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