Maxwell Kruger

New Website

Maxwell — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:41:14 +0000

For those of you reading an RSS feed, head over to my website and you will be greeted with a new face. I have updated the design to make it look less like it was created in the 1970’s and bring me into the future. I also completely revamped things behind the scenes, moving away from a platform that I wrote myself to WordPress. I’m very happy with both the new design and the ease and cleanliness of WordPress.

Please update your RSS feed bookmarks to this link: http://www.maxwellkruger.com/feed/

Stay tuned for upcoming posts. This weekend is THON and I have been planning something very new and exciting for it for weeks.

Updated Portfolio

Maxwell — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:04:00 +0000

Work has been canceled for me the past two days so I spent the time doing a much-needed portfolio update. I printed out contact sheets of all my best photos and cut them up into tiny little squares to organize them into categories. I came up with some new categories and eliminated some others. I haven’t done a significant update to my portfolio in about 2 years so it feels much better to have my latest work on display instead of old stuff as I’ve gotten much better.

Check it out!

Germany

Maxwell — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:50:00 +0000

I just got back from Germany. I start my new job on Monday, pending the snow doesn’t make it impossible. I was in Hamburg visiting my friend, Chris. We took a short trip from Hamburg to Berlin. It was quite a trip to Germany. I got my wallet stolen and then recovered (with cash and cards) by the police, we were ditched by our ride back to Hamburg from Berlin, and a 45 minute flight delay because of a little snow in Hamburg caused me to stay an extra night in London. Overall though, it was a ton of fun.

I’ve been shooting with the 1D Mark IV for a little under a month now and I have to say that I really like it. It’s a huge improvement overa all cameras that I’ve owned. My biggest gripe is that I’m unhappy with the ISO performance as I was expecting a performance boost over the 5D Mark II that I loved and instead experienced a downgrade. I have noticed that the files are considerably noisier than the 5D – where I wouldn’t hesitate to go up to 3200, I now think twice about going to 1600 on the 1D.

See the gallery here.

(Canon 1D Mark IV, 16mm, 1/15, f/2.8, ISO 200)

(Canon 1D Mark IV, 16mm, f/4, ISO 200)

(Canon 1D Mark IV, 16mm, f/5.6, ISO 200)

(Canon 1D Mark IV, 16mm, 1/100, f/2.8, ISO 200)

(Canon 1D Mark IV, 35mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, ISO 200)

Kenya

Maxwell — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:24:00 +0000

I’ve been back from Kenya for about two weeks and I’ve finished my photos just in time for my trip to Germany this week.
I’ve really been working on my editing technique which you can see in the photos. We had a lot of fun in Kenya; saw lots of elephants, giraffes, buffalo, baboons, lions, cheetahs, leopards, and more. I flew into Nairobi and visited four parks while there; Sweetwaters, Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Amboseli National Park.

In total, I shot 5,366 photos, 70 videos, totaling 143GB.

All photos are available to see in this gallery.
The photos are geotagged and you can see them on a map by clicking on the “Map This” link above each photo or view all of them here.
New Feature: you can now order prints of the photos right from within the gallery!

I also shot some video directly on my still camera. The Canon 5D Mark II captures really excellent video and, although none of it is production quality because I didn’t have the right supports and wasn’t there to capture video, it’s very interesting to watch nonetheless.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 135mm, 1/8000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 135mm, 1/640, f/2, ISO 400)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 560mm, 1/4000, f/4, ISO 200)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 1/30, f/2.8, ISO 200)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 135mm, 1/5000, f/2, ISO 200)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 560mm, 1/640, f/4.5, ISO 640)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 19mm, 1/200, f/9, ISO 50)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 400mm, 1/250, f/4, ISO 200)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 1/500, f/4, ISO 200)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 1000)

Update: Here are two photos of me in action.

Rose Hill Farm Tower Shoot Photos Available

Maxwell — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:25:00 +0000

Photos from the Rose Hill Farm Tower Shoot are now available at photos.maxwellkruger.com.

I’ve recently purchased a SmugMug account and am going to begin selling photos through the above URL. Check back in a week for my most popular photos now available for purchase online.

Also, you might have noticed that some of the photos are starting to say Canon 1D Mark IV. I’m now shooting with one and love it. I sold my 5DII and now shoot with just 1D’s. I wish I had the 1DIV for my Kenya trip, but it came in the week that I returned. Speaking of Kenya, I’m now editing my 150gb of photos and should have them up within the next few weeks.

(Canon 1D Mark IV, 16mm, 1/8000, f/5.6, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark IV, 16mm, 0.04, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Utah

Maxwell — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Finally finished my Utah photos from my trip over Thanksgiving. I wanted to finish these in time before I leave for Africa next week.

View the full gallery here.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, f/5.7, ISO 100)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 20, f/2.8, ISO 6400)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 100)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, f/8, ISO 100)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 1/1000, f/4, ISO 100)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 35mm, 1/1600, f/3.2, ISO 100)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 30, f/2.8, ISO 6400)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, f/5.7, ISO 100)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 35mm, 1/8, f/4.5, ISO 1600)

Final Honors Thesis

Maxwell — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:46:00 +0000

I’m graduating in exactly 9 days. I finally finished my Honors Thesis last week, the product of 2 semesters and a summer of research and work. I’ve created a website for it, www.maxwellkruger.com/thesis09. I encourage you to take a few moments to read it and share it with anyone who might be interested.

Abstract:

How can traditional media change to embrace an evolving readership and provide a news product that readers find useful and media corporations can make profitable? Newspapers are facing tough times because of the internet news revolution – news is available instantly, anywhere, and for free. It’s a no-brainer for consumers to get their news online. It no longer makes sense to wait a whole day to see the news, and even less sense to pay for it.

At the same time as readers going online for their news, they have also become capable of creating their own reporting; and at times doing a better job of it than trained professionals. This revolution has emerged from the ubiquity of camera and smart phones. In essence, every person with a camera phone (which is most everyone) is a reporter. The difference is that these reporters no longer have to be dispatched to the scene when something happens. They are already there and capable of capturing and uploading content before a traditional reporter has time to get there.

Through this thesis, I will explore this question of how traditional media can change to embrace new technologies and the concept of citizen media interactions. Although I will focus on newspapers because they are in the most trouble, these concepts can be applied to all forms of media to increase readership and become a more active member of the local community.

As a result of the research I conduct, I will create a prototype to demonstrate many of these concepts. The prototype is a multi-device platform that focuses on community involvement with news media. There will be a web interface and a fully featured mobile phone interface to allow photo, video, audio, and text contributions, discussions, and collaboration.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL TEXT THESIS

More Women's Basketball Overheads

Maxwell — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Here are some more overhead shots from the Women’s Basketball game last night versus Monmouth. It’s a fun angle to shoot from. I’ve found that I get great shots if I overexpose a little bit and focus SLIGHTLY below the rim. I usually autofocus on the rim, then use live view, zoomed in 10x to focus it a tad bit underneath. It would help to have someone down there to focus on, but usually, there isn’t time for that. The 5D Mark II really makes things so much easier, with it’s high res screen and live view for cosuing, high resolution 21mp files for cropping, and clarity at ISO 3200. My only complaint is its low framerate because I sometimes miss key moments.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/500, f/4, ISO 3200)

They all scrambled for the ball at one point toward the end of the game.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/500, f/4, ISO 3200)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/500, f/4, ISO 3200)

Big Ten ACC Challenge

Maxwell — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:18:00 +0000

I covered the Big Ten/ACC Challenge last week. The Penn State women’s basketball team played Georgia Tech. The first half of the game was really boring and Penn State was being dominated by GA Tech. Penn State made a comeback in the end, but gave it away with a foul to lose by 4. I used a remote with a 300mm lens to get some tight action from above.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/400, f/4, ISO 3200)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/400, f/4, ISO 3200)

Head Coach Coquese Washington is always so fun to photograph.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

They almost won. The bench got so excited.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/400, f/4, ISO 3200)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/400, f/4, ISO 3200)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

Wrestling vs Bloomsburg with remotes

Maxwell — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

The day after the Indiana football game, I had to wake up super early and set up some remote cameras at the wrestling match. We lowered the scoreboard in the middle of Rec Hall that was directly above the wrestling mat, and I put two cameras on it. I used my 5DII with a 50mm and a 40D with a 16-35@16mm. I tried to pre-focus them, but it was hard since I had to just guess. I set wider apertures to get more depth of field. The shots are a little blurry, but pretty usable. I had no idea what the framing of the photos would be like, which is why I used two cameras. The 50 was a little too tight to fit in the whole Nittany Lioin logo but it got good action. It was nice having both cameras. Ultimately, I see myself spending $700 on a wireless file transmitter for the 5D or 40D so that I can see the framing and control the focus remotely.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 4000)

(Canon EOS 40D, 16mm, 1/400, f/4, ISO 1600)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/500, f/4, ISO 1600)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/800, f/2, ISO 800)

(Canon EOS 40D, 16mm, 1/400, f/4, ISO 1600)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/800, f/2, ISO 1250)

Cyler Sanderson

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/1000, f/2, ISO 1000)

New wrestling coach Cael Sanderson yells instructions.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/500, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/800, f/2, ISO 800)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/640, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/800, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/400, f/2, ISO 1000)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/640, f/2, ISO 1000)

Football vs Indiana

Maxwell — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:35:00 +0000

I shot my last home football game as a Penn State student a few weeks ago. I’ve been traveling a lot so i haven’t had a chance to post photos yet.

Before the game, three Apache helicopters and a Black Hawk flew over the stadium.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm, 1/640, f/14, ISO 800)

My brother and his friend drove to visit from Purdue. His friend is in the red shirt and my brother is to the left.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

My director at CSC smiles from the top of the stands.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/4000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

D’Anton Lynn protests a interception he believes he caught.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/8000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Towards the beginning of the game, Indiana QB Ben Chappell threw a long touchdown right into the endzone right in front of me. Before the game, I decided to try out a 50mm on my “emergency camera”. Well, it didn’t pay off and I wish I had kept my wide on. Because I got a blurry shot of his face when he came 2 inches from me. Had I had the wide on, I would have gotten a better shot with his feet in, because it was a disputed call.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm, 1/640, f/11, ISO 800)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2000, f/4, ISO 400)

Joe Paterno smiles on the field. I always try to get a lot of photos of the coaches.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Royster scores a touchdown.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/4000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/4000, f/4, ISO 400)

Most of the touchdowns were really boring and nothing to photograph during the game. Here’s one that wasn’t too too boring where Royster ran it in right in front of me.

(Canon EOS 40D, 135mm, 1/4000, f/2, ISO 400)

Royster and Brett Brackett celebrate the touchdown.

(Canon EOS 40D, 135mm, 1/4000, f/2, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/4000, f/4, ISO 400)

One of the many fumbles.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/6400, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Recovery of the fumble.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/6400, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1600, f/4, ISO 400)

He got pushed out but it looked like he was flying.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1250, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/2500, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Indiana coach went on many tirades. He threw grass, his gum, etc. He was on the field for at least 5 minutes just yelling at the officials after the Penn State touchdown where he saw holding. My camera body with the long lens was broken at this point in the game and by the time that I switched cameras and lenses around (4 switches), he was done. I was so mad because he was so expressive. This is from later in the game.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/2500, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1000, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/3200, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2000, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/4000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/3200, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Joe Paterno walks off the field after the game.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 35mm, 1/2000, f/2.8, ISO 800)

Josh Hull walks around the field after the game. I thought this was a pretty cool shot.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 1/5000, f/2.8, ISO 800)

I got right under Sean Lee after the game. He’s a really great guy. He kept thanking all of the fans for their support and ended up giving away most of his articles of clothing, including his gloves, seen below.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 1/8000, f/2.8, ISO 800)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 1/8000, f/3.2, ISO 800)

Jared Odrick also celebrated with fans.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16mm, 1/8000, f/2.8, ISO 800)

Fall Ridge Hike

Maxwell — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:08:01 +0000

I always love hiking at Rothrock State Park in central PA. It’s always so calm and beautiful. I did a ridge hike this weekend when the weather was beautiful. I’ve done this hike before and enjoy it because the beginning of it is in dense brush, but then it opens up where there was a forest fire a several years back and you can look across the valley. The trail head is right off of Bear Meadows Rd. Park by Kettle Trail and head south up the trail and take a left at the top of the mountain on Tussey Mountain Trail.

Here are some pics from the hike. Trying new things, getting new stuff.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17mm, 1, f/22, ISO 100)

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17mm, 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 160)

This is where the trees were mostly cleared out by the fire.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17mm, 1/160, f/5.6, ISO 100)

On the way back home, I saw a gorgeous sunset. I still had my 300mm lens on so I snapped a couple of shots with the moon. This photo would not have been possible with a cropped sensor camera because the moon or the powerlines would not have fit.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm, 1/640, f/4, ISO 400)

Swimming From New Angles

Maxwell — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:57:00 +0000

This weekend I shot the Men’s and Women’s swimming and diving competition. Being in the SCUBA diving class, we frequently use the pool to practice. I noticed one day that there were viewing windows in the pool when down below. After talking with my professor, who is also the diving coach, we arranged to meet at the pool before the match so that he could take me below to the windows. The windows were really thick and the glass was really low quality so the photos don’t look great. Next up: underwater housings for my cameras.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm, 1/500, f/2.8, ISO 1600)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 50mm, 1/500, f/2, ISO 1600)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/500, f/2, ISO 800)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/500, f/2.2, ISO 800)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/320, f/2.2, ISO 800)

Diving is always fun to shoot. It’s really difficult because it’s hard to track the athlete and keep the autofocus point on them when they’re jumping and spinning in the air. When you do get sharp shots, they’re really cool.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/500, f/2, ISO 800)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/500, f/2, ISO 800)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/640, f/2, ISO 800)

Football vs Minnesota

Maxwell — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:37:00 +0000

I shot the Penn State football game against Minnesota this week for US Presswire. It was a blowout. I had an assistant, my good friend Ian help me manage 3 bodies in the rain. It was a great help and I definitely got many more good photos because of it.

This pass was incomplete so I couldn’t use it but it’s still a cool photo.

(Canon EOS 40D, 135mm, 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Josh Hull celebrates after intercepting the ball.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 400)

This was a Penn State punt after running down the field. The coaches were furious that the officials didn’t make a call against Minnesota.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1000, f/4, ISO 640)

At the end of the second half, Clark threw to Derek Moye in the endzone. The call on the field was ruled incomplete because his feet weren’t in bounds. The play happened directly in front of me so I had to quickly pick up a different body with a wider lens when I saw the pass coming. When I looked down after the play, it was clear that his feet were in bounds and the review was going to overturn the call. Right after the call was overturned, I ran to the media room to transmit this image.

(Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 40mm, 1/400, f/5.6, ISO 1000)

On the only good drive that Minnesota had the potential to score on, they were stopped on the run on fourth down. He fumbled the ball, but it didn’t matter since they were on the goal line.

(Canon EOS 40D, 135mm, 1/500, f/2, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1000, f/4, ISO 640)

Daryl Clark ran the ball a couple of times.

(Canon EOS 40D, 135mm, 1/1250, f/2, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 640)

What the heck is Daryl Clark doing? We were trying to figure it out in the media room after the game – dancing?

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 640)

This defender was furious about a pass interception call made against him.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/800, f/2.8, ISO 640)

(Canon EOS 40D, 135mm, 1/800, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1000, f/4, ISO 640)

(Canon EOS 40D, 135mm, 1/500, f/2, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 400mm, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO 640)

Eastern Illinois Blowout

Maxwell — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Yesterday’s game against Eastern Illinois was a total blowout. Penn State won 52-3. Most of the game was overcast which lead to some even lighting and better faces than usual for noon games.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1250, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1600, f/4, ISO 400)

Brett Brackett scores a touchdown.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 135mm, 1/3200, f/2.8, ISO 400)

Chaz Powell catches a 51 yard pass for a touchdown. Defensive pass interference flags were thrown but he still managed to catch the ball and score. I didn’t have time to grab my wider lensed camera, so I had to shoot this extremely tight. The focus on the ball is tack-sharp but his face isn’t. That’s what you get with 560mm so close.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/6400, f/4, ISO 400)

Not too long after, Clark throws to Derek Moye for a 25 yard touchdown. This time I switched to my 17mm lensed camera. This is a big crop since 17mm even on a 1.6x crop camera will fill the viewfinder with the whole stadium.

(Canon EOS 40D, 17mm, 1/3200, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2000, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1250, f/4, ISO 400)

The stadium was empty, especially toward the end of the game.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1000, f/4, ISO 400)

Click below to see more photos.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1250, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2500, f/4, ISO 400)

Safety Drew Astorino tries to strip the ball.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2500, f/4, ISO 400)

AJ Wallace makes an interception.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2500, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2500, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1600, f/4, ISO 400)

Kevin Newsome was put in during the last quarter to get some experience. He scored a touchdown here, though there’s no context to tell you that. I should have shot it with a wider lens but I had my 17mm on my other camera and he was too far for that lens.

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/2000, f/4, ISO 400)

(Canon 1D Mark II, 560mm, 1/1600, f/4, ISO 400)