Senior Year Box Set

She’d shown me several portraits and more artistic photos and had me point out the flaws in each. Very few were perfect, but I’d seen thousands of pictures and now recognized what a good photo looked like. The other three people in my class would have to learn that before their photographs improved. I knew that because we were tasked with taking photos of people so Ms. Saunders could judge our ability as photographers. I’d sort of cheated and spent time with Halle before she left. She was my willing subject, and I got the benefit of her artistic side to help improve some shots.

“Where you are lacking is learning the technical side of photography,” she explained.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’m going to give you an assignment to help you learn how to create a better image using high-dynamic-range, or HDR, imaging,” she said, then pulled out a photo.

The photo was of stained glass in a church. The problem was the sun coming through the glass so the light from the window overpowered everything else. It caused the detail of the church interior to be faded.

Ms. Saunders laid down four photographs of the same stained glass. From left to right, it went from too dark to too bright.

“These were taken at -4 stop, -2 stop, +2 stop, and +4 stop,” she explained.

She then showed me a picture that captured the detail of the church and still showed the stained glass.

“Using HDR processing, we balanced the light with simple contrast reduction. Now look at this,” Ms. Saunders said, showing me the last picture.

This one looked much better. It had more vibrant colors and made the one I thought was good before now look dull by comparison.

“This was done using local tone mapping,” she said.

“I didn’t realize you could make that much difference in a picture.”

“Your mom sells real estate, right?” Ms. Saunders asked.

I nodded.

“Why don’t you see if you can shoot some of her houses for her? You’ll need a tripod so your camera stays still while you take the picture at different stop settings. In fact, your camera has a function to take them in rapid-fire fashion to give you the images you need to run through the process,” she said. Then she showed me how to do it.

We practiced in the classroom as I took a picture of the window. Ms. Saunders took the four photos and showed me how to use the software to create a new image that no longer had glare.

As I left for the day, I took a moment to appreciate that the class I thought would be the most boring was becoming interesting.

◊◊◊

When I arrived at practice, Coach Hope stopped me.

“You have a visitor,” he said as he pointed to the coaches’ conference room.

I found Jeff, my favorite reporter, with his cameraman and someone I didn’t recognize.

“David, Andrew Cutter with Vicis. I have your new helmet, the Zero1 model. I’m here to make sure it’s fitted correctly.”

Tami had sent me to a helmet maker that used modern technology she thought would help lessen, if not prevent, concussions. Instead of a hard outer shell, they had created a multilayer cushion system, much like a car bumper. The hard shell was inside the helmet. Tests had shown it to be an innovative technology that was desperately needed. The only problem was that right now, they had to charge $1,500 for a helmet.

Andrew talked Jeff through the innovation and had a cutaway model of the helmet to show him. They had different-sized interior padding inserts that he used to fit the helmet to my head correctly. The only problem was the helmet was white. I would need to get it painted in our school colors before the Washington game.

“Do you plan on stress-testing it tonight?” Jeff asked.

“I hope to never have to test it.”

“Good answer,” Andrew agreed.

◊◊◊

We were experiencing a late-summer heat wave, and it was still in the mid-80s at kickoff. It looked like the whole town had turned out for our game. I could smell the fresh-cut grass as I stretched. This was what I loved, game day. I knew this was just a practice game, but I was excited to finally not have to hold back.

We warmed up as a team, and Tim, Yuri, Wolf, and Derek came up front to lead us. I invited Trent up because he was listed as the number-one quarterback. I figured that after tonight, Coach Hope would finally relent and let the players who played the best move into their positions.

To be honest, after sophomore year’s mess with the seniors and steroids, and junior year’s issues with hazing and Mike Herndon, I was pretty much over the drama. If Coach Hope was willing to face the Lincoln fans and explain why he was jerking our chains, let him. Jeff was documenting everything, and he was still writing articles for the local paper.

If it hadn’t been for Coach Mason, I might have been worried. He was spending most of his time with me. What he was teaching me was more valuable than messing with depth charts right now.