Day 12

 

 

Today I needed every excuse possible to get out in the sunshine. I went out for a short walk on the school campus and found this photo waiting for me.

Things I’ve learned: This was one of the last photos that I took before heading back inside. I took it more as a “just one more shot” feeling, and it turned out to be “the” shot. I’m glad that I did that. Never underestimate that last “for good measure” effort. It might be your best.

Canon 30D w/70-200mm f/4 @200mm
f/6.3
1/500th sec
ISO 100

Day 11

This photo pretty much sums up the weather today. I like how the colors show through though. The colors remind me that there is hope beyond the dreariness. Probably a great thought for this Easter week, and as we approach Good Friday. Despite Christ's torture, suffering and death, he understood that there was hope beyond it all.

Things I've learned: There are lots of things around my house to photograph. Sometimes I get lost in the idea of traveling the world and photographing things, when in reality, there is plenty around here to see. I just need to look harder.

Canon 30D 50mm f/1.4 lens @ 50mm

f/2

1/60 sec

ISO 800

Day 10

This is Isabel at 3 weeks. I had another photo that I was planning to use, but this one was too irresistible for me to pass up.

Things I learned: Earlier I found myself frustrated with my camera because I had the shot envisioned in my head, but I was too impatient to stop and think of how to get it. Thus, I missed a few opportunities. Patience plays a big part in achieving your vision. Now I have to remember that.

Canon 30D 50mm 1.4 lens @ 50mm

Aperture: f/2

Shutter: 1/250

ISO: 800

Day 9

Today was Palm Sunday. Our church handed out these crosses made of Palm Leaves made by Africans as part of a missions project. The Africans make these crosses to earn money to feed their families. 

What I learned: Another difficulty of the 365 project is to remember that I need to take a photo each day. I'm eventually going to mess up somewhere and forget, or be put into a situation where I don't have my camera to take the shot. I'll have to deal with that when I do, but for now I'm happy to have a week's worth done. 51 more weeks to go.

Canon 30D 70-200mm lens @73mm

ISO: 250

Aperture: f/4

Shutter: 1/25 sec

Day 8

This picture was taken today at a birthday party. The theme was baseball. They had hot dogs, popcorn, and even a baseball pinata. Everyone had a good time.

Things I've learned: I'm really starting to enjoy my 70-200 f/4 lens a lot. Even in less-than-ideal lighting, I'm finding that I can get some pretty sharp photos with burst mode. It is really great for capturing candids at events like parties without getting in everybody's face. 

Canon 30D 70-200mm f/4 lens @ 131mm

ISO: 800

Aperture: f/4

Shutter: 1/160th

Day 7

I remember back in High School that my teacher taught us about clouds. He taught us that if you look into the sky and see several different types of clouds, that it indicates a shift in pressure. We just enjoyed a few days of 60 degree temperatures recently, and now the prediction is a possibility of snow overnight. I’d say that’s a shift in something. Either way, I hear that there are 70 degree days approaching for next week, so I’m looking forward to that.

Things I’ve learned: Wide angle lenses are fun to use when shooting pictures of skies and landscapes. I even think that exaggerated perspectives that wide-angles can give are worth the use of one now and again. I also learned that my camera sensor is extremely dirty, because when I use apertures around f/8, then I see all kinds of spots on my images, which I have to clone out. Gotta get that sensor cleaned.

Day 6

Today when I was scavenging around for a photo, I found a really neat piece of artwork that a senior had done. I thought it was really neat, so I took some photos.

Things I learned: Even though I thought the art work was really neat, I most enjoyed the details and the textures of the piece itself. One of my favorite things to do when taking photos is to find curious details and highlight them. Sometimes deconstructing the scene can be more fun and visually appealing than the scene itself (although I still thought the whole art piece was cool).

Canon 30D 18-55mm IS @ 33mm
Shutter: 1/15 sec
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 800

Day 5

This is a shot of my wedding ring, which is very special to me. I will have owned it for 10 years this coming June. I could probably take a bunch of photos of just thing ring alone, I like it that much.

Things I’ve learned:
Probably one of the greatest challenges for me in doing this 365 photo project is going to be answering the question, “So what do I take a photo of today?” Finding inspiration can be very difficult to do each and every day, but that is one reason why I am doing this project. I want to be able to push myself to new levels with my camera. On a technical note, this picture was shot using a reversed 18-55 kit lens as a macro shot. The shot wasn’t working out with the lighting until I used an external flash bouncing light from the ceiling.

 

Canon 30D 18-55mm IS lens @ 55mm (reversed)
Aperture: 0
Shutter: 1/125
ISO: 400

Day 4

I've been wanting to get this shot for a while now. I've seen this tree on my commute to work, and right away I knew that I would need to get a picture with it. I really want to explore different angles and perspectives with it, but time and circumstances make this difficult. You may see this tree again in some future shots. I've got other ideas, and the sky won't always be the same.

Things I've learned: Sometimes I need to put aside my laziness and just stop the car and get the picture I have in my head. I do a lot of scanning while driving and a lot of the time I'm inspired, but too lazy or whatever to just do what needs to be done to get the shot. I'm thinking that if I can overcome this I might be able to get a lot more of my vision into my shots.

Canon 30D 18-55mm IS @55mm

ISO: 100

Shutter: 1/1600 sec

Aperture: F/5.6

Day 3

This photo captures pretty well what I do all day at work. My 13” Macbook Pro takes a beating both figuratively and unfortunately, literally. I’ve actually had it fall out of my photo backpack 4 times due to my own stupidity. The only damage it sustained all four times were some dents and scratches. It is an amazing machine and I would recommend one to anybody.

Things I learned: I love to get close to subjects with my 50mm lens, but it has a limited focusing distance, which makes it difficult. I had to get back about a foot or so to capture what I wanted. Sometimes this does get frustrating when I would like to be closer. I’m actually considering picking up a close-up filter for my canon gear, which would allow me to do Macro when I feel like it without purchasing a dedicated macro lens.

Canon 30D 50mm F/1.4 @ 50mm
F/2.8
1/320 sec
ISO 1600

Day 2

Today's photo is, like probably most of the photos on the blog for the next year, is completely random. I didn't even notice this airplane, except that my 2-year old son was excited enough to point it out. Thankfully, I still had my 70-200mm lens mounted, and was able to grab a shot as it flew overhead.

Things I learned: Grab shots are fun, but they aren't always the best way that I like to make photos. I enjoy being prepared and somewhat cognitive about my photography. The only thing I do feel that I did purposely for this photo was the actual composition. However, sometimes the best shots are not the ones we plan to make, but that happen in front of us in the moment.

Canon 30D 70-200mm F/4 @ 200mm
1/4000 sec
F/4
ISO 200

Day 1

So, for my very first post, I thought that it might be good to get a photo of our new baby, Isabel. Her birth this year will probably be my most memorable event of Spring 2010. 

What I've learned: One recent thing I've learned is that if you want a shot at an exposure that is slower than you can hand-hold, if you fire off shots in burst-mode, sometimes you can get a sharper shot from one of the bursts. The lens that I used with this shot was my 70-200mm, and it only opens up the aperture to F/4. To get an adequate shutter speed for non-blurry shots, I need to usually have the shutter speed at 1/320 of a second or faster. Fortunately, shooting in burst mode allowed me the option to capture the shot a little better without a wider aperture or adding more light.

Shot with Canon 30D w/ Canon 70-200mm F4 lens @ 126mm

Aperture:F/4

Shutter: 1/50 sec

ISO: 800

I've got a project, and I need your help.

So now that I know some of you are actually reading this blog, I've endeavored to find a good series of topics to post on. After much deliberation, I've come up with an idea: A 365 Photo-a-Day project. I've been wanting to do this for some time, but didn't know how I could keep myself accountable. That is where you, my readers, come in. If I am not posting regularly, please give me a poke in the ribs in the comments. I've heard that this kind of project can be difficult to keep up, which is why I'll need your help.

 I'm going to be posting a photo a day with a little background on each photo. Probably most of the pictures won't be too inspiring, but the idea is to keep shooting, and from this process I will also be sharing what I've learned along the way. Perhaps you can glean something from this journey too. Anyways, I'm going to go out today and get a shot of something, so be on the lookout for something to kick off 3/20/2010.

Is anybody out there?

This is just a test post to see if anybody actually reads the blog anymore. I need feedback people. If you are reading this blog, please drop me a comment so that I know. I've not updated it in some time because of my assumption that everyone has fallen into the Facebook abyss. :-)