Michele's Photos

My Babies

2012-01-19T17:40:00.000-05:00

The last few months of 2011 I was really bad about taking photos of the kitties with anything other than my iphone. While I was off work for New Year's I finally starting really picking up the camera again.

Stanley at 135mm with the toy both of them are obsessed with, which of course I only got them one of for Christmas

Gibbers!! He still looks like a baby sometimes, like here, other photos he looks like a full grown cat, I miss how little they used to be!

See he is obsessed!

Don't you love his green eyes? He is also obsessed with this purple blanket I picked up at Target. He will do just about anything to sit on it, even sit on my lap, feet, chest whatever!

Ears!

This is a good example of how I take photos of them, I start with the first one I can grab, from a good 15+ feet away, just to have something in case they run off.

Then I slither across the floor on my belly, taking a shot every 3-5 feet as I get closer, praying they won't run off on me. Until I finally get close enough to get the shot I really want.

This is about what Stanley thinks of my weird antics. Not impressed with me.

Did you notice my new watermark? New year, new watermark. I updated the blog design too if you normally look at it through the feed.

How Close is 5x Anyway?

2012-01-18T17:00:00.000-05:00

The day my 1-5x macro came I took some really quick and dirty shots to show how much closer I can get with that lens. They aren't going to win any prizes but it does give you an idea. It also 110% convinced me I need to learn to use my tripod all the time with that lens!

Over this past weekend I did a better experiment, with the tripod this time.

1x

2x

3x

4x

Looks like I need to clean my ring and my sensor!

New Macro Loves

2012-01-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

Canon has had some really awesome lens rebates going on for a month or two, and back in December I caved and dipped into my mythical 5d mark iii savings fund to pick up some new toys. It had been a year since I had bought a new lens (I picked up a used 135L back in December 2010 as my last lens purchase), and I couldn't make it any longer.

I decided to buy TWO new lenses, the 180L macro and the MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro.

Here they are with my 100L for comparison:

And with the 1-5x fully extended:

I can't wait to take them out to Longwood and really test them out. I am going to have to get used to using my tripod for them though. I actually need to get some more quick release plates for them and a set of focusing rails for the 1-5x macro especially.

Holiday Kitties

2012-01-16T20:06:00.000-05:00

I decided not to do a big list of resolutions for 2012, as you can see by my last post, that doesn't help me stick with things. Instead I just made one big resolution, to get back my work life balance. And that means more photography, more time with the kitties, more exercise, more time with the husband and more vacations. And hopefully a bit more time on the old blog.

Let's start with some photos of the kitties from back in December that I just got around to editing.

2011 Goal Review

2012-01-02T18:10:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of 2011 I did a post about my goals for the year. Lets look at the list and see how I did. I am guessing not well, since work completely took over my life last year.I love doing a list at the beginning of the year of goals for the year. Anyone else do SMART goals at work? I am trying to work on the measurable part for this year.

Photography:
-Open up and Etsy shop - No, I actually looked into it, but I honestly decided NOT to do this, I just don't think it is the right step for me.
-Use my tripod more, try to work on longer exposures (waterfalls, ocean surf, night cityscapes etc) - Yes, at least the night cityscapes part, that was awesome!
-Write at least 2 photography tips posts a month - Fail, I blame work.
-Save for a new camera body (I would say buy it but that depends on Canon) - Done!
-Try time-lapse photography with my new remote - I did use my remote a lot I especially loved it in NY.
3/5

Exercise/Health:
-Log at least 500 miles on my new treadmill - no
-Lose weight (I have a number in mind but I am not putting it out here) - no
-Lift weights at least once a week - no
-Stretch every day I run - no
-Go out to eat less, no more than 2 meals a week on average - no
Not very good on this part huh? 0/5

House:
-Paint the last bedroom - We finally started that this week, but still a no
-Buy dressers for our room and organize clothing so it isn't spread around 3 rooms and the attic. - We bought one dresser, didn't reorganize though
-Paint more used furniture, at least 2 pieces
-Save for a new garage - well we saved, but it went to a new porch and will go to painting the house in the spring. So we will give this a half.
-Clean out the attic (and be ruthless!) - no
Ouch 0.5/5

Personal:
-Trip to St Lucia - We didn't take any trips this year
-Put more thought into fashion/style and include it on blog more - no
-Find a new job - BIG YES
-Get to know my new extended family - not as much as I would like
-Take more weekend/day trips - nope
1/5

4.5/20 overall, not a great score Michele! I need to come up with a list for 2012, maybe a little less lengthy this time!

Instagram Kitties - December

2011-12-30T12:21:00.000-05:00

Not my kittie, but a kittie of Decemeber, this is my sister's cat George

Instagram Kitties - November

2011-11-30T10:30:00.000-05:00

Instagram Kitties - October

2011-11-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

This was after Stanley pulled out several of his back toenails in a fight with a plastic bag

A break while we were working on the porch, hence my lovely outfit

Instagram Kitties - September

2011-11-28T20:19:00.004-05:00

With working so much I haven't had a lot of time to pick up the big camera (it is getting really dusty!) but I have been taking iphone photos here and there. I have been trying to be better about putting them up on instagram.

September

Looks like I have enough to make a post for each month!

In Other Very Belated News

2011-11-15T20:36:00.003-05:00

This is over four months behind in news but I just got around to taking photos of it a couple weeks ago. I have wanted a 35mm film camera for a while. My Dad (camera purveyor extraordinaire around here) found me one as a birthday gift.

It's a Yashica Electro GSN. It seems like it is in great working order, but I need to retrofit a battery for it. I can't wait to get out and use it! I am pretty sure it is going to Thailand with me with some black and white film in it. All of this is just giving me more incentive to learn how to develop my own film.

The setup for the above photo was similar ot what I have shared before:

There was a fair bit of dodging as well, this was my SOOC

Porch Progress

2011-11-14T16:00:00.001-05:00

Our other big project this summer was the porch. Though that was supposed to be a small one remember? It was supposed to be just a repainting project, instead it turned into a rebuild.

At this point the porch is still far from being done, but at least the major demo is complete and the new floor is in, and painted! I didn't do a good job of taking photos of the progress with the real camera, but I did at least take iphone ones.

Fully Demo'd

And the resulting pile of debris

Putting the floor in:

All the floor boards are in, and the new lattice is up:

And painted:

Doesn't it look so much better? We do plan to put railings back up, in the spring. We ran out of time and energy. The second floor didn't see any progress however beyond the demo, again a project for next year. I guess we have our work cut out for us.

Shut the Front Door

2011-11-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

One of our projects for this summer was working on the front entry. We did things in a series of small projects:
-Removing some bushes
-Adding some bushes
-Pulling up the nasty carpet on the steps
-New front door, removing the screen door and a new mailbox

The final big project, was having the steps re-pointed (and no we didn't do it ourselves, we had the same mason who re-pointed our chimney do it). It took a lot longer than we thought, the tiles on the main portion of the steps were more damaged than we thought, and getting replacements turned out to be a lost cause (we could have gotten an exact match but it would have been really expensive due to shipping and minimum order requirements). We ended up doing a plan B, and I actually love it!

Don't the stripes look great? It is a mix of the good original tiles, and bricks cut to the same thickness as the tiles. I should take some daytime photos to really show it off though. Of course now the front path looks bad in comparison. I guess I know what my spring project can be.

Why Hello There!

2011-11-12T18:25:00.003-05:00

Long time no blog huh? It's funny how hard I fight to keep blogging when I am in the habit, but once I break the habit, it can be just as hard to get back into it. But the time is here to bite the bullet and get back to it. Hopefully I will have both the time to blog now and the time to do things to actually blog about. To get me started though I have some house work we did this spring and summer to catch up on.

As to why I haven't been blogging? That is easy, work. It's been busy, bordering on insane, but also fun. I know it sounds nuts, but I actually really enjoy my job.

Anyway, time to get back to blogging.

SOOC Sunday: NYC Night Photo

2011-09-25T20:27:00.003-04:00

I was going to post this Friday but time got away from me.

You have seen this photo already

But would you like to know how it got here? From this zeroed out LR SOOC?

(First can I say that I am pretty impressed with myself for that SOOC? Especially never having done night shots like this before? I think it is pretty spot on.)

First basic edits

I played with the white balance a bit to mess with the light colors

Add some contrast

Add some more fun color

A little vignette

And don't forget the camera profile

I have this set to change on import

I didn't even need any noise reduction. Shooting at ISO 100, my shutter speed was only 30 seconds so that didn't add too much noise, the key I think was that I didn't need to adjust my exposure at all in post.

NYC Tribute in Light 2011 Part 2

2011-09-22T18:57:00.003-04:00

After we were done shooting by the bridges we decided to walk a bit south to get a different skyline, and hopefully find a spot where we could actually see both lights.

First we got some new foreground elements

And finally a bit more south:

I am so happy that Amanda suggested we go to shoot this, it was hands down one of my favorite photography experiences in my whole life!

NYC Tribute in Light 2011 Part 1

2011-09-21T20:23:00.002-04:00

As I alluded to in my last post Amanda and I went up to NYC on September 11th to shoot the Tribute in Light. It was Amanda's idea, I just tagged along, but I am SO happy that I did.

We did our shooting from over in Brooklyn, this was our first location.

Then we moved a little closer to the Manhattan Bridge

NYC via Instagram

2011-09-20T20:43:00.002-04:00

My September 11th to 12th trip to NYC with Amanda via instagram photos.

150,000

2011-09-06T19:56:00.003-04:00

I took this photo at a lucky stoplight on my way to work this morning. Can you believe I have driven my little Honda 150,000 miles?? In a little over 10 years (10 years, 2 months and 14 days). If I averaged about 60 miles an hour that means my butt has spent over 104 days in the drivers seat of that car! INSANE!

Small Changes

2011-08-15T20:07:00.000-04:00

Even with all the rain this weekend (which lead to another soaking wet basement, that looks like it is just drying out now!) we managed to get a few small things checked off the house to do list this weekend.

One big thing, that we have been waiting weeks for, our new doors!

Love the color, of course it means we need to re-paint the rest of the green parts of the house that matched the old door.

New steel door for the basement, finally something more secure than the old door which had a big window in it.

In getting rid of the old front door, we also lost the mail slot. We didn't want to put a new one back in so we could keep it more air tight (especially without a storm door). So instead we put up a nice shiny mailbox

Finally months after I bought it, this hook went up in our main bathroom so our guests can have a place to hang their towels to dry.

If only the wet basement was as easy to fix.

TtV: Getting Started

2011-08-09T09:00:00.002-04:00

Back in May my Dad picked up a Kodak Brownie Starflex for me at a garage sale to use as a Through the Viewfinder (TtV) camera

I found this page with instructions on how to make a "contraption" for my starflex. So back on my birthday in July I built it.

Turns out I need something a little bit longer since if I put the camera right on the end with my 100L on, I can't get the whole viewfinder in the image.

But that shouldn't be too hard. Hopefully I will get that fixed up soon and take it out for a real spin.

Iron Pigs Game

2011-08-08T05:30:00.001-04:00

I am so behind on blogging! Back in July, on the 14th we went to an Iron Pigs game with Mike's office. I am not really a baseball fan (you probably already know that) but I am a fan of hot dogs and giant pretzels, and excuses to bring out the camera so I went along with it.

First a wide angle shot

We had the sun in our face for the whole first game (it was a double-header)

And a set of 135L photos. This might be the first time I have missed my 70-300 on a crop sensor. But not enough to do anything about it.

And then the sun was in the perfect spot

Fifth Cameraversary

2011-08-05T05:00:00.005-04:00

I honestly can't believe that this is the fifth anniversary of the arrival of my first DSLR! If you want to look back at my past anniversaries you can find them here
Two Years
Three Years
Four Years

August 2010

September 2010 - purchased 16-35mm f/2.8L

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

Bought used 135L

January 2011

February 2011

Longwood GTG, and I got to play with a Nikon full frame. Someday I want to have both.

March 2011

Trip to Longwood for the Blue Poppies

April 2011

Trip to Eastern State

May 2011
Playing with OCF for "product" shots, and time to get into fun 120 film

June 2011

July 2011

I don't know that I can see any big photography revelations in the past year, but I will say that I have at least had some mental revelations about it. Like the fact that I love either wide angles, or long focal lengths, the ones in the middle (35-85mm) I could take or leave. I think that has been a real cornerstone of fixing my "style" in my head.

House Tour Summer 2011

2011-08-04T05:30:00.001-04:00

It seems like every summer I go through and take photos of the current state of the house. I did it the first summer shortly after we moved in and then again last summer. Here we are again in the summer time, and I did it again. Someday I am going to put all these into "Before/During/After" groups for each room. For now you get a full house tour again.

Living Room

Office

Entry

Dining Room

Kitchen

Back Hall

Breakfast Nook

Half Bath

Upstairs
Full Bath

Master Bedroom

Brown Guest Room

Upstairs Hallway

Pink Guest Room (this one still needs a lot of work, it has become a bit of a dumping ground!)

Purple Guest Room

It's funny to see that I took these weeks ago and I have already made some changes since then (new bedding in our room, new throw pillows in living room, and new rug in the purple guest room). I guess I can never be caught up.

Try This!

2011-08-03T11:30:00.002-04:00

Getting back into the swing of things with an easy post. If you have dirty stove grates, and I had NASTY ones, you have to try this link:
The V Spot:Cleaning Stove Burners & Grates using Ammonia (The best, easiest, cheapest way EVER.)
I found the link via pinterest, gave it a try and my stove grates have never looked this clean!

My Birthday iphoned

2011-07-13T18:34:00.003-04:00

Monday was my birthday, and I took the day off from work to just relax. I decided to try to document my day a bit using my iphone.

Donuts are a great start to the day

Followed by a trip to Target and then lamp shopping at Home Goods

I brought home those pairs of lamps to try out.

There was a yummy burrito lunch that I ate to fast to photograph

Then Stanley sat on the couch while I watched a movie and worked on making:

a TtV contraption for my Kodak Brownie Starflex (upcoming post on that, though I need to modify it a bit more for ease of use)

Gibson wanted to help

Then they both had to help

Success

Then I watched another movie, we went out to dinner, and came home for:

Yum!

Bad Porch!

2011-07-12T11:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks back we rented a pressure washer to clean the porch so we could start painting it. Sadly that showed us that we actually had a lot of rotten boards, each step we take seems to show more that needs to be repaired. This weekend we started really pulling up the floor boards and we found what looks like both carpenter ants and termites! YIKES! Not good news! We have someone coming this week to take care of them so we can finish the demo. For now we are left with this:

Nice right? Wish us luck.

Sofa Table and New Dresser

2011-07-11T20:44:00.003-04:00

Last week our two new pieces of furniture that we ordered back in May were finally delivered, and I love them both!

First up our custom sofa table.

It's a beautiful tiger maple with a dark stain.

I love the clean lines!

I went to Home Goods today and picked up some lamp options for the table. What do you think?

I am leaning towards the shorter square mercury glass lamps.

And we also purchased a new dresser for Mike for our room. It is huge!

But it fits the space pretty well. Next up is a dresser for me, and new nightstands!

Fourth of July

2011-07-07T10:00:00.000-04:00

On Monday night we made our way to downtown Bethlehem to watch the Fourth of July fireworks show from the bridge. First we walked out to the middle to get a good view of the steel stacks.

I need to go back with a longer lens, I only took my 24-70 and that wasn't long enough, this is even cropped in quite a bit.

I didn't bring my tripod so my firework photos are only okay but I was fairly happy with two of them, especially for handholding.

Longwood July 2011 Part 2

2011-07-06T17:00:00.002-04:00

Here are the rest of the Longwood photos from Saturday.

The first two I actually took using my 135L and my smallest extension tube. I really want a longer macro for shots like this but the 180L needs to be updated before I shell out for it.

Longwood July 2011 Part 1

2011-07-05T21:22:00.001-04:00

Saturday Amanda and I met up at Longwood for the first time since March! I wasn't really happy with a lot of my shots but I got about a dozen that I was okay with.

Wordless Wednesday 06.29.11

2011-06-29T20:31:00.002-04:00

Photography Tips 22: Lightroom Graduated Filter

2011-06-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

In my blog post yesterday I included a couple of photos I used Lightroom's graduated filter (which I always want to call gradient filter so I might say that by mistake sometimes) option on, and one that I didn't but could have. I am sure this is one of those things that is used more often in landscapes/macros then in portraits but it is worth trying it out sometimes, you might be surprised what it can do for you.

I mainly use this tool on the sky, to balance out a bright sky with a darker foreground so I mostly use the exposure slider. You have all the other sliders available as well that you do for the adjustment brush (well other than the ones that adjust the brush since you don't need those) so you could easily get a LOT more creative than I do most of the time.

1) This first image, I wanted to add back detail to the sky that I had lost during my editing process (probably from increased contrast, and a little bit of brightness), here is my final edit with the filter applied

20110618-IMG_8653 by MicheleLouise, on Flickr

and here is a before/after of just the SOOC, and the edit BEFORE the filter was applied

Link to full size

There was originally more texture in the sky in the SOOC than in my edit, a perfect time to used the exposure slider with the gradient mask to bring down the exposure on the sky and bring back some of that detail instead of having the appearance of a blown out sky.

2) This next image is a little different. The cabbage in the front was in the shade and MUCH darker than the house in the background in full sun. On the left is my SOOC and the right is my edit without the filter. To me the house, which I wanted in the background and to be part of the "story" of the image, was too bright and calling too much attention

Link to full size

I added a negative exposure adjustment to the upper part of the image (down to the top of the cabbage) to help balance the two parts of the image, the image below is my final edit with the filter applied.

20110618-IMG_8642 by MicheleLouise, on Flickr

3) This photo I didn't use it on, but could have. Here is the edit that was on my blog:

20110618-IMG_8638 by MicheleLouise, on Flickr

and here is the before after with the filter applied.

link to full size

You can see that you can even put the filter on an angle if you want to, here that was helpful to allow it to blend in more, the roofline of the house was a good natural breaking point. My goal was to add back some texture to the sky that I lost with my other edits, since I knew that information was there in the original file, so I wasn't stuck with a blown sky.
1) This first image, I wanted to add back detail to the sky that I had lost during my editing process (probably from increased contrast, and a little bit of brightness), here is my final edit with the filter applied

20110618-IMG_8653 by MicheleLouise, on Flickr

and here is a before/after of just the SOOC, and the edit BEFORE the filter was applied

Link to full size

There was originally more texture in the sky in the SOOC than in my edit, a perfect time to used the exposure slider with the gradient mask to bring down the exposure on the sky and bring back some of that detail instead of having the appearance of a blown out sky.

2) This next image is a little different. The cabbage in the front was in the shade and MUCH darker than the house in the background in full sun. On the left is my SOOC and the right is my edit without the filter. To me the house, which I wanted in the background and to be part of the "story" of the image, was too bright and calling too much attention

Link to full size

I added a negative exposure adjustment to the upper part of the image (down to the top of the cabbage) to help balance the two parts of the image, the image below is my final edit with the filter applied.

20110618-IMG_8642 by MicheleLouise, on Flickr

3) This photo I didn't use it on, but could have. Here is the edit that was on my blog:

20110618-IMG_8638 by MicheleLouise, on Flickr

and here is the before after with the filter applied.

link to full size

You can see that you can even put the filter on an angle if you want to, here that was helpful to allow it to blend in more, the roofline of the house was a good natural breaking point. My goal was to add back some texture to the sky that I lost with my other edits, since I knew that information was there in the original file, so I wasn't stuck with a blown sky.

Burnside

2011-06-22T05:00:00.000-04:00

Even though it was hot on Saturday I decided to walk the half mile (it seemed silly to drive) down to Burnside Plantation to go to their New to You sale (I was hoping for some cool stuff, but there wasn't). Of course I took my camera (and my 620 brownie too, I finished up my first roll), but I only took my 50L.

I played around a bit with the processing on these, a little funkier than normal, just for fun.

The house

Some macros

I need to go back down with my macro lens.

And one of the best parts, they stable the Bethlehem Mounted Police horses there, which is really cool in that sometimes they walk them by our house when they take them out. I love hearing the sound of a horse out on the street in the summer.

Cross Processed Kitties

2011-06-20T05:30:00.000-04:00

Mostly Wordless Wednesday 15.Jun.2011

2011-06-15T05:56:00.002-04:00

Stanley

Gibson looking annoyed by me

Gibson loves anything leather, but especially this pair of my shoes

Upgrade Dreaming

2011-06-10T09:30:00.004-04:00

Sometimes it is fun to dream about what I want to see in my next camera body. In fact I am already saving up for it, and then a computer upgrade as well. Back when I was dreaming of upgrading from my rebel I posted about what I was looking for in my next body. The list included the following:

Higher ISO than 1600 (3200 at least 6400 would be nice)

1/3 stop ISO settings (XT only does full stop)

Less noise at ISO 800 and 1600 (XT is pretty noisy at 1600)

Better focusing in low light

More focus points

Real spot metering

ISO in viewfinder

Full frame sensor (this isn't a requirement though I really want it!)

Bigger LCD

Better weather sealing

It's funny that some of the things I wanted (spot metering) I actually don't use. And things I didn't know I wanted (AF microadjust) I use a lot. I am surprised I didn't mention easier to toggle focus as a want, because I remember that being an issue.

Turns out my new body did have most of what I wanted, here is what I am happy with in my 5D mark ii

Full Frame - I just LOVE it, it is perfect for how and what I like to shoot.

Megapixels - it was a nice jump to go from 4MP on myh P&S to 8MP on my rebel XT and then really nice to go to 21MP with this body. I don't think I need a lot more for what I shoot

ISO - the low light image quality is great, especially when I nail my exposure. If they can make it better of course I would be happy, but I really don't think I need to be able to shoot at higher and higher ISOs, really I rarely need to go above 3200.

Custom functions - I love the ability to change what all the buttons do. Especially using that nubbin thing to move my AF point, and using the AF-on button to stop AF for when I want to use manual focus for macros

AF Microadjust - my 50L would be sunk without it!

Video - I am actually glad that the body has video, I don't use it a lot, but the quality is amazing when I remember that it is an option. Now I just have to figure out what to do with those videos since I can't put them in a blurb book

Weather sealing - I love that with an L lens I can feel safe taking my body out in a light drizzle for a couple of minutes to shoot some wet macros, or out in the snow, or out into the sandy desert in Egypt.

I guess that all begs the question why do I want to upgrade? In general I don't really need to upgrade. I would say overall I am very very happy with my 5D mark ii. I just hate using "old" technology so I know that when Canon does get around to annoucing the next in the series I will want it. Who doesn't want to be able to do just a bit more with what they have? Of course I want Canon to keep all the things I love and even update them a bit (like the megapixels, but really I think 28-30 is the max I would want and if they can make the high ISOs better, who am I to say no?), but what else would I like in my next body?

Improved Autofocus - I just want more cross type points. Ideally the 19 that the 7D has. There are times when only my center point will be able to lock focus easily (some of the others will depending on which way they look for contrast) and it would be much easier if all of them did this better.

Dual card slots - I know this isn't likely, unless I go insane and upgrade to a 1D series body (which likely will never ever happen, too many lenses to buy!) but it would be awesome for vacations to be able to shoot Large RAW on one card and a small JPG on the other that the ipad could handle so I could share photos on the road. Or I could use the second slot to backup the photos.

More lens calibration options - I was just reading an article yesterday where someone mentioned this (here is the link, it is in the updated part, but read the whole article if you haven't before, awesome!) and it is a brillant idea.

Built in Remote Flash Trigger - ideally radio signal based instead of IR, though then I would no longer need my PWs and I would probably need a new flash, but it would be handy! (canon did submit a patent for this actually).

Can you believe that is really it? I told you I was happy with my 5D mark ii.

Brownie Prep 3: Exposure

2011-06-08T05:30:00.002-04:00

Now I have film, and I have it loaded into one of my brownies, time to start shooting. But wait! I know the two apertures are approximately f/11 and f/16 and I know what ISO of film I put in, but what is my shutter speed? There are some complicated ways out there to measure the "I" (instant) shutter speed on the brownie, but I am not an electrical engineer so the best I could do for now was film it with the 5dm2 at 30 fps

Doesn't really help a lot since it is only open for 1 frame so it could still be anything between 1/15 and 1/60th of a second. My best option for measuring it? Taking photos I think. But to get an idea of what it is after I have shot I need to get an idea of what light there was at the time. Of course the brownie doesn't come with a meter, . . . but my iphone does! In the form of the Light Meter app. I am really excited to try it out!

Brownie Prep 2: Spools and Re-spooling

2011-06-07T05:15:00.002-04:00

Once I had the film I needed for my brownies, I needed to get it ready to use in them. The smaller of the brownies takes 620 film, which is no longer made but the actual film part is the same as 120 film, which is very easy to still get. The only difference between 120 film and 620 film is the spools it comes on. To make the 120 film work in my camera I decide to respool it onto 620 spools. One came in my camera, and I bought 3 more off etsy (you can find them on etsy or on ebay pretty much all the time.

I went into my "darkroom" (ie the closet in the brown room at night with the door shut and a towel shoved under it, eventually I will get a bag) and followed these instructions on how to respool 120 film onto a 620 spool. There are also loads of videos on you-tube.

And an OCF pullback for the spool shot

I went "bare-bulb" for this one, just because it was faster to set up. I liked the images with the umbrella better though.

Brownie Prep 1: Film

2011-06-06T05:00:00.001-04:00

Based on my research I need 3 things to get started shooting with my brownies, well aside from the actual cameras. The first is film. Since I want to treat this as a marginally scientific experiment I decided to buy several different rolls of film so I can figure out what I like. The easiest film to get that can be made to work in the brownie's is 120. I ordered 7 rolls from B&H.

Black and White negative film (this is what I mostly hope to shoot with down the line so I can develop it myself)

Efke R25 B&W 25 120 - EFR25120

Ilford DELTA 100 PRO 120 - ILD100120

Fujifilm ACROS NEOPAN 100 120 - FUAN100120

Color Negative

Kodak EKTAR 100 120 FORMAT - KOE100120

Color Slide

Kodak E100G 120 (EKTACHRM PRO 100G) - KOE100G120

Fujifilm VELVIA RVP 120 FUJICHROME PRO 50 - FUV50120

Fujifilm VELVIA RVP 100-F 120 FUJICHRME PRO - FUV100F120

This is what a roll of 120 looks like out of the package.

One tip I learned from my Dad is to keep my film in the fridge. So that is where it is hanging out waiting to be shot. Next up, what I need to prepare it to go into the 620 brownie.

My How They Have Grown

2011-06-03T05:50:00.001-04:00

Recent

A little less than 2 years ago

Can I make them little again??

Orchids +1

2011-06-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

The orchids my mom gave me a year or two ago from her garden were blooming recently. I didn't get a chance to really shoot them as much as I wanted (I hope one is still blooming this week) but I did go out after work one night and take a couple of shots.

I love the colors of these ones!

And a rhododendron just for fun.

Good-Bye Carpet, Hello Glue

2011-06-01T11:00:00.002-04:00

Finally, 2 years, 1 month after closing on our house I finally got to remove the hideous green astro-turf like carpet off of our front steps.

Closing Day (30Apr2009)

After bush removal (08May2011)

With new bushes (10May2011), once the bushes were removed I think it made the carpet even more obvious and hideous.

No carpet! (31May2011) We pulled up the carpet on Monday the 30th.

Let's look a little closer at the nasty glue left behind. Some of it came up easily with toxic adhesive remover, but not all of it. And it was gross and toxic.

Another negative, some of the mortar is in really bad shape. We are renting a pressure washer soon to deal with the back porch that desperately needs to be repainted, I am hoping it will take the remaining glue off the bricks (without too much damage) after that we will need to have the whole thing re-pointed! Sounds fun right? Sounds expensive to me. But I think it will be worth it, the front of the house looks so much better already!

Lost in a Book

2011-05-31T21:19:00.002-04:00

I have several things to blog about, but I just couldn't make the time to write them up tonight. Why? I was given a book at work today, I started it at lunch and I have barely been able to put it down since.

Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases

It is probably most interesting to me because of what I do, but I think a lot of people could be interested in it. I am nearly halfway finished so hopefully I will have it completed tomorrow.

My Brownies

2011-05-25T05:30:00.002-04:00

My parent's went to a development garage sale on Saturday and my Dad was nice enough to pick up a couple of things for me!

Kodak Brownie Starflex (it takes 127 film which I need to do some more research on, and I am not sure if this one works, but at the worst I can use it as a TTV camera)

Kodak Brownie Junior Six-16, this takes 616 film, but I can make 120 work (it just isn't as wide and would need to be respooled), or 70mm film with some modifications I think, the shutter works, the lens just needs maybe some cleaning and the viewfinder mirrors need to be reglued.

Kodak Brownie Target Six-16, similar situation to the above.

Kodak Brownie Target Six-20. This one takes 620 film, which is the same as 120 film just on a different sized spool, it just has to be re-rolled in a dark room.

I am really excited to clean them up a bit and get some film in them! The box cameras all only have 1 shutter speed other than bulb, and 2 aperture settings (approximately f/16 and f/11). Dad only paid $18 for all four of them, which I think is a steal!

I was really happy with how these "product photos came out. My Ikea cabinet made a nice glossy surface and my white roman shades made a good backdrop, at least once I threw in the OCF.

There are notes if you go to flickr.

OCF Experiment: Flash Distance

2011-05-24T05:00:00.002-04:00

For macros I assume that keeping the flash close to my subject would be better since the light source would be larger. I did an experiment to put it to the test.

I think it is definitely better for getting a softer more even light.

135L Love

2011-05-23T20:00:00.003-04:00

Back in December I snatched up a used Canon 135L lens. It is a beautiful lens, but it doesn't get a lot of use with me since it is best as a portrait lens, which isn't really my favorite subject. We went up to NY for a visit this past weekend and I thought I would make myself take the 135L out for a workout. I mostly took photos of my nephews and niece but I can't post them here, so instead you get one of Mike.

OCF Experiment: Flash Focal Length Setting

2011-05-16T20:59:00.002-04:00

I did a few OCF experiments over the weekend just trying to wrap my head around the basics of it, especially for macros since most of the information readily available on the web is more directed at portraits. This was actually my second experiment after looking at the results of my first but it's easier to explain, and well I am short on time tonight.

I set up my 430 EX on my flash stand, with my pocket wizards and shoot through umbrella. I kept all my settings the same except the focal length setting on the flash, so the power was the same, the distance (6" from center of flower to tip of umbrella), the angle etc. The ambient light was the same (none since it was night time, yes I used a flash light to adjust the settings), as were my camera settings, ISO, aperture, SS, lens, focus, I had the camera on a tripod and used my cable release to trigger the shutter. The flash was directly to the camera right side of the flower.

You can scroll through the examples in this flickr set (along with my other experiments that I haven't written up yet) in the flickr set here I took a photo at each focal length setting for the flash.

Just to show to show a more drastic difference, here is the longest setting:

and the shortest:

If I brought the exposure up in the 24mm one to match the 105mm one, it was almost a full stop underexposed. When I did my first experiment I wondered why the flash power wasn't falling off as quickly as I expected and I think this was why, I had it set to 105mm so I think it was making a more concentrated beam of light.

All these new aspects to work with are kind of blowing my mind.

OCF Setup

2011-05-13T18:10:00.001-04:00

Now that we have covered the gear I used for my OCF experiments we can review how I set it all up. Only one part of it was tricky. I started by trying to put the hotshoe part of my PW receiver on the hotshoe, that was proving to be really unstable so I screwed this gold piece into the tripod screw mount on the PW instead

Then I placed the gold piece down into the bracket and screwed a nut tight to hold that in.

That was much more stable.

Then I just added the umbrella and it was ready to go!

OCF Gear

2011-05-11T20:24:00.001-04:00

A week or two ago I did a post on my first off camera flash experiment and I failed to go over what gear I was using. First item of course is my 5D mark ii. Then I need a flash, I have the Canon 430 EX (not the II), if you wanted to buy one now I would get the 430EX II Speedlite.

Next I need triggers to tell the flash to fire, mine are pocket wizards.

I have the PocketWizard MiniTT1 Radio Slave Transmitter for Canon (on the right) and the FlexTT5 Transceiver Radio Slave for Canon E-TTL II System on the left.

Then I need a light stand, flash bracket and umbrella. I have the following

Impact Air-cushioned Light Stand (Black, 8')

Impact Umbrella Bracket

Impact Umbrella - White Translucent (33")

Other than the body, flash and pocket wizards, not an expensive set up.

Hello Bushes

2011-05-11T20:14:00.001-04:00

As a follow up to yesterday's post, here are some photos of the new small bushes.

You can see the small mountain laurel's in the back closer to the house.

In front of those are our two new azaleas. The color is called Totally Awesome.

They start out kind of pinky orange,

and open up to a lovely yellow.

Good-bye Bushes

2011-05-10T05:30:00.000-04:00

We discovered pretty quickly after we bought the house that the big round bushes right out front were a bit of a pain. They need to be trimmed constantly. They attract bees. They have overgrown the front path.

Our trees were getting trimmed last week so we asked our tree guy if he could pull out those bushes for us.

I was really surprised at how much removing them opened up the front of the house. We bought some new smaller bushes to go back in front, though placed differently. Two mountain laurels are going to go back closer to the house, and two "totally awesome" azaleas (they are yellow with a bit of orange in them, we wanted something not pink, there is a lot of pink in our yard). I hope we are making the right choices since landscaping is not our thing.

Entry Tiles

2011-05-09T05:30:00.003-04:00

Friday night I was going to play around with more off camera flash, but instead I decided to lay down my latest order of carpet tiles from Flor. As much as I loved the little carpet we had in the entry from Target, it just wasn't big enough, so we went with the same tiles that we put in the hall upstairs.

I wasn't sure about the half tiles I needed around the door, but once it was all in and vacuumed I was actually really happy with it.

Eastern State Penitentiary: Details

2011-05-05T06:00:00.002-04:00

And finally the detail shots from Saturday's trip to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. If you click through to flickr you can see other versions of some of the same images and some other images.

Eastern State Penitentiary: Inside

2011-05-04T06:00:00.001-04:00

Now on to the inside photos from Saturday's trip to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. If you click through to flickr you can see other versions of some of the same images.

Eastern State Penitentiary: Outside

2011-05-03T21:00:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday I met up with a couple of friends (Amanda, Barbara and Audrey) to visit Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. It was a really fun morning and an awesome place to shoot. I totally recommend it if you haven't been, especially if you like things that are a little spooky. I really love anything that is slowly crumbling so I was in heaven.

I only took my 16-35L and 100L. It was a great combination. If you click through to flickr you can see other versions of some of the same images.

OCF Experiment 1: Yellow Tulip

2011-05-02T17:59:00.003-04:00

My friends Jodi and Jenn have been inspiring me with their dedication to learning off camera flash (OCF) and the other night I was sitting on the couch bored of watching Mike play video games and I though "hey why don't I finally break out that OCF gear that is collecting dust and start trying to learn it".

My first experiment was pretty simple, it took me more time to figure out how I wanted to set up the light stand, bracket, umbrella etc and yell at the cats than it did to actually shoot. My final set up ended up like this

And the resulting image

My favorite from the night was very similar, just a slight rotation of the flower, this is SOOC other than some dust removal, so it could have been brighter. I apparently need to work on that part of OCF.

It was actually much easier than I thought it was going to be, and the umbrella made the light much better than my earlier attempts with just my omni-bounce so I think I am on the right path.

Panoramas

2011-04-25T19:52:00.003-04:00

There are only so many things I can do while Mike is having band practice in our basement. I can't watch TV. I can't talk on the phone. But I can listen to my ipod while I edit on the computer. A couple of weeks ago I was doing just that, going through the photos from Mike's trip to Abu Dhabi and I realized that some of them were panoramas taken with his work point and shoot.

Click here for a larger version

Click here for a larger version

That reminded me that I had never gotten around to editing the ones I took while we were in Egypt! I also wanted to make a collection in LR of all of my panos so that they would be easy to find in the future.

Click here for a larger version - the sphinx

Click here for a larger version - Aswan dam, Nile River side

Click here for a larger version - Aswan Dam Lake Nassar side

Click here for a larger version - Abu Simbel

Click here for a larger version - Edfu Temple

Click here for a larger version - Luxor Temple

I used to take a lot more of these before I had a SLR and especially before wide angle lenses. I need to do them more though because I love the results. The extra distortion you get can be especially fun. I need to do some experiments on how best to play that up and how best to avoid it.

Silly Kitties

2011-04-19T05:45:00.000-04:00

I take a lot of random iphone photos of the cats. I always forget to blog them, even when I really need content. Finally I downloaded them the other day while downloading the new camera bag photos.

See Stanely was "helping" me take the bag photos.

He also tried to help us vacuum the new dining room rug

And both of them kicked me off my couch.

And gibby has to prove that he can fit in the Ikea tray on the ottoman, no matter what I put in it

This is how Gibson likes to bathe himself, rolling around in the tub after one of us gets out of the shower

He also likes to look out the office windows.

And he likes to help me surf the web and watch TV.

Kelly Moore Libby

2011-04-17T18:55:00.000-04:00

I have been thinking for a while that I wanted a new camera bag (even though I already have a ton) but I wanted a new one for traveling that could handle carrying a laptop. Kelly Moore announced the Libby and it sounded perfect especially considering how much I love my Hobo. I waited a bit to actually hit buy, since I am saving up for a new camera body, but I hit the mark for that this month, and Kelly announced a 24 hour $20 credit on Twitter so I finally put in my order.

It arrived on Friday. It is a lot bigger than my hobo, but narrower than my epiphanie belle.

I loaded it up with all my gear

And I threw in Mike's ipad since that is probably what we would travel with, or maybe a macbook air if I can talk him into it, to replace my ancient HP laptop.

And two versions of the gear I will probably travel with.

We are planning a trip to Thailand in early 2012 and I think this bag will be perfect. You can't tell from the photos but there is a divider that you put on top of your gear and then you can put more carry on type stuff in it. Plus I wasn't using any of the pockets. I think it will be an ideal carry on, and around bag for that trip.

Dining Room Rug

2011-04-15T05:55:00.000-04:00

Tuesday night I got home from work in the rain (that did not make my commute any faster) to find a wet (but luckily double plastic wrapped) rug. After dinner we rolled it out in the dining room.

In case you were wondering it is the Soho Dhurri Rug in Nautical Blue. I ordered it from Shades of Light (using the coupon code that Young House Love has posted on their site. Mike wasn't sure about the color, and I admit that I was debating between that and the gray, but I am so glad we went with the blue. I think the room looks so much more fun and finished now. I love it!

Fifth Year Blurb Book Pages iphone

2011-04-14T06:00:00.003-04:00

At the end of the book I wanted to add some pages with iphone photos. Here is a sample of the pages I came up with. The designs aren't as nice as the other pages, but I was running out of time before my coupons expired. Hopefully next year I hope I can find more time for these pages.

Fifth Year Blurb Book Pages Part 2

2011-04-13T06:00:00.006-04:00

And here are the page designs for the second volume (last 6 months of the year) of our fifth year book, minus the pages with our niece and nephews on them. Click for larger.

Fifth Year Blurb Book Pages Part 1

2011-04-12T06:00:00.003-04:00

Here are the page designs for the first volume (first 6 months of the year) of our fifth year book, minus the pages with our niece and nephews on them. Click for larger.

Fifth Year Blurb Book Comparison

2011-04-11T06:00:00.002-04:00

I decided for our fifth year's Blurb book that I would split the book up into two volumes. The books have been getting fatter each year, and I also want to use up some blurb groupons I had bought, splitting it up actually ended up cheaper that way for me.

You can see how fat the fourth year book was, and this year was on track to be even bigger thanks to our trip to egypt. I am really happy with how they turned out, and I finally got to try both the image wrap cover and the premium paper. Both of which I really liked. So I think I will keep splitting the books in the future.

The second volume looks bigger, but that is because I used the premium paper for it. It actually has less pages in it.

Stay tuned for the page designs.

Together

2011-04-10T20:22:00.002-04:00

The kitties don't seem to sleep together as much as they used to. But today I caught them snuggled up together.

It reminds me of when they were kittens. I miss those days.

Updated Plate Wall

2011-04-02T09:03:00.003-04:00

I have been slowly collecting plates to expand the plate wall that I created in the dining room.

Last time I shared it with you it looked like this:

Not bad, but the plates could be a little closer together, and there could be a few more.

I thought this was a great time to set up the tripod and see if I could get a timelapse animation of the process. I was going to use my special timer remote but, the process is way too slow for that. I created the animated gif in PS CS3 following these instructions.

Here is the animation, you can see I started by leaving the two large plates (our wedding plate and one Mike brought back for me from his first trip to Abu Dhabi) and put two larger plates on other existing hooks (I use the Command Sawtooth Picture Hangers and dischangers on the backs of the plates). Then I just built out from there a couple of plates at a time. Changing plates as needed.

You can see it turns out I positioned my camera a bit low to capture the final display fully so here is the final result, not chopped off.

We went from 11 to 18 plates, I expect I will continue to add more down the road. I know I had one other little plate that I had bought for the wall but can't find.

Longwood March 2011: Other Flowers

2011-03-28T20:09:00.003-04:00

I didn't really take enough photos of any other flowers to deserve their own post other than the blue poppy so I am going to throw them all into one.

Forget me nots

Tulip

The next I can't remember what they are. Though the first two I remember shooting last year, so I have the name somewhere.

This was a passionflower or something? Very cool. Amanda pointed it out but her batteries were dead by then.

Nectarine blossom

Rose

Tomorrow is the last day at the current job, I am so glad.

Around the House

2011-03-25T19:19:00.002-04:00

We haven't done any major house work lately, but we have slowly been making small changes, mostly in the living room.

I finally hung up the metal "art" that I picked up months ago at Hobby Lobby. I spray painted a special kind of hook for hanging things in plaster walls without damaging them (it seemed to work well). I hung it in the middle of the art. I think it is a bit less noticeable that way.

The new ottoman I ordered from West Elm back in February finally got delivered. I love it!

The new ottoman means that the old green Ikea one got demoted to go with the Ikea chair

I was nice enough to get it a new white cover so that they make a better pair.

I have a new rug coming, but that is going to have to wait for another post.

Blue Poppy Edit

2011-03-24T19:00:00.002-04:00

The colors in the blue poppy photos I shared yesterday came out a lot less saturated in camera than they appear in my final edits. Part of that is from shooting to the right (overexposing) and part of it is from using really neutral camera profiles etc. I like to be able to be the one to decide how much color I want to add back.

Here you can see the SOOC on the left and my final edit on the right, the SOOC is cool and flat and dull.

click for larger

So how did I get to the final edit?

I used my white balance target to do a custom white balance, added in a bit of brightness to the midtones, and a decent amount of black. I then added some clarity (ie midtone contrast), vibrance and a little saturation (I usually don't touch this slider but once in a while it can be very handy).

Added contrast using the tone curve

Used the split toning to add more color, a bit of warmth to the highlights and some blue to the shadows. (I have a couple of presets like this that I have made for myself)

Added some sharpening, I also should probably add some noise reduction to, but for sharing on the web it wasn't really noticeable.

That is it, nothing too major but it brought the colors back in line with what they had looked like in real life.

Longwood March 2011: Blue Poppy

2011-03-22T20:15:00.002-04:00

My friend Amanda and I made a quick short notice trip to Longwood on Sunday after they announced on their twitter that they had put out some of the Blue Poppies. I was dying to shoot these last year but I never made it while they were out, so I had to make a point to go this year. I didn't really shoot much else (I think I am still burnt out from the last two trips) but I ended up taking quite a few shots of the poppies.

All 5dm2, 100L, a couple I think I used the tubes on, but of course I can't tell which ones.

f/3.5 ss 1/125 ISO 200

f/3.5 ss 1/200 ISO 200

f/7.1, ISO 400 ss 1/100

f/4, 1/125, ISO 200

f/4, ISO 400, 1/100

f/2.8, ISO 800, ss 1/100

f/3.5, ss 1/100, iso 400

f/2.8, ss 1/100, ISO 400

9) f/2.8, 1/100, ISO 400

Tthere are things I see just looking at thses that I would like to change (like on the next to last I wish I hadn't clipped the tip of the leaf), oh well. Nobody is perfect right??

Sometimes

2011-03-22T06:39:00.003-04:00

Sometimes life gets away from you and you get so wrapped up in the day to day you forget about doing other things. And other times, like now, you have big stuff going on that you don't really want to put out there publicly until they are settled. Two big things have been going on the past couple of weeks.

1) Michael has been away, Abu Dhabi again, but he is finally on a flight home right now! He will be home tonight! The kitties and I are very excited. One of the few fun things he got to squeeze in while he was away, between all the work, was a trip to the camel races. He sent me this little video:

2) I got a new job! I am leaving my current company and position next week, and I start a new job April 4th. For once we aren't moving! I am just going to be commuting about the same distance, just in the opposite direction. I am really excited about this opportunity.

Hopefully now that things are settling down, I will have a bit more time, I am so behind on stuff I wanted to blog about!

Somebody Needs a Cleaning

2011-03-15T21:38:00.002-04:00

It's not Stanley

It might be Gibson

I think I need to start washing his eye out before I take photos of him.

I am not loving losing an hour of sleep, but it is nice to get home while there is enough light to take a few photos.

Photography Tips 22: Flash Diffusion Experiment 1

2011-03-09T20:54:00.003-05:00

I haven't done any more experiments with this yet but I know more are coming. Anyway, on to the experiment. On one of my message boards a question was asked about the Sto-Fen Omni Bounce flash diffuser and if anyone used it. It made me realize that while I knew I had one, and I use it a lot, I have never really tested to see if it was adding to my images or not. I executed an experiment to test if it diffused the flash, which I assumed that it did, and if that additional diffusion was beneficial. Here are my results.

Click image for full size.

I tried to adjust the flash output to keep the exposure consistent but I wasn't careful enough to get it right on all of them so I did adjust the exposure in post to make them all look similar. So the flash power/settings don't exactly match up to what was ideally needed.

It clearly helps diffuse the flash, and you needed to set the flash to a higher power to get the same exposure if you don't adjust the angle. Depending on what you are aiming for with the flash, I am not sure I am always going to keep the diffuser on. Like when I bounce it behind me, I think it might diffuse too much light forward for some applications. In general this experiment reminded me to really think critically about why I use the gear I do and make sure it is adding positively to the images I make using it.

5th Anniversary Gift

2011-02-28T20:18:00.002-05:00

Friday Michael and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. I gave him a headset thing for playing video games that his brother has and loves, and he gave me a gorgeous necklace.

He bought it from my favorite jewelry website Fay Cullen, it is an antique. I kind of want to wear it everyday.

One of Each

2011-02-27T20:56:00.001-05:00

One of each of my boys.

Kitties from a couple of weeks ago

2011-02-21T21:15:00.002-05:00

I needed a while to catch up on the Longwood posts (there might still be one coming) and that means the kitties have been neglected on the blog. This should tide you over.

Longwood Jan 2011: Extra Edit

2011-02-18T05:15:00.000-05:00

I am working on editing one of my Longwood shots from January to have printed for our bedroom. My first edit, like normal, was pretty basic and all in lightroom.

I decided to take the image into PS for a bit more work though to see if I could compensate for having had to use a narrower aperture than I normally like to.

I am fairly happy with how it turned out. I might want to tweak it a bit more before I have it printed though.

Longwood Feb 2011: Part 3

2011-02-17T05:10:00.002-05:00

The last of the February Longwood images I think, other than a post on testing out some off-camera flash.

I can't seem to resist the lavender

I didn't notice the little bug until I started shooting.

I loved the veins on this orchid.

I always love these "hairy" cacti, but it was totally worth getting dripped on to get this shot, I love the water droplets.

Longwood Feb 2011: Part 2

2011-02-16T05:10:00.001-05:00

Back for more?

In the orchid room.

I wish I had cleaned the little fuzz off this one.

This was such a cool plant, I had to move some things around to get to it but I am so glad I did.

After the orange plant I turned to the left and saw this Happy Wanderer just begging to be shot.

Longwood Feb 2011: Part 1

2011-02-15T05:20:00.001-05:00

Getting together with such a large group at Longwood, was actually a ton of fun, even for an introvert like me. But it did mean I shot a lot less than I normally do. Which means less blog posts.

This was the center of a camilla. I love the contrast of the pink and the yellow and to me this image is all about the textures and colors.

I wish I could remember what flower this was, it was such a pretty combination of pink and yellow

It took a couple of tries to get an image of these small flowers with the focus just where I wanted it.

The yellow orchids again!

I tried to shoot this plant/flower on my visit in January, but I got nothing I liked at all, finally this time with more of them open (they look a bit like q-tips before the bloom) I captured an image I am happy with.

Longwood Feb 2011: People

2011-02-14T05:00:00.001-05:00

I rarely take photos of people at Longwood, since that isn't what I am interested in, but when I get together with a huge group of girls I have to take a few.

A group self-portrait with
Me Jodi (the lender of the Nikon), Amanda and Melissa

Melissa, Amy and Amanda

Melissa being silly, and wearing a plant as hair

And the big group shots (taken with my camera)

In action, except for me, since mine was in use.

Nikon Edits

2011-02-13T21:06:00.002-05:00

In my last post I had mentioned shooting with a friend's Nikon D700 and one of the comments asked to see my SOOC with the Nikon.

SOOC, zeroed out in LR

With the import preset I have made for my macro images (it is a bit more "intense" than my normal import preset, I think I need to rework it some more to make it less intense)

Final edit

Nikon Macros

2011-02-07T20:36:00.003-05:00

My wonderful friend Jodi let me borrow her Nikon D700 and 105mm micro lens at Longwood on Saturday. It was really fun to play around with a new system. Honestly if I had the money I would probably keep both a Canon and Nikon full frame camera, and lenses.

Overall I would say I could be really happy with either system. I didn't find the Nikon easier to use, but I also think it wouldn't take me long to get the controls down. That camera body/lens combo did weigh a bit more than the Canon equivalent.

Longwood Jan 2011: The rest . . .

2011-02-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

And the rest of the shots I liked, in no particular order.

Longwood Jan 2011: Orchids

2011-02-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

Longwood is in the middle of their Orchid Extravaganza, which provides an awesome chance to shoot all kinds of orchids, the best part is they are all over the conservatory instead of just in the fairly dark (not great for photography) orchid room.

They had an amazing blue orchid back by the bonsai display that they injected with dye as it was growing. Not very "natural" looking but really striking!

This one with a bit more editing might be the winner for our bedroom wall decor that I mentioned in my last post.

Longwood Jan 2011: Yellow Flowers

2011-02-01T19:53:00.002-05:00

Our master bedroom is currently decorated with a yellow and gray color scheme. You can see it in this post from this past summer. Anyway, each time I go to Longwood I keep an eye out for yellow flowers to shoot hoping I can find one I like enough to blow up big for the wall. I found a few this last trip, but none of them really were good enough for me.

This one has a pretty yellow background

but Mike wasn't a fan.

The all yellow flower was a little too much for me in this one, especially coupled with the green/gray background vegetation that makes it look like a selective color image.

This one isn't bad

but I guess I don't really like daisies enough to blow this image up.

My favorite out of the bunch

but something is still missing.

There were also some yellow orchids, maybe one of those will be a winner. . .

Longwood Jan 2011: Poppy-Flowered Anemone

2011-01-26T06:12:00.002-05:00

I have mentioned before how much I love Anemones. So I was totally over joyed to find a little patch of them, in several colors walking down the garden path at Longwood. Not all of them were at the peak of blooming, but I think that can be nice sometimes, a drooping petal can lead you into a different view of the flower.

I loved all these flowers that had two-tone petals and really dark centers.

This one was definitely on it's last legs, but even a dying flower can be beautiful.

You might notice that I have gone a bit more vibrant with these, I think it is just how anxious I am for spring to really be here.

Longwood Jan 2011: Camellia

2011-01-25T06:10:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday I made my first pilgrimage of the year to Longwood with Amanda. We had a great time as usual! One of the first flowers we shot were the Camellia's (we actually tried some pink orchids first but the color was a pain, and posterized immediately). Everything was shot with my 5dm2 and 100L macro.

What a Difference a Few Years Makes

2011-01-24T05:15:00.001-05:00

I always tell people that it is important to keep all your old RAW files (not just your edited images) in case you want to go back and re-edit. After my awesome SIL pinned one of my photos of her wedding from 2007 on pinterest I realized that it is time to take my own advice and go back and re-edit her photos.

My 2007 edit

and a quick edit now

It's amazing how much differently I look at an image now, and how I approach editing it. I also know a lot more about how to edit now. Now to go back and edit the rest! Anyone else want to go back to an old photo and try a re-edit? If you do post a link in the comments.

Long Time No Kitties

2011-01-23T20:58:00.002-05:00

Sadly the older the kitties get the less I seem to take photos of them. So sad! I need to make a point to take more photos of them again. I had my camera out today to take some photos of stuff Mike wants to sell on craigslist.

They are still cute!

Photography Tips 21: Magnification Changes with Extension Tubes on Different Lens

2011-01-21T13:53:00.003-05:00

Back in my first macro FAQ post (Photography Tips 12: Macro FAQ 1) I showed you what makes a macro lens a macro lens, and a way to calculate the magnification using a ruler. I wanted to do a follow up experiment showing how using tubes increases the magnification, not only with my macro lens, but with any lens.

I started out with the 100L, varying the length of tubes that I attached.

The more tubes I added the greater the magnification I got, with all of them on, I could get to nearly twice life size!

I have so many lenses that I thought for the rest I would just try to get the maximum magnification I can and compare that to the specifications for the lens's maximum magnification without tubes.

I think it is interesting with the 50 that you can start to see some barrel distortion.

Compare this with the magnification I measure in the previous post to see that without tubes I only got 1/3 life size with this lens, with the tubes I got to almost 1 1/2 times life size, that is a big improvement.

Again note the distortion and the lack of sharpness as we move away from the center of the lens, also notice that I had to cut down the number of tubes I was using. If I put on more than this the focus fell inside the lens where I couldn't measure it.

I also tested the 16-35 at 16mm, but even with the smallest tube I would have needed to put the ruler inside the lens to get it in focus, obviously that wasn't an option. You can still so how much more distortion you are getting at 16mm as well.

After all of this I had to graph my results to see if there was a trend.

Turns out the magnification goes up in a very linear trend as you add more length of tubes in the data for the 100L. I assume it would also follow a linear pattern for the other lenses just with a different intercept and probably a different slope. On the graph I included a starting point for each lens based on the published specifications. You can see the slope is steeper at shorter focal lengths and much flatter at longer focal lengths.

What does all of this mean?

Combining tubes with a true macro lens will let you get to magnifications larger than life size.

Using tubes on a lens doesn't seem to change the inherent distortion in a lens, in fact it might magnify it since you are so much closer to your subject, I didn't test it but I assume this will be true with compression as well

Not all lenses will function well with tubes, especially shorter focal lengths, the tubes may shorten the minimum focusing distance so much you might not be able to focus at all

Tubes change the magnification in a linear fashion so if I measure a couple of points I can calculate how many mm of tubes I need to achieve a specific magnification.

I can take just my tubes with my 24-70 or my 50 on my next vacation and not worry about missing having a macro lens with me

The length of tubes increase the magnification faster on a shorter focal length. And conversely on a longer focal length you will need more tubes to achieve a higher magnification

Ice Storm 2011

2011-01-18T20:20:00.003-05:00

I worked from home for a half day today because we were on the receiving end of a lovely ice storm. I used the half day off to shovel and to go out and take some photos of the ice.

I love the texture that you can see on the ice.

Lens Cap Pouch

2011-01-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

One of the ideas I stumbled across on pinterest was a pin of a camera lens cap pouch, the original source was Crafty Staci. The instructions looked simple enough, I had fabric left over from my bench and I am always misplacing my lens caps (I even lost one in Kauai into the Pacific).

I modified the original plan a bit. I made it bigger since the lens cap for my 16-35L is 82mm. I also only used one fabric (I didn't feel like buying a yard just for this little bit). And more importantly I changed how the pouch is attached to the camera strap.

My finished pouch.

With my cap for my 50L in it.

The back, I didn't just make a spot to slip the strap through.

I made the pattern a bit longer and cut out two of them, then I made one big rectangle of them and sewed some more of the velcro on to it.

Then I wrap it around the strap and close the velcro. It's really secure.

On the strap the right way.

It also works on my rapid strap (which is what I am mainly using these days. I can't wait to really use it! I really hope this saves me from losing anymore caps!

Fashion Friday - 01.14.11

2011-01-14T05:00:00.000-05:00

My new favorite sweater is Banana's Tall merino ruffle trim striped cardigan. I would wear it everyday if I could. It's so cute, really comfy, and I love the pockets. Really is there anything better than sweaters with pockets?

2011-01-13T18:04:00.003-05:00

If you haven't tried pinterest yet be ready to become addicted! I love it already. You can check out my boards here. If you need an invite just leave a comment with your email and I will send you one. If you are on there already and I don't follow you, leave a comment or follow me and I will follow you!

2010 Lens Usage

2011-01-11T05:00:00.001-05:00

Back in early 2009 I posted some charts breaking down how often I use my different lenses. That same question came up recently on one of my message boards and I realized I hadn't revisited that data analysis recently. In fact I skipped analyzing 2009 altogether so let's start with that data:

Not too surprising the 24-70, 50L and 100mm macro made up the bulk of my shooting. The 70-300 was used less than the 85L which I only rented for less than a week. I am a little surprised at how much I used the 50 actually.

Moving on to 2010

Again similar lenses, the 100mm macro has been replaced by the L version. My new lenses got a little play in at the end of the year. Egypt made up the bulk of the 24-70 shots and you can clearly see my focus on macro photography this year with the usage of the 100L.

I had guessed on the message board I used the 24-70, 100L and 50L for 90% of my shooting, but that it was pretty even between them. I was close, but wrong about the spread

That definitely justifies for me selling off my 70-300 IS.

I thought it would be fun to look at the focal length I used with the 24-70 to see how I actually used that lens. I thought I generally would be at one extreme or the other.

And I was right. 80% of my shooting was within 10mm of either end of the wide or long end of the lens.

Have you ever done a similar metadata analysis in LR?

New Favorite Game App

2011-01-10T19:40:00.002-05:00

I downloaded a new game app last night, and I am already obsessed with it. Logic Gamebox, my favorite game is the Liquid Measure game, I am already 2/3s of the way through it. Go download it now!

MOMA

2011-01-05T19:17:00.002-05:00

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Michael needed to go up to NYC one day for work. I tagged along with him so I could spend a day at the MoMA.

It was super crowded that day, I think all the snow drove everyone inside as much as possible. But I still loved the museum! It was so inspiring on so many levels.

It got more crowded later in the day than this even! (Yes the image is OOF, I did that on purpose to try and make it a bit more abstract and “modern”, did it work? The jury is still out).

I definitely prefer shooting sculpture to paintings

I loved the woman in the background taking a photo out the window.

There was so much thought put into how the art was displayed. I loved this really tall sculpture, and how the positioned him like he was enjoying the the other art in the room with him

Waterlilies! I had no idea how HUGE this painting actually was! I had my back to the wall with my 50 and I still couldn’t get it all in.

I loved this photographer's work (Alex Prager). It just jumped off the wall at me. I could have looked at it all day. I honestly just took this photo so that I would remember his name and be able to blog it and share his work with all of you. It was amazing! This one was my favorite

By the end of the morning I had run out of steam, but I am still so glad that I went. I think it is a great reminder of all the different kinds of art out there, how subjective art is and how beautiful, especially if you are like me and get so mired in the technicalities of photography.

2011 Goals

2011-01-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

I love doing a list at the beginning of the year of goals for the year. Anyone else do SMART goals at work? I am trying to work on the measurable part for this year.

Photography:
-Open up and Etsy shop
-Use my tripod more, try to work on longer exposures (waterfalls, ocean surf, night cityscapes etc)
-Write at least 2 photography tips posts a month
-Save for a new camera body (I would say buy it but that depends on Canon)
-Try time-lapse photography with my new remote

Exercise/Health:
-Log at least 500 miles on my new treadmill
-Lose weight (I have a number in mind but I am not putting it out here)
-Lift weights at least once a week
-Stretch every day I run
-Go out to eat less, no more than 2 meals a week on average

House:
-Paint the last bedroom
-Buy dressers for our room and organize clothing so it isn't spread around 3 rooms and the attic.
-Paint more used furniture, at least 2 pieces
-Save for a new garage
-Clean out the attic (and be ruthless!)

Personal:
-Trip to St Lucia
-Put more thought into fashion/style and include it on blog more
-Find a new job
-Get to know my new extended family
-Take more weekend/day trips

20 goals, let's see how I do!

2010 Goal Review

2010-12-31T20:32:00.003-05:00

On the first of the year I did a post detailing out some goals for 2010, before I make one for 2011 tomorrow, shall we see how I did?

Photography:
-Use my longwood season pass to shoot a lot more macros - Done! And I loved it and I think it made a huge difference in my photography +1
-Use my awesome new tripod to start shooting waterfalls - Didn't do +0
-Autofocus micro-adjust all my lenses with the LensAlign - didn't do all, but I did some +0.5
-Use the video mode on the 5DM2, and do something with them - I used it, but I haven't figured out what to do with them. +0.5
-Finish scanning and editing the slides from our 1987 trip - I finished all the scanning of the slides, Dad still hasn't found the couple of rolls of negative film +0.5
-Do something with the XT instead of letting it sit around collecting dust - I tried to but I ended up messing up the sensor when I tried to clean it before selling it +0
-Get in front of the camera more - fail, maybe next year +0
-Write more photography tips posts for this blog - done +1
-Look for macro subjects all year long, not just in the spring - done, though I still mostly stuck with flowers, I just found them at Longwood.
4.5/9

Exercise/Health:
-Get back into running, especially outside, log at least 100 miles - I did run outside for a couple of months, and at the gym for a couple of weeks, but I probably barely made 100 miles. +0
-No more sodas at lunch at work (too much caffeine) - fail I managed to skip them here and there but not really consistently. +0
-Try out the yoga and pilates classes at my gym - I tried out the pilates class at work, but I won't really count that fail +0
-Continue trying out new recipes, aim for mostly healthy ones we did do this, but we need to do even more next year +1
1/4

House:
-Organize the attic - no +0
-Purge stuff we no longer use - in progress, we did have a yard sale and sold a bunch of stuff, but there is a lot more that we can get rid of +1
-Get more into gardening and landscaping - I tried, and realized I didn't like it very much. But I will keep trying +0.5
-Buy rugs - We did buy a few but we have a lot more to go +0.5
-Office furniture - Done!! I am very happy with how the office turned out +1
-Paint both spare bedrooms - One is done (though just barely!) +0.5
-Try sprucing up used furniture - I painted the vanity and I love how it turned out! +1
4.5/7

Personal:
-Make some friends near home to hang out with outside of work - I mostly made photography friends to go to get togethers with but I will count that because I love my photography girls +1
-Spend time with Rebecca before she leaves the USA - Done +1
-Plan (and take) a trip to England and Scotland - England/Scotland was pushed aside for Egypt so we still made it on a BIG trip so I will count that +1
-Visit family more often - We did do a decent amount of this, though I want to do more next year. I have some new family I would like to get to know. +1
4/4

15/24, not great but not bad. Things change and I tried to make this a rather ambitious list for the year. I think it would help in 2011 if I review my progress each month. I think I missed several of these because I forgot about the list to an extent.