Photo: Crystal slippers

A couple small plastic candy dishes from a baby shower begged to be immortalized. I spent about an hour mucking about with them in the kitchen, trying different things, fixing lighting problems, creating lighting problems, and blinding anyone who walked into the room without a pair of Ray Bans.

There are some photos that it doesn't matter what camera you use. This photo I couldn't have done with my old equipment. This is two flash units off-camera, with one of the flashes pushed +3 and bounced off a shiny pink gift bag to create the extra color on the left.

Compare that to the simple photo with ambient light and no special equipment requirements.

The only thing I did in photoshop was crop the image, and resize for the web. Everything else was straight from the camera. This just goes to show that if you try 75 different ways of doing something, chances are you'll find a better way than your first attempt. :)

(yes, I did add more candy partway through. yes, I did eat candy partway through, and before starting, and after finishing, yes, I did take something on the order of 75 different photos of this)

rootie

ps. (T-3 weeks and counting down)

Photo: The bear in the Air!

My son was throwing his bear repeatedly into the air and gleefully exclaiming "The Bear!...In the air!" obviously delighting in both the rhyme and the silliness of a flying toy. At this age, you have no idea where such a thrown toy will come back down. I got lucky on multiple counts -- nothing was broken, and the bear ended up on the ceiling... :)


Opportunities like this don't usually allow much time for fancy composition, and with a preschooler doing the tossing, framing is luck of the draw. I was already sitting on the floor, with my camera handy from a previous "cute" shot, so it was quite simple and natural to shoot up toward the ceiling to emphasize the heights involved.

Enjoy!

rootie

Photo: The tree and the fire hydrant

Ansel Adams once said "A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed". That is what brought me into photography, and what has kept me coming back, again and again. When I look at the picture later, I want it to return me to the place and the time when it was taken.

It isn't about the camera, it isn't about the technology, it is about the heart of the image, about finding the right way to capture a moment in time in a way that epitomizes both the scene and the emotions of the time. On seeing the photo later, I want to inhale deeply and smell the wet bushes of the first snow, to feel giddy and giggly at my son's antics, and see through my love's eyes and into my own heart. Taking others to that same place is just a bonus.

The tree has defied my attempts to take a picture that leaves me satisfied. (yes, I'm not above cheap humor) I'd really like to have the idyllic setting, hilly rural pastures, with nice morning light, a barb wire fence and a dirt road, maybe a light fog in the distance. Instead I'm stuck with the street, the houses, power lines, cars, sidewalk, and this ... this fire hydrant. Perhaps I'll try again next year.

rootie

Life's little lessons #5001 - 5005

I bought a new camera the other day. Oh the excitement of a new toy. Just think of the wonderful pictures I'll be able to take! (and share with all my friends)

What an education!

5001. There is a phenomenon I am sure the mechanics among you will recognize. If you have an old car with many years and miles on it, replacing one part will often mean you must replace other parts. What starts out small can grow beyond your expectations.

5002. 2 memory cards @ 8GB each. 2GB free hard drive space for picture downloads. (something's gotta grow all right :O )

5003. I can shoot RAW images at incredible speed. I'll just pull them into the software I already have...uh...hmmm...Nikon changed their RAW file format so none of my current (preferred) software will read the raw format images. I guess I need another upgrade.

5004. Shopping for personal items (ahem, I mean a camera bag, which is definitely personal preference) can take longer than expected and shouldn't be done while accompanied by a preschooler. I figured 10, maybe 15 minutes tops -- about an hour later we were back on the road.

5005. 20x spotting scopes at convenient eye level make great entertainment for a 4 year old...though I bet the camera store clerk gained a few gray hairs. It's one of those little things: "daddy daddy, come look, there's a video in this! it's a video daddy, come look! it's a video!"

It has been a busy autumn with so many lessons to learn.

May your fallen leaves be crunchy, colorful and deep!

rootie