Captured with the Nikon 50mm prime shooting at a 60th of a second with an f-stop of f/1.8 and an ISO of 400.

Meet McGee . . . he's a new member of the family and the start of a Christmas tradition that has turned out to be a very fun holiday activity. McGee is part of a book called Elf on a Shelf. It's a wonderful book that comes with an toy elf that you place around the house each and every night leading up to Christmas Day. The elf, named by the book's new owner, reports back to Santa nightly and winds up in a different place in the house by morning. To our five year old, this is simply Christmas Magic at work . . . and it's just wonderful to see as both a parent and a grown-up.
Captured with the Nikon 50mm prime at a 40th of a second at f/1.8. My ISO was up to 400 for this shot as I used natural lighting. The big light orbs you see behind McGee are the lights from the Christmas tree. Shooting with a wide aperture gives you a nice, soft background for your subject to stand apart from.
Ah, it's that time of year again . . . digging out the Holiday ornaments. We've started early this year, as I'll be hosting this year's Sparta Camera Club Holiday party. It's going to be a great time with fun and food - and even a print exchange! So I thought what better way to kick off December than with an image that conveys the holiday season!
Captured with the Nikon 50mm prime shot wide open at f/1.8. Shutter speed was half a second, thus a tripod was needed to get the shot. ISO is down to 100.
A last look at my Lakota Wolf Preserve shoot . . . I will be collecting these images into one of my 'folio' editions for sale in the new year! The fact that this place was less than an hour away from me all this time prompts me to take a closer look around my home and see what other amazing opportunities await my lens!
Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at 250th of a second at f/3 with my ISO down to 100.
Here's another sneak peek at my Lakota Wolf Preserve shoot. This is one of 24 wolves they had on site . . . what struck me with each and every wolf was the intelligence in their eyes. There was a pack mentality, for sure, but each individual wolf had their own personalities.
Captured with the 70-200mm VR at 500th of a second at f/2.8. ISO is down to 100.
So I hosted a 'movie night' for my local camera club last night . . . the film was National Geographic's The Photographers. As we're watching these seasoned pros making images that impact entire civilizations, I am realizing how much technology has advanced. Today's instant gratification of seeing your images as you capture them wasn't around back when these guys were shooting and it got me thinking . . . an interesting exercise for today's digital shooters would be to turn off your image preview - and don't peek! Pick a subject that isn't going to ruin you if you mess up, and fill up a memory card using just your gut and your brains. Here's what I came up with . . .
Captured with the Nikon 50mm prime shooting at an 80th of a second. My aperature is wide open at f/1.8 and I have my ISO set to 500. Converted to Black and White in Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta.