The end of another weekend

Well, another summer weekend is over *sigh*. Driving home from a cookout with some dear friends, we had an amazing view of the setting sun. The actual sunset, with its dramatic, flashy oranges, pinks and purples was off to camera right, but I was attracted to the layers of blues from the clouds on the outer edges of the action.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

25mm ISO 200
1/2500s f/4

My day

So I spent the whole day watching movies on Lifetime...

Just kidding. But when I saw the edge of a copy of The Ladies Home Journal, I knew I had to snap it.

Canon 5D Mark II
Promaster 70-300mm f3.5-5.6
300mm - ISO 400
1/60s- f/5.6

Canon 580EXII
TTL

Billions and billions

I have always loved this McDonald's sign downtown. I'm sure it is historic, but I didn't find any information on it during a quick Google search. Much like last night's photo, I used a tight aperture to keep the details crisp.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

105mm ISO 400

1/13s f/18

A capitol night

One of the side effects of being a photographer is an increased sensitivity (and irritability) toward lighting conflicts. The Capitol building is lit up with some seriously yellow lights at night, but the statue on top is being hit with bright white flood lights. It certainly stands out that way!

This shutter speed/aperture combination perfectly lit up the building yet preserved the detail of the scene. I started with twice the aperture, but I wasn't getting the crispness that I wanted in the architecture. Sometimes we make the mistake of shooting wide open in low light, but that often results in a loss of detail.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

50mm ISO 400

1/1.3s f/10

Swimming in a strange sea

When I was little, I loved to doodle all over my school notebooks. I'm not sure what I was going for with this white-out turtle, but when I narrowed my focus on it, the foreground became a seaweed jungle for it to swim through. That is the fun of selective focus - it can turn a distracting part of the scene into something that enhances your subject.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

105mm ISO IEV

1/30s f/5.6

SB900
1/4 power
105mm zoom
Bounced off ceiling

Backed into a corner

I was running short on time tonight and decided to play with my macro lens. This is a walking stick leaning up against the corner of two walls. The shallow depth of field makes the background very interesting, and helps draw your eyes to the middle of the picture.

Canon 5D Mark II
Promaster 70-300mm f3.5-5.6
180mm - ISO 400
1/60s- f/4.5

Canon 580EXII
TTL
Bounced up to ceiling

A fresh juicy bite

Nothing says "summer" like a big slice of watermelon. I decided to stage these slices isolated on white, to allow the colors to really shine. Then I nuked it with my flash on 1/4 power bounced off the ceiling. I put an orange gel on my flash to play nicely with the overhead lights of the room I was in, which is why the lighting is even throughout with no strange color casts.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

42mm ISO 1EV

1/30s f/4.8

Nikon SB900
1/4 power
42mm zoom
Bounced off ceiling