Category Archives: Photoblog

The best of the best — my favorite shots!

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Pendulum Scrawl

I’m a bit of a lens hound. I love getting new glass, and it seems like I’m always on the watch for a bargain. Tonight, I was able to add a horse to the stable. I found a used Canon 100/2.8 macro lens for about 2/3rds of the retail price that I couldn’t resist pouncing on. I have the MP-E 65/2.8, but it is just a little unwieldy for regular macro work, and of course, cannot be used as a “normal” lens, being an incredibly nearsighted lens.

So I took the new lens, fired up the pendulum, adjusted to touch the sand, and played with some flash shots of the pendulum doing its job. I’m finding that this lens is nice and sharp, and seems to be taking great photos. I can’t wait to get it out into real world, with real sunshine, chasing after some targets outdoors.

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Iron

It’s back to the small game pieces today. I broke out the Monopoly set, and made images of various pieces from the set. My favorite ended up being the iron. I really liked the shadows created by my desk lamp that I used to light it.

This image was made with my Canon 7D and MP E-65mm/2.8 macro lens. Aside from some straightening in Lightroom, there was no additional post-processing.

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Tag, You’re It!

After missing the last two days of photoposting due to illness, I got back in the swing tonight. Siobhan had a laser tag party tonight, and I took the 7D in for some very unusual shooting.

This is the first time I’ve opened up the high ISO end of the camera, pushing it ISO 12800. The photo for today is completely unretouched, shot in available light (which is a combination of deep darkness and black lights) with my 24-105/4L lens, handheld at 1/25 second. None of the images taken inside the place are what I would call sharp or brilliant, but the fact that I can record an image at all under those conditions really speaks to the sensitivity the 7D has in low-light conditions.

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Swinging in Time

After two days in the snow, it was time to come back inside the office and see what I could do with my pendulum. Pretty easy setup — set the pendulum up inside some black cloth, and get it moving. I set my 580EX II to strobe 15 times at 10hz across an exposure of 2 seconds. I had the flash set to 1/128th power, as the flash was only six or so inches away from the pendulum.

I made this image with my Canon 7D and 24-105/4L lens. I sucked it into Photoshop CS4E and applied a blur vignette through Nik Color Efex Pro. Easy stuff.

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Lonely Tree

This morning, we had a light snowfall in Da Lou. As if by telepathy, Casey and I both brought our kits to work, and decided to go looking for something to photograph during lunch. Our travels took us to the Katy Trail parking area at Matson. From here, you can look across a vast expanse of farmers’ fields, leading all the way to the bluffs at the river. I’ve photographed this area before, but never in the snow.

The lone tree in this field always fascinates me. When the fields are planted with crops, it seems like a guardian for the new growth. Today, it struck me as a sentinel, warning against entry to the acreage. It’s a very cool tree.

I made this series of images with my Canon 7D and 24-105/4L lens, brought them into Photomatix HDR, shuffled the final image through Nik Viveza and Lightroom, and brought it straight to you. 🙂

Photoblog, Project 365, Weather

Project 365 : Bud Ice

After the snow Friday, we were left with a fleeting winter wonderland this morning. At sunrise, I took my Canon 7D and MP-E 65/2.8 macro lens out into the snow to see what I could see.

The gentle constructs of the snow and ice were still just clinging to our forsythia bush, and really attracted my attention. Along the top edge of the thin branches were really cool little ice constructs that were beginning to fall off due to the slight wind and the sun’s peeking from behind the clouds. I knew I didn’t have a lot of time before this ice was gone, so I shot a series of shots — handheld! — with this mammoth lens on the front of the camera.

I was having to capture this at f/8 for to widen the insanely tight depth of field on this lens. Unfortunately, that also meant really long shutter speeds, which didn’t work well when magnified like this in a light breeze, so that meant cranking the 7D up to ISO 800, which gave me a handhold-able speed of 1/320th. Still, I had to put the camera in high speed continuous shooting mode to “spray and pray” for a shot where my wobbling, the wind’s blowing and the lens’ depth of field all came together at the right time. I suppose I could’ve put the camera on a tripod, and used something to clamp the branch in place, but where’s the fun in that? 🙂

In the digital darkroom, I brought the image into Photoshop CS4E, reducing noise with Nik Dfine, adding a couple of control points with Nik Viveza, and finishing it off with the Glamour Glow filter from Nik Color Efex Pro. I’m really growing to like that soft filter look in some of my nature images, and it really seemed to work for this one.

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Sand Box

I returned to my pendulum today. This is the very center of the sand affected by the pendulum’s travels. It always makes this nice little box in the center, reminding me of a very, very small stadium, constructed of sand.

I photographed this with my Canon 7D and MP-E 65/2.8 macro lens, edited it in Photoshop CS4E, and used Nik Silver Efex Pro to both convert it to black and white, as well as apply some bluing to the sand.

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Pendulum Sands

A few years ago, Becky and I picked up a pendulum on the Turquoise Trail in New Mexico. It swirls about in a very fine sand, leaving behind nice square patterns. I put my desk lamp almost flat with the plane of the sands, creating big shadows, and squeezed off a few shots.

I shot this with my Canon 7D and 24-105/4L, and processed the image with Photoshop CS4E, along with a little black and white conversion through Nik Color Efex Pro.

Photoblog, Project 365

Project 365 : Lighted Top

I picked up this lighted top at Christmas, thinking it would be fun to play with in front of the camera. And it was! I got the room real dark, and took a bunch of images, spinning the top at various speeds to entice it to walk across the frame. I particularly liked this image because of the slight touches of green and blue at the edges, accenting the thick center area of red and yellow.

This image was taken with my Canon 7D and 24-105/4L lens. Postprocessing was done in PhotoShop, with a little High Key filter from Nik Color Efex Pro thrown in for good measure.