Photo Of The Day 01/09/09 - Pallet & DOF

Nothing too fancy today.  I was letting our puppy out when I saw an old pallet leaning up against a garage.  I thought the  wood had some great texture, so I grabbed my camera.  The most interesting part of the pallet is the very end, so I open the aperture wide open to get a shallow depth of field and this is the result.

Camera:  Pentax K20 50mm prime lens  ISO 400 Aperture f/1.7 Exposure 500

Lighting:  Overcast day outside

See the rest of my Photo Of The Day posts here or just look at the photos on Flickr

Photo Of The Day 01/08/09 - "Watching"

Well, yesterday I missed my photo of the day post.  I did make a couple photographs, but they were just snapshots at Olivia's Creative Conventions competition.  I have not even gotten them off my point and shot yet.  In addition, Olivia had her first reconciliation last night, so we did not even get home until almost bed time.  There was just no time in the evening. Today I made sure to get the camera out.  I took a number of photos, but I am getting much better at trashing the crap and just keeping the good shots.  Perhaps some day I will be able to just keep great shots.  At least that is my goal.

Because I wanted to photograph a person and not wine or accessories, I asked Olivia if I could photograph her while she watched some iCarly.  Surprising ly she said she did not care.  I don't think she realized I would be just a couple feet from her face with the camera in one hand and a flash in the other.  But she was a good sport and continued to focus on the tv.

The lighting in our house does nothing, so I hooked up my AlienBees CyberSync wireless triggers to my SB-24 and started shooting.  I wanted to just get her face lit and have the light fall off fairly quickly, so I went low power and close.  My photo of the day choice is one where I had a finger over the flash to create some shadows and it just worked.  I did not get another one with a finger over that flash that did.

Camera:  Pentax K20 50mm prime lens  ISO 200 Aperture f/2.4  Exposure 1/180

Flash:  Nikon SB-25 triggered with AlienBees CyberSync Manual Zoom 20 & Power 1/64 bouncing off the included white card and shooting through my fingers.

I was pretty excited when I saw the image in the back of the camera, but knew it would take some significant processing in Lightroom.  Surprisingly it was not as bad I guessed, but when playing around with presets, I ended up really liking the "aged photo" look.  Below is the original color image (still processed in Lightroom).  Which is better?

There are a couple other photos from the night.  I have included thumbnails below.  Of course Mia had to get into the spotlight as well.  I did not do as well with her.  The one photo is ok, lighting wise, but it is her expression that really makes the photograph.  At least that is my opinion.

Photo Of The Day 01/06/09 - "Perfect Furnishings"

Today I had the opportunity to wear one of my favorite Christmas gifts, a pair of camera cufflinks.  Since I won't get the opportunity to show them off very often, I figured I might as well play around and see if I can make a good photograph of them.  Today, I spent a little more time on the details, unlike yesterday. The set up is rather simple.  I had my Nikon SB-24 about 3 feet behind a 40" Westcott Reflector that had the covers removed and was being used to defuse the light.  On camera right, just out of the shot a small whiteboard was used to reflect some light back and soften the shadows.

Camera:  Pentax K20 50mm prime lens  ISO 100 Aperture f/5.6  Exposure 1/180

Lighting:  Single SB-24 @ 1/4 power, about 5 feet from cufflinks with diffuser between.  Fill light added with a white board just our of frame on camera right.

I know most people would prefer to see photos of my girls, they are gorgeous after all, but unfortunately they do not sit as still as a set of cufflinks or wine bottle.  When I am playing with lighting, I really need a still life.

To see the rest of the Photo Of The Days, look at my blog posts tagged with POTD or to skip my ramblings and just see the images, look at my POTD set on Flickr.

If you really need to see a photo of people, take a look at this one that I made while waiting for the entire DSAGSL staff to arrive for a staff photo.  I don't know what it is, but I find it a rather amusing photograph.  Plus, if you look at the full size image (careful, it is big) you can even see that I am wearing the cufflinks above.  It all ties together so nicely.

Photo Of The Day 01/05/09

Taking a photo every day is supposed to make me a better photographer.  Make me learn things.  Well today's photo has helped me learn a lot.  I had an idea for a cool back lit photo of my wife's bottle of Bitch wine.  (I don't know if the wine is any good, we just like the name.)  So I set up the bottle on the table with my Nikon SB-24 firing from behind.  The flash had my Pringles can snoot to try to focus/control the light a bit.  On each side of the bottle I positioned a white card to reflect light back onto the front.  After all, when one is photographing Bitch wine, you gotta be able to read the label.

In my mind this is a fabulous photo.  In reality, it has a lot going wrong.  First, the obvious.  I had the bottle on a black reflector that has some obvious wrinkles.  The back lighting really helps to show that.  Kinda ruins the look.  I am also not real pleased with how the flash creates a hot red spot right above the label, although I like the little glow at the bottom.  I thought about putting some black tape on the back of the bottle to fix that, but it was late and I had to put my girls to bed.  I am also not real happy with the reflections of the white cards.  I guess they are not a huge problem, but I am working on perfection.  I am just not sure what I would do to fix this.  But that is why I am practicing.  Give me a few months and I will remake this photo.  The other thing is at the bottom of each white card I used a little sticky tack to hold the card still.  When you look at the full size image, those green & yellow blobs jump right out at you.

I am sure there is more, but it is late and I need to get some sleep.  But I do consider this a very successful night, because of how much I learned.  So I will be able to sleep well, knowing I am on my way to being a better photographer.  After all, it how much worse can I be?

Camera:  Pentax K20 50mm prime lens  ISO 200 Aperture f/1.4  Exposure 1/90 with +0.5 exposure compensation (accidentally left on from previous day)

Lighting:  Single SB-24 @ 1/64 power, Pringle can snoot from behind with a white card on each side, reflecting light back onto lable and front of bottle

Post processing: Yes, in Lightroom.  Upping black levels a bit.  Cleaning up some weird sparkles along the curve where the bottle becomes the neck.  Plus some sharpening.

Photo Of The Day 01/03/09

A very overcast day.  I knew going out on a walk the light today would not be very dynamic so any interesting photo would have to be made with interesting composition or subject. We put up some colored balls on a tree in our front yard. The weather took most of the paint off of them. I went to get a photo, knowing I would be seen in the reflection. Olivia came to see, so I made her join me.

Camera:  Pentax K20 50mm prime lens  ISO 400 Aperture f/3.5  Exposure 1/80