27. February 2010 by David.

I recently bought a Canon 55-250mm lens and was just shooting around the house trying it out. My intention was to delete all the photographs but this one caught my eye.

There is actually an optical illusion here. The center panel just behind the knob is actually raised. Since the main light source is coming from the bottom the shadow is on the top of the panel and the highlight from the bottom. Even though I know this it takes me a while to see it correctly.

Hope you enjoy. F8@1/25sec, 135mm, ISO 200, converted to black and white.

Keep Clicking

Dave

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30. January 2010 by David.

Busy day at work so I had to do a little still life. One warning about doing this type of photograph… You have to like glitter because you’ll live with it for a while.

Keep clicking.

Dave

Posted in Still Life | Print | 1 Comment »

23. January 2010 by David.

Once again I was inspired by a video on uTube featuring Gavin Hoey.

I won’t tell you how I got water to shoot out of a bottle. I will tell you that a friend of mine, Teri Seale, lent me a really cool bottle with four parts that allowed me to get two different colors of water, and Teri, I didn’t break the bottle, Thanks a lot.

I used two stobes to wash out the background and one to highlight the bottle. Manual focus at 1/200 to sync the flash, f14, at 75mm. Don’t forget the large bucket and towel.

Keep clicking,

Dave

Posted in Fun-stuff, Still Life | Print | 1 Comment »

16. January 2010 by David.

Several months ago our photo club had a monthly theme of candles. My idea was to photograph candle smoke. Most candles don’t give off much smoke!

After recently seeing a u-tube video by Gavin Hoey I decided to give it another try. The key, use incense, and some lighting techniques. Nothing too difficult.  This isn’t a composite, I just dug a hole in the candle and put the incense inside.

Manual mode, handheld, 1/200sec, f11, ISO 200 with single strobe.

Keep clicking

Dave

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9. January 2010 by David.

Thought I’d share a still life I did a while back. This is one of my first still lifes and was inspired by a photo I saw of a welders sparks. Since I don’t have a welder I used a grinder and a piece of steel. No I didn’t drink all the beer, warm beer foam doesn’t last long. This little experiment taught me a lot about patience, now I just have to remember that lesson.

Keep Clicking

Dave

Posted in Still Life | Print | 1 Comment »

20. November 2009 by Friedhelm.

The great American photographer Edward Weston photographed vegetables and the human body. He had a great eye for compositions and curves. He inspired me to photograph vegetables and other things like these leaves that I carefully arranged on my lightbox. The curve of the main leaf dominates the picture. It is the largest leaf, it is in focus and it is the only leaf with a stem. The dark front leaf on the left creates a shadow on the main leaf and so does the leaf in the background. In the left top corner is a small portion of another leaf that minimizes the white negative space. Without that little part of the leaf the white space would become too dominant.

Enjoy and be creative with your images!

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11. November 2009 by Friedhelm.

On my last trip to Mariposa, CA I collected leaves. My plan was to take them home and photograph them on my lightbox. I wanted to show the structure of the leaf and the beautiful reddish fall colors. In order to bring out the colors better I inverted the white background that was created through the lightbox.

Enjoy!

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2. November 2009 by David.

While in Yosemite  and taking pictures of the beautiful fall colors I came across this old twisted log. I like the shapes, textures and  contrasts. In post processing I changed it to black and white  and just slightly adjusted the contrast. Probably not a ‘classic’ Yosemite photograph. But that’s one of the great things about Yosemite, there’s alway something new. You can go to the same spot everytime and find somethng a little different or something you missed the last time.

Tripod mounted, f5, 1/20 sec, 75mm.

Keep Clicking

Dave

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30. October 2009 by Friedhelm.

In between two water-polo games I was able to visit the McHenry mansion in Modesto, CA. The entrance is free and I was allowed to photograph without a flash which I would have not used anyway. The mansion offers a great opportunity for still life photographers. In this image you see the silverware photographed in the dining room. Camera setting: 80mm, F13, 25sec., ISO 100

Enjoy!

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22. October 2009 by Friedhelm.

I collected a couple of see shells which I cleaned and carefully arranged on my light-box. I used an additional light source to bring light from the top into the inside of the shell. Camera setting: F22, 1/2sec., ISO 100 tripod mounted.

Enjoy

Posted in Macro, Still Life | Print | No Comments »