Unblogged Favorites of 2016

The past year was unusually active for me, at least behind the camera. I took a ton of pictures during a trip to Idaho in March, and June saw the start of a 365 project that is still going strong (fingers crossed). Many of 2016’s unblogged favorites were taken shortly before or after blogged photos, narrowly missing the cut for one reason or another.

Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/250, f/8, ISO 160

Photos like this one are a great example. The mountains in Idaho provided no end of opportunities for dramatic landscapes. It was hard to choose one over the others. Indeed, I could probably fill this entire post with nothing but stuff from that one-week trip.

Nikon D7000, 18mm (18-55), 1/250, f/8, ISO 100

Here’s another case in point. This photo was taken just a few seconds and just a few feet from one that ended up in the Google Tour about the trip (as well as my portfolio). The other one gives a better view of the lake and the mountains, but this one provides a better view of the beach.

Nikon D7000, 250mm (75-300), 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 800

Early in the baseball season we got to see the guys get their World Series rings from 2015. The view from our upper-deck seats isn’t always the best for photography, but this one came out okay.

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/400, f/5.6, ISO 1600

In June I was doing a 30-day, subject-specific photo challenge. On the day that found me at a party at the lake the subject was “portrait.” But I couldn’t let this one go unblogged forever. I love the heat ripples in the blurry background above the flames. And if you spend too much time looking at the fire, it starts to look a little like a Xenomorph from Alien.

Nikon D7000, 105mm (28-200), 1/100, f/5.3, ISO 6400

The trip to KU’s Natural History Museum produced a lot of good shots. These trilobites were barely edged out by a big fish.

iPhone 5s

I hate to be this petty, but I’m still steamed about the Body Worlds exhibit’s arbitrary and poorly-publicized rule against SLRs. Look at how blown out the highlights are in this phone photo. That would have been so easy to correct for when shooting or to fix in post.

Nikon D7000, 135mm (28-200), 1/640, f/6.3, ISO 200

The Fourth of July is always such a good photo op.

Nikon D3000, 20mm (18-55), HDR

An October weekend in southern Missouri yielded some good subjects. This particular one is my only HDR piece from the trip. It was hard to get the rushing water just right while at the same time losing neither the brightly-lit rocks or the shadowed, mossy background. That justified dragging the tripod along.

Best of the 365 Blog – December 2016

December was a little catch-as-catch-can. Between the emotional fallout from the election and the usual end-of-semester exhaustion, I wasn’t focusing on photography like I usually do. Keeping up with the 365 project was the best I could manage. So here’s what I got:

An absinthe spoon in silhouette:

Nikon D7000, 42mm (35-80), 1/800, f/4.2, ISO 800

The resident cat at the Dusty Bookshelf in Lawrence:

iPhone 5s

Snow on a table at the college:

iPhone 5s

Jenny making the Jenny Face:

Nikon D7000, 48mm (35-80), 1/80, f/4.5, ISO 400

A dramatic-looking rabbit:

Nikon D7000, 35mm (35-80), 1/125, f/16, ISO 100, flash

Christmas Eve in the drive-thru of our favorite Chinese restaurant:

iPhone 5s

An amazingly-detailed toy car (from the Supernatural TV series):

Nikon D7000, 80mm (35-80), 1/125, f/8, ISO 100, flash

Cat scratches on a railing:

iPhone 5s