Christmas Past (2013)

Hello my friends,

Its been to long.  Here is a quick one. 
I call it "Christmas Past"

May you and yours have a Merry Christmas.

AP

Perspective (39 of 52)

Hello my friends,

Life is all about perspective.
I took this one at Enchanted Rock.  For those of you not from Texas, Enchanted Rock is a huge pink granite rock formation approximately 15 miles north of Fredericksburg, Texas. 

The photo is of my girls looking at a pool of water that collected on the rock. 

Cloudy day.
ISO 100
50mm
f/10
1/100sec

I call this one "Perspective".

AP

Know Thyself (38 of 52)

Hello my friends,

I have been wanting to do this one for sometime. 
I probably could of spent a whole day perfecting this shot and image, but I applied the engineering adage of "shoot the engineer" to "shoot the photographer" to keep this project reasonable. 

Equipment
1- wooden artist model picked up years ago at Michaels.
1- Adam The Doodles Man picked up during out last visit to the McNay Art Museum.
1- off camera flash.
1- remote trigger for the flash.
1- 50mm prime lens.
1- D600 camera.
1- tripod.
1- bookcase with glass doors.
1- my wife's office as stage.  Note to self:  Don't forget to put wife's stuff  back to there original places.

The reflection is from glass door on my wife's office bookshelves.  The hardest part of the project was to get the reflection to show up clear.  Overall I am happy with the results. 

I call this one "Know Thyself".

If you want more details, just ask. 

AP

Taking Back My Crayons (37 of 52)

Hello my friends,

I have been reading a lot on the subject of creativity lately, how to encourage it, cultivate it, grow it, call upon it, nurture it, etc... In one book I am reading, it said basically when you are young you are encouraged to use your imagination, color, draw, sing, play... you are given a box of crayons.  Then as you grow and your education continues you are taught rules, facts, laws, history, the creative learning process stops and basically your crayons are taken away from you.  Well I am taking my crayons back :)

I call this one "Taking Back My Crayons!"

Took this one outside on my back deck.  The backgound pattern you see is my deck slats and shadows from the trees.  I used a flash as a fill light.  This also improved the contrast of the image. 

A.Parvin

Little too Late (36 of 52)

Hello my friends,

I am playing a some catch-up on my 52 pic adventure for the year.   

Texas has been under severe drought condition most of the summer.  Lots of rivers have dried up.  Lots of brown lawns.  I even did a rain dance the other day to see if it would help.   

We had a tease of a shower this afternoon.  Rained for about 1 min and then stop.  I was looking at my lawn and came across one of my Mexican Heather plants that I lost.  I ran back into the house to grab my gear. 

Taken with a 10x close-up filter, f/22, 1/125sec, on a tripod.  The problem with using a close-filter is you get a lot of distortion around the edging. 

I call this one: "Little too Late"

AP

Selfie (35 of 52)

Hello my friends,

I have not taken a self-portrait in a while, so I figured it was about time.  But you know me, I had to try to make it interesting, so here is my version. 

Shot wide open f/1.8 with 50mm prime lens. 

I call it "Selfie" 

A.Parvin

Deadly Beauty (34 of 52)

Hello Everyone,

Here is one I hope you will find interesting. 
Created using a projector, model (my wife ;)... I should start paying her..lol) and tripod.

Shot at ISO 3200, 1/50sec, f/14. 

I call it "Deadly Beauty"

AP

Double Take (33 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

For this week I set my goal to use the multiple exposure feature on my D600.  I figured how hard could this be.  I understood the base concept, which is two shots on one frame.  To be honest, it was harder than I thought.  Taking multiple exposures really makes you think about the lighting in your shot. Where is it in your 1st shot? Where is it in your second? How will it blend??

Yes this can be done in post processing (e.g. Photoshop), but what fun is that.  Okay... it can be fun, but this was much more challenging. 

I am not sure how much I will use this feature in the future.  Post processing in Photoshop would be easier in my opinion, but it is nice to know I have options.  I might try using it for motion blur next time, rather than overlay.  Maybe even using a tripod.  We will see... 

Here is one using this feature.  I call this one "Double Take". 

AP

 

Inspiration from the Past (32 of 52)

Hello My Friend,

Here is one I call " Inspiration from the Past".  My wife and I had the opportunity to take the kiddos to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  We all had a blast.  Here is one that I captured during the visit. 

It is of my girls looking at the Saturn V rocket displayed in Rocket Park.  This rocket is on display inside a metal building.  They couldn't believe how long and big it was. 

Shot Stats: ISO 5000, f/5.6, 1/250sec. 
 
AP

Texas Heroes (31 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

Today I got to visit The Texas Vietnam Heroes Exhibit at the Institute of Texan Cultures.  What a powerful exhibit.

It was free admission Sunday so the Institute had a good crowd, lots of folks viewing the exhibit. 
The exhibit is a tribute and memorial to the 3,417 Texans who gave there lives in the Vietnam War.  The exhibit consists of 3,417 individual dog tags that visitors are able to touch.  As people search through the dog tags the clanging of them against each other is so amazing and very surreal. 

Here is my tribute to these fallen Texan heroes.  I highly recommend the exhibit.  I believe it will be at the Institute of Texan Cultures until Aug 25th.  Here is a little more about the exhibit.  http://youtu.be/9Ng0q1AE5hI


I got this one when the main dome movie started.  For those not familiar with the Texan Culture dome shows, it is a multi screen movie that plays in the main dome area of the Institute on the subject of Texas history.  Its about 10mins long.  When everyone was distracted by the movie, I cranked my ISO way up, drop my f-stop and was able to grab a few shots of this amazing exhibit.  

Shot: 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60sec, ISO 4000.  Do to my f/1.8 aperture my depth of focus was very narrow, giving the image a Lens Baby effect, in my opinion. 

I call this one "Texas Heroes"

AP

La Forma (Week 30 of 52)

Hello my friends,

Here is one for this week.  I missed week 28 and 29, I will have to play catch up. 
I would like to thank my anonymous model for the opportunity and my wonderful wife for the support.

This one was all about the lighting and flash position.  I used black seamless paper for the background.  The flash position was off to the side and offset behind my model.  The position of the flash was critical in this one.  I wanted to capture the bodies contours and outline, this was easier said than done.  I probably moved the flash position over a dozen times.   

Camera setting: ISO 100, 1/100sec, f/11

I call this one "La Forma".

AP

Enchanting View (Week 27 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

For this week, I am going with one of my go to models, my wife. I took this one a few weeks back when we went to Enchanted Rock. 
The exposure was tough on this one. 

I opt to split tone this image for a more dramatic effect. 

I was trying to follow the rule of thirds with Paula's position and the horizon in my framing of the photo.

In addition, trying to give the photo some depth by having Paula in the foreground, trees in the mid-ground and Texas rolling hills in the background.

I call this one "Enchanting View" :)

AP

 

Lotus Drop (Week 26 of 52)

Hello My Friends,

I freaking love science.  A buddy of mine sent me a link to Never Wet.  This stuff is Awesome.  It is a coating product that creates a superhydrophobic layer on the object it is sprayed on.  In other words, it prevents water from sticking.   Rustoleum sales it for $20 at Home Depot. 

I call this one "Lotus Drop", since a Lotus leaf beads water similarly.

Can you guess what I coated?  I will give you a hint, its ratio is 6.14 x 2.61.
AP

A Walk to the Park (Week 25 of 2013)

Hello My Friends,

This week I was trying compose with leading lines and symmetry.  I took this one at Hemisphere Park on a Sunny day.  No golden hour here, just hot blazing hour.
It is a hand shot (i.e. no tripod), f/4.5, 1/200, ISO 100, 85mm.

I have also been trying to crop in camera (i.e. compose the shot I want) and not crop post process.  Trying to do better at this to reduce time editing and spend more time shooting.   

Again here are two of my favorite models (my girls).  I call this one "A Walk to the Park".

Until next week. 
AP

Vino (Week 24 of 2013)

Hello My Friends,

Sorry I have been gone for so long. 
Here is one I call "Vino"

It's a shot of my wine glass with reflective light in the background. 
I was actually trying for a rim reflection effect, but I need more practice setting that shot up. 

Taken with my awesome Father's Day gift, Nikon D600 :)
That's right, full frame baby!  Looking forward to seeing what this puppy can do. 

Take Care,
AP

Flying the Sun (1/52-2013)

Hello my friends,

I hope everyone is doing well.
I wanted to tkank all the 52 pic club members for all the inspiration they gave me from all there wonderful photos in 2012.  I kinda fell off with my contributions towand the last quarter of the year, only making 33 of 52 pics for the year.   

Here is one for the start of this year.  I call it "Flying the Sun". 
Paula (my wife) came up with the idea. 

The exposure was tricky due to the sun, but with several attemps and a little processing, I am happy with it. 

  AP