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