Day 185

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens
1/160sec
f/1.8
ISO 800

Day 184

This cutie happens to be the sister of that last little cutie, Hanna. This is Carrie. She's a ham and a perfect model in front of the camera. I think that it might be near impossible to take a bad photo of her.

Canon 30D/w85mm 1.8 lens
1/100sec
f/1.8
ISO 1600

Day 183

This is Hanna. She's one of the many cute little nieces that I get to photograph from time to time. This photo was from an impromptu photo session that we had a couple weeks back. I enjoyed how this photo came out in black and white.

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens
1/200sec
f/4
ISO 200
(off-camera flash used)

Day 182

Another shot of Audrey's 2nd role in the musical as a "magical squirrel". She enjoyed this experience very much.

Same settings as Day 181.

Day 181

Caught this photo at a musical that Audrey was in (Willy Wonka, the musical). Used my fixed 85mm 1.8 lens, which posed its own challenges, being that I was very close to the set (literally, right on the floor in the front row). The proximity gave me plenty of great close-up shots, but wide shots were definitely impossible. In any case, I shot at 1600 ISO and didn't have any significant image noise to deal with. I would attribute that to software and the fact that the exposure I chose in manual mode worked out well with the lighting.

Canon 30D w/85mm lens
1/200sec
f/1.8
ISO 1600

Getting Published

Recently I have had the opportunity to get some of my images used as an advertisement in Fine Living Lancaster, which is a local magazine publication. The ads are for the business of a friend and client of mine, Jesse O'Hara, whom I do work for. He makes amazing furniture, and he has adopted me as his 'official' photographer for his furniture business. The following are 2 ads that he has used in the magazine that have used images that I have taken:

 

I'm very proud to see my work in print in some form or another. I hope that this kind of thing can continue, because it is a lot of fun to do!

Day 180

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm (extension tube)
1/25sec
f/8
ISO 1250

Day 179

Last photo in the Christmas cactus series.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm (extension tubes)
1/250 sec
f/8
ISO 400

Day 178

Christmas Cactus. Series image 3 of 4.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm (extension tubes)
1/250sec
f/8
ISO 400

Day 177

This is a continuation of a series I'm doing on a christmas cactus plant. Again, this is another image that I've decided to give a fine art matted look.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm (extension tubes)
1/250 sec
f/8
ISO 400

Day 176

Although it may seem that I've abandoned the daily photo project, that's certainly not the case. The truth is that I've been so swamped, that it is hard to keep up. Personal art-making has taken a back seat as of late. I'm happy to say that with winter approaching, there will be opportunities aplenty to explore and continue this project further. In fact, I have several photos that I am going to be posting. I've decided to post each one of these in a fine art styled image. If you might be interested in a print of any of these next few images (or any of the images on my site), let me know. I'm always happy to share.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm on extension tube
1/250 sec
f/8
ISO 400

Day 175

I've been playing around with my new flash lately and I like the way that this shot came out.

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/160
f/1.8
ISO 200

Day 174

I married a good mom.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm
1/50sec
f/2.8
ISO 1600

Day 173

I recently purchased a set of extension tubes to play around more with macro photography (close-up photography). Macro photos are fun to make. Here is a ballpoint pent that I had in my room. It is sitting on the edge of my desk.

Canon 30D w/85mm len on extensions tubes
1/100sec
ISO 800
Aperture unrecorded

Day 172

Shot with the iPhone.

Day 171

Looks like MacDonalds might want to look into getting a Mac.

Day 170

All of my children love books. Isabel likes them plain. Without mustard or mayo.

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 @85mm
1/500sec
f/1.8
ISO 400

Day 169

Another macro-like shot of an old radiator grill on a school bus. The bus was moving when I took this...just kidding.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens@50mm
1/160sec
f/2.8
ISO 200

Day 168

Took this shot yesterday with my students who were doing a Macro Lab assignment.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens@50mm
1/4000 sec
f/2.8
ISO 200

Day 167 (BY)

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/160sec
f/1.8
ISO 200

Day 166

I had previously posted a shot in the same place a while back with my iPhone. I thought the photo was okay, but the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to come back to that spot with my camera and get another shot. So here it is.

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/160sec
f/8
ISO 200

Day 165

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens @85mm (430EX flash)
1/160sec
f/1.8
ISO 1600

Day 164

Canon 30D w/Canon 85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/640sec
f/1.8
ISO 800

Day 163

This is another in my series of shots I took on my morning commute to work. I've gotten some criticism on this picture, because people think that there is too much sky. I'm not sure that I agree there. In fact, I think that the sky is the best part.

Canon 30D w/Canon 85mm 1.8 lens @85mm

1/3200sec
f/2.8
ISO 400

Day 162

Shot this a while back. I have a lot of shots in this series that I may be sharing from time to time. This was a really successful spur-of-the-moment shoot.

 Canon 30D w/ Canon 85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/400 sec
f/1.8
ISO 200

Day 161

Isabel is going to be a kitten for halloween. Liam will be a puppy (photos of that to come later). Should be one of the cutest dress-up days ever.

Canon 30D w/17-50 lens @31mm
1/40sec
f/2.8
ISO 1600

Day 160

Canon 30D w/70-200mm F4L Lens @70mm
1/60sec
f/4
ISO 100

Day 159

This is actually an old photo that I found, but never really took time to work on. Sooooo, here it is. I don't believe that I've ever published this anywhere, so in some ways it is a new image to everybody else.

Things I've learned: Sometimes it pays to go back and look at your old images, not just to learn from the past, but also to be able to apply new techniques. Sometimes it can bring out the gems.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @17mm
1/125sec
f/8
ISO 200

Day 158 (Goodbye to a friend)

Almost 3 weeks ago, I rented the Canon 85mm 1.8 USM lens to use for a wedding and some portrait work. In that short amount of time, I have fallen in love with the quality and sharpness of this lens. I have ready in many online forums and many reviews about how wonderful this lens was, but not until I used it myself was I able to experience this. It is an AMAZING lens! I feel like it has really allowed me to compose in different ways, and the client images from this lens have been astounding to say the least (at least from a photographer's perspective). Sadly, today will be the last day that I use this lens. I have a client shoot this afternoon, and then tomorrow I am to box the lens up and send it back to California for the next lucky person to try out.

Hopefully, if the finances are right, I will be able to purchase my own copy of this wonderfully-crafted lens. Until then, goodbye to one of the best lenses I've ever used.

Day 157

The photography work on the professional side has been keeping me pretty busy lately, but here is a recent shot I took with my iPhone the other day that I rather liked.

Day 156

I shot this one on the way to work this morning. I actually took several shots that I may end up sharing on this blog. I was really happy with the light and the quality of image coming from this 85mm lens that I rented. One thing that I noticed is that my images looked a bit better when the uv filter was removed. This filter came with the lens as a level of protection for it. I hate UV/Sky filters. For most things, they stink, unless you purchase a multi-coated high quality one for more money than they are probably worth. This little lesson this morning was helpful, because now I know that I will NOT be leaving this filter on for client shoots.

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/800sec
f/2.8
ISO 400

Day 155

I took this shot the other day while out with my students for a landscape photography lab assignment.

It is amazing how my students think that you need to have fancy gear to take a good photographs. Sure, it sometimes can make it easier in certain cases, but generally, it's about really looking at your subject. Looking at things not as a field, with weeds, trees, and sky, and more of looking at a combination of colors, textures, shapes, shadows, lines, and movement. Once you begin to break down a scene like that, things can really stand out to you, and your chance to be inspired becomes magnified. It is not hard to see a beautiful sunset or flowers and take a picture, since they are obviously beautiful subjects. However,  to be able to view a boring field of over-grown weeds trailing into a dull grove of trees with an overcast sky and suddenly seeing the textures, lines, colors and lines...that's a little bit more effort. However, the more you train your eye for these things, the easier it becomes to do.

Taken with the iPhone.

Day 154

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/800 sec
f/1.8
ISO 800

Day 153

Canon 30D w/85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/640sec
f/1.8
ISO 800

Day 152

I rented a new lens for a couple of weeks. The purpose is to use it for a wedding that I'm shooting later this month. I'm also trying it out with some client shoots to see if it would be worth investing in for my portrait work. I'm really impressed with it so far. I've not had much time playing with it, but I'm going to be using it tomorrow for 2 back-to-back photo sessions. As you might see here, the lens produces really sharp images with a very shallow depth of field. This is going to be exciting.

Canon 30D w/Canon 85mm 1.8 lens @85mm
1/60sec
f/1.8
ISO 400

Day 151

Canon 30D w/17-50mm @21mm
1/125sec
f/8
ISO 100

Day 150

Tonight we saw a beautiful sunset happening here in Lancaster city. Unfortunately, our house faces the East yet I was able to grab this shot while the Eastern sky lit up with color.

Shot with the iPhone.

Day 149

I took this photo the other day playing around with off-camera flash and some remote triggers. Not the most exciting picture, but I definitely learned a quick lesson about working with flashes: The amount of work involved in setting everything up is worthwhile when you have a plan (which I didn't). At least I got one photo out of it.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm
1/250sec
f/8
ISO 100
(Flash fired remotely off-camera)

Day 148

While taking this image, my daughter asks me, "Daddy, why do you take so many pictures?" My response was that I needed to practice. My daughter looks at me, and with a disgusted tone replies, "Oh whatever, you're a photographer!" I laughed hard on that one.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @26mm
1/25sec
f/3.5
Manual Focus
ISO 320

Day 147

Another iPhone shot. Can't wait to come here with my camera next time.

Day 146

Wish I had my camera, but glad I had my phone at least.

Day 145

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm

1/25 sec

f/2.8

ISO 800

Day 144

Taken at Hershey Park with the iPhone.