The colours of imagination

Day three of my Project 365, and I actually have a third picture! Will wonders never cease.

My daughter is working through her new giant box o' crayons from Christmas, and my wife suggested that the big pile of them might be a good photo subject. I was happy to oblige!



I had to saturate this pretty heavily in post because crayons are honestly not as vibrant as you would think. Naturally, I think you would get better colours from pencil crayons in this kind of shot, but the saturation increase seems to have helped enough.

I'm working on more elaborate lighting, and have a few new toys: a wireless trigger set for my 580EX II, a light stand and umbrella, and second stand and umbrella with a small optically-slaved A/C powered strobe for a fill light. This shot was taken with the flash on-camera and the Sto-Fen diffuser, with the fill light opposite and above the crayons to prevent any excessive shadowing. There is still some shadow cast beneath the topmost crayons, but earlier test shots without the strobe were much harsher.

I'll be giving the new lighting setup a workout in the near future, as I've had some family friends volunteer for some portrait work. I think I'll rent the EF 24-70 f/2.8L for the shoot, and see what I can do with this gear.

A walk along the river...

Today was the first day of a new training course that I am attending at Riverview Health Centre, a building I actually worked at for short while a few years ago.

One of the nicest features at this facility is, as one would guess, the view of the Red River. Given the current season, however, the view is rather less green and lush than usual. Still, given fifteen extra minutes at lunch time, I grabbed my camera and went shooting.

There are communal vegetable gardens along the berm that separates the river from the facility, and beyond that a strip of forest filled with trails used by joggers and bikers whenever there is no snow on the ground. Although we have dodged the snow, the temperatures are still just above freezing, and the trails are lonely at the moment.



One of the nicest features of these little trails and paths are the handmade birdhouses that are literally everywhere. I counted at least fifty in the ten or so minutes I had to actually shoot pictures. The birdhouses, like the trails, are waiting for the spring to return.





All these shots were taken with the 60mm macro. I honestly don't think it's left my camera since it arrived.

My last shot for today didn't come from the river walk, but from a quiet moment with my daughter.



I went monochrome with this shot again. I'm not sure how you decide which shot should be converted to mono, but this one is more moving in mono. Maybe that's the only criteria?

Anyhow, I think it's important to point out that the dog's tongue is being coloured purple. I wish I had a purple tongue.