Day 112 - Playing with Fire

I won a contract on the Freelancer.com.au website to produce some Karaoke videos.  While I was playing around with the fog machine and movie mode, I thought I would take some snaps with the camera.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/1.4
1/60sec

Image Manipulation:
Crop, Contrast, Curves Adjustment

Day 111 - Grand Dad's Light Meter

My mum said she had found a couple of my grandfather's light meters which is really funny because I've just recently been looking around on the net to buy one.  Now that I am getting into using the film cameras, I'm needing a light meter because apparently when they made cameras pre-70's, they didn't have sophisticated electronics to workout the correct exposure for you.   I took this shot with the digital camera set to manual and dialed in the settings off the light meter (in picture).  As you can see, it's pretty spot on for exposure.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/4
1/400sec

Day 110 - Driveway

We purchased some sleepers for the driveway and as it was lying on the ground I noticed the complementary colours of the sleeper and grass.  I liked the way the narrow depth-of-field is off-set from the board and grass.  Simple but I think effective.  Now if I can only get the colours right in the house.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/4
1/2500sec

Image Manipulation:
Rotate and Crop, Curves adjustment, Vignette

Day 109 - Strength

I was absolutely mesmerized by this tree.  The detail in the trunk and branches continued out into it's incredibly detailed leaves.  I loved the way the sky went from almost white to deep blue in the background, adding more depth to the image.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 17mm
f/22
1/30sec (handheld)

Image Manipulation:
Sharpen

Day 108 - Blowing in the Wind

It was a beautiful day today but a little windy so I thought I would capture it.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 17mm
f/22
1/60sec

Image Manipulation:
Curves adjustment in Aperature, Sharpen

Day 107 - All in the Grain

I don't own a macro lens but I was getting around the backyard, getting close and personal to all sorts of objects.  This shot is nothing special, its a close-up (as much as I can with the 17-40mm lens) of a piece of timber sitting out in the elements.  I wonder what life it had before it was cut down and now lays to rest as a piece of garden edging.

Technical:
Canon 7d camera
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 40mm
f/4
1/2500sec

Image Manipulation:
Black & White conversion, increase sharpness and definition

Day 106 - Roller Derby

These girls are totally nuts.  What an awesome night.  The Toowoomba City Rollers had a home ground bout against the Epic Northern Roller Girls.  Despite the girls losing, the crowd got right behind the local girls for what was a very entertaining sport.  The whole roller derby scene seems to be alive in Toowoomba which is fantastic to see.  I will be getting in contact with the girls to see if I can do some more work with them... and I might see if Wendy will pull on a set of skates and give it a go.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 400
EF50mm
f/5

Strobist:
Nissin di622 Mk II placed on the ground and to the left of camera.  Used diffuser and reflector card @ 1/4 power.
Wirelessly triggered via Yongnuo RF-602 set.

Photoshop:
Sharpen, Vignette, added cyan for colour correction

Had to add a couple more pictures...

Day 105 - Zumba Cindy

Here's my Zumba instructor.  She encourages me by laughing at me.... hmmm, hang on a second.  We have a lot of fun and I am slowly starting to get some moves.  This is my first attempt at doing a professional shoot.  Although I didn't have all day to shoot, I managed to get around ten awesome shots for a poster I plan to print for the gym.  Thanks to Troy for loaning me his flash unit.  Got a lot more technical with the lighting setup, three wireless flashes, softbox and a snoot.  I'm so pro now.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/5
1/125sec

Strobist:
Key Light: Nissin di622 Mk II in 120x80cm baffled softbox, 2m height, 80cm distance @ 1/2 power left of subject
Rim Light: Sunpak flash shot bare, 20cm height, 3m distance @ 1/16 power behind and right of subject
Background Light: Nissin di622 with snoot, 1m height, 3m distance @ 1/16 power behind and left of subject

Photoshop:
Removed some stray hairs, removed some skin blemishes.

Day 104 - Reaching Out

This ones a little how I feel at work (not photography), flat in colour, darkness surrounds and I'm being viewed from the perspective of the flower... down there.  It's a good time to reflect and see what's important in this life.  You have to do things that make you happy... only got one life, need to make the most of it.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/2.2
1/80sec

Photoshop:
Lowered vibrancy, removed distracting bud, added vignette

Day 103 - Formations

T'was a beautiful day today and while walking back from lunch, I noticed some pretty trippy cloud formations.  Only had the iPhone on me and there wasn't really many options to be creative.  Point at sky, shoot, blog, done.

Technical:
iPhone camera

Photoshop:
Contrast, Flip 180 degrees

Day 102 - All Four Elements

Here's another one of our challenges at work.  The title was All Four Elements, which would usually mean Air, Fire, Earth and Water.  I didn't want to go the obvious route.  The first element which sprung to mind was a light bulb element... so I need for of them, photo done.  Got to use my new softbox and large stand for this one.  Pretty excited.  You can see the reflection of the softbox in the clear bulb.  Look into the image and you can see reflections of bulbs in other bulbs.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/8
1/80sec

Strobist:
Nissin di622 MKII shot into 120x80cm softbox with inner baffle.  1/2 power @ 1m distance, 1m height right of camera.

Photoshop:
Remove some pieces of dust, Sharpen

Day 101 - Rainy Afternoon

Feeling sick today and the day seemed to reflect my well-being.  It started to pour down and I noticed the rain drops at the back door so I grabbed the camera and took a quick snap.  I used a flash to freeze the action but a long shutter speed to soften the water ripples.  I like the impact of the green foliage against the browns.  A simple shot but one that I find myself starring at for a while.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/5.6
1/160

Strobist:
Nissin di622 MKII set to eTTL on camera.  White and Yellow gels over flash head.

Photoshop:
Contrast and Sharpen

Day 100 - Lost Art

Wow, 100 days down already.  When I look back over the blog I can see some big changes in my photos.  I had never touched a film camera when I started.  Now I love it.  I've read a couple of books on photography.  That's pretty big because that means I've almost doubled the amount of books I've read in my life, just this year!  I met up with a photographer (who actually took my photo for my Employee of the Year award in 2007) and we went to the Cobb & Co Museum in Toowoomba.  He wanted some photos for publications they do there at the centre so I snapped away and also assisted with his lighting rig.  I took this shot of the boys in the blacksmith area.  I took some really good pictures of the fire pits, but I liked the shot of the guys focused on the axe head they were making.  I'm noticing that I like people in pictures.  The images often tell a more interesting story than a simple object.  It's also a tougher challenge for me to photograph people so it's more rewarding I guess.  Blacksmithing is a pretty amazing process too... check it out sometime if you can.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
EF50mm
f/1.4
1/160sec

Photoshop:
Straight out of the camera

Day 99 - Flying Fletcher

Met up with the Fletcher's again to photograph the family.  There were some tricky lighting conditions at 7:30am but I made the most of what I had.  The most disappointing thing about the shoot was the fact that they have built stairs where we used to go sliding down the grass slope on cardboard.  Key here is to do your research before you assume what shots you will be taking.  I thought I would try something a little different with the boarder this time.  Don't think it really worked but at least I'm trying something new.  After all, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF17-40 @ 20mm
f/9
1/320sec

Day 98 - Wagon Wheel

I've been insanely busy over the last couple of days but still managing to keep up to date with the blog.  I've been chatting to lots of people in the photographic scene and getting some great advice.  This is the first image I have edited since recalibrating my computer screens so I'll see what it's like on my work PC later on today.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/5.6
1/80sec

Photoshop:
BW conversion, increased structure and contrast, applied Ilford HP400 film grain

Day 97 - Oh My Orb

Here's my first attempt at an Orb.  I will leave it to you to see if you can work out how I did it.  It's still a work in progress, but better than nothing... well that's a long story.  Don't hassle your wife to go out at ten o'clock at night, drive into the country side out past the city lights, get setup ready to take a shot and then realise you left your memory card sitting on the desk at home.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 200
EF50mm
f/11
70secs on tripod with remote shutter

Photoshop:
NONE

Day 96 - Lunch by the Sea

Here's the last of the images I wanted to put up from the Black & White roll of film.  After taking the shots of the surfers, I packed up and was about to take off on the bike.  I noticed this girl sitting down to have some food.  It looked really nice with the ocean in the background so I got the camera back out and waited for the right moment.  Got the picture so a wave was just breaking in the background.  It's a really cool image to study (not to talk myself up or anything) and ask yourself, "What's she thinking about at this moment in time?  Why is she there?  Is she there with anyone else?"

A.  1) This is a bloody good sandwich.  2) Cause I can.  3) Yes, conveniently framed the boyfriend out of the shot.

Technical:
Nikon F4 camera
BW400CN ISO 400 film
Tokina 70-210mm lens
Polarizer + Orange filter

Photoshop:
Small amount of Dodge & Burn

Day 95 - Wood Chop

Here's another picture I took from the Toowoomba show.  This is totally untouched, straight from the camera.  I'm definitely taking the time to compose the shots and get everything right rather than clicking away like mad.  I love the tones in this image and the clarity.  Just a touch of blur in their arms gives the feeling of action.

Technical:
Nikon F4 camera
BW400CN ISO 400 film
Tokina 70-210mm lens
Polarizer + Orange Filter

Day 94 - Daily Juice

These girls were awesome.  Very friendly and happy for me to take their photo.  It was a real challenge trying to get some contrast between the girls' outfits and the background.

Technical:
Canon 7D camera
ISO 320
EF50mm
f/2
1/80sec

Photoshop:
Aperture Vintage effect and Sharpen

Day 93 - Personal Battle

I did the Ipswich Imperial bike ride today and it was a bit of an epic for me.  I did this event last year and had no worries but I haven't been back on the bike since then.  I had planned to train weeks in advance but a little thing called photography has distracted me for that.  So, I'm pleased to say I got through the 170km event but I didn't look pretty.  By the way, that's Dean Borg from work... he wanted me to say that.  Serial photo bomber.

Technical:
iPhone camera

Day 92 - Show Girl

The Toowoomba Show started yesterday and I was given the opportunity to go out and shoot some pictures.  If I look at this one critically, I needed to set them in the scene.  They were sitting on the fence watching the equestrian events, so if I would have moved around a little, I could have captured a little bit of that in the background.  Still, I liked the intimate moment I captured of this mother and kids.

Technical:
Nikon F4 camera
BW400CN ISO 400
Tokina 70-210mm lens

Day 91 - Life Saving Championships

While out riding at the coast, I realised that the Life Saving Championships was being held about 1km down from our hotel.  On the way back from capturing some surfing pics, I dropped in and caught some of the beach sprinting events.  Here's a shot from the girls race where one of the competitors was trying to calm the nerves before her event.

Technical:
Nikon F4 camera
BW400CN ISO 400 Film
Tokina 70-210 with 2x convertor
Polarizer and Orange Filter

Day 90 - Just a Suggestion

Ha, the coast.  Such a superficial place.  I'm so glad they give you suggestions on how to spend your prize money.  Hope you have a laugh, because we did.  The last day of "Say No to Photoshop" and I'm feeling really good about it.  It's making me capture better images in camera rather than relying on making a bad picture look better in post.

Technical:
Nikon F4 camera
BW400CN ISO 400
Tokina 70-210mm lens

Day 89 - Return of the Surfer

If you get the feeling of Deja Vu, well there's a good reason for that.  Go back to Day 17 and see what you think.  This time I had the lens I really wanted for Day 17, but not on the camera body I would have expected back then.  I went for a ride down the coast with the Nikon shoved into a little CamelBack bag.  I spotted where the surfers were going of from the main land but it required me to walk a couple of kilometers in bike cleats.  I waited for the perfect moment when the waves crashed over the rocks and clicked.  I was really impressed how this image turned out.  I used a polarizer with an orange filter to get the contrast I was chasing.



Technical:
Nikon F4 camera
BW400CN ISO 400
Polarizer + Orange Filters
Tokina 70-210mm lens

Day 88 - Zone System

Ansel Adams came up with the theory of the zone system which describes the range of tones possible and the use of them in photography.  This image screamed zone system to me.  This is the building beside where we were staying at the coast.  The tones looked amazing in the morning light.  I am starting to see a better range of tones through the lens before snapping away and trying to improve it in Photoshop later.  Sorry to my blog followers, old school photography isn't as fast as digital, but it is much more fun.  You are about to be hit with several days of Black and White goodness.

Technical:
Nikon F4 camera
Kodak BW400CN ISO 400