Month: January 2013

It’s one of those off days for me. I thought I would spend the day finding incredible things to photograph but my inspiration was a bit lacking and besides, I had too many things to do at home today to trek out to find hawks or something more photo-worthy. I tried to find some inspiring photos in the fountain that had turned to ice in the 25° overnight temperatures but was unimpressed with my efforts. I turned my attention to other, non-photography related matters until a few minutes ago when I walked by the living room and noticed the light falling on my ant sculpture; this was my first inspiring moment of the day. I love how the light comes from one side and the ant appears to be looming from the darkness. My sister-in-law found this ant at a roadside stand in Redding and gave it to me that Christmas to commemorate the ant invasion that I suffered through for almost two years before, out of desperation, I hired a pest service to rid my home of the persistent invaders. At the time she gave it to me, I didn’t think I’d ever need a reminder but when I saw it today, I realized I still appreciate their absence and that the only ant that’s in my home now is made of rusty metal and rocks.

As I put groceries away I noticed that the leek I bought to make a pot of butternut squash soup later this week, had an interesting leaf pattern that could make an interesting photo. But because leeks are very dirty vegetables, it was covered with dirt. I rinsed the leek off and then the water drops on the leaves interested me more than the leaf pattern did. I set up my tripod and took a few shots but they were rather mundane until I shined an LED flashlight onto the leaves. Now we’re talking. This is cropped slightly and I added some clarity, increased the whites and decreased the blacks just a tiny bit.

This exercise gave me a chance to try out my new, lightweight Pistol Grip ball head tripod that I found just by chance at Costco the other day. It was the last one in stock so they sold it to me for $29.95 instead of the $120 I would have had to pay at Adorama and, because it was a Costco deal, it came with a carrying case that Adorama doesn’t have, so I think this tripod with will traveling with me next month for my Grand Canyon adventure with Moose Peterson. The ball head moves easily and it seems to hold well. My Nikon D800 and the 24-70mm lens together weigh over 5 pounds and it showed no signs of slipping.

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/16
1.6 seconds

I have discovered that wine and photography don’t necessarily mix, even when I have had only a couple of sips of wine. Case in point, this evening, while out with a friend enjoying a glass of wine, I realized I hadn’t yet taken any photographs for my blog (my Facebook Famous Mo’s posting today of the dancing lights didn’t seem interesting enough, nor did I take any care when I photographed them, so I didn’t think they qualified for my blog). So, when I noticed how the light played on the hanging wineglasses over the bar where we sat, I asked the bartender if I could photograph them. He agreed, wondered why, I told him, and took ten shots using my current favorite lens, my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. As I chimped the photos (‘chimping” is a somewhat derogatory photography slang term for looking at photos on the LCD screen on the back of the camera after each shot and I am guilty of that sometimes) I was amazed at the lighting in the shots I took, despite the darkish bar. I did have the lens set to f/2.8 so the lens was wide open allowing in the maximum amount of light but I didn’t understand why the photos were almost perfectly exposed under such dark lighting conditions with a low ISO (100) and fairly fast shutter speed (1/125). The exposure actually seemed a bit overexposed, in fact, so I even increased the shutter speed to 1/250 a second. It wasn’t until I got home and downloaded the photos that I realized I had inadvertently set the ISO to auto-ISO, allowing the camera to dictate the ISO to get the correct exposure, something that I hate to do because I obsess over grain and noise in a photo and the higher the ISO, the more noise. No wonder my shots were exposed correctly. The auto-ISO increased to almost the maximum. But, despite the faux pas, I do like the shots I took because there is lots of colorful bokeh. And I swear, I took these (and somehow changed the ISO setting) on less then four sips of wine. And they weren’t even big gulps!

Today I brought out the big gun…my speed light…to see if I could get better lighting for shots of the hummers bathing. It definitely puts out more light and even with a 2 stop reduction in output, it seems to light the area fairly well. However, as it turned out, I got excited and kept pressing the shutter release without waiting for the light to recycle so I had to increase exposure on some of the shots. I had the speed light pointed slightly up and away so it didn’t reflect off the hummer’s gorget which appears almost black in all but the first shot.

Three men … er hummers… in a fountain? I think they ARE all “men” hummers because their gorgets are quite pronounced and their heads are red as well, so the rhyme sort of fits. Now to find something that rhymes with “fountain.” Rub-a-dub-Downton? A nod to my latest favorite Masterpiece Theater production?

As regular readers have guessed by now, I never tire of photographing my hummers and this morning when I saw one bathing, I quickly switched to my 28-300 zoom and went outside to sit by the fountain again. This morning, I am happy to report, the seat was dry and so am I. And, because I was dry, I was not uncomfortable as I waited for the hummers to return to the fountain. I was rewarded with all three at once. However, I need to find a better angle from which to photograph them so one isn’t obscured by the bubble in the fountain. And I now realize my next project is to get all three in focus instead of just one. I need to use a smaller aperture for a deeper depth of field. Tomorrow’s project maybe?

I couldn’t resist posting several of my favorite shots today. And one of the most interesting to me is the one of the hummer blinking.

Yesterday, I posted “It’s Time” and today, it IS time…for a bath. Not mine (I hate baths) but for my favorite bathers, the hummers. There were three out there this morning, all jousting for a position in the fountain. When I went outside, they retreated to the nearby branches, preening, and flitting about, waiting for me to leave. It was cold outside and unfortunately, I plunked myself down without thinking, on a wet seat so my terrycloth bathrobe was immediately soaked. I knew I couldn’t stay there too long because I was chilled and since I am trying to shake a cold that lingers on, I’m certain this was not a wise move on my part. But, persistence pays and after a couple of minutes, time that allowed me to make the exposure adjustments I wanted, one of the hummers, the tiniest one, tentatively at first, returned to finish his/her bath. I love the second shot because the wings aren’t blurred but neither shot is in tack sharp focus. Still working on that!

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 200
f/2.8
1/250
Flash -2.0

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 200
f/2.8
1/250
Flash -2.0

I was out and about this evening doing my part to bolster the economy at White House|Black Market in The Fountains across from the Roseville Galleria and I took a shot of this clock high on a building. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized the photo was not only black from the dark and white from lighted face, but, by increasing the exposure 3 and a half full stops using Lightroom’s Auto tone preset, a brick wall surrounding the clock emerged from the darkness. My first thought was to present the illuminated face of the clock as I shot it, but then the clock had no anchor and it just appeared to float, so I decided that the hint of brick surrounding the clock added interest and perspective to the shot.

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 250
f/2.8
1/320

Gloomy rainy winter days require soup. I’ve been wanting to make a pot of split pea soup since I bought all the ingredients for a pot over a week ago. A cold virus intervened and I barely managed to open a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup every night to give me the Jewish penicillin I needed to get well. Today I feel as if I might live and the thought of enjoying nourishing sustenance in the form of one of my favorite soups spurred me into action. I have a pot of split pea soup bubbling on the stove this afternoon. It’s not soup yet, but it will be by dinner time.

When I opened the bag of peas I thought it would be interesting to see how different depths of field on a shot just of the peas changed each photo. I shot using three difference apertures, f/2.8, f/6.3, and f/16. Each aperture gives an entirely different feel to the subject. I usually prefer to use a shallow depth of field so I can isolate my subject but in this instance I think I like the photo with the deepest depth of field, the first of the pea-only shots below. I can’t really put my finger on why I like it best but I think it is because there is no need to isolate just a few of the peas when the entire photo is peas. Hmmm. Maybe I’m not better afterall. This all sounds a bit weird.

Oh, one more thing. Today’s Flickr Challenge is “starts with ‘P'” and not only does the pot contain peas, it also has parsley, potatoes, and pork. And, it’s in a pot!

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/4
1/8

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/16
1.6 seconds

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/15

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/6.3
1/4

I spent time today with an amazingly cooperative subject in the form of Bobo. She was so glad to have me home spending time with her that she wouldn’t let me out of her sight and came toward the lens instead of fleeing from it. Today’s Flickr theme is “green” so I knew that Bobo would have to be my subject but I wanted to do something other than just snapping a shot or two of her. Since the day was overcast and gloomy, and, it has been quite a while since the last time I attempted to use my Speed Light, I decided today was the perfect chance to try to learn a little more about it. And, since I feel marginally better today and am trying to avoid any cold meds, my head is a little clearer than it’s been the past few days and I felt up to the challenge. Today’s test was to use the Speed Light in Commander Mode setting on the table facing a reflector. My first several shots were too flashy looking and I could see two flash points in Bobo’s eyes. I realized that I had set up the flash incorrectly and that both the on camera flash, which I meant to use only to trigger the off camera flash, was firing too. I finally figured out how to set it up correctly and then I made adjustments to the position of the light and the reflector so I could capture Bobo with side lighting.

The reflector is visible in the lower part of her eye instead of the harsh pinpoint of the flash. This shot is probably a bit darker than it should be and this lighting is probably more effective on a human face than a parrot’s face, but I still like this look. Bobo continues to molt and the new feathers look like the ends of toothpicks jutting out from her feathers.

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/8
1/250
Off Camera Flash
WB set to flash

I took only a few shots today, of two different subjects and each of these subjects was essentially two-toned. I thought the structure of the branches in the first shot made a striking composition and I liked the intensity of the blue sky and the golden color of the trunks and branches. Not too long after I took the first shot, I noticed what appears to be a column of smoke in the distance reflecting the intense red-orange of the setting sun, with the landscape turned black in the gloaming (I’ve always wanted to find a reason to use that word). I made a few adjustments to each of these shots and tried to remove a sensor spot from behind a branch in the first using Lightroom’s healing brush, then, when that failed, using Photoshop’s repair tools. Neither one worked for me so I cropped the shot instead. Those tools are magical in the right circumstances and I’ve been successful in the past but apparently in this case, a real expert was needed. I’ll have to work on it. I also tried to remove the power lines from the second shot in Photoshop and was much more successful doing that than removing the single spot from the first shot, but I needed to spend much more time and take much more care than I was willing to spend this evening so the power lines remain in the second shot.

This is a dandelion seed head in bright morning sun that seemed more interesting when I changed it to black and white. And, I liked it even more after I applied a blue high contrast filter.

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/320

This afternoon, I stood outside Famous Mo’s as Jesse’s spotter while he climbed a high, rickety ladder to install eye bolts to hang a banner announcing that Famous Mo’s is “coming soon,” an activity not unlike Jesse’s ancestor, Famous Mo, who, almost a century ago, similarly ascended a rickety ladder at the Big Gun Quarry which is located almost directly across the street from Famous Mo’s current location. I guess I should have been paying attention to Jesse to make sure he was steady on the ladder (but afterall, what on earth are you supposed to DO if someone falls off a ladder?). I wondered if I should fling my body under him to cushion the blow, and or just dial 911; fortunately, I didn’t have to make the decision because he managed to finish the job without incident. I (and he) was lucky, I guess, because instead of watching him, I was distracted by the building and as I gazed at the granite, I realized that Famous Mo’s building is built of the same gray granite quarried in Rocklin, possibly even across the street at the Big Gun Quarry, like much of the granite used in California’s state capitol building. Of course I had my camera with me so how much assistance could I have rendered anyway, carrying 5 pounds of camera and lens when protecting said camera and lens would be, without question, my first concern if he had fallen off the ladder? So, my charge abandoned, I decided I liked the view of this corner of the building and then remembered that today’s Flickr theme is “gray/grey.” The gull in the sky adds a bit of interest to the shot, I think and this corner somehow reminds me of the monolith in the movie “2001, A Space Odyssey;” maybe it’s the angle.

N.B. I am currently on cold meds, so if this post seems wacky, it probably is so please ignore it!

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/1250

Happy New Year! Today marks the start of my third year taking photos and posting to this photography blog. The daily exercise has helped me to improve my photographic skills and with each passing day, I feel more passion for photography. I plan to continue my daily posts and hope to keep improving. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to view my photos. I hope you will continue to visit my blog.

After two years of studying photography, I finally realize that I AM a photographer. In fact, my business cards for Famous Mo’s Coffeehouse & Theater state that I am the “house photographer” instead of the co-owner. It is a role I love to play. Being the photographer gives me the opportunity to be in the forefront of activities, to document events, and to have a reason for being someplace. In 2012, I stood with a number of professional photographers as I took photographs of Endeavor’s fly-by of the State Capitol and I felt comfortable being there. I’ve spent many hours photographing local blues band Foxtrot Mary and I love the challenge of finding the right lighting to capture the feel of the music and the band. In 2012, I joined the Placer Camera Club. The club holds frequent evaluations by professional photographers and I have held my own in those evaluations. It is extremely helpful to get critical feedback and it is always eye opening. This, too, has helped me improve my skills and how I view the photos I take. In 2012, I moved up from a crop-frame camera to a full frame camera and I am blown away by the clarity of my Nikon D800. With the D800 came some new FX lenses and my 24-70mm lens has become my favorite and is now always the default lens on my camera. My favorite subject is birds, mostly wild but the occasional red-lored Amazon in the form of Bobo takes center stage. As a volunteer with the California Foundation for Birds of Prey, I am exposed to incredible photographic opportunities and many of my raptor photos have appeared in this blog. I am thrilled that my photos are also featured in the CFBP’s newletter and brochure. Of course I am the newsletter editor and brochure designer so I guess I shouldn’t brag too much about that.

I continue to carry my camera with me everywhere. I am more committed than ever to photography. In 2013, I am looking forward to a trip to the Grand Canyon with renowned photographer Moose Peterson, to more bird photographs, to more band photographs, and, of course, above all, to make sure my daily photos are in focus!

I am starting off the new year with a disadvantage of sorts. Just this morning I discovered that when I upgraded my Lightroom software recently, photo storage defaulted to my computer’s hard drive instead of the designated 2T photographic hard drive. So, my computer’s drive is now full. Neither my mouse and nor trackpad is working properly today, and I have a cold so I am a bit dopey from cold medicine. But, I managed to start the new year by saving my new photos to the correct drive with properly marked 2013 folders despite the haze in my brain.

Today’s photo subject is one of my favorites. Of course it is a bird, a hummingbird. Despite the cold this morning, 32 degrees outside, and that I HAVE a cold, I ventured outside and sat by the fountain when I saw the hummingbird bathing. He refused to return to the fountain while I was out and so I didn’t get the shots I sought, but the shots I got are in focus. I think a New Years Day hummingbird photo will have to become a tradition.