When Time Slows Down

It feels lately that everything I shoot is moving so fast.  Mostly kids, and they never sit, stand, or even sleep still.  Dogs on the other hand sleep still, and a lot. But how many pictures of a sleeping dog do you need.  Catching them out running and jumping is quite a challenge. Even a bit dangerous when the subject is a 60 kg Great Dane puppy (yes...puppy) running full speed directly at you wanting to hurt you play.  

This was the last shot of  8 in a 6fps burst, and only the first and last were in focus.  She was running towards me, fast and close.  I held my hand up to stop her just as she was about to jump me. That fraction of a second between frames slowed down and I could see her coming in the frame perfectly, with the look on her face and the light just right, but it wasn't in focus! I still had the shutter pushed, so I knew it was going to click soon and I'd get another blurry dog, and she wouldn't be there for another shot. After a quick prayer to the Flying Spaghetti Monster I saw my focus catch up and then it clicked.

Time is relative.  And the brains perception of time is very interesting.  It constantly changes to your situation, heightening your awareness when you need it or relaxing when you don't. When you're shooting fast and have a fast moving subject it seem to slow down. On the other side, shooting something at a slower pace, it tends to speed up and all those little details you want to capture go flying by.  I guess the 'trick' here is to train you mind into a constant state or high awareness.   

My First Job...

...is done and complete. I had the opportunity of shooting the images for a restaurant's new website. Nosh Nibble & Cush I was working there as a chef at the time (have moved on now), so I was familiar with the place and the staff. Which, now that I think about it, isn't really a helpful thing. It's kind of like shooting in your own back yard... you've seen it a million times before and it's hard to see something new or in a different perspective. That was my first challenge.

I've never had to deliver on demand before with regards to my photography. I started second guessing myself all the time, thinking about other sites that I've seen, and there is no way I'll be pulling this off. That I'm just a bad joke waiting to be not laughed at.

Here just a quick list of some of the things I've learned doing this job:

*planning is very important

*one prime lens is not limiting (all these were shot with either my 50 1.8, or 28 2.8)

*take lots of pictures, because when you have it, you don't. Even though you might finally pick that first one you shot.

*A tripod and remote release are awesome and will be invaluable.

*Took a crash course in lighting. Rented some strobes and a speedlight which I was able to take home over the weekend to play with. Lots of fun.

*Getting paid to take pictures is a lot harder than taking pictures and not getting paid.

The stress during the shooting period (a week or so, total) instantly turned into relief and happy feelings as soon as it was over and all my images were delivered. The owners knew my level of experience and still hired me anyways. They were very pleased and even impressed with my work. As was the website designer, who is responsible for making my stuff come together smoothly, and creating a wonderful site.

Please check out the website Nosh Nibble & Cush and leave me a comment to let me know what you think. Thanks............................................

moonlight

Saw the sky filled with a beautiful blanket of clouds the other night. Row after row of clouds with the moon poking through. On the tripod, I originally did a nice 30 second exposure, f11 at iso200 too preserve the quality, but that just ended up blurring all the layers of the clouds together. So I went to the other side of the spectrum...ISO 6400, f1.8, with a shutter at 1/4s. Tripped it with the timer.

A little levels and contrast adjustment is all it needed.

Now that winter is coming (still don't want to admit it's here already), and the sun has taken a vacation, I've been shooting, and thinking of shooting, stuff at night. And I've been cranking the ISO way up as well and not minding the noise too much, but actually liking it in some cases such as my last post. I actually did no noise reduction and shot the clarity slider all the way up on those. Don't know if that's the proper way for getting the look that I have in my head, but I'm still learning.

Long Walk Home

During my bike rides home from work at night, I'm always watching the streets and surroundings and wishing I had my camera with me. But I never do. And I never seem to be around these areas any other time. Or rather, I havn't made the time to go back with my camera.

The other night we had a staff party at work so of course I brought my camera in the hope of coming away with some nice shots. When I was leaving, I decided to walk my way home. Seven km. At around midnight. Now I had done this before, but that was only because my bike tyre blewout and couldn't fix it on the spot, and I'm too cheap for a taxi (it was New Years and wouldn't be able to get one anyway...oh, and it was freezing and raining, and i had just worked several 13 hour shifts). But this time it was all me. And it wasn't raining.

I think I'm missing the trains now that I'm not rideing them for hours everyday to work. Esspecially at night. It's much more calm and the darkness contrasting with the orange glow from the light make it much more clear. In the day light you can see everything, at night you can only see the train yard.

Maxed out at ISO 3200 the whole way with shutter speeds well below handholdable, and somewhat under the influence, I managed to (i think...) get some shots. I'll have to go back sometime with my tripod and when I'm not on my way somewhere. Anyway...interesting for me, hopefully for you.

Reflextion...

Another one from my latest series (it seems like it's turning into one anyway) from the beach.
It has the feeling that it was taken at night with possibly moonlight (If the moon was red and on fire). I had to underexpose quite a bit to get that burning red reflected light coming off from the edge of the rock. It has an almost not-quite-right look to it that i think works quite well. Only post-processing done was a little straightening, due to the very tricky position i had to get into to make this shot. Other wise...jpeg direct from the camera.

I love the reflections in this. The water take on a different feel from front to back with the change in colors. Then the sun burning the rock adds some symetry to the image.

Shot of the previous day

Went back the other night and found this shot of the boat again. I love the worn look and it reminds me of a whales back arching out of the water swimming towards the sunset.
The sky looks a little over done. It is. My limited photoshop skills at work.

trying something for the first time

Lighting...I see it all over, everyone is doing it and they make it look easy. I've never really taken something and lit it. I don't have any speedlights or any proper lighting gear. What i used was my 50mm 1.8 with a small 25wt spotlight mounted camera right on a small tripod with a black piece of paper(flag) taped to it so the light doesn't splash on my black background.



Again, never really done this before. Not totally satisfied with the results. Probably should try it again when i'm not so tired.

This was actually very frusturating for me. I usually see somthing in the light it happens to be in and snap that. This was new and I just felt I couldn't get it the way i saw it in my head. Must try again soon, hopefully with better results.