February 28th, 2010

My Image of the Day can come from anywhere . . . this beautiful flower was taken at a BJ's Wholesale this afternoon during some food shopping. It was good to get out after being snowed in for four days . . . I practically threw the family in to the car to go - cabin fever had set in. So I knew not only was I shopping for some much needed food items - but for my image of the day, as well!

Captured on my Camera phone. No edits.

February 27th, 2010

I've been wanting to try a shot like this for a while . . . had my daughter watch some cartoons while I simply took some pictures of her. By now - she's five - she is very used to having the camera in her space. We have a lot of fun with it and she's the perfect muse.

Captured with the Sigma 70-300mm Macro at f5.6 at 250th of a second. Lit from a single snooted flash fired from of camera. ISO is down to 100. Dropped out the color in Adobe Lightroom 3 beta.

February 26th, 2010

I am getting very tired of all the snow, but thought this would make a whimsical shot for today's image . . . shot off my back deck where the snow is undisturbed by the 25-35 mile an hour winds we're getting. The driveway, a lost cause, has been cleared twice and I've come close to cardiac arrest clearing said driveway . . . but it's pretty out there, yes? Suuuuure . . . . =]

Captured with the Nikon 50mm prime shooting wide open at f/1.8. Shutter speed is 1/1000th of a second and my ISO is down at 100.

February 25th, 2010

So I woke up this morning, trying to figure out what I was going to shoot . . . it's snowing out there - AGAIN - and my daughter has a snow day today. So we're up and coloring and it's one of those special days where we have to open up a new box of crayons. Who here remembers how doing that just evokes a childish joy? The sharp, new crayon smell . . . I bet you all can smell it now, even just looking at this shot!

Captured with the Sigma 70-300mm Macro and lit with two flashes. Shot at 1/250th of a second at f/5.6 with an ISO of 100.

February 24th, 2010

So as I am clearing the drive way this morning, trying to figure out where to put this additional 7 inches of snow - in anticipation of even MORE snow over the next couple of days - I can't help but notices how the snow effects all the little things around me. How the littlest branch could hold an amazing amount of snow . . . or the contrast between the sharp thorns shown here against the fluffiness of the snow.

Captured with the Sigma 70-300 mm Macro at 1/1000th of a second at f/5.6 with an ISO of 400.

February 23rd, 2010

It's raining outside - threatening to turn into snow/freezing rain. I felt this shot conveys my feelings about the weather of late . . . =]

Captured with the Sigma 70-300mm Macro. Shooting at f/5.6 with a shutter speed of 60th of a second. Fired an off camera flash via a commander unit. ISO is at 100.

February 22th, 2010

Sometimes fortune smiles upon the lowly photographer. I was out this morning trying to find something to shoot today and this jet passed overhead . . . thought it made for a great shot!

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at 450th of a second with an f-stop of 5.6. ISO is down at 100.

February 21st, 2010

I love to experiment with different things . . . sure, I love to shoot sunset shots, but what if I took a shot of the setting sun through a screen, focusing on the screen, rather than the sunset itself? Pure visual magic . . . loving this. The colors - the textures. Sometimes experimenting works out, sometimes it doesn't. I think this time around, it worked!

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at 1/500th of a second at f/2.8. I used the auto focus to lock in on the screen and the shallow depth of field and the brightness of the sun did the rest! ISO is down to 100.

February 20th, 2010

So today, I aimed to do a "Camera Phone' image of the day. We were heading out to do some shopping and hit the book store. I love going to the book store. Always have. Browsing the shelves and seeing all sorts of inspiring images and titles. One thing that struck me about the photography section, though, was the abundance of How-To books, rather than Why books. At this point in my photographic journey, I am much less interested in how to take pictures. Very much more interested in WHY i seem drawn to the pictures I take.

There's something poetic there, I just can't put my finger on it . . . something about me not taking pictures, but being taken by the pictures I take . . . I guess it's better that I let the whole "a picture is worth a thousand words" concept speak for me . . .

All I am saying is this . . . these books have their place . . . but only use them as a reference. The best way to learn your way around a camera and how to take a decent picture is to SHOOT, PLAY and HAVE FUN!!

February 19th, 2010

What a long Friday . . . and can you tell where my head is at today? Looking forward to the end of the day when I can open up a nice, chilled bottle of wine and just kick back and relax . . . I think that's all the explanation I need for this shot . . . =]

Captured with the Nikon 50mm prime, shooting wide open at f/1.8 with a shutter speed of 1/125th of a second. ISO is down to 100.

February 18th, 2010

Strange morning . . . went outside to warm up the car and found a poor little bunny dead at the driver side door of my Baja. Didn't look like a violent death, but I found evidence of the culprit all around me in the snow. Though I'd go all CSI on it and captured my Camera Phone image of the day. Buried the poor bunny shortly after dropping Peyton off at school - who, by the way - will never know what happened . . . what a weird way to start the day? I don't believe in omens, but that's enough to make me consider it . . . treading very lightly today . . .

February 17th, 2010

One of my favorite things to shoot is this weathered garden angel I have out in the front yard. She's been sitting out there in all this show and finally I can see her again, so I thought what better subject to shoot today . . .

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at 500th of a second with an aperture of f/2.8. ISO is down to 100.

February 16th, 2010

Lazy day today . . . and the flowers from yesterday are holding up pretty good, so I thought I'd shoot another image from them. This one, more detail oriented and much more Macro.

Captured with the Sigma 70-300mm Macro at f/4. Shutter speed is at 350th of a second with an ISO of 400.

February 15th, 2010

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. As you can imagine, with V-Day over, there are an abundance of flowers to photograph. And these orange tulips caught my eye. Orange is one of my favorite colors and I couldn't pass them up! Set against a cool background, these beauties just popped with color!

Captured with the Sigma 70-300mm macro at f/4 with a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. ISO is bumped way up to 800.

February 14th, 2010

Real quick shot for today . . . HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY!!

Captured with the Sigma 70-300mm Macro at a 40th of a second and an f-stop of 5.6. Shot on a tripod with an ISO of 400.

February 13th, 2010

Can you tell I am in a cold place . . . all the image I've shot the last few days have been very cold in subject and in theme. Loving the effect, though . . . and I hear we're supposed to be expecting more on the way!

Captured with the Sigma 70-300mm macro at 1/1000th of a second at f5.6. ISO is down at 100.

February 12th, 2010

So as Mother Nature coated us with a ton of snow - her job isn't through. Now, with the wind, she continues to refine her work of art. This is a small snow dune that has built up in my front yard. A very nice, graphic shot for today . . . and also an experiment in Depth of Field. Shooting at f/2.8 makes everything before and behind my subject out of focus - just how out of focus can be seen in the small band of glistening snow crystals at about the midway point in the shot.

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at 1/8000th of a second, wide open at f2.8. ISO is down to 100.

February 11th, 2010

Amazing amounts of snowfall . . . . I shall call this Shadows on Snow . . . It's insanely beautiful out there, but I have to clear the driveway to get out. Thankfully, my buddy John Deere is going to lend a hand. I can't wait to get out and see what a winter wonderland it is out there!

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm at f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second. ISO is down to 100.

February 10th, 2010

Another camera phone shot . . . there's not much creative control over a camera phone, unless you know a few tricks . . . to slow my shutter speed down, I switched the camera's ISO to the lowest setting - in this case, ISO 100. This gives me a slower shutter speed and allows for some very cool light streaking . . . Get out your camera phones and start playing! Remember, the best camera is the one you have with you!

February 9th, 2010

First up, here's is the 10 month anniversary video featuring shots from January 2010 into February 2010. Hard to believe in April I'll have wrapped up this challenge. As of April 9th, I'll have finished this challenge . . . wait till you see what I am cooking up next!

For today's challenge, I gotta credit Home Goods as my prop store . . . they have the coolest things available for really cheap prices. I am not even sure what this is called, but it's sitting on top of my television cabinet and just looks really cool lit with a single flash.

Captured with the Nikon 50mm prime at f/1.8 at a 60th of a second. ISO is down to 100. Lit from below with one Nikon SB-800 fired remotely.

February 8th, 2010

Playing around with my camera phone again . . . searching for subjects rich in color and contrast . . . My daughter's 4 year old gold fish is perfect. Not the first time "Fishy" has been a subject of mine. Fans of The Konxari Cards (www.konxari.com) will recognize fishy from the cards and the 'behind the scenes" video. I am really digging the camera phone shots and embracing the philosophy of "The Best Camera is the One That's With You."

February 7th, 2010

I have a fascination with the tools of an artist . . . I think I've mentioned this before. I am amazed how they can take a blank canvas and turn it into something we all recognize - or make something unrecognizable into a beautiful work of art.

Captured with the Sigma 10-20mm at f5.6 shooting at a shutter speed of a 30th of a second. ISO is up around 400.

February 6th, 2010

So in anticipation of the show we were supposed to get last night, I put out some bird seed in the hopes that I'd get this nice snow covered mound of seed and a few birds picking around it, their colors popping against a stark white background of fresh snow . . . Woke up this morning ready to shoot . . . and not a single flake of snow hit the ground. Still, the birds were up and out and hungry . . . can't blame a guy for trying!

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at 250th of a second at f/2.8. ISO is down to 100. The trick with shooting birds - er, photographing birds - is to make sure and have that glint of light in their eyes. It's called a catch light . . . give the photograph some life.

February 5th, 2010

Another approaching storm is forecasted and you can just feel it outside . . . wanted to take a shot that conveyed that bleak feeling. We have this amazing tree in the back yard, must be 100 years old . . . it's branches are many and now, naked in the winter, gave me the look I wanted to give off for today's image of the day!

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at 160th of a second at f2.8. ISO is up at 640 for this shot as it was quite a overcast day out . . .

February 4th, 2010

I love happy accidents . . . so I had the D2x in the back seat of the car yesterday. Picked up Peyton from school and had the heat on in the car, which instantly fogged up the lens. Had a wonderfully cool sunset going on when we got home and I had to shoot it . . . because of the fogged lens, my auto focus couldn't lock onto the detail and I got this marvelously graphic image. Almost looks like a pair of headlights on a dangerously foggy street . . . but in looking at the blurred sun image, you can actually make out the blades of the aperture mechanics in the lens. Very cool!

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR set on full manual. Captured at f/22 for a 1/100th of a second. ISO is down to 100.

February 3rd, 2010

For today, I am featuring one of my camera phone shots . . . working off the philosophy that the best camera is the one you have with you! I love doing stuff like this. It's a whole lot of fun to just let go and see what you can shoot. Not a whole lot of creative control over the camera settings, but the 3rd party plug-ins for processing your images is a growing list of impressive programs.

February 2nd, 2010

Doing everything I can think of to stay warm this morning . . . including taking a shot of on of the grills where I got breakfast this morning. It's not as cold as it's been, but today is one of those wet sort of colds . . . it's about to snow . . . you can just feel it in the air. So I am trying this mind over matter thing and shooting something hot!

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at f/2.8 with an shutter speed of 150th of a second. ISO is bumped way up to 800 for this shot.

February 1st, 2010

So I am sitting on the couch last night watching some cartoons on TV with Peyton . . . when she asks if she could go play on the computer. I realize how fortunate our kids are to have such wonderful technologies that weren't available to us as kids . . . so I wanted to get a shot of her using the laptop. I set up a remote flash just to the left of the computer screen as the screen itself wasn't bright enough to illuminate her face, but I wanted to give off that impression. I waited until she had a sufficiently bored expression and snapped the shot.

Captured with the Nikon 70-200mm VR at f/8 with a shutter speed of a 30th of a second, utilizing a technique called "rear curtain" or slow sync flash - where the flash goes off just as the shutter is about to close rather than as soon as the shutter opens. This give the exposure more ambient light. ISO is down to 100.