Day 44

So, I'm finally caught up. (there is no day 45 shot)

Last night I went down to the Pt. Loma Sport Fishing Docks for dinner with friends. We sat out at the rail at the Hudson Bay Seafood restaurant. The food was good. I like the crabcakes :)

While we sat there I played with the camera and was adjusting for exposure using the brow. The Auo exposure had this shot as bright as daylight. So I stopped the speed down until I got an exposure I liked.



There are 2 elements that I really like about this one. The subtle colors and shadows. And the pattern.

Now, I could crop to better accentuate the pattern. And I think that I'll try that. Just to see what happens. But not tonight :)

Day 43

I really don't like this photo. The only reason it's here is so the folks in it can download it if they want to. I really botched this one.

Day 42

Well, somewhere in here I lost about 25 photos. For the life of me I can't figure out what the hell I did with them. If I find them I'll fill in the missing days. This is days 37 to 41. Oh well.

So on to day 42.

There are 2 photos today. We were in Torrey Pines State park. I caugt a picture of the Cliffside buckwheat.



I like this one for 2 reasons. The color of the ripening head is brighter than the other buckwheat I shot. And I didn't even realize that there was a species that grew only within a few feet of the cliffs edge overlooking the ocean. So I though I'd share.

The second shot was of new growth on a Coastal Prickly Pear (Opuntia littoralis).



I like the combination of the colors, composition (it just looks right to me), and detail (the silk strand).

Day 31 and 32

Ok, so I lied in the last post. I decided to do 1 photo from each day.

Day 31. Since this was the friday open practice, we went out after for food. I caught this photo of Erik as he sat next to me.



I like the expression on his face. The color adds a certain urgency to the photo as well :) This was just playing around. So you should call this a snapshot. But hey, a good snapshot can be a photograph is you're lucky.

Day 32.

I took this shot of the dinner table. I really liked the pattern that the candles and napkins made.



I used a narrow depth of field to add to the feeling of a long table. I like this one.

Day 30-35

Well, I was shooting here. Mostly is was for our annual seminar. While I'll post photos, I don't think that I'll blog them. I was pretty busy :)

Day 29

Once more I was playing with the in camera controls for this series. For this group I was trying the Picture controls. There are 4 of them:

Standard - DSC_1729.jpg
Neutral - DSC_1730.jpg
Vivid - DSC_1731.jpg
Monochrome - DSC_1732.jpg



As you can see there are some differences :)

I think what I'll need to do is find a better subject and try this one again.

Day 28

Another shot of Buckwheat. Well, it is what's blooming at the moment. This one was taken at Torrey Pines SP.



So what is better about this one? Let's see... the background is dark. This sets the subjet apart. It also is more buckwheat. This helps establish both continuity of subject and environment. It keeps the subject grounded and isolates it, but doesn't remove it from it's habitat.

What could be better? Depth of field. This would have benefited from a bit deeper DoF and a tripod.

Still, It is an improvement over the last one.

Day 26/27

No post

Day 25

Day 25
Originally uploaded by bmorris1313

I'm trying something new. Flickr has a function to blog the photo straight to a site. So let's try it out and see what happens.


This photo was taken as a curiosity because of this jokers bad parking. I thought the ticket was funny. Although the author could have left off the comment about the car.


Man, What a bad job of html. I think I'll stick to using the blogs editor for now.

Day 24

We're in La Jolla for lunch. I'd been playing with the in camera controls and wasn't happy with the previous photos I was playing with. The Quality was set to RAW and jpeg fine. As we pulled up to a light I saw the lady at the bus stop. So I grabbed a quick shot and started to play with it in the camera.



What attracted me to this was the street quality to the situation. If I hadn't mentioned La Jolla, you could have placed this at any bus stop.

So the first setting that I played with was Monochrome. Once I changed it I saved. That gave me 2 jpegs of the scene. Then I tried the crop. Especially since there was a lot of extraneous crap around the edges. As I went through the setting I found that I could do only use 3 settings: 4/3, 5/4, 3/2. I chose 5/4ths. I tried to crop vertical but there is no setting for that. It would be a useful thing to have I think.

Still, it really is pretty usefull to be able to do corrections and basic editing right in the camera.

Day 23

So, I got hungry and decided to get a snack. So I go to Wendy's to get some fries and they tell me to please pull forward. Guess what I see?



As I sat around waiting I decided to try a bit more gritty look that I'm used to. So I used the 5 minutes to play with various settings and took a bunch of exposures. I wanted a darker more saturated feel to this one. So I dropped down the ISO and aperture until I had several exposures that looked adequate in the camera. One I got a chance to look at them in Lightroom I chose this one. I think I at least captured some of the feel I was looking for.

Day 22

Right now we're at the tail end of the blooming of our local Bottlebrush trees. We also have quite a large hive of honeybees around here as well. For the past couple of months the bees have been really going after the pollen from these trees. You can hear the buzzing and it's pretty loud.

Since most of the blossoms have fallen. I decided to try to get a macro of a bee on the flower.



The problem with this is...

I wasn't using a tripod.
The bees were moving quick.
The focus kept going for the outer edges of the flowers while the bees were down inside.
I had the depth of field too shallow.

So the lessons are...

Use a tripod (duh)
Patience
Watch the focus and use manual if necessary
Watch the depth of field
Use a ladder

Day 21

I've finally got more than 2 days in a row. Its going to be busy this weekend so I'll try to put up a couple of posts tonight.

The photo today is of ripening buckwheat. Or at least that's what I remember this as.



This was taken in Mission Trails park. At the moment there are thousands of these plants going from white to golden brown. The first few attempts were to try to get the feel of the broad swaths of color and texture these plants show. Unfortunately I didn't get it. So I tried to do the next step. It goes something like this (in my brain anyway :) ):

"What is it about this that attracted my attention? Was it the color? Form? Pattern? Light? The image is too busy. Simplify. I like the golden brown. Maybe just a head?"

And that was it. I chimped a few to check composition and exposure and then shot around what I thought was a good setting. As it turned out it kinda captured what was the simplest image.

I also like the brown over the green background.

Is it great...no. But it is adequate. And I do like it.

Day 20

Missed.

But on the bright side I did get 3 posts in tonight.

Day 19

I tried once again to get a shot of a white flower.



I can't seem to figure out how to get a decent shot of something white. I'm going to have to try to find some techniques that work eventually. Maybe buy a flowering plant as a prop would help.

Day 17/18

Once again we get to skip another day. I won't go into details on these. It'll take up too much time and sound like an excuse.

Day 18.

I was walking the dog when these 2 flew up out of the grass.



I guess I caught them making little butterflies. While it isn't much of a shot. It was the closest I could get to these 2 without using a long lens. And I didn't want to disturb them more than we already had.

I did crop this one down to better show the butterflies.

Day 15/16

Not much happened on day 15.

Day 16 was a bit different. For the past couple of days I've been hearing the screech of several raptors. Today I finally spotted them in some Eucalyptus. So I ran inside and grabbed a cheap lens to see if I could capture one of them.

Well, I did.



While identifiable, the cheap ass lens sure shows how bad it is. No detail. Soft focus. It is so true that you get what you pay for.

The lens is a Quantaray 70-300mm macro. I got it for $130. It was advertised as a Sigma. So I took the chance. I guess a Quantaray is a Sigma. But it sure is the cheap end. Later I learned that Sigma sells rejects as Quantaray. Live and learn. This lesson is well learned ;)

And I do hope that someone can tell me what the bird is. I'm pretty bad at bird identification.

Note: this is the last photo in July

Day 14

2 weeks in. So far only 2 days missed. Not too bad. I suspect that I'll miss maybe 5% of the days deadlines for various reasons. So once I catch up it should run better.

On to the next photo.

For this one I broke out the 60mm micro. I've been seeing a lot of suckers on the local trees. I like the bright green against the gray bark. So far this is the best I've captured.



I like the green/gray color. But I don't feel I caught the brightness I was looking for. That would be a factor of either white balance tweaking or (more likely) a slightly darker exposure. I also don't really like the composition. I think that a more vertical format would give a feeling of height. Maybe a single/double leaf in vertical.

Maybe I'll retry this one in the near future.

Day 13

Today I tried to take a portrait of my dog. Well, I got a couple of ok shots. But not what I was looking for. While I was able to get an adequate exposure and focus. The background left something to be desired. To make a sorta short story shorter...this is what happens when your dog finally gets bored :)

Day 12

Last day of the Con. Exhaustion rules. So my choice is limited. Again I chose a model under glass.

Day 11

Saturday. Long day. Here's the photo I chose.



This is a close up of a model about a foot tall. It was lit from multiple angles. I really like the depth of field and the way the camera captured the colors. This was taken through a plexiglass housing.

Day 11+

I haven't posted in a while. I have been shooting. Problem has been time to sit down and do something with all of the photos. So I'll be taking a bit of time to get things together tonight and get some new photos uploaded.

Day 10

This will be the last post tonight as I'm pretty tired. First Con then working all week without a break wears on you.

So without further ado:



I like this one (even though it's posed). Cindy is a lot of fun. I think this shot captures a bit of her attitude. I also like the feel of it. An author, holding her book, in a book shop, as a game character. This is Comic Con :)

Also, notice that the background softens due to depth of field. Damn but I like the D700. It nailed the exposure and white balance in the cavernous room.

Day 9

The first full day at Con.



So, why this one? Well, it was a tossup between this one and the Star Trek Ladies. I chose this one for the lighting and sense of scale. When I took the picture it was before opening and not all of the lights were on. There was a spot shining down on Bumblebee. It gives a very dramatic feel to the light. once they turned on all of the lights it softened it a bit.

Day 8: Comic Con 2009

For the next 5 days I was at Comic Con. It really tests the low light capability of the camera. It also tested my ability to find photos out of the chaos. As on of the Wired photogs said, every guy with a camera takes photos of the girls in costume. I do too. But rather than be scatter shot, I try to find interesting subjects. It doesn't mean I don't' occasionally break down and do it, but I don't spend Con trying to capture only that.

Each day I'll pick the photo I like best and try to describe the situation.

Today was setup and preview night.



I took this photo from the foyer as we were picking things up from one of the cars. I don't like it as much as Inkistas shot through the circles from the escalators. But I like it in that it gives a feeling of the size of the Con.

Day 7

Prep for Comic Con 2009.

Day 6

This is a bit of filler until I post the photo. It's a re-shoot of the Flower done around 8 in the morning. I don't really like it as much as the other but there it is. That's how we learn :)



Well here it finally is. See what I mean. The colors of the flowers are better. But the fence is now blah.

On a side note. I am shooting regularly. I'll update as quick as I can. There will also be days when photography is not possible. I'll make note of those :)

Day 4 and 5

Well, looks like I'm a bit behind. Doesn't mean that I haven't done anything.



This shot was taken on Saturday (day 4) around 11:30 am. I saw the vine growing through the fence and decided to give it a go. Not too bad. I'm happy with the leaves but I feel the flowers were a bit too washed out. I tried again and I'll post that tomorrow. The focus and depth of field are good. And the sharpness is pretty good as well. I like the composition. Mostly vertical lines with simple colors. The vine stands out nicely from the boards.

Sunday. Ahhh, Sunday. About all that I accomplished was to read about 120 pages of the manual. Still, it was something to do with improving my skills.

This week is going to be interesting. I'll be at Comic Con for 5 days. I'll have lots too choose from and I'll post at least the best shot of the day. I have an acquaintance who does cosplay so you should get to see some costumes :)

Day 3 : White Balance

One of the final checks is white balance. The contact sheet shows all 8 default settings on the camera.



As you can see by the numbering, photoshop can sometimes do strange things to contact sheets :) So I'll set up the data by photo number from 1-8.

1: Automatic - 4000 temp
2: Incandescent - 2950
3: Florescent - 3950
4: Sunlight - 5000
5: Flash - 6150
6: Cloudy - 5700
7: Shade - 7300
8: K (5000) - 4800

The setup was on a desk next to a large window with a single florescent tube overhead. The sheet in front of the items is a neutral gray/white card.

There is a table in the manual that gives the values for the average value. It roughly corresponds to the measurements above. Although it looks like I'm about 200 off. Still, it's in the acceptable range. I mat try fine tuning under the lamps I have. But that will be for another day. I think it's cool to be able to correct the color setting in the camera.

Day 2

So, on to day 2. Which is really today the 16th.

I spent most of today reviewing the first 100 pages of the manual and setting up the basic functions. Date, time, mode, quality, etc... The quality is the type of file the camera saves to. In my case I'll be doing most of my shooting in 14 bit non-compressed RAW format. Ill do other file types as I learn the in camera editing functions. But that's for later.

First, today's shot.



This is a simple shot to test out a couple of things. First was the default white balance(WB) vs. a preset. Second was the noise at a moderate ISO. And lastly was the Depth of Field (DoF) for the 50mm. Real nice bokeh. And this shot was hand-held too.

This shot uses ISO 800, F1.8 and the incandescent WB. It's odd. But the auto WB for both of my Nikons was a bit reddish. Setting the WB to incandescent fixed it. But I would have thought it would be closer. Especially with the white areas in the field of view (FOV).

I'll do a future post on the equiptment I intend to use. But I gotta admit, I really like this camera :)

365 day project

So you have to be wondering, what the heck is a 365 day project?

Well, the concept is simple. Pick something - Martial arts, painting running, photos :-) - and every day for a year, do something new. Create something, use a new technique, do something...

Well, what I'm doing is, for the next year I'm going to take a photograph every day and post it here. I will describe what I did and why I did it. Simple.

Why? Well, because I feel my photography is missing something.

So here is the situation. I have a new camera. I graduated from a Nikon D70s to a D700. This is important for a couple of reasons. First, the D700 is a pro level camera. and secondly, the D700 has a manual with over 400 pages of instructions! So for the first month I'll be learning the camera.

I'll start off with my first photo with the camera.



This shot was taken around 9 in the morning with memory and battery dropped into the camera. There was nothing set or done other than to turn it on, point it at the dog and shoot. Not very exciting I know. But it does finish day 1. And it does show how good the camera is on default settings.

Trips

Well, due to rain I didn't get down to the bay. So I guess I'll post about the National Parks for a bit.

The last 2 trips I took were to Bryce Canyon and Yosemite. I'll cover Bryce first.

Bryce Canyon NP is located in southern Utah. The park is basically a series of tall rock spires formed from erosion from the rim of a canyon. That's kinda like saying that water is wet or that the sky is blue. So let us do a bit better with this:



That's better.

Bryce is red rocks, blue sky, stunning vistas, deep canyons and soaring hoodoos. In Winter it's dusted with white as well. Any time of year it's spectacular. Rain brings forth the Thunderbird and his light shows.



Now you have an idea of what Bryce is about.

On this trip I went with a couple of friends. We camped out over a long weekend in late September. The weather was good. Although there were thunderstorms (duh, look at the pictures:) ) It was warm during the day and cold at night. It is after all at 7000 ft. We spent our days on different trails. We hit the Queens garden and the Bristlecone loop. Trails that I've done before. This time we decided to try a trail that was closed the last time I was there. Navaho loop. The Wall street section was closed due to a rock fall. But they reopened the trail again.



This is the best trail I've been on in the park (so far). We even hit it as the aspens were starting to turn. The trail isn't for folks who can't climb. The first part is a steep downhill to get to wall street.



What this photo doesn't show is the remains of the rock fall. A bolder the size of a Diesel rig (sans trailer) is just before the tree. I think that I was standing next to the boulder when I took this shot. Oh, and the tree is rather tall.

Let's talk about photography here. If you look at the data on the photos, you'll notice that most of them were shot with a 24mm lens. This was a conscious choice. On this trip I decided that I would stick to a prime lens and the 24 was the best for the subjects. Wide angles allow for dramatic shots in the narrow canyons and wide vistas in the more open areas. Perfect for Bryce.

Lightning. A bit of a warning and a tip. Lightning on the rim is dangerous. Especially when you are carrying metal objects...Like cameras and tripods :) So be aware of your surroundings at all times during stormy weather. Now the tip. Lightning is rarely a single bolt. From what I've read it is almost always a series. What I did to get the shots here was to try to get the second/third/fourth strikes. I got lucky. And just so you know, I was about a mile from where the edge of the storm was and we left long before it came close to us.

Well, that should do it for Bryce. Next time I'll post on my trip in December to Yosemite.

Well...

It's been a while. I think that it's time to start posting again. Since Japan I've been doing mostly local travel. The last 2 trips have been to (relatively) local National parks. Bryce Canyon and Yosemite. I'll be posting on those soon.

I'll also be covering a bit of practice with my D70s. I haven't been happy with the exposures that I've been getting lately. In an article (I forget where I read it) it was suggested that I take a series of exposures to see what my camera does with the light. Think of it as looking at the sensors output and then calibrating it. Tomorrow I'll run down to the Harbor and take a look at the Surprise. The Surprise is the ship From Master and Commander. It's docked next to the Star of India. Should be interesting.

Well that should do it for now. I'll leave you with this shot from the zoo.