Best of the 365 Blog - August 2017

As usual, August was largely taken up by back-to-school activities. I got some use out of some new equipment in addition to relying on my phone for a lot of the daily pictures.

Nikon D810, 8mm, 1/60, ISO 200, cropped

I took the Rokinon 8mm lens out to the ballpark and got some interesting shots with it. Here the natural curves of the architecture play well with the bending of the lens.

Nikon D810, 170mm (28-200), 1/160, f/6.3, ISO 200

I spent weeks fussing over finding the best ways to photograph the eclipse on August 21. I carefully planned shots of the totality in order to avoid destroying my equipment or my eyes. And I was really hoping for some shots of the crescent shadows cast between the leaves of nearby trees. Then the clouds rolled in and pretty much ruined everything.

Nikon D810, 200mm (28-200), 1/500, f/11, ISO 200, cropped and adjusted

As usual, the first week of class found my photo class out in the college’s flower garden. Most of everyone’s photos were the usual stuff, but I did manage to capture some apples on a nearby tree. This shot has been saturated to make the fruit look nice and red rather than the pale color it actually was.

Nikon D810, 38mm (35-80), 5 sec., f./22, ISO 200, cropped

After years of patiently adding fruit and vegetable stickers to the collection, we finally managed to cover an entire cabinet door.

iPhone 7, 1/170

Waiting around outside a restaurant in Westport, I happened to notice these colorful pepper plants.

iPhone 7, 1/2200

 This basketball hoop has provided me with a bit of a story. It’s in good repair here, but later in the semester I found it blown over, dented, and temporarily removed.

iPhone 7, 1/800

For two weeks in a row I happened to be picking up groceries at the same time as the crew from the local fire station was picking up theirs. The first week I photographed the front of the truck, and the second time around I captured this fun bit of lens flare.

Nikon D7000, 80mm (35-80), 3 sec, f/22, ISO 100

This is one of the first shots I took with a tabletop studio setup I got during Prime Day madness. I hope to use it to start documenting some of the small objects in our lives.

What a difference ten millimeters make

Last Thursday I took a camera and a trio of lenses out to the ballpark. With some time on my hands before the game started, I trekked up to the highest nosebleed seats to get some wide views of the field and stands. The results provided an interesting range of focal lengths.

Let’s start with 28mm:

Nikon D810, 28mm (28-200), 1/250, f/8, ISO 200

This is the wide side of a 28-200mm that I do a lot of work with. As a shot of the field itself, it’s reasonably good. But let’s see what we get if we go a little wider.

Nikon D810, 18mm (18-35), 1/400, f/10, ISO 200

That’s 18mm (minus a bit of cropping I did to get rid of the roof). If I was taking a traditional landscape approach, this photo would probably be my choice.

But let’s go another 10mm down:

Nikon D810, 8mm, 1/200, f/7.1, ISO 200

Now that’s a fisheye view, so much so that the image gets vignetted. Still, that’s a 180 degree view.

I had even more fun with the 8mm lens that evening, as seen in this blog post.

Best of the 365 Blog – July 2017

July was all about experimenting. I got a new (well, refurbished) Nikon D810, so welcome to the world of full frame photography. And I went a little crazy buying accessories on Amazon Prime Day.

The month got underway with the usual fireworks shots (alas the new gear hadn’t arrived yet).

Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 0.3 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200

This isn’t the absolute first shot I took with the new camera, but it was the first one good enough to blog. I’ve also moved my photo management from the Apple app to Lightroom, so I’m getting used to that as well.

Nikon D810, 300mm (75-300), 1/400, f/6.3, ISO 800

We’ve been moving some stuff around in the house, including these five alligators in a cheese box.

Nikon D3000, 24mm (18-55), 1/80, f/4.5, ISO 200

One of the new gizmos is a ring light, which makes macro photography a lot easier. This is a plastic spider from the top of a cupcake, currently perching on the top of my postcard rack.

Nikon D7000, 80mm (35-80), 1/60, F/5.6, ISO 200

Shortly after I got the new camera, I added a Nikkor 18-35mm to the collection. The lens is well suited to landscape photography, but I thought I’d take it out to the ballpark and play around with it for awhile.

Nikon D810, 35mm (18-35), 1/320, f/7.1, ISO 200

I also added a full frame fisheye lens. This is my office at home, finally cleaned and organized.

Nikon D810, 8mm, 1/60, f/4, ISO 1600

We put in a small St. Francis shrine on the deck. Okay, it’s a concrete lawn ornament and a bird bath. But it fits well with the bird feeders.

Nikon D3000, 32mm (18-55), 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 140

And finally this odd specimen. This is a front view of a metal fish, part of my writing desk decor. I shot a series of macro photos and then focus stacked them (which oddly I had to do in Photoshop as Lightroom won’t do it).

Nikon D810, 80mm (35-80), 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 500, focus stacked

Fireworks 2017

Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 0.3 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200

This year’s festivities were considerably more low-key than last year. No huge crowd, no elaborate multi-camera setup. Still, we had fun and I got a few good shots.

Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/80, f/3.8, ISO 400

Before sunset we set of smoke bombs.

Nikon D3000, 45mm (18-55), 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 200

 They made some interesting colors of mess in the grass.

Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/20, f/3.8, ISO 400

And speaking of making messes ... I stuck candles next to the sidewalk so we’d have a little light and a good source of flame to keep the punks going. Unfortunately they dripped wax all over the place.

Nikon D7000, 50mm (28-200), 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 400

One of the displays looked like a camera.

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/40, f/5.6, ISO 400

“Bees in a Thicket” is a popular classic we do every year.

Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 2 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200

And as usual a good time was had by all. Lens flare notwithstanding, I love the dandelion shape of this one.

Best of the 365 Blog - June 2017

June always seems to be a good month for photography. The spring semester is clearly in the rear-view, and the fall hasn’t crested the horizon yet. Time to get out and take some pictures!

This odd specimen is the inside of a LifeFactory glass bottle. I shot it through the top looking down, using a 10.5mm lens to get as much in as possible.

Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/200, f/7.1, ISO 100

Mongolian barbecue is such fun to watch. Turns out it makes a pretty good photo, too.

iPhone 7

I was taking some pictures of typewriter keys for a project I was working on, and I also got a few good ones of the rest of the machine.

Nikon D3000, 36mm (18-55), 1/30, f/5.0, ISO 200

This one looks carefully planned, but it was totally spontaneous. While on my way to move the Jeep from the rear driveway to the street in front of the house, I happened by this backyard plant on one of its rare flowering days. Quick snap with the phone.

iPhone 7

I’ve been doing some prep work for my Beginning Photography class in the fall. I decided to make a banner graphic for the weekly quizzes out of pictures of objects that look like letters. The Q is a quick, natural light setup on a piece of foam core in a window.

iPhone 7

Here’s how the rest of the banner came out:

I don’t think this will make the quizzes any easier, but I hope a pleasant graphic presentation will at least take some of the stress out of the experience.

Coffee pot at First Watch (another sure sign that I’m getting old).

iPhone 7

A small (coffee cup size, maybe a little larger) Ganesh side-lit by the setting sun and photographed with a macro lens.

Nikon D7000, 80mm (35-80), 1/800, f/7.1, ISO 400

And a trio of lovely ladies getting an early start on Day of the Dead festivities. I stood the figures up in front of a computer display showing a Dia de Los Muertos celebration and used an open window and a shaving mirror to do the lighting. The result was filtered for shake reduction but otherwise not Photoshopped in any way.

Nikon D7000, 55mm (35-80), 1/50, f/4.8, ISO 400

Quiz! letters

I wanted a nice graphic to go with the weekly quizzes in my Intro to Photography class. So naturally I figured the best thing would be a banner made of photos.

Except for the close-up of Jenny’s eye, I took all of these photos specifically for this project. Then I used a poster mock-up from Adobe to give them a nice frame.

Best of the 365 Blog - May 2017

Wildlife turned out to be the theme for May.

Early in the month the bees returned to the tree in our front yard.

Nikon D7000, 300mm (75-300), 1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 800, cropped

At work a goose set up camp under a tree right next to the sidewalk.

iPhone 7

This is Boris, one of the strays we feed. She can be elusive, but this afternoon she patiently posed for a long-distance portrait.

Nikon D7000, 200mm (75-300), 1/60, f/5.3, ISO 1600, cropped

When the cat takes possession of what you're working on, all you can do is take pictures of the cat.

iPhone 7, modified

My grandpa’s old musical slide rule, now mounted on the side of a bookshelf.

iPhone 7

I managed to catch some good photos of a squirrel on our deck eating a slice of bread. One of the other photos got edited into a squirrel holding a protest sign.

Nikon D7000, 300mm (75-300), 1/400, f/5.6, ISO 1600, cropped

Two piñatas that managed to survive last June’s birthday fest. And of course maneki neko.

iPhone 7

And at long last I made it to my 365th straight photo. Out at the stadium I looked around for something that said “365,” but the closest I could come was five off.

iPhone 7, modified