Day 58 - Working with Kids

Had a big day with kids today, a christening and a one year old birthday party.  I got some nice shots of the christening (as requested by mum) and managed to snap this candid moment back at their house for morning tea.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 30mm
f/4
1/100

Day 57 - Checkout the Size of that Lens

The Toowoomba clubs had a combined Criterium bike race today so I thought I would have another go at trying to get a clear shot out of the 500mm Soligor lens.  I'm realizing that there is a lot of limitation to this lens, the main being a lack of auto-focus but also in the f-stop and reproduction of colours.  With such a huge lens (including crop factor of 1.6x), the images are washed out.  This shot was done on a tripod with a remote shutter and pre-focused on a point.

Technical:
ISO
Soligor 500mm

Photoshop:
Curves, Contrast, Sharpen

Day 56 - Ken Ball Impressions

I meet Ken Ball at the Toowoomba Photographic Society meeting tonight.  His work may not be to everyone's liking, but it was really amazing to listen to him speak and understand the man behind the pictures.  He changed his style in recent times to art photography.  The majority of his shots uses a 1/10sec drag of the camera to produce some interesting abstract photographs.  He is also a firm believer in producing everything in camera, no Photoshop at all.  Here's my attempt to represent Ken through his style.  There is a little bit of a comical play on words here with the background.  Ken's work is definitely not Black and White.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF50mm
f/2.8
1/10sec

Ken Ball (Far) & Graham Harris (Near)

Day 55 - Work Shot

Ideas are racing through my head for this job I need to do for work.  The big challenge is actually converting that idea into reality.  This shot ended up being the safest shot I could have done of all my ideas.  I needed to create a picture for an article on our new mobile banking facility.  We didn't need to necessarily need to show the interface, more to give an idea of when and why it's needed.  What better place then when you're shopping and need to see how much money you have in your account.  I did want to take a shot of someone rock climbing and have their mobile out to check their funds, this would give a young, extreme vibe to the shot but possibly a bit to radical for the image were trying to portray.  It has given me the inspiration to go do a rock climbing shot in the next couple of weeks.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF50mm
f/1.4
1/50

Photoshop:
Burn and Sharpen

Strobist:
Flash powered by sun

Day 54 - Another Challenge

Another challenge at work, this time its Reflection without Mirrors.  I struggled for a while with this one but then it just came to me in a flash (haha, flash).  Got the iPhone out and took a picture of the subject, used the Photoshop App to flip the image and then placed it in front of the subject .  Got a little bit fancy with the twin light setup which helps to explain the image.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 39mm
f/4
1/60

Strobist:
Nissin di622MkII manual at -1.5EV, camera left at 1m, 1m height, white diffuser
Sunpak PZ40X-NE manual at 1/16, camera right at 1m, 1.5m height, no diffuser
Flashes triggered by Yongnuo RF-602TX

Day 53 - Walk Towards the Light

A book turned up in the post today, The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally.  This guy is amazing.  I have seen some of his work with photography training courses and I follow the Kelby Photoshop Podcast and I regard him as a mentor in my journey through photography.  He has a way to make the subject comfortable and get the best out of them, and have fun at the same time.  The creativity in his work is simply awesome.  Joe is making me think of light in a totally different way.  This is my first attempt at a twin flash, off camera light setup.  Sure, the subject is a book, but I think I was able to add a little more depth to a otherwise uninteresting shot.

Technical
ISO 100
EF17-40 @30mm
f/20
1/60

Strobist:
Nissin di622 MkII manual at -1.5 EV, camera left at 80cm, subject height, white diffuser
Sunpak PZ40x-NE manual at 1/16, camera right at 1m. 1.5m high, no diffuser
Flashes fired by Yongnuo RF-602

Day 52 - Red Eye Special

Let me just say straight up, I'm not impressed with this photo at all, but after 18hrs of straight work, I don't blame my lack of enthusiasm or creativity.  An all night stint at work to upgrade our server room meant that I was walking home at 5am.  Here's what the streets of Toowoomba look like at that hour, through very sore and red eyes.

Technical:
shot on an iPhone

Photoshop:
Cross-Process Curves

Day 51 - Keep an Eye Out

There is a car illegally parked in my street which I walk past everyday.  Today I looked over the car a little more closely and noticed a sticker I've never seen before.  I think today's point for me is to be aware of your surroundings.  Look for detail where you don't expect it.

Technical:
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/2.2
1/80

Day 50 - Burning Down the House

It's looking a little suspicious, but somehow the house around the corner from us started to burn on its own accord.  It just so happens to be in the same block of houses where a historic house burnt down where the owner is trying to sell off the land.  I went for a walk to the house and used my new wireless flash trigger so I could point it through a window and then walk around and get a better angle.  I didn't feel real comfortable being around here, and it stank so I wasn't sticking around.  So here's the best shot I took looking through the kitchen window.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF50mm
f/1.4
1/60s

Strobist:
Wireless Flash Trigger, Nissin flash on manual @ 1:1 (Full Power).  2m to right of camera at same height.  Blue diffusion cap on flash.

Day 49 - Ray of Light, Jess

Walking home, I thought to myself, "I'm running out of time to get today's shot".  Just up ahead I noticed a girl with lovely long blond hair.  I sped up to try and catch her but then I got thinking, "what happens when I actually catch her?"  Would I have the courage to ask her for a photo?  Well, if you took a peak at the shot, then I guess you know what the answer is.  The young ladies name is Jess and she was awesome about it too.  I tried a few shots of her hair, which is what I first noticed about her when trying to catch up to her, but when chatting some more with Jess, I noticed her really cool glasses.  Jess, I hope this shot does you justice, thanks again for taking a minute out of your Friday walk home from work.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF50mm
-0.33 EV
f/5
1/80
Natural Lighting

Photoshop:
Blur, Black & White conversion, Sharpen

Day 48 - Locked Away

Went for a walk after work today to the post office because I thought there would definately be people walking around there.  Well, I found someone but they didn't want their photo taken.  It put me off a little so I took the safe option and photographed the mail boxes.  Locked behind them were all the potential people I could have taken, but I needed the key.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF50mm
f/4
1/8s (handheld, what the ???)

Day 47 - Struggle

Today sums up my week.  It's been a real struggle to get going with photos.  Plenty of ideas, but sickness, confidence and people were all lacking for me.  I was out in the yard looking for inspiration and I found this hedge trying to grow through the fence.  I felt like I had my head shoved through a fence.

Technical:
ISO 400
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/8
1/80s

Photoshop:
Cross-process curves

Day 46 - 500mm Fun

Today I was having lots of fun chasing around my Bengal cats... again with the 500mm prime lens.  This shot is nothing spectacular, but it did give me an indication of how the background and narrow viewing angle changes dramatically with large zoom lens.

Technical:
ISO 3200
500mm Prime
1/320s

Photoshop:
Sharpen, colour boost

Day 45 - Bond, James Bond

Here's my shot for a challenge at work.  We needed to come up with a picture which illustrates one of the James Bond titles.  Here's my version of the 1973 Bond classic, "Live and Let Die".

Technical:
ISO 100
EF50mm
f/4
1/25
Tethered to laptop

Strobist:
Wireless control Nissin Di644 @ camera left.  1m from subject at 1/32 power with diffuser.  A4 paper folded in half and feed standing just out of shot to right of subject to add fill light and glass reflection.

Photoshop:
Highlight & Shadows, Lighten coloured liquid and plants, Sharpen, Flipped Horizontally

Notes:
Don't use an umbrella, way to much reflection on glass.  Needed to add some strips of black over the front of the umbrella to create a strip light effect.

Day 44 - Dirty Work

My first official photography shoot!  Grant and Josie asked me to get some shots of their kids and I had a great time running around the park, playing on slides, battling on Pirate ships... and taking photos at the same time.  Their three kids are absolutely gorgeous and seemed to enjoy posing for the camera.  You really need to be quick and I sure tested the AI Servo mode and USM in my L-series lens.  The picture I chose sums up the day for me.  Sienna was kind enough to stick a lolly on my lens, step in a puddle of mud and generally get as dirty as possible.  Lots of fun...

Technical:
ISO 100
EF50mm
f/2
1/400

Photoshop:
Highlights, Shadows, Colour Correct, Sharpen

Day 43 - Really Feeling Sick

Didn't have a good night sleep due to illness and didn't get a chance to go outside at all.  So I continued on with the wedding photos, that means you win again.

Technical:
ISO 125
EF70-200 @ 70mm
f/5.0
1/125

Day 42 - Something Blue

Well, I spent the day feeling sick and on the computer.  It's been 4 months but I'm finally at a stage where I think I can prepare my wedding photos ready for final presentation.  So what better way to show what my day consisted of than a photo edit, done on my camera, with me and my lovely wife in it... not that you can tell in this pic.

Technical:
ISO 100
f/4
1/3200

Photoshop:
Slight Sepia Tone, Dodge & Burn and Sharpen

Day 41 - The Skate Park

Ok, continuing my sudden confidence boost, I ventured off to the skate park near work and got chatting to some of the young guys.  Also meet an awesome group lead by Peter who runs a club called Scooter Booter, which gets young Aboriginal kids active and aware of health issues they will face later in life.  The kids were amazing and I spend about an hour there taking pictures and chatting.  It was a great experience which took a little effort from me to get over my confidence issues.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 17mm
f/14
1/250
Nissin di-622 MkII Flash on camera with diffuser

Photoshop:
Sharpen, Highlight & Shadow correction, Remove light pole and rails

Here's a couple more images of the boys at the skate park...

Day 40 - Alone in a Crowd

Well I finally stepped outside my comfort zone.  Sure it's not a person shot, but hey, I had to speak to people to get it.  This co-insides with a competition I am doing at work where we needed to get a shot of something along in a crowd.  My first couple of thoughts didn't work out but when I was walking back from another photo job, I noticed a fruit barn and instantly got a vision of this shot.  I have also upped the anti with some photoshop skills which I have applied to this image, and every shot to come.

Technical:
ISO 500
EF17-40 @ 17mm
f/6.3
1/60

Photoshop:
Remove colour cast, Highlight & Shadow correction, Vibrancy, Sharpen, Watermark & copyright information

Day 39 - Bad Run

Wasn't feeling real crash hot today.  Went for a run with Jen and I think this shot sums up the day nicely... all a bit messed up.  The iPhone did pretty well considering we were running at the time, a slight tweak here and there in Aperture and there you have it.

Technical:
iPhone

Aperature:
Sepia Tone

Day 38 - Business Profile

Well it seems if you carry a camera around everywhere with you, people begin to ask favors.  Dean approached me about doing a profile shot for a story on his on-line university studies.  I happily accepted and we tried a few different approaches, but ultimately I settled for a very business like shot with a touch of Dean's personality, which I hope he likes.

Technical:
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/2
1/80
Wireless flash right of camera at 1m distance, 60cm height

Day 37 - Renovations

Renovations continued on the house today.  Wendy and I got cracking on the front, putting up pickets around the veranda.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 25mm
Ev -0.33
f/4
1/40s

Day 36 - Anyone for Tennis?

A group of us went out for a hit of tennis and I decided to try out my new toy which converts a Canon camera mount to a Nikon lens mount.  This enabled me to mount a Soligor 500mm F/8 lens onto my EOS 7D, which once you take into account the crop factor becomes a 800mm lens.  Of course all auto control is lost so its a handful getting critical focus.  It's not the most exciting image but it reminds me of the fun had on day 36.

Technical:
ISO 3200
Soligor lens at 500mm
f/8
1/800s

Day 35 - Morning Light

Woke up this morning and saw beautiful light flowing in from the window... pretty sad when you are thinking photography every waking moment.  I actually set the camera to black and white for this shot to see how well it turns out.

Technical:
ISO 3200
EF17-40 @ 34mm
Photostyle in camera: Black & White

Day 34 - Chinese New Year

Welcome the year of the Rabbit.  We had a nice Chinese lunch to introduce the new year.  Here's a rare snap of Nancy at the lunch.

Technical:
ISO 2000
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/4
1/60

Photoshop:
Vignette, Sepia Tone, Un-Mask Sharpen

Day 33 - Mandy

Amanda (our IT Admin Assistant) was a great sport allowing me to take her picture.  I just hope I have done her justice.  A stairwell may not be the most glamorous setting, but it did prove to be an interesting challenge.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/14
1/60s
Wireless Flash

Day 32 - Donate Blood

Today I donated blood.  There is a really interesting old lady there who makes the tea which would have made a brilliant shot, but I didn't have a camera on me.  I will remember for next time however.  Here's a shot of my bandaged arm.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/8
1/8s
Wireless Flash

Photoshop:
Double layer with multiply blend, sharpen.

Day 31 - Product Shoot

Well, with a month of people shots coming up (not taking the easy option and shooting objects), I thought I should get a product shot in.  I still don't have my twin wireless flash triggers so I was limited to my flash, umbrella and reflector but I had fun anyway.  I decided to go the whole way and make the final image into a magazine cover.

Technical:
ISO 100
EF17-40 @ 36mm
f/10
1/60s

Photoshop:
Lots of it