Day 30: July 2010 Photo-a-Day Thread

[Colin Southern]

2 Days to go?

Will we make it?

[rick55]

Canon 500D, EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM @ 23mm, 2 flashes RF triggered, full EXIF, PAD slideshow.

2 Days to go?

Will we make it?

I wondered: our heat pump died last night, and the temperature started creeping up, up, up.... This was a chance to get into the basement, which was wonderfully cool, and also a chance to play with my brand new light meter. I figured I'd want a fill and key light to show off the empty space, and it was a good chance to see how much easier it is to set it up with a meter. WOW! It really does make it much simpler. I don't use Pocket Wizards, so I didn't get the radio plug-in. But in flash mode, the meter waits for the next flash. Push the button on the meter, hit the "test" button on my Cactus transmitter, and presto! Getting exposure reading means you can adjust each flash with measure-adjust-measure and go on to the next. PLUS, the first time I tripped the shutter, the exposure was perfect. Fantastic.

I should have gotten a meter a long time ago. You can set up your lights without it, but it probably changed the lighting setup time from 5-10 minutes to 2-3 minutes. And I can see right now that I'll be more willing to change the lights. When I do a complex setup, I hate to change it, because I do 20 test shots to get it right, turning on one flash at a time. Once I learn how to use the meter, I'm sure I'll get the time down even more, so if I want to change the lights, it will be easy.

The happy ending to the story is that the guy was able to get the motor replaced tonight, so the house is cooling down right now, although we're about US$950 poorer. But the system is about 15 years old, so it's lasted beyond the expected time, so we're not complaining.

Cheers,
Rick

[GrimTheRipper]

Finally get a chance to go out and make a good pix.

Dead Wolf Creek Road


Graysport Crossing Bridge


I'm lonely...


Katydid Nymph


Grenada's Civil War Fort


Opinion?

[Klickit]

Misty Morning



This mist hung around all morning out at the workshop, but 100m away, there were clear skies. I pretty much left this as is ie straight out of camera, except for a slight levels tweak to bring in a little more contrast.

[carregwen]

PAD gallery

On black

[Crovean]

[rick55]

Hi, Alan;

I like the lonely tree and the cannon best. I must admit that the watermark rather spoils the tree image for me. I like the subdued reflection and the extreme vertical composition. We've had some discussions about watermarks from time to time: if you search for "watermark," you can find some opinions.

Cheeers,
Rick

[PopsPhotos]

Attended a teacher's meeting this morning. Once we broke up, I wandered down to the Japanese gardens.

A (slightly) different view


There's one in every crowd


I've got my eye on you, buster


Pops

[Dave Humphries]

Nikon D5000 + Nikkor 105mm f2.8 VR2 Macro: 1/250s f/4.8 at iso1600.

I'm not proud of this; it smacks of desperation (and I blew the highlights)

Promise I'll do better for the last day folks

[Colin Southern]

They don't make golf courses like they used to!

[Antonio Correia]

In a near future I will go broad.
I have to carry some of the equipment and - as before - I drag a box with stuff.
Here are two images: the first one taken some time ago and the last one shot during the planning of the new box.
The difference is that I want to have the two cameras available at once with those lenses avoiding to change or place them whenever I need.
The 20 D goes with the 70-200 and the 5D with the 2-70. G9 and extra stuff in a separate bag traveling somewhere else, not shown.
So, I will have a good range to cover and make some portraits at the distance...
i hope to remember to show you the final result...

[rick55]

Fantastic shot, Kit - wonderful mood and texture. If I made one suggestion, it would be to clone out that post or whatever it is near the trees. The fence in the background is wonderful, adds to the sense of desolation, but the post distracts slightly, to my mind.

You sure that doesn't fly, Rob? Pretty, but perhaps not my favorite of the abstracts you've done, TBH. I definitely like the prismatic effects, whether that's in the exposure or PP.

Cheers,
Rick

[carregwen]

Brave man. If she were a half-decent golfer you would now be picking up the bits of glass!

[carregwen]

You sure that doesn't fly, Rob? Pretty, but perhaps not my favorite of the abstracts you've done, TBH. I definitely like the prismatic effects, whether that's in the exposure or PP.

Cheers,
Rick

It was done on a scanner, hence the prismatic effect in parts of the shot. It's not my favourite either, but it's really difficult to get it right as it depends how you manually move the object as the light beam from the scanner tracks across the flat-bed.

[rick55]

I love the shot of the one red rock, Pops: great eye, great capture. The bird is neat, too: do you know what kind it is? Some kind of hawk?

You made it, Dave, that's what counts. Unless, of course, you fudged the clock and your camera's clock. Nice to have fun with the concept.

Cheers,
Rick

[PopsPhotos]

Rick, I've seen that rock field many times and not seen that shot. This time, the sprinklers were on, wetting down the rocks and the light was at just the right angle to make that one rock stand up and wave at me.

That bird is a nut cracker of some type. Note the very heavy beak. When it first landed, I thought it was a raptor, but the beak proved me wrong. Then I thought it was a "Referee" finch, because we have so many in this area. The beak proved me wrong on that, too.

In other words, I have no idea what it is.

Pops

[rick55]

That bird is a nut cracker of some type. Note the very heavy beak. When it first landed, I thought it was a raptor, but the beak proved me wrong. Then I thought it was a "Referee" finch, because we have so many in this area. The beak proved me wrong on that, too.

In other words, I have no idea what it is.

Pops

In the image, it could be a hawk's beak: I can't see the heavy lower mandible, if there is one. It appears to have that hawk/falcon hook. If you're interested in identifying it, you might try whatBird.com. If you click on "search" in the main menu, and scroll down a bit, you can choose various things, like body type, coloration, and such. Each thing you pick narrows the list.

Nice pic, regardless.

Cheers,
Rick

[rick55]

Excellent image, as usual, Colin. My only complaint is that Jessica (it's Jessica?)
is so small that you can't see her expression. You can read the body language. Maybe
drop the camera a little lower, let the foreground be out of focus, and focus on her?

Enjoy the trip, António! Let us know how the new bag works.

Cheers,
Rick

[rick55]

It was done on a scanner, hence the prismatic effect in parts of the shot. It's not my favourite either, but it's really difficult to get it right as it depends how you manually move the object as the light beam from the scanner tracks across the flat-bed.

Hard to reproduce, too: but there are lots of photo techniques like that, I guess, like water drops.

Cheers,
Rick

[Colin Southern]

Brave man. If she were a half-decent golfer you would now be picking up the bits of glass!

That's what UV filters are good for