What Kind of Spider...

...made this web?  And do I really want to be around when it comes back?

I was going through photography withdrawals, so I took a little trip today and found this interesting structure.  From this image, you'd never guess what it really is.  And maybe I'll leave that a mystery, because I think it looks much "cooler" this way.  I've always loved geometric patterns and the sun was at just the right angle to highlight it nicely.  It drew me in as soon as I saw it.  Maybe that's what the spider was hoping for.  Hmmm.  I think maybe I'm going to leave now!

Hoops!

I went to a high school basketball game tonight to take pictures of Mr. 23.  I just wanted some fun, yet challenging, photography practice.  I took 70 shots altogether and narrowed it down to 7 for my blog.  I really like this shot, especially the facial expressions of the other players.  I just wish I could have gotten the rest of his arm and the ball in the shot.

I really like this one too. Maybe because he is looking at the camera.

This was an attempt at a panning shot, but it got pretty blurry. I still really like it though. You really feel like he is running fast with those blurred feet.

Air Time!

This is the only one where I got him and the ball in the same shot.  Not an easy thing to do!

I love the look on his face in this shot.

This one interests me because of the looks on the faces of all the people lined up behind him.

Techie Corner
I decided not to use my flash, so I eventually had to kick the ISO up to 3200 in order to stop some of the action. 3200 is super grainy, so there is a trade-off. Makes me wonder what flash would have looked like.

This was just for fun though, so I don't really care. Not the kind of photography I would like to do all the time, but nice for a change of pace.

Just Cuz

I had lunch with my cuz today.  I had warned her the night before that I wanted to do some practice portraiture with her.  As I was talking with her at the restaurant, I notice how nicely the light was coming in the window, so I decided to do my practice session right there in the booth.  From this image, you would never know that she is sitting in a restaurant.  That's one of the things I like about location portraiture.

Techie Corner

For comparison, here is a shot, straight out of the camera with no editing, to show where she was sitting.  She didn't want to take her hat off, so I said that was fine.  It's a cute hat, but the color just

wasn't working for me.  I went into Lightroom and used the handy-dandy Adjustment Brush to take out the color.  That is the best tool that Adobe has ever dreamed up!  I used a light disk behind her as a backdrop.  I didn't have a second disk, so I opened up the shadows on her face in Lightroom.  I was using f1.4 to try and blur the backdrop as much as possible.  f1.4 has such a shallow depth of field that it made her face softer than I would normally like.  However, it's great for softening wrinkles.  I added a softening technique in Photoshop to soften her face even more.

Down by the Waterfront

After my practice photo shoot yesterday, I came back to my side of town and went down to Harriet Island for a little while.  The sky had been overcast all morning (which is great for portraiture) but now the sun was trying to peek out.  I thought the red paddle wheel looked beautiful against the white of the snow on the river, so I had to get a shot.

Just as I was leaving, the sun burst out and lit up this beautiful shot of Old Glory fluttering in the breeze.

Practice Practice Practice

I'm enjoying the new camera so far and trying to get all the practice I can. My victim...er subject today was kind enough to stand outside...in the snow...with tennis shoes on. It's a good thing the weather was warmer today. A balmy 30 degrees. I rather enjoyed it since I've done many a shoot in below zero weather.

I thought these two images lent themselves really well to sepia toning. I did some post-production retouching in Photoshop, making three distinct changes to the subject in the top image. Look at the original color image at the bottom and see if you can figure out what I changed.

I made two subtle changes to this image. They might not be as obvious as the top image.

If you click on the color images, they will open up bigger in a new window, so you will have a better chance of spotting the changes.

Rolling Right Along

It's a new year, I'm learning the ins and outs of a new camera, and there is always something new to photograph. New, new new. Or in the case of today's subject, old. I have some used stuff I want to sell. What better way to break in the new camera? Hmmm. Break is a poor choice of words. There will be no breaking involved.

Techie Corner
I always struggle with lighting, but I think I did a pretty good job this time. I have to get creative since I'm dealing with hot shoe flash and slave lights instead of honest to goodness studio lights. It took several tries to get the shot just the way I wanted it. I especially like the highlights on the brake and tubing in the foreground.

Below is a quick picture of the setup. I have two slaves pointing toward the background. I have a hot shoe flash working as a slave in front of the subject. The slave flash is pointed straight at the ceiling and bouncing back down again via the light disk and the strategically hung tablecloth. The main flash is mounted on a Stroboframe bracket above my camera and I think the flash was angled at 45 degrees.

One thing to remember, be sure to take the light disk off the boom arm before taking the sand weights off the legs. Don't ask me how I know this. And don't ask me if there is a hole in my white seamless paper. Because the evidence will be gone as soon as I cut that part off. No one will ever know.