So, I did have some shots of the strike, but they were bad. I did, however get some nice shots while I was setting up the lights:
All in all not a good day, and after yesterday's picture, a pretty uninspiring shot. They can't all be winners.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Strikeout...
Hey, remember last week when I decided to try and capture a snake strike? I apparently can't learn my lesson because I tried it again today... As the title of the post suggests, no luck. On the positive side, no bloggers were injured in the making of today's post.
So, I did have some shots of the strike, but they were bad. I did, however get some nice shots while I was setting up the lights:
All in all not a good day, and after yesterday's picture, a pretty uninspiring shot. They can't all be winners.
So, I did have some shots of the strike, but they were bad. I did, however get some nice shots while I was setting up the lights:
All in all not a good day, and after yesterday's picture, a pretty uninspiring shot. They can't all be winners.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Somedays, it's just easy...
Day 72 was pretty easy. Why you ask? Because today was the day my daughter picked some new flowers at the grocery store, and she chose some really, really nice ones.
So, a macro flower shot. Pretty simple right? I decided to make it a bit more challenging for myself, and set a rule: Can't be removed from the vase, sunlight only, no tripod. This meant upping the ISO to get a good hand-held shot, and a lot of attention to the location, orientation and DOF of the shot. An easy subject is nice, but if the shot it shoot-and-forget what did I learn?
The final shot was about the twentieth or so, trying a variety of compositions, orientations, and settings. I settled at ISO 400, 1/60th shutter, f/16. The higher ISO was a sacrifice, but I think the subject really was worth the effort:
I call them 'The Flaming (tu)Lips', and I love this shot. There was very limited post processing on this one, just removing a reflection in the top left corner, and cloning out some big pieces of lint and pollen around the stamen. No saturation, colour modification or curves were needed with the fantastic colour of this flower.
I'm proud of this one, and I'm glad I didn't take the easy route.
So, a macro flower shot. Pretty simple right? I decided to make it a bit more challenging for myself, and set a rule: Can't be removed from the vase, sunlight only, no tripod. This meant upping the ISO to get a good hand-held shot, and a lot of attention to the location, orientation and DOF of the shot. An easy subject is nice, but if the shot it shoot-and-forget what did I learn?
The final shot was about the twentieth or so, trying a variety of compositions, orientations, and settings. I settled at ISO 400, 1/60th shutter, f/16. The higher ISO was a sacrifice, but I think the subject really was worth the effort:
I call them 'The Flaming (tu)Lips', and I love this shot. There was very limited post processing on this one, just removing a reflection in the top left corner, and cloning out some big pieces of lint and pollen around the stamen. No saturation, colour modification or curves were needed with the fantastic colour of this flower.
I'm proud of this one, and I'm glad I didn't take the easy route.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Your tax dollars at work!
Friday afternoon, Day 71. I have friends coming over tonight, so I had to shoot, edit and post a picture today during work, and that's never an easy thing. This week has been extra hectic, so it was a real challenge to slack and get away with it. Since I work in a government office, it's not exactly a light hearted environment either.
Running with that thought, I decided to embrace the slacking, and started framing a shot.
Friday afternoon in the office, feet up on the desk, nothing on the whiteboard, and playing games on my iPhone. Does it get any better than this? Just don't tell the Prime Minister.
p.s. I need a new screen protector!
Running with that thought, I decided to embrace the slacking, and started framing a shot.
Friday afternoon in the office, feet up on the desk, nothing on the whiteboard, and playing games on my iPhone. Does it get any better than this? Just don't tell the Prime Minister.
p.s. I need a new screen protector!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
It does a body good!
Day 70, and I was looking around on Flickr for some inspiration. The shot I decided to attempt is a pretty common one, but it looked technically challenging.
Well, it was.
Behold my attempt at the milk splash:
The reason I chose this was a two-fold challenge: Lighting curved glass, and exposing a very white object.
I got the effect on the background I wanted with a slight ray effect on the mottled black, and I was able to time and light the shot fairly well by lighting from above with a snoot and a diffuser, but the exposure is still tricky. The milk is basically blown out, and there is not a lot of definition there.
By comparison, this was one of the shots I was looking at for inspiration. I still have a lot of learning to do!
Well, it was.
Behold my attempt at the milk splash:
The reason I chose this was a two-fold challenge: Lighting curved glass, and exposing a very white object.
I got the effect on the background I wanted with a slight ray effect on the mottled black, and I was able to time and light the shot fairly well by lighting from above with a snoot and a diffuser, but the exposure is still tricky. The milk is basically blown out, and there is not a lot of definition there.
By comparison, this was one of the shots I was looking at for inspiration. I still have a lot of learning to do!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tortuga!
Had a chance to sit down and plan a shot tonight, which was a welcome change of pace, so hopefully day 69's offering is better than 68's.
When I hit a creative funk, I like to let my wife suggest an object, concept, or location to shoot, and then I try and work it into a shot that I like. It makes me work for it. Tonight, she suggested a stained glass wind chime in the shape of a turtle. Here is what I came up with:
I thought about back lighting this, and playing with my coloured gels again, so the plan came together as follows: The background is a length of black fleece, very lightly rippled, a sheet of acrylic held above it by a few of my daughter's building blocks, and both strobes on opposite sides with blue gels. Place the turtle on top and shoot.
A little work was required in post, the acrylic had a few scratches that I healed out and I had to clone out the cables connected to the top and bottom of the turtle that hold the hook and chimes respectively. I left a lot of the speckling on the acrylic as it gives some depth and texture that was missing when I worked on cloning it out.
I like the shot, it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy the challenge that things like this present.
When I hit a creative funk, I like to let my wife suggest an object, concept, or location to shoot, and then I try and work it into a shot that I like. It makes me work for it. Tonight, she suggested a stained glass wind chime in the shape of a turtle. Here is what I came up with:
I thought about back lighting this, and playing with my coloured gels again, so the plan came together as follows: The background is a length of black fleece, very lightly rippled, a sheet of acrylic held above it by a few of my daughter's building blocks, and both strobes on opposite sides with blue gels. Place the turtle on top and shoot.
A little work was required in post, the acrylic had a few scratches that I healed out and I had to clone out the cables connected to the top and bottom of the turtle that hold the hook and chimes respectively. I left a lot of the speckling on the acrylic as it gives some depth and texture that was missing when I worked on cloning it out.
I like the shot, it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy the challenge that things like this present.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Ugh...
Today was not a good day for shooting. In early, worked late, we had my daughter's kindergarten orientation/introduction day tonight, and I am working on an outage at work that runs from midnight to five AM. So, you get snake pics:
Sorry for the uninspired photo day, tomorrow promises to be brutal as well.
Sorry for the uninspired photo day, tomorrow promises to be brutal as well.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Contest
On day 67, a story.
One morning, the Kitty family decided that they would have a contest. To their surprise, little Mittens won!
Who knew such a little kitty could produce such an enormous hairball. Shot at f/13, ISO 100, 1/200th shutter, both flashes in the lightbox. Nothing like a little fun to start off the week ;)
As for the results of the weekend's shoot, my co-worker/client ordered 37 prints of 12 different shots. I'll call that a success, and a real confidence booster. I'm just about ready to start actively promoting the business.
One morning, the Kitty family decided that they would have a contest. To their surprise, little Mittens won!
Who knew such a little kitty could produce such an enormous hairball. Shot at f/13, ISO 100, 1/200th shutter, both flashes in the lightbox. Nothing like a little fun to start off the week ;)
As for the results of the weekend's shoot, my co-worker/client ordered 37 prints of 12 different shots. I'll call that a success, and a real confidence booster. I'm just about ready to start actively promoting the business.
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