Leafy goodness

I love Orange Leaf, partially because it is tasty, and partially because the branding is so fun.  I wanted to get more of the crazy lights and orange tile around the yogurt machines in the background, but they were super busy and this was the best angle I could have without going outside!  

 [This is my second post of the day - Blogger was down last night and I couldn't post.]

Nikon D90

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

50mm ISO 400

1/100s f/4.5

Colorful news

Topeka received some great news today when Mars Chocolate announced plans to build an M&M factory here in town!  We decided to celebrate with some of our own.

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 50mm 1.4

50mm ISO 320

1/25s f/1.4

Canon 580EXII

1/16 power

17mm zoom

Bounced straight up

Birthday on speed

Okay, so a little self-promotion today.  But, I figure this is the only day of the year that I get to do it!  I always love a little zoom-blur.  In this photo, I set my camera to a longer exposure (1.6 seconds) and a medium aperture of f/9 to preserve a decent level of detail, and zoomed in and focused on the center of the birthday button. 

Then I released the shutter button and slowly zoomed out, keeping the majority of the exposure at the end of the shot, so the words around the edge would come through clearly.  This took some trial and error, but it turned out exactly as I had hoped.  My birthday present to me!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
~50-105mm - ISO 200
1.6s- f/9

Safety first!

Tonight was Part I of our DIY Ring Flash project, where two photographer friends, my dad and I are attempting to make some lighting gear.  You will notice that I am reverting to my gender stereotype and staying far away from the power tools.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
105mm - ISO 200
1/60s- f/5.6

Nikon SB900\
TTL
Bounced up to ceiling

Owie!

I had a fun time playing with a friend's 200-500mm lens this evening and caught this moment between daddy and daughter through the lens fully extended at 500mm.  The zoom was pretty stunning.  It is a really fast-focusing lens too. 

Nikon D90

Tamron 200-500mm f/5-6

500 mm - ISO 200

1/320s - F/6.3

On a lark

More bokeh today with a bunch of pretty larkspur.  This time I used my 50 prime lens to achieve it.  The unfocused flowers in the rest of the photo are actually only about a foot away from the ones that are in focus.  The focal field of this lens is so narrow, that anything a few millimeters outside of it is as soft and unfocused as if it were a backyard away (see yesterday's post). 

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
50mm - ISO 200
1/1600s- f/3.2

Clouds of pink

I have been waiting all year for the mimosa tree in my backyard to flower so I could take its picture.  It is an annoying tree except for the few weeks when the whole thing turns pink.  This picture has some great bokeh (Japanese for "blur") because the background is so far away.  Bokeh is a pretty interesting topic; I would recommend learning about it and then trying to apply it in your pictures.  It is a tool to help highlight your subject and minimize distractions from other things in the scene.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 250
1/125s- f/4

PYOP

I had a Green Period at Paint-Your-Own-Pottery night tonight.  It really was a lot of fun.  Remember that the size of the light source of any picture is revealed in the highlights in the scene.  Sometimes the shape is revealed as well.  In the green pools of paint you can see several light sources- two fluorescent tube lights and some overhead lamps.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
105mm - ISO 800
1/100s- f/9

Honesty & respect

It's time for a mid-year confession.  If I am honest, and I try to be, my blog has sucked for a while now, due to a combination of two months of being sick and about two months of being insane (big work project).  I'm going to try to re-focus my energies on it and start doing some more interesting stuff.  The crap could still sneak in - don't get me wrong - but I'm going to try to do better. 

As I was heading out of Cincinnati this afternoon I saw this beautiful pond and old stone bridge, and was charging down the hill to take some great pictures of it.  Then I saw the No Trespassing signs posted everywhere, which I always try to respect.  So, I just took a wide shot and left.  They should have posted a "Beware of Evil Pond Scum Monster" sign instead!  It might be more effective!

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
28mm - ISO 100
1/50s- f/5

Slow decay

This old dump truck caught my eye today with its vivid colors.  The cab looks great, but the back end needs some work!


Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
67mm - ISO 400
1/20s- f/9

Hyperbole

You know those nights when you just want to crawl into bed?  That is pretty much the way I have been lately.  Here is the "crawl into bed" angle at the Holiday Inn Express.














































Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 50mm f1.4
50mm - ISO 200
125s- f/1.4

Fly away, firefly

I walked outside tonight to water my plants and saw my kitten laying in the grass for the longest time staring into space.  I finally realized that he was enjoying his very own laser light show in the form of a gazillion fireflies.  Of course I immediately decided to see if I could capture them with my camera.  I used a long exposure and small aperture, much as I do when shooting fireworks.  As a first try, it isn't great.  But, I was getting eaten up by mosquitoes and decided to call it a night after just a few shots.  There are a lot of weirdly colored street and house lights which were interfering a lot with where I could shoot.  And you can tell that we didn't mow the lawn this weekend with all of the glowing clover.  Give it a try in your own backyard on a dark still night.  Just bring a lot of bug spray!  I have to think about this one some more, and then try again.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
75mm - ISO 1600
30s- f/13

Don't forget

Don't forget, your job could always suck more than it does now.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 1000
1/200s- f/7.1

Nose to nose

One of the things I try to do with my pictures is to get a slightly different angle on things than what might be expected.  Staring down the nose of this plane seemed like more fun than just getting the typical "tail to nose" shot.  It would have been more fun if there were pilots inside staring back at me, but you can't have everything!

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 1000
1/50s- f/4

Day is done...gone the sun

I got in a little earlier tonight - enough to catch a pretty Cincinnati sunset!

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 200
1/20s- f/13

Not-so-glamorous

I travel every now and then on business, and I often hear people tell me how fun it must be to see all of those different places, and experience new things.  However, the photo below is a much better representation of what life on the road is really like - a view from a hotel room window after dark.  The pool sounds like a pretty nice idea after a long day, but I think I will just head to bed!  Plus, I think it is already closed.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 3200
1/4s- f/4

Midnight snack

I've been trying to get ready for a trip this week, and didn't have time for ANY pictures today until I sat down for a (probably ill-advised) midnight snack.  It is a Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream bar!  Yummy!  I had to snap it quick before it melted.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 
105mm - ISO 500
1/40s- f/9

Nikon SB900
TTL
Bounced up to ceiling

Recyclables

I'm trying to do some cleaning around the house.  Believe it or not, these are (some of) the bottles that made the cut.  Some people collect CD's, others stamps, and still others will delight (?) you with their model train collections.  I collect empty bottles.  I don't know why.

There are some good reasons to having a 50-year old stainless steel (but not in a good way) stove.  It makes a cool, reflect-y background for one's bottle collection.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 50mm f1.4
50mm - ISO 400
1/60s- f/4

Canon 580EXII
TTL
On camera, bounced up to ceiling

Weekend's end

A Sunday sunset is always a little sadder than the sunsets of the rest of the week, since it is a sign that the weekend is over.  This one was really beautiful - painting the sky and water with pinks and oranges.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
48mm - ISO 500
1/100s- f/4.5

Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease...

Our dog Yeager has been a good dog lately and hasn't eaten anything he wasn't supposed to (that we know of) for three days, so he was rewarded with a new squeaky.  He was so excited about it that he was salivating and had to keep licking his chops!

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 400
1/60s- f/4

Canon 580EXII
TTL
On camera, bounced up to ceiling

DO NOT FOLLOW DURING ADVERSE WEATHER

Today the TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle)  was in town holding a fundraiser for the victims of the Joplin tornado.  The TIV is one of the main characters in The Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers, as the storm chase vehicle for IMAX filmographer Sean Casey.  Today driver Marcus Gutierrez entertained some of the younger fans with balloon animals. 

I used my polarizing filter for the first time today, and it did a great job in the on again, off again direct sunlight of cutting down reflections and the overall glare.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 100
1/125s- f/4.5

Light #1

I had a fun time shooting local metal band Invictus downtown tonight.  I used two lights, and this is the first one I put in place - to light the wall behind them.  This helps cut down on shadows and creates separation.  I always put people too close to the background, which gives me trouble with shadows.  Once the background light was set, I moved on to the front fill light.  If it is okay with the band, I will post finished pictures later on.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
28mm - ISO 200
1/80s- f/4

Canon 580EXII
1/8 power
24mm zoom
Triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus II's

Potential

Some friends of ours are in the process of building their dream garage.  Here, the trusses point the way to their perfectly smooth concrete slab.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 
18mm - ISO 500
1/100s- f/3.5

Leather(men)

My husband and I bought Leatherman's recently.  His is ridiculously big and heavy, and mine is a more petite size.  We thought it would be fun to illustrate the difference between them.  They are sitting on a canvas panel, about 6" away from a background of the same material.  These panels come in really handy for photography because they are lightweight, sturdy, inexpensive and come in all kinds of sizes.  The flash is held slightly above the tools at camera left.  I spilled a ton of it onto the background to blow out the seam in the two panels, giving the impression that they are sitting in a huge white room.

You can see how much light reflected off of the bottom panel by the drastic color difference between each side of the grip on my knife.  The whole knife is actually the same dark blue.







Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
60mm - ISO 500
1/40s- f/4

Canon 580EXII
1/64 power
17mm zoom
1' to camera left and 6" above subject
Triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus II's

Are you a Gerber baby?

It was a long day, so I just took a picture of some Gerber Daisies that Cory bought me as a surprise on Friday.  The colors really are that strong!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
50mm - ISO 200
1/40s- f/1.8

The most important cup you will ever drink

My photo of the communion bread and cup served at church tonight was somewhat over-stylized by the lighting array on the stage -  which turned everything blue and purple.  We had a wonderful night of worshiping Christ, culminating in the celebration of communion.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
50mm - ISO 320
1/20s- f/1.8

Silliness

So much of wedding photography is formal and staged, but my favorite parts are when people stop being serious and just have fun - as the little ring bearer was doing.  The groom is quite the hunting aficionado, so the aisle was lined with plastic geese.  I thought it would be fun to shoot the ceremony from their perspective.  The ring bearer with his fingers in his ears was just a bonus.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
24mm - ISO 200
1/125s- f/14

Canon 580EXII
TTL
24mm zoom
Flash on camera

Friday night BBQ

My husband surprised me with a Friday night BBQ, which was wonderful!  I have a full day of shooting tomorrow, so I just took three pictures today - all of my dinner.  The onions on the onion bun were black, but they weren't burnt - in case you were wondering.  Tasty!

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 400
1/60s- f/4

Canon 580EXII
TTL
17mm zoom
Flash on camera bounced off the ceiling

Time is tickin' away...

If you are an impatient person, like I sometimes am, time never seems to run at the right pace.  Some things take way too long, and other times, the seconds just fly by.  I was running out of time and ideas for today's post, and I just snapped a picture of me looking at my watch in front of my blank blog entry.  The web page where I compose my blog is mostly white, and when my flash bounced off of it, it bounced back at my hand, creating a nice highlight on the monitor and producing some separation between my hand and the background.  That is why photographers always point a light behind you when you are sitting for your portrait.  It helps prevent shadows too! 

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6
105mm - ISO 400
1/20s- f/13

Nikon SB900
Bounced aboug 60 degrees above the subject
1/2 power
zoomed to 17mm

Context

Today's photo is all about context.  The photo below shows a beautiful rose and foliage.  But, unless this is a boutonniere on a groomsman, which - as you can tell by the background it is not - this picture would immediately rub a certain percentage of viewers the wrong way.  The foliage curving so sweetly around the blossom is that of a weed, not of the rosebush.   Most gardeners would be horrified, rather than inspired, by this photo.  So, we always have to keep the bigger picture in mind when we compose our shots and show our work.  Generations of marketing people have been making these kinds of mistakes; missing the tiny details that change an image from pleasing to offensive.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f4
105mm - ISO 250
1/125s- f/4