Can't believe it is week 12

My wonderful sister had a vaca in someplace really exotic, Ireland. While she was there, she remembered my beautiful Runtyun and purchased this beautiful pendant. I think I know what could make it better, do you have any ideas?

 More in the series of lighting and learning. This one was taken with only ambient light.

 This one had the flash at a low setting and off to the left.

I really wish I had a longer lens than this 100-400 on a Canon 70D so I could get closer to these two. Truly, I was about 40 feet and 15 feet below them.

Again, I wish I had a longer lens. A female Cardinal. 

More on the series of lighting. This one is, of course is ambient light. Truly, I spent more time on this one than the flashed image because I was trying to make everything disappear but the subject. No luck. Does anyone out there have any sugesstions?

This one is the silhouette. Again I am having problems with the dark side of this image.

I went to to Beaver Lake, my stand-by place, and found this squirrel napping in the middle of the morning. Truthfully, it was difficult to get any pictures due to a school project to clean up the park. The kids were doing a Community Clean Up project and they did a wonderful job, but they were having a loud and fun time, so it was a challenge to find a bird to photograph. As a photog, I have learned to find images in places that I may not have thought about.

A female Hairy Woodpecker in the backyard.

It is becoming a little more difficult to find time for this project.  Honestly, the lack of feedback is a little discouraging. While I am doing this project for my learning, it takes a few minutes to post these pictures. I really want to know what you think about these photos and how they could be better, yet I am getting very few comments.

What can we do to make this blog more interesting?

olc

And we have Week Number 11!

I was trying to get some more pictures of birds at the feeder when this guy got out of the porch. He looks a little smug to me.

There is this little pond around the corner and the water is held back by a dam. This is the other side of the dam. 

More in my study of light. This time I built a cylinder. This one is the first with only ambient light.

The light is at a 45 degree angle up and forward from the subject.

I dropped the angle of flash to the same height as the cylinder.

Walking around the neighborhood, I saw this Japanese Maple. The leaves are just begging to sprout so I got really close and took the one.  

Brian Turner at The BPR event hosted by Hy-Wire.

Well, I was at a car show and got some good shots of the participants. However, The Grinner was sittin' pretty. 

When I started her up she sounded fine, but by the time I made it down to the light she died. Back in the shop again and maybe this time we will get it right!

Maybe I should rename the bike The Frowner?

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Later! olc

We have made it to Week Number 10!

Last Sunday was Easter. The Runtyun, Dad and I went to have Easter lunch with Mom. It was a very nice time. My sister called and we had a nice family time together.

A Chipping Sparrow.

A Female Cardinal  

 Still working on lighting. This image was taken with only ambient light. Actually, I pointed one CFL light up at the white ceiling. Note how the shadow is well defined. 

While this image uses a flash in addition to the CFL. There is lots of definition here and the way the light lies across the bulbs is nice.

I think this is a cherry blossom. I think I was about ten feet away from it and that is why the background is so nicely out of focus.

A study with a cube and light. Again this image was with only the light reflecting off the white ceiling.

And this one was taken with a LED set to bright at 5500 degrees Kelvin.

In both images the three sides of the block are illuminated to different degrees. Also see how the facing side of the cube reflects a brighter white on to the paper. This helps to give a 2-D image and   3-D impression.

I took a little walk last night and found this dandelion. I tried a couple different angles, but nothing worked untilI got down on my tummy and took it from an ants eye view.

What do you think?

I have actually complete 10 weeks in this challenge. Cool. I hope you like what you are seeing. Please leave a comment and maybe a little encouragement to keep going.

Later, olc

Week # 9 Picture-a-Day Project

 We have a couple of bird feeders in the back yard and I try to get out there and a daily basis. Unfortunately, my presence disturbs some of the feeding birds. They seem to be getting used to me, but these two doves were not going to have anything to do with it while I was outside on Monday.

More of the lighting learning project. This time I positioned the light in one place, about 95 degrees to the left of the sphere. This image the light was 62 inches high. 

52 inches high

42 inches.

and finally, table height. 

I guess we are supposed to notice how the shadows change in relation to the light.

 White Breasted White Nuthatch-female.

 These violets are an experiment in Depth of Field and focusing. I used my Sigma 100mm-400mm zoom lens at the widest aperture. Notice how the violets in the background are nicely out of focus giving a sense of depth.

 I did not capture any images this day. Instead I re-edited the one. The truth is, I had just received my new printer and had to try and set it up. I printed this image and it came out great!

I went the Mountain Car Show yesterday. As far as the show goes, they have had better in past years. That is all I have to say about that.

At any rate, I was fooling around with on-camera ETTL flash when it misfired. Some may say this a throw away, but I kinda like the abstract nature. What do you think?

Well, there it is---another week in the project!

Let me know what you think!!!

olc

British Refuse (garbage) Truck

I have not seen a life-size garbage truck like this. I may be native only to England or just very old. Does any one out there have any knowledge about them?

And then I want to play a little!

I have a new light set up and am trying to learn how to use it. Whaddueya' Think?

olc

In house studio

This is my table top backdrop. I'll use it for the beer bottle project and other smallish subjects. The PVC frame is exceptional because it is so versital. I can clip any of my background colors to it. So convinient.

Notice the spy?

olc

Risking the Dead Guy Ale.

     Though it was pretty expensive, the name screamed at me. The beer, or ale I'm not sure of the difference, was good. Something my local beer-bartender called "A good experience." I'm not really sure how to define a good beer experience, I just liked the taste. It was a little nutty and sweet with a slight bitter after taste. I may not get it again until I win the lottery, but if you have some extra money and wanna try something different...go for it!

As for the photograph, I'm experimenting with lighting a little. I need to work on reflections, but I think the rest of the image is pretty good.

Since taking this photo I learned an interesting trick. You probably saw it, if you scrolled from the top. I have learned how to dull out the reflections. And will retake the image. Minus the full glass of beer here! It may take a New York minute to get the image up, though

olc