A Mile In My Shoes

Hello my friends,

I hope everyone is having a very happy holiday season.  This is my favorite time of year.  Here is some news to keep everyone up-to-date, I got invited to participate in a 52 pic-up challenge for 2012.  That basically means that I will post 1 photo a week for the 52 weeks of the year.  It should be fun.

So I have officially retired my very 1st pair of Dr. Marten boots that I own.  I have had them since 1995, and have worn then off/on all those years.  We have been through a lot.  As I was putting them in the closet, I got the idea that they would make a great photo subject. 

I call this photo "A Mile In My Shoes"

I used the same light painting technique that I used when photographing my belt (see previous posts).

Thanks for stopping by and have a Merry Christmas.

AP

A little faith...

Hello My Friends,

I had so much fun previously taking macro photos, I thought I would try it again. 
I used a reverse lens adapter, not a true macro lens.  I am hoping I am on Santa's good list, because a true macro lens is on my Christmas list. 

These shots are of a cross and chain.  I have been reflecting alot this years end, so this subject just felt right. 

AP 

Rings

Hello my friends,

What can I say, I am a romantic.  I borrowed my wifes ring for an evening.  Her condition for borrowing it was that I clean it for her. 

I was going for a marriage/love theme with a nice bokeh effect.     

The lights in the background are actually our Christmas tree lights. They make a nice bokeh effect.

Here are the results of the evening. 

AP

Best Belt Ever!!

Hi All,

In my last post I mentioned that I would take a few photos of my belt and how I thought everyone would get a kick out of it. 

Well here it is.  Yes it has a Flathead screwdriver, a #2 Phillips, a bottle opener, and a 8/10/11mm wrench loop. 
For those wondering, yes I have actually really used them.    

It is the best belt I have ever own.

As for the photos, I have a new appreciation for product photography.  The floor surface I placed the belt on was rather glossy (last two photos) which caused me grief by creating lots of reflection.  The belt itself is very shining, which caused lots of glare. 

On the last two photographs I actually painted the light on the belt.  By that I mean, the room was dark (low ISO, f/22, long shutter speed 15sec) and I used a flashlight to paint the light on the belt.  Its a pretty neat technique, I will definitely use it again. 

AP

In God We Trust

Hello my friends,

Here are a few that I took using a reverse lens adapter (poor man's macro lens).  Oh...I also got to use my new Manfrotto tripod and ball head.  I am really liking them. 

A reverse lens adapter is an adapter that allow you to reverse your lens on your camera...kinda like looking through a pair of binoculars backwards.  This allows you to be able to take really close up photos. 

I used my 35mm prime lens and an external speedlight.  Ideally you want to be able to control your aperture.  The objects were items I had around my desk.  Yes I always have gears and screws around my desk, not to mention, springs, electric motors, screwdrivers,... all things mechanical... after all I am a Mechanical Engineer. (That reminds me I need to take a photo of my belt, you all would get a kick out of it)  What's funny is that most of these items Paula found in my pockets before washing. 

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy these photos. 

In God We Trust

Beauty Everywhere

Screw You!

Setscrews Sux

Shadow

I have been wanting to take some photos of my dad's motorcycle for some time and finally got a chance to this past Saturday.  Total shoot time ~15mins. 

It is, I believe, a 2009 Honda Shadow Spirit.  The tins on the bike are metallic pearl white. 

The shoot took place at St Mary's University in one of there empty parking lots.  Very sunny conditions.  This and the combination of the white tins made setting the exposure a little difficult. 

Equipment:

• D3100, no tripod all handheld
• 18 to 55mm VR lens
• Manual setting

Overall, I am happy with the results.

AP

 

Love is patient...

First let me start by saying that the photo I am posting today is my version of a classic photo, so I cannot take creative credit for it. 

I saw this image a few times floating the web on photo sites, but I never saw a version with 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  That's not to say there isn't a version like that, but I never saw it before.  The filter heart shadow and 1 Corinthians just fit together in my mind. 

Anyway...here is my version. 

Simple Setup: Bible, Light with light stand, tripod, camera, and polarized lens filter.   Oh.. and a piece of a cardboard box to block the light at the top of the Bible, given it the photo a closeness feel to it.  The Bibles glossy pages gave me a little hard time, but overall I am very happy with the photo. 

Setting:
ISO 100
Focal length 44mm
Shutter Speed 1/5sec (low light)
Aperture f/13 (to keep the text clear)

AP

Self Portrait

This one has some personal significance too me. 

In general, I tend to be the shooter (the photographer) and rarely in many photos, especially with my family and friends.  I don't mind really (maybe I do a little), but every once in a while I like to make a rare appearance. 

Mainly because one day, when my kids are grown up, I would like to pull the old photo book out.... okay okay... old iPad out and say.... look that's me.. I was not always old. 

In that effort, I took a self portrait, a little vain... yes... but it was for science (experience) sake.

I decided to go with B&W, I just like B&W photos better.  Maybe next time I will smile more. 

Here is the result.
Lighting in my garage was challenging, even with a external flash. 

Settings
ISO = 100
Local Length = 55
F-Stop = f/11
Shutter Speed 1/30sec
External Speedlight to left (Photographer propestive)
Black sheet as background

Ode to water...Part 1

Hello all,

This one took much longer and was harder than I thought it would be.  I wanted to freeze a water drop. 
I messed around with trying to learn how to capture these shots over a course of a week.  My initial results were horrible...blur...out of focus... under exposed... just a mess. 

I quickly learned that to capture these shots was more about lighting than anything else.  I attempted several methods these included:

1. Light from several light stands only.  No flash.  It turned out to be very difficult to get enough light from even several light stands.  Most of the images I captured with this method were very under exposed. 
2. Light from a speedlight (external flash) triggered remotely by my camera.  This method limited my shutter speed to the flash sync speed of 1/200sec. 
3. Light from a speedlight (external flash) triggered by hand using a longer exposure time in a low light room.  In this methond the flash duration freezes the action.

The best photos I captured thus far are from using Method 2.  I found that although my flash sync speed was 1/200sec, the flash duration was key.  The lower the flash power/intensity, the quicker/faster the flash burst, the better the image and frozen action.   

Method 3 showed lots of promise, and I will try using that method again in the future.  It seems to have a lot of potential. 

I am not completely satisfied with these photos, I feel I could do better.  The light source can be clearly seen in most of these photos which distracts from the splash event in my opinion.  They are still pretty cool.  Oh, I did use some flash gels (color transparencies) to give the image some color.  I also used blue food coloring to water to make it stand out more. 

I will definitely attempt to capture this event again in the future. 

The 1st image looks almost alive. 

General setup:
Len used: 55 to 200mm
f/8
1/160 to 1/200 second
ISO 200
Speedlight used with remote trigger.

AP

Inner Demons....

Hello my friends

I finally cleared my garage some and setup a little work area for taking photos.  Very happy about this. 

Got to work on two very cool photography projects this weekend.  Let me dive right in...

1.  A buddy of mine at work saw the photos I took of fire and asked if I would take one of a glass skull (empty Crystal Skull Vodka bottle) he had.  Below are the results.  The flame made the skull look blue (no photo editing). 

I used the same basic setup as my 1st fire photo shoot.

• Tripod
• Mirror plate (for cool reflections)
• Lighter fluid
• Fire extinguisher (so I don't burn the house down)
• Lighter
• Camera

Basic camera setting Manual mode:

• ISO 100
• Focal Length: 35mm (my prime lens)
• Aperture: f/1.8 (to let in a lot of light)
• Shutter speed: 1/320 sec (would of like to have gone a little faster, but did not want to miss with  my ISO to keep a good exposure)

2.  I call this one "Inner Demon".  We all have one.  I was inspired by a photo I saw taken by Evan Sharboneau. I had a lot of fun making this one.  I used Photoshop Elements to create the results.  I used the layer overlay and multiple tool to overlap the images.  I am very happy with the results.  At first I was just going to use a regular pseudo-serious look, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to do this version.

 
 

Buzzing around...

Hello my friends,

Here's some that I captured at my folk's house.  They have some nice flowers on their front porch.  We were sitting talking when I saw these bees working away.  I hadn't seen bees in a while, so it brought a smile to my face.    Does any know the name of these flowers?

Shots info:

• Taken by hand (no tripod)
• Lens: 35mm
• Manual mode
• ISO 100
• Shutter speed range 1/640 to 1/3200sec.  I used the higher shutter speeds to freeze the bees in time. 
• f-Stop (appeature) rang f/2.8 to 7.1.  Played with the f-stop to change the depth of field. 

I really like ones with the bees in flight. 

Equipment report:  I ordered a new speedlight (external flash) and some light stands.  I should get them this weekend.  You know its a hobby when you start spending money. 

I got some projects that I am excited about that I will be working on over the weekend if time allows, so check back in soon. 

AP

 

Waste Land, Fairies, and a Festival

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing well.  I have a few for this weekend. 

• Well I finally got a camera into Pick-n-Pull (one of my favorite spots).  It was my canon powershot and not my dslr.  The only plus is I added a hack to my canon to allow me to save the images in RAW format (aka  digital negatives).  Shooting RAW allows me to adjust the images a bit more than I could with JPEG.  I could not control the camera settings that much, but here are two that I liked. 

• I was inspired by a friend of my on levitation photos this pass week.  He had a donut floating on a table that look pretty neat, so I thought I give it a try.  I got my kiddos involved in this one.  They had a blast, and so did I.  I am happy with the results.  Also attached are photos of my two fairies. 
• Here is the general process for those who are interested.  Take a photo of the background with out your subjects.  Take a photo with your subject in the frame.  In this case my girls were laying on some outdoor footrests.  Merge photos using layer in a program like photoshop elements and use the masking tool to remove the footrests.  Insint backyard fairies.

• The last one for today is a portrait style shot of my girls at the Little Flower festival.  That's the festival in the background.  I wanted a blurred background so I set the f-stop to 2.8.  I also bumped up the shutter speed as high as I could without effecting exposure (1/640sec).  I have learned from shooting my girls that they move fast so I need to capture the shoot at a high shutter speed to avoid blur motion. 

Thanks for looking...AP

Watching time pass by...

Its been a good learning weekend for me.  I had a chance to get out late yesterday to play with time exposures.  The results are below. 

Over the past month or so, I have been scouting spots to take long exposure shots of streets/roads/highways.  I wanted to capture the lights and colors of cars driving by at night. 

I settled on the roof level of the North Star mall parking lot, adjacent to 410.  Below are some of my better results. 

I experimented with different shutter speed settings ranging from 1/2sec to 10sec.

Setup:  Top of North Star Mall parking garage, tripod, camera, and remote trigger (to reduce trigger vibrations).

Setting for these images. 
Mode: Manual
Aperture: f/8, F/9, and F/3.2 respectively
Shutter Speed: 3sec (all)
ISO: 100 (all)
Focal Length: 35mm on DX sensor. (~50mm on full frame camera)

Notes:  Exposure was less of an issue in this session due to the long exposure time.  (Plenty of time for the sensor to gather light.)

Artistic notes: I love this perspective time.   

Beauty everywhere...fire

Well... continuing on my 4 elements theme, I gave fire a try.  The results are below.  It was a fun session and I didn't burn the house down.  I got some good practice with working on setting my exposure. 

The last two images, I did some split toning to give the photos a more dramatic/artistic look. 

Setup:  Nikon D3100, tripod, two clamp lights, garage overhead light, lighter fluid, a nice looking glass, a mirror plate, black sheet, lighter, and fire extinguisher (just in case.)

Camera settings:
ISO =100
Focal Length = 35mm (loving my Prime lens)
Aperture = 4.5 to 5.6 range
Shutter Speed = 1/125 to 1/640 sec

Earth is next on my agenda... not sure what to do with that???

Oh and I adjusted the blog setting so that anyone can post comments. 

Bubbles...Hoo ha ha!

Hi all...
This one was harder to capture than I expected.  I wanted to capture the psychedelic fluid look of the exterior of bubbles.
 
Setup: Two can lights, tripod, camera, black sheet, and bubbles (of course) 

Camera settings:

• ISO = 1600 (I played with ranges from 400 to 1600.  I need a better way to diffuse the light to get better exposure.  I will have to work on that.)
• f/stop = 4.5
• Shutter speed = 1/200sec

 So, what do you think?
AP

Liquid stop...

Hi all,

I didn't have to much time to miss with this one, but I am pleased, in general, with results. 
I wanted to stop time. 

Setup: Wine glass, water with food color, 100w light can, camera, wood board, mop, and pitcher. 

Shot setting as seen: 55mm, Iso 1600 (A bit high, need an external trigger flash), f/7.1, 1/1000sec. 

Overall, I am generally happy with the results.  I wanted a little more stop action to the water, maybe a higher speed next time.  The most difficult part was pouring the water into the glass. 

It seems I am on a 4 elements kick lately.  Let see I did smoke (air) and water.... maybe fire or earth is next.   

There is beauty everywhere...

Its been a few days since my last post... been busy with family and work. 
But all in all its been going good. 

Today I decided to go up in smoke.... lol
Smoke photography that is...  I saw an awesome photograph of smoke several years back and was taken back by its simple beauty.  One does not think of smoke as beautiful, but it can be.  Or at least that is my goal. 

My setup---
Trip to Walmart with my girls before practice to get:
Incenses and a black sheet.

Simple setup.  Tripod, camera, remote trigger to reduce shake, incenses, lighter, and sheet of paper to diffuse my onboard camera flash. 

Played with camera settings for about 15 minutes and the final results are below. 
The best photos ended up with 1/60sec shutter speed, 1.8 f-stop, manual focus, and iso 100.  I was surprised about the f-stop setting. 

I would love to here what everyone or anyone thinks.

Until next time...