Inclement Weather.

It was a cold, dark, rainy night and I was sitting in my car waiting for it to warm up. I had just come from a night of good food and good cheer with friends. Looking around I noticed interesting patterns and shapes caused by the water droplets on the window. The lights from the parking garage gave depth to the scene. Without even thinking I fished the trusty old Nikon out of the bag and started shooting like a mad man! It was crazy! I saw images everywhere, abstract though they were. It was at this point that all hell broke loose!

Heh-heh...just kidding! Really...it was just raining and I took a picture. Here it is.

But seriously, as I mentioned in an earlier post, do take advantage of crappy weather. There are some cool shots out there to be made!

My Accountant.

Funky.

Total Lunar Eclipse.

Just in case you were too busy with American Idol last night, here's what was happening in the real world. Next one will be Dec of 2010. Be there!

A Sense of Motion.

OK... how is it that the kayaker's head and upper body are perfectly sharp while everything around him is a serious blur? His kayak, his paddle, his hand, the water splashing over the boat, the river rushing around the boat...everything is moving. Why isn't he?

Well, it is probably only fair to tell you that he is actually riding a little wave there. What he does is settle into a small trough and pretty much goes into surfing mode. So for a short period of time his upper body is not moving all that much. He's balancing himself with the paddle, moving his hands, and of course the water is still rushing by!

What I did was used a relatively slow shutter speed, in this case 1/30th of a second, then focused on his head and shot off several frames. (Always good to shoot many images!) The lens I used did have the vibration reduction activated, which certainly helped some. But it can only do so much. Proper, steady handholding technique is still required! (More on that in a future post.)

A tripod and a lens without VR will work just as well. (check out the "blue" kayaker in my C&O Canal/Great Falls page on my website.)

Anyway, it's a pretty cool effect and a departure from the typical stop-action stuff where all the action is, well...stopped. There's just something about being able to see the motion. Don't you think?

OK, til next time...

Cheers.

Atmosphere.

Don't forget to take advantage of weather. Pay attention to the forecasts. Is there a chance of fog in the morning? Get up early and and shoot like crazy! Big storm acomin'? Find a vantage point that will really accentuate the ominous clouds rolling in.

When you go on vacation check the weather beforehand. Don't simply shoot on beautiful, perfect sunny days. Crappy weather can produce wonderfully dramatic images.

Be prepared for anything and take advantage of the unexpected. For the photo above, I was in a new place, didn't know what the weather would be, no idea what to expect, but got up early anyway. Glad I did!

A little atmosphere goes a long way.

Privet, tovarishchi! ("Greetings comrades" I believe)

This is a Smena 8. It's an old Russian camera from the Soviet Union era. Good friends of ours, Matt and Angie (One of whom will most certainly correct my Russian above!), gave it to us along with a few other Russian/Soviet chotckes they picked up during their sojourn abroad. Very sweet people...you really must meet them someday!

Anyway, wanted to practice some lighting techniques last night and this nifty little camera became the subject. I went with a skewed angle in the composition and dramatic lighting because, well... the Soviet days were a dramatically skewed time, weren't they? Oh...and I spashed the background with a red gel for pretty obvious reasons.

Hope you all have a fine weekend. Go make some great images!

Cheers.

Scene Changer.

Let's have another go at trying to spice up a somewhat dull scene. To keep it simple we'll use similar colored gels as before. Also we're not posing anybody. Have to work with what's happening naturally. OK, to start with we have Rachel up in the garret preparing to do taxes. (Fun!) Anyway, this is pretty much a straight forward shot. This is how the space normally looks. Ugly, incandescent, overhead lights.

So, two things, no wait... three things right off the bat. 1) Underexpose the scene by about a stop. 2) Add a flash at about model's eye level, off to one side. 3) Get down low to eliminate distracting background clutter.

OK, this is pretty interesting. Looks like maybe the sun is coming in from a side window (it's not!).

Next, let's add another flash. Splash it against the back wall with a purple/bluish gel to give it maybe a little flair. Same general perspective, throw in a vertical shot, maybe a foreground element or two and well not such a boring setting after all!

Avuncular Duties.

Babysat the little Q-bug last night. She really is a joy. When she says my name it just absolutely crushes me! So sweet. And for some reason she thinks Rachel and I are swell, too. Go figure!

She and Rachel played with pretty much every toy in the house and there are a lot of toys! Many of them are behind the couch, so she climbs up there and points and says, "Mine." Rachel touches a toy and says, "This one?" She shakes her head and continues pointing saying, "Mine," until Rachel randomly falls upon the correct item. Very cute...until you tire of it and then decide OK here are the toys we're playing with tonight, deal! (So, OK, that was me...not Rachel.)

Anyway, she's a lovely little girl and I can't wait to watch her grow into an adolescent, then teenager, then young woman...and so on.

Oh, and she loves her kitties. Everytime one saunters into the room..."Hi kitty!" Terribly cute

The shot above was a quick grab shot (I do that a lot!) Slow shutter speed with a little fill flash gives it that cool sense of motion. Oh and that's Tiki with her.

Afternoon Coffee.

Cup o' Joe. Java. Mud. Sludge. High Test. Cuppa. Mud Puddle Buzz. Cafe. Caffe. Coffee!

Hey, did you know that coffee is good for you? Well, it is. (See Here.) Can there be any better news than that? Nope! Well, wait...how many of us are still hanging on to that old notion that it dehydrates you? Turns out that's not so. So the news can get better! Cool.

I am, at this very moment, enjoying my daily afternoon cuppa. Dark french roast (and I mean dark. Just ask my brother!) with a little cream (real cream, not milk) and a splash of hazelnut syrup (thanks Jess!) And oh my god does it ever satisfy!

Well, as I was kicking back waiting for it to brew, I noticed the afternoon sun streaming through the blinds. So I grabbed my favorite coffee mug (a true Diner mug!) and placed it in a certain spot on our pub table and shot away. I cranked up the in-camera contrast so as to black out the background...looking, as always, for a little drama. It's just a quick grab shot (the earth rotates so fast!), but I like it.

So anyway, here's to your health! However you enjoy your caffeine kick... cream and sugar, black, cappuccino, latte, iced, what have you...feel free to truly enjoy it! Guilt free.

The National Mall.

I find this place to be very useful when looking to expend a little creative energy. Just four images to share, but I hope you'll find them each to be somewhat interesting in their own way.

Cheers.