Day 91

I figured that I haven't put up a photo of Izzy in a while. In preparation for my latest client shoot , I decided to practice on my own baby. Of course, I'll find any excuse I can to show off my children. :-)

Canon 30D w/50mm 1.4 lens @50mm
1/400sec
f/1.4
ISO 400

Day 90

I find that television allows my two-year-old to be an excellent model for my photography. Its the only time I can get him to hold still long enough to not plunge me into a bout of high-speed focused action photography.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens@50mm
1/60sec
f/2.8
ISO 800

Day 89

Another shot from Lavalette, NJ. Our family just happens to have a lot of cute little kids like this one, which means: 1. Plenty of reasons to keep a camera handy, and 2. Cute subjects increasing the chance of a good picture. :-)

Canon Rebel XS w/50mm 1.8 @50mm
1/4000sec
f/1.8
ISO 200

Day 88

Maybe I'm a kid at heart, but I just love toys. Our kids get some of the coolest toys from our relatives sometimes. I think that I might be shooting a toys-themed series soon. I find them a very photogenic subject.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens@45mm
1/100sec
f/2.8
ISO 500

Day 87

Another shot on the beach in Lavalette, NJ. I've been quite shocked at how decent the images can be coming from the newer Canon kit lens. I used my wife's camera during this trip and found the kit lens to perform quite well when needed. A pleasant surprise, considering that it seems to have such a poor history of underperforming.

Canon Rebel XS w/18-55mm IS lens @18mm
1/400sec
f/8
ISO 100

Day 86

Shot this photo in Lavalette, NJ near the beach. In the future, I will no longer be posting a "things I've learned" section. Instead, I will share any thoughts or insights in the description here if there are any. My goal is to somehow keep this blog back on track to shooting 1 photo a day. The recent weddings have blown that all apart but the majority of the work is behind, and so you should start to see more photos up here on a regular, daily basis.

Canon Rebel xs w/18-55mm IS lens @49mm
1/250sec
f/5.6
ISO 100

Day 85

As some of you may know, I'm kind of on a sabbatical as of late. I just finished up one wedding, and I'm heading into another one in the next couple of days. Once these weddings are done, I'll have a lot more time to put up posts on here. I have a lot that I'd like to share from what I've done recently. This is one of my favorites so far.

Things I've learned: Despite what some of the reviews have said, I'm falling more and more in love with the Tamrom 17-50 2.8. I've shot a whole series of shots wide open and still get really decent images that are sharp. 

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

1/50sec

f/2.8

ISO 400

Day 84

Oooooohh snap!!! Now by definition, they aren't actually swimming, but being that close to the shore kinds of shows us that they aren't really boating or canoeing that well either.

Things I've learned: Sometimes I take advantage of the fact that I can read the signs in a public park. I guess I assume that everybody else can too.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm
1/500sec
f/8
ISO 200

Day 83

Yesterday we went to a Lancaster Barnstormers game. It was Liam's first time at a baseball game. He appeared to be somewhat interested in the game. Either that or he felt imprisoned and forced to watch. Or both.

Things I learned: I hate having  multiple lenses because I constantly go back and forth between them. I'd get a lens that covers a whole range, but its hard to find a good one. I need to be better at sticking to my hunches and keeping one lens on my camera and dealing with shots I can't get with it. Constantly changing lenses is annoying.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm @17mm
1/400sec
f/4.5
ISO 200

Day 82

We received this really cool wall clock as a gift from my wife's father. The uncool thing is that we've yet to put it on our wall. We're still looking for the perfect place for it. Some of you may know what that is like.

Things I've learned: Today I began really playing around with a flash that I've borrowed from a friend. I'm shooting my first wedding this coming weekend, and figured I'd practice with the flash a bit. I'm really impressed with how well it can make photos look when the light is really tricky. I'm not a huge fan of flash photography, but ever good photographer knows that even artificial light is better than no light and blurry photos.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @41mm
1/100sec
f/2.8
ISO 1600

Day 81

I think that it is very hard to put into words on how Liam loves his little sister. This picture doesn't even do it justice, but it gets close to what goes on when he takes a break from being crazy to notice her.

Things I've learned: Often times, I try to work on finding something cool to photograph around my house. The reality is that my family is plenty cool, and a very enjoyable subject.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @41mm
1/80sec
f/2.8
ISO 800

Day 80

This photo was taken as a commissioned assignment for Jesse O'Hara. He's an amazingly talented furniture maker who is just starting out in his own business. His work is awesome, and I have a lot of fun photographing his projects for him.

Things I've learned: It is surprising to learn all of the elements that need to be thought about when photographing a piece of furniture. You have issues with lighting, positioning, perspective distortion, depth of field issues, etc. All of this needs to be accounted for for each shot, which makes shooting a piece of right a real challenge.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @34mm
1/2sec (tripod mounted)
f/8
ISo 200

Day 79

Part 3 of the "headless" series.

Things I've learned: Like what I said on Day 78, it is interesting where the eye wanders in a portrait taken without a face.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @44mm
1/100sec
f/2.8
IS0 400

Day 78

Another "headless" shot. Part 2 of a short series I'm doing.

Things I've learned: It is amazing how much one looks at the face of a subject in portraits. When you take the face out of the portrait, it is almost like the mind tries desperately to find something else to identify the person with, whether it gesture or mood.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @45mm
1/250sec
f/2.8
ISO 400

Day 77

I'm going to be posting a few portraits on here for a "headless" theme that I'm exploring. Just a fun theme to keep me challenged and busy. Hope you enjoy them.

Things I've learned: Themes are fun and motivating. If you are looking to keep yourself learning and challenged, find a theme to explore.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @50mm
1/800sec
f/2.8
ISO 400

Day 76

A while back, my daughter saw a photo of my wife that I took of only her eye. She liked it a lot and asked that I take one just like it. I didn't have the tools necessary at the time to do it, so I took this one instead. I think she liked it anyways.

Things I've learned: I'm enjoying making single-eyed portraits as of late. This might be a new photography theme for me to explore.

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @37mm
1/250sec
f/4
ISO 400

Day 75

This was a fun image to make. I wanted to capture the sun flair, and make it the subject. In order for the photo to work, I had to actually keep the lens from focusing, and so here it is.

Things I've learned: Sometimes the best shot you can get flies against all known conventions: Distortion, lens flair, and out of focused images are normally not considered good things to deal with. However, when that is the vision of the artist, they can actually be the building blocks for a great photo. Well, at least to me. :-)

Canon 30D w/17-50mm lens @45mm
1/640sec
f/4
ISO 400

Day 74

This afternoon they were predicting sunny skies with the slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Um, make that a pretty good chance of thunderstorms lasting all afternoon.

Things I've learned: I shot this with my only Canon lens that is an "L" series lens. Each time I use this lens, I'm reminded on why people get hooked on expensive lenses like this. The quality that comes from using these kinds of lenses is amazing.

Canon 30D w/70-200mm lens @176mm
1/40sec
f/4
ISO 1000