Whitman County – Page 2 – Scotty Anderson Photography

High School Football – Pullman vs West Valley – Mar. 12, 2021

The Friday Night Lights were illuminating Martin Stadium as the Pullman High Greyhounds battled the West Valley High School Eagles. The kick off was at seven o’clock in the evening and the air was brisk.

Pullman scored first but missed the extra point as the ball bounced off the left upright. With a bit of a back and forth battle the Eagles took a lead late into the 4th quarter. The Greyhounds had two chances late in the game but couldn’t get a sustained drive.

Today I used the Canon 6D body with the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 as my primary camera. I used the Canon 70D body with a 50mm f/1.4 prime lens as the secondary camera. Just like the last football game I choose to use Auto for the ISO setting and high resolution JPEG-only shooting.

Both of these settings are money. I found a couple times where I was able to just keep the photos flying. With the RAW+JPG setting I would run into buffering issues and I would sometimes miss shots. I have yet to run into a buffering issue using JPEG-only. The auto ISO setting has been helpful especially because I am not shooting in RAW mode. Without RAW I feel like my ability to do some of the necessary lighting adjustments would be hindered. With auto ISO I am getting well adjusted photos. So I am not missing the better editing qualities of the RAW photos.

Before the last game I had read some blogs about the camera settings for shooting football. I used the settings and have been very happy with the results, as I mentioned last week. One of the other things that I read about which I didn’t mention last week was getting the player’s eyes in the photos. Last game, after looking at the photos I really noticed it added a dimension to be able to see the eyes of the player.

In today’s shoot and with the photos I chose, many of them included the eyes. Because I liked how it added to the photos I adjusted my shooting this week. I decided to try to set up more shots were I would get the face of the player and see what they were looking at during the play. I still have photos from other angles but I had more this week from the front rather than the back of the action. Martin Stadium has great lighting so the eyes really show. I wonder how well this works when the field lighting isn’t as good.

One of the other things I have done for a long time is trying to recognize players prior to the snap as well as including the linemen. The linemen do the heavy lifting but don’t always get the recognition. I’ll admit that the action is where the football is and that will never change. But I will always try to get some shots with the linemen doing the grunt work.

The other thing I try to do is get some shots of players on the field of action. When I play sports and I come across a photo of me on the field ready for some action it is pretty cool. Knowing that in a high school setting there isn’t hundreds of cameras pointed at the action, there are many guys on the field who probably don’t get to see a shot of them lined-up and ready for action. I try to include such photos in hope the players will stumble on the shot and download it for themselves.

I do, internally, root for the Greyhounds to win. I try to remain neutral in appearance but I love Pullman victories. That said, when shooting a game I am there to get all the action, even if it is sometimes not a good play for Pullman. I don’t post a lot of them but I will post them for the same reason I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

2019 Ruck for the Fallen

This morning I was in Oakesdale, Washington shooting photos at the Ruck for the Fallen. It is a charity event dedicated to those in the military and first responders. As taken from their facebook page:

“‘Ruck for the Fallen’ is dedicated to our pledge of supporting our lost heroes. Our goal of unwavering support is achieved by raising funds for families who have lost a first responder, an active military member or veteran in the line of duty or who are experiencing mental, emotional and physical effects incurred by the risks they face every day.”

I used both my Canon 7D with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens and my Canon 70D with a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM prime lens.

I tried to get photos as people left and returned from the Ruck. Today there was a 3.1 mile and a 6.2 mile course. A number of people participated in the event. Because I was trying to get photos of everyone who was involved I have decided to upload the majority of my photos. I shot approximately 700 photos between the two cameras. A number of them were at the concert that was held after the event. That was a great challenge. The lighting was great for the concert but not the easiest for shooting photos. Many of the photos have a strong blue tint. That is due to the color of the lights that were in use.

The event was a very nice event for the local community and they hope to do it again next year.

This is the largest gallery of photos I have placed in a single post.

3rd Annual Pullman Firefighters – 2019 Fireman’s Ball

On Saturday, February 9th, 2019 the 3rd Annual Fireman’s Ball was held at the SEL Event Center in Pullman, Washington. This event is put on by the Pullman Firefighters to raise funds to help individuals who are affected by emergencies.

I was asked to take photographs for the event. It was set up in two areas. One was to do “couples” photos and the other was just candid shots from the event.

My setup was the solid black background hanging free. It was illuminated with two light boxes. I didn’t have as much light as I would have liked. I didn’t use a flash just the light boxes. I used my Canon 6D with a 50mm prime f/1.2 lens. I wanted to ensure I had a good depth of field so I used f/8. Even with a speed of 1/60th of a second for the shutter I was forced to increase the ISO setting to 1000. Way higher than I would have liked but the best I could do with the other settings and the lack of lighting. I just need more light boxes or other lighting without the flash. I have been unhappy with the flash near the camera due to the shadowing I get on my backgrounds. Maybe I just need the umbrella flash system. Nonetheless they are not terrible but they are not as sharp as I would have liked.

This was also the first time to do real “couples” photos. So I see some things I would do differently next time. I allows people to get into their own poses. I didn’t scrutinize anything but I think I will give some helpful tips for the next time around and stage people better.

For the candid shots I was in a darker room. I used both the Canon 70D and 6D camera. The 70D had a 18-135mm zoom. The 6D had the 50mm prime lens. Both cameras had external flashes with a light diffuser. Both had ISO settings into the 1000-1600 range. I think overall the candid shots turned out as good as I was going to get them with the lighting at hand. Again I think I could have done better with my flash usage and I will work on that in the future. I tried to make my way around to the tables and get some candid couples shots there too.

The event went very well. Lots of people showed up and they raised money for the cause.

Wakeboarding on the Snake River

On June 2nd, 2018 I went to the Snake River with a friend for a photoshoot of him and one of his friends wakeboarding. This was my first opportunity to shoot action photos on the water.

The weather was nice and the sun was setting. This caused some troubles depending on the direction the boat was heading at the time of the photos.

In all I shot over 600 photos. One problem I had was when my F-stop was too low and I had auto-focus on, then I would sometimes get the towrope as the focal point and the rider was blurred. So I made some changes to get better shots. I picked out 65 photos that I liked.

I decided to try three different lenses. I used my ultra-wide angle. I picked a couple of those for this gallery. My stock 18-135mm lens. And my 70-200 lens. Most of the photos I chose happened to come from the 70-200mm lens.

I had a lot of fun going out on the water and it was great to get to use my camera. I hope to get out some more and get better at the photos.

Pete Martin’s Bronze Star Ceremony

This morning I had the opportunity to shoot photos at a ceremony for retired Coroner Peter J. Martin who had received a Bronze Star during the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of his control, he was never officially awarded his Bronze Star, until today. Alfie Alvarado, Director, Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, was in Pullman, Washington and officially pinned his Bronze Star. Larry Alcantara, with the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, read the information about what Martin did to earn the Bronze Star. This was a wonderful ceremony and well deserved.

The room was at the SEL event center. I used my Canon 70D camera along with my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8l IS II USM lens to capture the photos. I used a flash to bounce off the wall behind me in order to get a little more light into the room.

All the photos were taken with f/4.5, 1/100 second shutter speed, and an ISO 800 setting. In spite of the crop factor the room was large enough for me to get some good photos of the ceremony.