May We Meet Again In June

Just a little good-bye to May as we carry on to June. 

Timing Can Be Everything

It had been a few years since we had been to the Abbotsford Airshow. Used to go every year and I would take pictures like crazy. We didn't go for a few years but decided last year it was time again. There was a picture I wanted to try and it was to catch the two solo planes doing the Opposing Knife-Edge Pass. 

I panned with the jet from the left and when I thought they were close I pressed the button and held it. I got one chance for this shot and the timing was perfect. At least I think so. 

I am at work these days so some of the pictures will be past work.

I Prefer Mine RAW

Last night Jenn got all dolled up and went to a dance party. We took her to the hotel and of course I took my camera. I was following her around the lobby as she went taking pictures. While doing so I was goofing around with different settings I got this. 

Whoops

A few clicks on the computer and voila. I love RAW.

I could never do this with jpeg.

Let's Get Digital

For a photojournalist or news photographer making a photograph true is a must. In digital photography there was (and still is for that matter) concern over publishing something altered and presenting it as fact. Digital manipulation is a tool that made this a lot easier and it can be cause for concern.  I am not a photojournalist or news photographer. I don't think photographers should be prevented from altering an image but they should do it in an honest way. Doing things to improve a photo I believe is ok. Pretty much all of the pictures I have posted here have had some work done on them. They will have adjustments for light, colour, or sharpness. Usually they have been cropped somewhat. Photography is a recording medium that can be used to record an event or create art, or, both. 

 This photograph is a digital manipulation. I wanted a photograph with my friend Nicola and an airplane. She loves to travel and also has a love for airplanes. Unfortunately I didn't get the two together in a shot that worked. The airplane and her are from 2 different photo's taken while we were at the end of a runway. My point here is I am telling you a story, not presenting you a fact.

The jump here to see the original.

Sometimes, you just have to know it isn't happening

Well I did do some photography today but I just wasn't happy with the results. I also bought a couple rolls of film for my film camera (which is still the best camera I ever owned. I'll tell you about it soon). One colour roll and one black and white. It should be fun

In the meantime.....

Macro photography takes patience. Especially when the subject doesn’t really care what you are up to. They have a tendency to move about or fly away just as you’re about the take the shot.  When you do take the shot you’re dealing with such a shallow depth of field you can only get part of the subject in focus. I use a 100mm macro lens. It is real nice and sharp but can be awkward to use with moving subjects. Note this bee. 

The antennae and eyes are sharp, the wings are out of focus. This is ok. In most instances it is the eyes you want to focus on. All too often I get the wrong part in focus. It is a finicky type of photography and I don’t generally walk away with a lot of keepers.  However, when everything falls into place, the subject doesn’t take off and you get that focus just in the right place, it sure is worth it.

Sometimes opportunity just seems to fall in your lap. I was getting ideas that I would like to do some table top photos using flash. I had a plan in mind but was looking for something to photograph. My mother in-law Shirley stopped by with a chocolate cake and some of the most perfect strawberries I have seen in quite a while. "Eureka!" I thought, (These just happened to be imported from California) I had my subject.

If you are interested in knowing a little more about how I took this follow the jump. 

Here's Me

Okay going a bit out on a limb here. I haven't been very happy with pictures of me so I decided to try and do it myself. So I spent hours and hours and hours trying to get the lights just right. Heck I even put on a shirt and tie. When I finally thought I got it I took it to the computer and spent hours and hours and hours tweaking, and blurring and sharpening and adjusting. I finally got to something I can live with. I shouldn't just say I can live with it, I kind of like it. This was my picture project of the day. I like picture projects I think I should do more.

I used a flash shooting through an umbrella placed above the camera with a small flash to the left of me and another to the right. I know I said in the past I favour one flash but sometimes you just have to adjust. I think I got my exercise for the day walking back and forth to the camera. In the end it was worth it to me.

Hidden Gems

I didn’t get to take pictures today so here is one from the past.

Every so often I go through all my pictures on the computer. Sometimes I find photo's I had forgotten about. Take this one for example. I was just cruising the computer looking for pictures for the blog when I happened upon this one. I had always passed over it for some reason. I remember taking it and when I did I didn't think much about it. I generally don't have a lot of luck taking pictures of birds in flight. So it got put on the computer and forgotten. There it sat since Jan 2008.

On my computer I file my pictures by date and file number. I use the number the camera assigned to it for the original and any copies after. It helps when trying to track down a photo from a while back. I generally keep a picture if a) it's in focus b) it's not a duplicate. I figure they don't take up a heck of a lot of room on the computer and some day I might decide I like it. I am not sure why I passed over it when I took it but I am glad I kept it.

Get the Light and Let It Be Right

I said to my son Peter “Hey let’s go out and get a nice picture of you”. Well, he told me what he wanted so this is what we got. I wonder if his Nana will hang it on her wall.

Just kidding. He has his “post apocalyptic” gear for Hallowe’en or, the apocalypse. I thought a creepy night shot would be fun. We walked down to the park nearby last night. We started taking shots with the flash held on a light stand over Peters head. I had that Lumiquest III on the flash just to soften the light a bit. I like that thing and usually have it sitting on the flash. I take it everywhere I take the flash. My daughter Jennifer came as my able assistant and she held the flash over Peter. We had lot’s of fun going through the park taking pictures in the playground on park benches and whatever. We came home when we were done, I put them up on the computer and, all of them were out of focus.
Here’s the thing. Whenever I go out to shoot I go over all the cameras settings and make sure they are right. I did that last night but I forgot to check the focus setting which was on manual. I was “chimping” but didn’t think to zoom in to make sure they were sharp. They looked fine un-zoomed but were all soft when I put them on the computer screen. So, we were going to go out and re-shoot but the final Lost is on tonight. Can’t miss that.
Here is a another lesson I (re)learned last night. You want to get it right the first time because you will likely not get a second chance.    
This one was my favourite so I did some work on it in the computer and used a filter to give it a post nuclear glow. In the end I think it is satisfactorily creepy and I am sure Peter will like it. I know I do. 
If you don’t do it already, I highly recommend you take your camera out just before you go out and make sure it is set up right. It just takes a couple minutes and can save a whole lot of grief when you get home. I just have to get into checking the focus mode when I do this little routine.

1 June 2010. Good news I entered this picture in a photo contest on photography blog and won third place. First time I have ever placed in a photo contest. Here is the link  

Ps:

Often when I take a set of pictures to get one, there are others that I like. Like I said before the goal is to post one a day but 2 can't hurt. Right? The one I put up was exactly what I was looking for. There were others close but no bananas. This one really caught my eye I thought although the whole theme is the same the angle of the turret and the light reflecting off the tank made it stand on it's own. 

 As I indicated in the previous post, no symbolism or deep meaning. Just fun with photography and, well, toys.

Tanks for the Memories

If you are looking for the deep hidden meaning in this photograph, here it is. I bought this toy tank a few years ago for my son. When I did I kind of wondered how I could go about taking a photo of it. Now I Have.  

Into my little kitchen studio I went. I set the tank up on the kitchen table. I pulled the table away from the wall and taped a white paper backdrop. I set up my flash with a red filter in it and put it low pointing at the wall. I dimmed the lights and set a higher shutter speed. 1/125th sec. I took several shots putting the tank in several different positions. In the end I chose this one. I thought maybe the background was a little to red, so while I put it in Photoshop Elements to refine it a bit I changed the colour to make it look more like a sunset (Sunrise?).  

I get ideas in my head about taking pictures of stuff and usually don’t get around to it.  Now when I do it I wonder why I didn’t. I am sure glad I am getting motivated. 

It's About That Light

My interest in photography started in high school. I was fortunate to have taken a course in photography and learned about f/stops, shutter speed, and even darkroom work (black and white). My first cameras were manual and I would have to set everything myself. The one thing I didn't really get was metering the light. I knew  how to use the light meter in the camera basically and usually I was happy  with my pictures. Though not always. The meters in or on cameras are designed  to measure the light and get an average exposure. If the lighting situation  is a little tricky, the light meter may have difficulty getting it right.
 I set aside my photography for a time and mainly used the camera for  family photo's or holiday pictures. When I decided to pursue it again I decided  to be more in control of the light. I started getting flashes and light modifiers. I started measuring the light separate from the camera. I used different metering modes for different situations

This Picture was kind of a wow moment for me. This was the picture where I first really got what controlling the light was about. I took it with an  old Yashica12 TLR . I had 2 flashes, the main one was to my left behind an umbrella and the other one behind her high to the right highlighting her hair. I pinned a black backdrop to the wall behind her. I then used a  flash meter to set get the light readings off the flash. When I first saw the print I thought "Wow, I did that?"(Hence the wow moment). So now whenever I take  a picture one of my first considerations is how I will measure the the  light. I still use the light meter in the camera and make use of the different metering modes.
 Cameras and their light meters are a lot smarter these days and they can adapt to more situations. I think though for one who is interested in photography, it is a good idea to get their camera out of program mode and learn about aperture, shutter speed, and measuring the light. In the digital age learning is so much easier.

Subscribing to the K I S S Theory

Back to my studio in the kitchen for today's photo.  I have been looking at a little piece for some time now. It's a pretty little thing so I wanted to create something simple with it. I set it up on a white backdrop on the kitchen table. I put a little home made grid on the flash and started taking pictures.

I took about 50 pictures with the flash and camera at different angles. It didn't take long to weed it down to about 5 that looked good. Pointing the flash by hand my aim was off a lot. Some were invariably out of focus. This one was the winner. It isn't exactly what I had pictured in my mind but I think it actually looks better.  I better get this posted. Have to get this in before midnight. 

Cameras? Cameras? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Cameras.

Today I almost didn't make a picture for the blog. I never even picked up my camera. I just couldn't think of what I wanted to do. It was after dinner I got my little brainstorm. I had been scanning some pictures into the computer earlier and the scanner was still on. This is something that has been done before but I never have. 

A word of caution here. I don't think orange juice would be very good for the scanner if it got inside. So be very careful if you are going to try something like this. I was going to lay plastic wrap over the glass but couldn't find any. I kept a bunch of paper towel and glass cleaner handy and gently laid the orange slice on the glass. I was real smart here and didn't lay down the cover thus squishing the orange and getting juice all over it. I laid paper over the orange instead of laying down the cover. The image came out with the paper showing around the orange. So I took the image into Photoshop elements and changed the background to black. 
No lightning bolt revelation here. I always wanted to give it a try. Now I have. 

I Looked and I Saw......

Today I went for the abstract. 

It was raining out today and I noticed the drops on the window of the van. I sat inside the van with the macro lens on the camera. I had it set to manual focus and in as close as possible. I moved the camera slightly back and forth to bring the drops into focus. Of course it was constantly changing, drops would change shape or one would run through the camera view as I was taking the picture. I took quite a few. They would jump in and out of focus with the slightest movement. After culling out the mistakes I ended up with a few keepers and this was my favourite.
With this I was just looking through the lens and taking a picture as I saw something. It was a somewhat different and interesting way of doing it..... 

Take Some Time and Smell the...... Little Yellow Flowers

For the past couple weeks I have had to stay close to home. I did worry a little bit that I may run out of ideas not being able to go wander about freely. So far I think I've done pretty well. Out of the 8 previous blogs only one I hadn't taken that day. I seem to be getting some incentive to actually do the photography I like to think about all the time. 
I recalled talking about using the old fence at the back of our house as a background. Then I thought maybe I could actually use the fence as a subject. I had planned to take some shots of parts of the gate which has some rusty hinges. I was weed whacking around the yard earlier in the day when I happened upon this little scene in a corner of the yard. I stopped weed whacking here and carried on elsewhere. Later I took the photo's of the hinges then came back here. I had to get down low with the tripod, luckily the one I have the legs fold out just for this type of shot. I am happy with this photograph and in honour of that I decided to let these little flowers live. For now. 
It is nice be go out walking and getting photos as you go. There is also something to be said about spending some time with the subject and working on the best way to capture the image. It gives a real sense of satisfaction. I have to do this more. 


Ps: These are buttercups.

It All Came to Me in a Flash

Out on our back porch we have some strawberry plants in pots. Not sure how they got there but they come back every year. I have only ever eaten a couple tiny little ones. Every spring and summer I water them faithfully. I have always thought their flowers are quite pretty so today I decided to take some photos of them. I went out there with my macro lens and picked out a nice one. Unfortunately the sun was beating right on it and the light was harsh. Right about then the breeze started to pick up too. That little flower looked like it was shivering the breeze was knocking it about so. I was thinking about going inside and maybe waiting a while to see if things changed. Well I knew if I did that, things wouldn't change or I would get doing something else and forget to come back out. So I had to do something. The flower has to be pretty much still with macro photography because focus is so critical, just by blowing in the wind it'd jumping in and out of focus. So I took the pot in the house and plunked it on the kitchen table (my studio). Now there was no breeze blowing it about. Now to light it. I don't have a macro flash so I had to improvise a bit. I shot the flash through a white umbrella set up above the flower pointing down at it. It provided nice bright and diffuse light.

I shot this at 1/100th, f/11 with my 100mm macro lens. I focused manually which was somewhat of a fluke as my eyes just aren't what they used to be. I still don't entirely trust autofocus. The flash was controlled by the camera wirelessly. 

If you notice the little box linked to strobist.com. It is to a blog run by a fellow by the name of David Hobby. It is all about using flash off the camera. I put the link there because I learned a lot from it and even if I am not getting what he is saying on occasion, I always find him entertaining. Take a look, it's free.  

Just Go Do It

Today my daughter and I got to wander down to a park a block from our place. I had planned to do some evening shots in the little playground with her all week. We had our dinner a little late and it was fast approaching sunset and I thought we were going to be too late. At one point I said maybe we should make it another day. I remembered the weather was supposed to go downhill tomorrow so I said what the heck, let's go. We got to the edge of the park and the sun was gone. So we set up right there at the fence and spent about 10-15 minutes shooting.

I used one flash wireless on a stand about 7 feet up with a Lumiquest softbox III. It was off to my left. I set the camera to manual and metered on the sky. The flash is controlled by the camera with wireless. I am subscribing to the one flash theory. It is simple and direct. Easy to set up and take down. Making changes and being able try different things is a snap. That, and I really only have one flash I can rely on. Maybe if I get another one I'll re-visit that line of thought. But for now........

Better Get Out There

If You have been talking to friends and relatives about how you love photography and you wish it could be your job and they said "Hey, want to take my picture?" it's probably a good idea to say "Definitely let's do it". I had that opportunity today. Our young friend Robert stopped by for a visit. It was suggested I take a picture of him as he had his cool shades and a new beret. I said "Nah, maybe another time. I don't feel like it right now". Just kidding. I went and grabbed my gear and we went out on the porch for what turned out to be a rather pleasant 45 minutes or so trying out different stuff. I have to admit I had a pretty patient subject but we were able to visit while I tried a bunch of different stuff and learned a bit about using flash in the sun. I quite enjoyed myself. 

Another young fellow has been staying with us for a while. He came out on the porch for a visit while we were doing our thing. So being such a handsome fellow it was natural to take a few photographs of him.

This is taking a bit of a step away from posting one photo a day but I think putting up a couple once in a while should be okay, don't you think?

It's a New Day

I had a few thoughts today.

Looking at pictures by a lot of photographers I have been noticing how they make great use of the backgrounds they have. I am starting to think about what is around me and how I can use what is there. We have an old unpainted fence around our house that I think I can get a lot of use out of. This is my first attempt with it using my young model who is, of course, my daughter. 
This evenings little photo shoot gave me some other food for thought. If I am going to strive to take at least one picture a day, I have to get organized. So I am going to spend some time going through my gear making sure I know it works and where it will be when I need it. I am glad my daughter was rather patient with me this evening and I hope she enjoys the photo's I did for her. I may need her help again soon. Now on to tomorrow and see what I can come up with. 

My Bad

Uh oh. It's only the fourth day and it's the first one I didn't get a camera out. So see? Taking a photo a day would not have worked. I did think about it today for sure. Here is a photo I took last year. It's actually a B&W film shot I scanned into the computer at home. I took it on an outing with my family on a summer day. It almost didn't happen. I neglected to take my tripod with me so I had to shoot this hand held. I have had little success in the past hand holding a long exposure. I was pleasantly surprised when I got this back it was as sharp as it was.  Oh I was going to go all philosophical but oops it is almost midnight! So maybe more later.

That Old Camera

Since I started thinking about getting motivated I also started thinking about my old cameras. One in particular was my first digital camera. It is a Nikon CoolPix 995. I is 3.34 megapixal which is pretty much unheard of now. I was pretty pleased with it when I first got it however as I tried to get it to do more it started to show it's short comings. Shutter lag. It makes action shots of any kind problematic. You have to stick to the lower iso's because it has such a small sensor. Otherwise the pictures start to take on noise. I took it out to try this morning after dusting it off and charging the battery. I set it to the highest quality (tiff format) took a picture, and waited.        and waited.     and waited. At least 30-45 seconds to load the image to the card. I will stick with fine (jpeg) from now on. Much faster. The camera has it's advantages. It has a swivel design between the lens housing and camera body. So taking photographs low down or high up is pretty easy. The macro mode works pretty well even though the focusing is slow. I put in an old 512 meg card I found in a drawer and it will hold 320 photos in jpeg fine. The battery in it won't hold a charge in it for that many pictures so I don't think I ever have to worry about filling the card. 

I decided to use this to get my picture for today. I went out in the front yard this morning to try out the macro feature on it.
I think I am going to keep it dusted off and the battery charged. There may well be times I can use it when my dslr might be awkward. There may also be times when I just want to take it out and fiddle with it.

Getting Down to the Wire

It's 11:30 at night. Got to get that photo in today. Wanted to be sure I did something new as this is only my second post! I had been thinking about posting a photo of the Rhododendrons out front or of my guitar (just starting to learn so no gigs planned yet). I was going to post the Rhodo's today and maybe the guitar tomorrow. I was messing with some photo's of the guitar and something clicked (oh, hm could that have been the camera?) and I pictured flowers on the guitar. Here is what I came up with.
This was done in my kitchen. I used a black cloth on the table and in the background, a backlight in an umbrella beside the table and my hotshoe flash off to the left with a real long home made snoot pointing at the flowers. In other words a jury rigged little studio. You do what you can with what you have, right? It was fun even though it probably took a lot longer than it should have. 
Right, I had better get this posted. Almost midnight. 

And There Was Light

Hello. So here is my blog. I am just starting so let's see how this goes. One of my favourite pastimes is photography. I think, read, and talk about it every day.I have noticed however I haven't been picking up the camera very much. Actually until yesterday I hadn't in a couple of weeks. I thought maybe I should do something that will get me motivated. I also enjoy reading photography blogs. My first idea was the "photo a day for a year". It's been done and I think for me to actually try and do that every day would be setting myself up for failure. I work 12 hour days on my job and those days are just too long to commit. I decided to do a "post a photo a day for a year". If I can't take one I'll post one I had taken in the past. This is a start. I took this yesterday to represent a small light to grow brighter as I get better at this. Don't barf, okay?
Thanks for visiting and hope you return soon.

Brook