TGIF - POTW: Jan 05, 2007

Whew.

Nine straight workdays, with a few 12-hour-plus Ford Funeral days thrown in. Love those oh-dark-thirty security sweeps on the risers behind the Capitol. And that's on top of whatever I managed to do here. Me be mucho tired.

Luckily, I have a four-day weekend in which I am catching up on some sleep, grabbing some family time and finishing up plans for the seminar a week from tomorrow. I spent this morning playing guitar while my six-year-old boy, who is home sick, messed around on his harmonica to some Neil Young. ("Long May You Run" is a great song.)

Fortunately, there was no shortage of strong flash work in the Flickr Strobist Pool to choose from for Picture(s) of The Week. So I chose three.

Leading off is jordanchez's quiet, ultra-detailed portrait of his grandfather. There is so little to this picture, and yet so much. The quality of the light - and the detail that it provides - makes the shot.

That's one of the best things about having total control over your light. Being able to choose the way in which light is going to reveal your subject lets you add a layer of quality to a simple photo to bring it to the next level. Make sure you see this one big.

Next is a photo that was an impromptu grab shot from a shoot of the band, Cloud Control. This one has gotten wide notice on Flickr, and for good reason. Wiredjazz gives a pretty good explanation of the technique on the photo's Flickr page. Check it out.

Last but not least is this portrait of an expecting couple, by Paul_G .

Nice light - one soft source from the side - with a simple composition and background reduce this photo to the bare essentials. Converting to black and white takes it one step further to make this one a standout in the less-is-more category.

The heart shape formed by the hands is a great bonus, too. Click here to see it big.

These days, we have new people joining the Flickr group in droves. (Welcome, everybody!) With a group this size we will obviously have a wide range of experience among the different members. No worries if you are a beginner. No one here was born with an off-camera flash in their hand.

And the best images just keep getting better and better.