrait session at Murase Plaza

2009-10-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

See all of her favorites at my web gallery.

Senior session with Paige in Portland

2009-10-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

See all 53 photos here.

Senior session with Kayley

2009-10-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

See all eight photos here.

Tailgate Party

2009-09-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

My church is Rolling Hills and we had a blast yesterday at the Tailgate party with: ice cream, bbq, music, games, face painting, car show, friends, prizes, etc. Check out the photo gallery.

Father/Son camping

2009-08-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

My son Zechariah and I camped out last night in Tualatin along with other fathers and sons from our church. We had a blast competing with a water relay, a running race, football toss, roasted marshmellows, and of course I took photos. During the running competition I took one step and my left calf collided with another person's knee, which then gave me a huge "Charlie Horse" and disabled me. I'm still hobbling today and in pain but it was all worth it to bond with my son.

VFW Post Dedicated in Tualatin Today

2009-08-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

In Tualatin the new VFW post was dedicated today and named after Cpl Matthew Lembke. See all of the photos here.

Tigard Times story on the life of Matthew Lembke.

Corporate Head Shot from Monday

2009-08-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Comp Card for a Local Model

2009-08-18T20:22:00.001-07:00

Tualatin School House Pantry

2009-08-17T17:35:00.001-07:00

No family should go hungry in Tualatin. Our Tualatin School House Pantry has the mission to serve people in need. They just moved into Rolling Hills Community Church and had a ribbon cutting ceremony today. See all the photos.

Corporate Headshot

2009-08-15T11:22:00.001-07:00

High-key studio headshot created today. I've done dozens like this one for Rolling Hills Community Church.

Model Photo Session

2009-08-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I had the pleasure of working with Cara, a local model. We did some outdoor poses first, then finished up in the studio. Some of my favorites:

Saturday morning at the Tualatin Crawfish Festival

2009-08-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

More photos here.

Saturday afternoon at the Tualatin Crawfish Festival

2009-08-08T18:49:00.001-07:00

More photos here.

Tualatin Crawfish Festival - Friday Night

2009-08-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

View all the photos here.

Do you like little dogs?

2009-08-06T22:41:00.001-07:00

I do, this little cutie was at the Relay for Life, a fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society:

National Night Out

2009-08-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

National Night Out - Our block party in Tualatin keeps getting bigger every year. We had the chief of police, sheriff's department, Crime McGruff, city council members, Target, food from Chipolte, and our whole neighborhood showed up. I'm the guy who climbed the ladder to make the shot.

San Francisco

2009-08-02T14:33:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I arrived in San Francisco for three days to attend a trade show. Here are some of the sights along the way between my hotel and the Moscone Center:

2009-07-20T11:27:00.001-07:00

More photos from the Relay for Life on Sunday: http://ping.fm/6DfjZ

Relay for Life - Saturday

2009-07-18T22:10:00.001-07:00

This enthusiastic group raised over $80,000 dollars to help battle cancer. What an awesome event to be at tonight. Enjoy all 369 photos from Saturday here.

2009-07-18T14:25:00.001-07:00

I'll be at the Relay For Life photographing the opening events this afternoon. http://ping.fm/89S7d

Social Media for Photographers

2009-07-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

I presented tonight at the PMPA on Social Media for Photographers. The link is to the 52 page presentation in PDF format.

I had a blast preparing and presenting. There was a great interactive discussion on what works in Social Media and how to use it in photography businesses.

Fireworks 2009

2009-07-04T23:02:00.001-07:00

Riverfront fireworks

2009-07-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking about photographing fireworks tonight from OHSU near the tram, looking down at the waterfront :

Past years I've enjoyed watching fireworks of Cook Park while at Jurgens Park:

Three Babies Dedicated

2009-06-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at church I photographed three families dedicating their babies. View more photos here. This was also the final Sunday for senior pastor Dale Ebel to preach, and he's been ministering for 31 years now at Rolling Hills Community Church. Follow Dale at his new adventure.

Little People, Big World

2009-06-27T10:19:00.001-07:00

On June 5th I did graduation photos for Faith Bible. The most famous graduates were reality TV stars Zachary and Jeremy Roloff. Today I discovered a blog about the Roloff family and they made links to my Roloff photos.
Enjoy.

2009-06-26T23:22:00.001-07:00

Daniel is using Ping to update status on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Blogger

Headshots for the American Marketing Association

2009-06-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

On June 16 I created outdoor headshots for the AMA - Oregon Chapter. We were outdoors within an hour of sunset and the lighting was just perfect because the clouds were creating a soft light and I could have each person look towards the West which created nice catch lights in their eyes.

Headshots for Cancer charity

2009-06-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

This worthy group is called Breast Friends and we created headshots in their Tigard office this week.