12-09-12 Experiment With Bokeh and Water Glass

As far as photographic experiments go, I would say that this photo represents a successful failure. I spent time yesterday learning about the quality of bokeh produced by various lenses at various degrees of focus. In the midst of this, I had the idea of putting a full glass of water in front of our Christmas tree. I imagined that the round bokeh would show up in the water glass, given the lens effect that water can have. But I imagined wrong. Oh, well. . .What I like about this photo is that everything is soft and round - except the way the light shows up in the water glass. Here, it is sharp and linear. Too abstract? Boring? Maybe. I suspect I will revisit this idea to see if I can end up with something better.

12-03-12 Still Life With Shepherd, Lamb and Bokeh

I like the fact that lowly shepherds play a role in the Christmas story. So when Deb was shopping for Christmas decorations, I couldn't resist buying two figures from a Nativity collection. I would have bought more sheep but they were $1.98 apiece and I didn't want to invest too much into what I knew would result in one photo.Incidentally, I have assigned a bokeh photo to my students and so I offer one here. And since I've done a holiday bokeh thing two years in a row (2010) (2011), I guess I've established an annual tradition by offering one now. . . .

11-30-12 here.i.m

If I were an M&M, I'd be brown. I am an introvert who would rather blend in. And, in most observable ways, I am a conformist. And, when I am immersed in my photography, I disappear. . . .Check out the Shutterbug article featuring my blog.

11-29-12 RGB

I would call this an editorial photo. Instead of creating something that is artistic and packed with emotion, I wanted to take a photo that would help reinforce the technical aspect of how cameras and photo editing software see color, which is referred to as RGB, or red, green, blue.This was initially going to be a full color photo with all of the RGB M&Ms clustered in the front. But my colleague Dennis (click to visit his blog) suggested that I use selective coloring in Aperture instead. And voila! Here you have it.Check out the Shutterbug article featuring my blog.And did you know that you can subscribe to my blog by filling in the email form at the bottom of the page? Yes, you can!

11-20-12 Blurring the Lines

There are a few things that are unusual about this post. First, it comes from the same file as a previous post. I rarely do that. Second, it is cropped unconventionally. What possessed me to eschew the 2:3 or 4:5 ratio? No one knows. Finally, it is heavily filtered. And I teach my students that we filter photo when the photo is substandard to begin with: we plaster over the flaws, so to speak. Thus, I discourage filtering. But I guess I don't always practice what a preach.

11-06-12 The Right Place At the Right Time

Here's another portrait from the archives (2007). This shot is of Gabe H. and the location is a short distance away from the abandoned farms that I have posted several times in this blog. What made this photo special to me was the subject: Gabe was relaxed, happy and, being a country girl, in her element.The timing was right, too. This is a beautiful field of ready-to-harvest wheat and the setting sun was strong enough to create excellent backlighting. To balance the sunlight, I put the camera in Aperture Priority mode and used a shoot-through umbrella and a Canon flash running off of a Canon IR transmitter. This lighting set-up is very user friendly and does a good job lighting Gabe, especially her eyes. Because South Dakota is a windy place, using an umbrella lighting set-up outside is risky. But on this particular evening it was calm and quiet.I could return to this field on the same date at the same time for a decade and not get the conditions I had on this evening in July. I certainly believe that good timing is the essence of good photography and this photo may be evidence of that.Canon 1D Mark II 1/160s f/4.0 ISO200 59mm

11-05-12 I Approve of This Message

I don't normally endorse products, especially alcoholic beverages, though my title gives you a little insight into how I feel about the general subject being photographed. However, I haven't sampled this bottle of Cardhu Scotch since I wanted it full for the shot. (It's another kind of Scotch in the glass pretending to be Cardhu.) Why this brand? Well, it came in a short bottle and I figured that would help the composition. So, yes, I bought this Scotch just because it would fit the photo. I think that's certainly a form of sacrifice. . . .Click here to see a quick snapshot of the lighting setup. In summary, the main light is set up on the left with a small soft box and the background light has a 20 degree honeycomb grid to create a small glow behind the shot. The "studio" was our dining room, which has a perfect deep brown accent wall.Canon 5DIII 1/160s f/7.1 ISO100 95mm

11-02-12 Revisiting Iron Creek

My friend Jack H. asked me yesterday if teaching photography has helped make me a better photographer and he had barely finished the sentence when I said, "Yes." I then went on to say that in finding words to describe thought and physical processes that are the result of 10 years of fairly random reading/looking and endless practice based mainly on intuition has made me more aware of the complexities of finding, framing and capturing my subjects.Beyond that, I am much more sophisticated in how I use software. And this photo is an example. Frankly, I have posted a nearly identical shot of this place in this blog already. The difference is that I was "playing" with software that I didn't have a few years ago and with processes like sharpening, white balance, saturation and contrast that I didn't have as of understanding as I do now.Is this a better photo? Maybe not. In fact, the casual observer may not even see what is "right" about this photo. I would like to think that my second year photo students would because I see clear evidence that they "get it": that they see and understand the 10,000 minute differences between the simple and the sublime.Here's the previous version:

10-13-12 Photo Walkers

I don't generally post informal group photos like this. But this is not your average group of people. These folks are the participants in the Watertown, SD, Worldwide Photo Walk, which happened this morning.I was worried about our weather, since October can bring cold, blustery conditions. But it was a great morning to be wandering around Uptown Watertown. And I had a great time. I hope the participants did, too.

10-02-12 Standing Out

By the end of the day yesterday, our driveway was covered in leaves from the two ash trees in our front yard. I had run some errands around town last evening and returned just as the sun was going out of view between our neighbors' houses across the street. I turned back to look at the non-descript jumble of leaves on the driveway and noticed a patch of sunshine lighting up a very small area.I got my camera, which still had the 50mm 1.2 lens attached from yesterday's table shoot, and looked for a suitable subject for the ray of light. Knowing that I had only a minute or two, I quickly found a single, yellow maple leaf. I knew that if I arranged it just right, the gentle backlighting of the setting sun might bring it to life.And it did. You might think that I did something in software to enhance this photo. But aside from a few minor tweaks, the color and contrast you see here are what the camera recorded. Critics might suggest that the leaf is not properly focused, and I guess I would agree. But I think that the shallow depth of field and soft, unfocused parts of the yellow leaf lend to a feeling of decadence.This photo is yet another example of the importance of being in the right place at the right instant. But it is also an example of what it means to be a photographer: seeing things that others might not otherwise see. A child might lie prone to study a single leaf. And so would some photographers.

09-23-12 Early Morning Blur

Yes, I am driving and taking photos at the same time. But it was only 6am or so and rush hour hadn't started yet on highway 212 in Watertown, SD, where I live. Furthermore, I had my camera mounted on a tripod and I was using a cable release. So I was not a distracted driver.This is a good example of trying to fix a fairly poor photo with fancy filters. Thanks, Nik Color Efex 4.0Canon 5DIII 1s f/16.0 ISO100 50mm

09-13-12 Sitting On A Park Bench

I was at a local park with my photo/media students recently (it's a tough job. . . ) and when they wandered off to do their thing, I took my camera out and started to take photos of the same, old things: leaves, trees, tree bark, etc. Then I saw a green, metal park bench and I knew I had found the perfect subject.I liked the color, of course, but I really liked the texture. I took several photos with a wide aperture because I liked the way metal bench looked as it gradually went out of focus in the frame. Finally, I decided the bench wasn't enough and so I put a single, worn pine cone on the bench. And here's the result.Looking for meaning and symbolism? Loneliness? Promise? E pluribus unum? Who knows what I was thinking. . . .(Incidentally, I would be impressed with anyone who saw the title of this post and thought of Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" album from the 1971. Play Me)