Week 36, Day 258, January 7, 2009, Catching up on the News

Today was another very limited day for photograph.  I only had time to take some photos on the bus trip home.  Today was our third meeting of the Greater Groton Photography Club.

The Photography Club is going well.  There's a lot of people with interests in photography, and we have various skill levels. I enjoyed working with a lot of people last night to show them some programs that they might like to use.  We also looked at how they might improve their photographs.  We had some still shots that they could take photographs, and try some various camera settings to see what would happen.

The only downside was that I was so busy helping others, that I didn't take any photographs myself.  I think the sacrifice was worth it.

Lessons Learned:

• I'm amazed at how well this photo came out for the conditions of low light.  I had the ISO at 1600 (the largest for the current camera.), the fstop at 4.0 (the widest for this lens), and a very slow shutter speed. I don't have the information in front of me, but I think it was a 1/13 sec.  I have to get back to my desktop computer at home to check that.

Week 36, Day 25, January 6, 2009, Black Mark

Today is a black mark on my Year in Photos.  I did not take a photo on this day.  I got home, worked on some photography for an upcoming project, and met with a client.  I did a lot of photography work, but no took no photos.  I realized it after I had gone to bed for the night.

I have failed.  Sorry faithful reader.  I'll try and do better.  It's been a crazy week.

Lessons Learned:

• I won't always succeed.
• They day just didn't feel right.
  

Photo Details: Zilch, Nada, Zero, 

Week 36, Day 257, January 5, 2009, Anticipation

This is kind of an atypical basketball photograph, but I really liked it.  In this photo the ball is missing, but everybody's focus is on the ball.  I like the difference.

Lessons Learned:

• I spent a lot more time tonight when there was an interaction on the floor.  Typically in the past I would focus more on the shooting.  I think the interaction between players on the floor can create some spectacular photos.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/200 sec, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 1600, Focal Length 70 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, hand held.

Week 36, Day 256, January 4, 2010, "Needs Paint"

This is the fourth photo in my cellar series.  How many of you thought that one could get inspiration from a dirty old cellar?

There is an old wooden door that is in desperate need of a paint job.  (It's probably lead paint, so I don't think I'll refinish it.)

Although this photo looks a little like a sepia tint it isn't.  That just happens to be the color, and the lighting that was on the door.  I tried some sepia shots, but actually liked this one better. 

Lessons Learned:

• Monday Nights are my busiest nights, so I have the least amount of time for photography.  I try and have something in mind when I start to try and speed up the process.  I'm not sure that's a good thing for creativity, but sometimes it is necessary when there is a short time frame.  I imagine that it's similar for weddings.  Wedding have a very short amount of time to take the right shots.  I think it's better to have something in mind for a lot of the photograph of a wedding.  Any wedding photographers out there that want to share their insight?

Photo details: Exposure time 10 sec, Aperture f/22, ISO 100, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 82mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, tripod.

Week 36, Day 255, January 3, 2010, Dusty Old Bottle

This is photo number three in the cellar series. 

This is an old bottle that was in the cellar when we moved to this house.  It can probably hold about a gallon of liquid.  I'm not sure what it was used to store.  I've left the dust on the bottle, because I think it adds some interest for the photo.  I also think that stone wall in the background makes an interesting backdrop for the photo.

Lessons Learned:

• There are a lot of objects in the cellar to photograph, and it comes in handy on very cold days like today. I think it will also come in handy this week when I return to work, and don't have a lot of daylight to take photos. (It was a high of about 10 degrees F today.)

Photo details: Exposure time 1/4 sec, Aperture f/1.8, ISO 100, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 82mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, tripod.

Week 36, Day 254, January 2, 2010, Doggie in the Window

Everybody in town is familiar with this Boxer that spends a lot of his/her time looking over the town from this window.  I've wanted to take a photo of it for some time, but never had my camera with me.

It was about 10 degrees F outside, so I didn't spend a lot of time.  I'd like to get a better photograph some day.  Many times he is standing in the window, which I think would make for a better photo.

Lessons Learned:

• A Circular Polarizer Filter will not always remove the reflection of the light in the glass.
• Because of the previous problem, I learned how to use Photoshop to crop the window, create a new layer, and adjust the image levels of that layer to help reduce some of the glare.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/50 sec, Aperture f/7.1, ISO 100, Focal Length 35 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, handheld, circular polarizer filter, reduced the glare on the window with Photoshop.

Week 36, Day 253, January 1, 2010, Bridge over icy water.

It was a beautiful snowy morning for the first day of 2010.

I took several photos this morning.  This was my favorite. It's from a local park.

Lessons Learned (Questions):

• I think that the Circular Polarizer Filter is probably not a good idea for Snow photos when the sky is overcast.  It seems to create a warmer scene.
• When importing a RAW image, I've been looking at the histograms of the colors to correct the white balance in Adobe Photoshop.  It seems that if I just have the blue starting to show on the right side of the histogram, that I'm getting the best color.  Has anybody else worked with this.  If so, do you agree with those results?

Photo details: Exposure time 1/4 sec, Aperture f/22.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 28 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, tripod, converted to black and white in Picassa.

This Monochrome concept came from Aileni at The Monochrome Weekly