They grow up so fast!

Nothing technically or artistically interesting today, but tonight I shot a few pictures at my daughter's first Christmas, oops I mean 'Winter' Concert.

I didn't expect too much, as I was dealing with horrid lighting, a position too far away at a bad angle, a spotlight moving all over the place, harsh direct flash lighting, and a microphone stand that looks like it's coming out of her head in some shots. Still, I think she's cute :)







All shot at 200mm with the 7D, 70-200 f/2.8L IS locked in at 1/100th shutter, f/2.8 at ISO 400 with the flash in E-TTL mode a +1/3 stop. Can't complain!

My day job meets my wannabe night job...

In my day job, I'm an IT monkey for a branch of the provincial healthcare organization here in Winnipeg. A lot of my co-workers know about my hobby/wannabe other job so I've done a lot of shooting around for them here and there.

Today, I actually had a commission of sorts from a friend and co-worker who is the lead web developer for our organization. He needed a shot of a keyboard and stethoscope and had already blown their photo rights budget for the fiscal year. So, perhaps this isn't a paid job, but maybe when the budgets refresh in the new year, they'll consider some in-house photography services.



The backdrop was left off-white since the shot is going to be overlaid on a as-of-yet-unselected backdrop colour. There is a clear difference in lighting between the rear 'wall' and 'floor' of the lightbox, but perfection there wasn't really required in this instance. In addition, popping the lights at even brighter settings blew out the chrome on the stethoscope and presented a whole new range of problems.

Lighting on the right side is an LP160 through the Lumiquest SBIII at 1/16th power. On the left is another LP160 at 1/16th power through the side of the lightbox. The left light is at a higher intensity to really make the chrome pop and to get a nice drop shadow. Both were optically triggered by the 580EX II on-camera at 1/32nd power, pointing up with the Omnibounce for a nice soft fill light from above.

Shot with the 7D, EF-S 60mm Macro at f/5.6, ISO 100 and 1/200th shutter.

Backyard Buns!

Hey all!

Another length of time between posts, but this is just a matter of lack of free time. My passion to shoot is surely back, but I'm realistic about just how busy the next month will be.

I had a good opportunity today though. We fill our bird feeders all winter, and one reason is actually the bunnies! It's quite a sight to see, the rabbits dig in the snow for fallen seed, and when they leave, the birds come and scope out leftovers in the burrows. All winter long we have little guys popping out of the drifts.

I'm sure the rabbits know us by now, they are pretty fearless and he let me get quite close:



It's nice to see wildlife in the backyard, especially in the winter.

Taken with the 7D and 70-200mm at 200mm, AV mode at f/5.6 and ISO 100. Post processing to dull the blue in the snow, heighten contrast and sharpen.

Gotta shoot, gotta shoot, gotta shoot!

Hi everyone!

How long has it been, two weeks or so? The bug is coming back and today I finally had an instant inspiration, grabbed my camera, and shot something on the way home from the office. Oh, and it felt *good*.

With the Holiday season coming, maybe Santa will bring me back my inspiration.

Anyhow, here we go:



The parking authority here, like in most cities, is a brutal regime of heartless monsters that prey on the innocent and weak. No matter the weather, they are out looking for more victims. Well, maybe they are not that bad, but man they aren't good!

Pretty simple, a little bit of street photography, a hit of selective colouration and a slice of life in downtown Winnipeg in November.

Impish

My Daughter started kindergarten this year (and I've been sick every week since she started!) and her two new best friends both have short hair. Of course this means that she went in to the hairdresser and had a foot of hair lopped off this weekend.

I think she looks rather impish with the new cut:



Of course, the expression might have something to do with that.

I needed my fill light (camera left) a little higher as there is a bit too much shadow on that side of her face, but I like this shot a lot :) This was shot with the 70-200, a four light setup (primary, fill, background and hair) and processed in a vintage style. Fairly standard for my portrait stuff now.

On the business side of things, there *is* no business side of things at the moment. I'm okay with that, it's there if I need it, and all it costs me is $13 a month for hosting at the moment. I don't have as much time to devote to it as I'd like anyhow, so another year or two of practice won't hurt me.

Woof! Pt 2!

A while back I went to take a few quick shots of a friends' new Sheltie, Rascal. They have two Shelties and wanted some more pictures taken, and a pic of both together for submission to a fundraising calendar. Hopefully it gets selected :)

I shot with the 70-200 and a single flash on-camera, the 580EX II using a Sto-Fen Omnibounce to diffuse. The lighting is simple but for a fast moving critter, setting up lighting would be an exercise in futility. All in all they worked out well!

First, they wanted a similar shot to the once linked above of their other dog, Roxy:



Roxy wouldn't lay down, but the look is similar enough that the two would look cohesive if seen together.

Roxy was happier to pose on the couch, and gave me this shot:



The couch was also where I tried to get both together. This was by far the hardest shot to get since they were trying to play together and any noise made to draw their attention pulled them off the couch to investigate.

Still, I got one that was half-decent :)



Not direct eye contact, but at least they have their ears up and look interested. The point to learn here is that whoever is making the distracting noise should be *directly* behind the camera!

Pom!

Tonight, after two weeks of exhaustion, I got out my camera. Two weekends ago the bug the family had came back with a bit of a vengeance and we ended up at the ER with my little dude. He vomited for seven straight days before we finally shook the bug.

This last weekend was my daughter's fifth birthday, so we had a party with her kindergarten classmates, and one with our family. I took some pictures then as well, but those are just for us :)

So, the subject today was a case of bright red pomegranates that finally came back into stock at our local Costco. We are big pom fans in our house, so this was a joyous occasion.

The first shot is the cutoff stem, which tend to be full of these curled little fibers that remind me of the Sarlacc in Return of the Jedi :)



Second, I was just playing around with contrasting subjects, and my wife pointed out that our composter was full of little garden slugs. How could I resist giving one a chance to sample such an exotic treat?



I named him Sluggy Slug. Good boy, Sluggy Slug.