Clematis

These are tucked back in a corner of my garden, you should have seen the contortions I had to do to shoot them, I'm sure it would have been amusing to watch :)

Just playing around

The photo I posted the other night of Colin looked kind of blah to me, so I played with the crop a bit (was an in camera crop, so not a lot of room to play), cloned out the chair back behind him, as well as played with a processing technique I read about on ILP to give it a bit of an edgy look to it. Do you prefer one over the other?

Added about 10% saturation (I usually add none)


Edit #1 - used a B&W gradient mask layer at 25% opacity


Edit #2 - used a B&W gradient mask layer at 75% opacity


B&W


A couple of people have asked what I shoot with. I use a Nikon D50, and for macros I use the Nikon 105mm F/2.8 VR lens. I love that lens in a big way!

A few more from the Botanical Gardens last week...

These are from a tree that was covered in these tiny blooms. I don't know what it is though. They are so pretty!


Capturing bees is not easy....I am in awe of anyone who gets good bug photos!




I have a number of these perennial geraniums in my garden, but none of mine are THIS magenta. I love the way they stand out against the green foliage.


Took a photo of these the last time I was out there as well. They bloom a long time. I was told that they are Allium, but they don't look like the Allium I'm used to seeing, those are typically more globe shaped. I did a search online and cannot find them on the various bulb grower's websites. Does anyone know for sure what they are? I'd love to have some of these in my garden! I wish I had positioned myself so I didn't have that dark spot by the stem :(


Oh and BTW, Heather, Creme Brulee is SOOOOO easy to make, trust me. Four ingredients: egg yolks, cream, vanilla, and a little bit of sugar. I'm all about the easy ;)

What 17 looks like:

Where did my baby go?!?


And what 17 looks like when you're tired of the camera (after only about 10 seconds I might add). Those of you who lament about your young kids hating the camera, trust me...it doesn't get better as they get older:


And, for your information (in case you were wondering), candles do not stand up in Creme Brulee. Luckily, Brett makes a good candleholder :)




The only thing Colin wanted for his birthday was a P&S....small enough to fit in his pocket, but that does take decent pics. Lots of research later, we got him a Canon Powershot. He is a happy camper! I am encouraging him to really learn the thing (read the manual for a bit each night). He took some pics today at a friend's 18th birthday party and he is pretty pleased with them.





The last two pics I used my flash. I can't bounce it in my living room (the walls and ceiling are too far away, plus the walls are a light dijon color and give off a terrible color cast), thus, pinlights in his eyes and a bit more shadowing than I'd like. That said, I recently read a LONG thread at ILP about dragging the shutter, and the technique FINALLY makes sense to me. I'm liking the results, not so much of a flash look to the face, and more ambient light in the background. I want to practice it on Brett...with the flash bounced, and planned to this weekend but ran out of time. Soon.....

Edited to add:
SS on those last two were 1/45 and 1/30 respectively, and hand held. The flash freezes motion, so you don't need to worry about getting the SS up like you would without, and the longer SS allows more ambient light in the background, so things don't look as "flashy." You can find the thread here: http://ilovephotography.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=215560

Otherworldly

I have several photos from the Botanical Gardens yesterday that I like, but have only had time to proof these so far. They look otherworldly to me. It was sunny out, so I used my diffuser, and the way it shed light on these is gorgeous in my eyes. I cannot for the life of me recall what these plants are (same plant, just different colors), even though Pat told me no less than 3 times. I have such a bad memory!

The composition on these leaves a lot to be desired, so I think I may go back next week and shoot these again, there is something about them that really appeals to me......

Crappy pics but I'm still glad I have them

For the musical, they hire a pro to come in and shoot a group shot (there are 68 people in the cast this year, yikes!), and then he also does smaller groups if you request (and pay additional for them) as well. Of course, it costs, and quite frankly (even though we buy an 8x10 of the large group shot every year), in my opinion they are not very good. So, I tried to time my shots to when his large strobes went off, obviously I failed....LOL, (so we'll buy his) but I still got a shot and played with it a bit. Used my 50mm lens, and I think the aperture was about 5.6, ISO 1600, SS either 90 or 125.

He always does some sort of writing on them, so that's what I did too, just for the fun of it though it's not my style at all.....

I tried lighting up that back row in curves, but was only mildly successful. If anyone can help me out on how to do it in PS, without blowing out the better lit actors, I would be very appreciative! I do as little as possible in PS, and just have never really learned all the things I can (and probably should) do with that program.


Then I did a shot with Colin and the other "Muzzy's Boys" as well as Muzzy. At 5:30pm, it is tough to find a shaded spot to shoot near to the theater, so I turned them sideways to the sun and quickly snapped a few. I should have turned their backs to the sun though, cuz they all have the dreaded "sun-is-too-bright" squint. It really is a shame that when it comes time for me to shoot people pics, I always get too nervous, and don't take the time to pose people how I KNOW they should be posed. I need some self-confidence. Oh well, at least the kids won't have to pay for copies of these.


On another note, I met two fabulous ladies today and went shooting with them for a couple of hours today at the Botanical Gardens. They are both just the nicest people, and it was a very enjoyable morning for me! I haven't proofed the shots I took yet, but I think I got a couple of keepers at least. Thank you Pat and MaryLynne!

A few (ok...more than a few) more from the dress rehearsal....

The settings on the pics I posted on my previous entry were asked about. I think they were f 2.8(ish), SS 180(ish) and I believe I had my ISO at 800 for those shots. Back in January I posted an entry here about how I shoot theater stuff, so if you're interested, you could scroll back to the archives if you like.

I sure do like shooting just one person, then I don't have to deal with high and low lighting, and different colored gels across everyone's faces :(

If you can believe, every last costume was made by either students or parents, same with all the sets and props. Pretty amazing community, eh?






















I love this shot:




On a completely unrelated note. Colin took the SAT2's (specific upper level sunject tests) a few weeks ago. He still hasn't taken the regular SAT....he'll do that a week from this Saturday. Anyhow, he got his results today. Math 2 (the highest level one can take), he got a perfect score - 800! Can you believe it?!? And this is the kid that while he has a natural aptitude for it, hates math with a burning, fiery passion. US History he got a 750, and Literature a 710. Yes....mom is just a teeny bit proud. This kid amazes me constantly!

From last night

Boy, what a difference a couple of days can make. At the dress rehearsal yesterday nearly all of the sets were done, and most all the props were in place. The set looks just fantastic, really nice! And the costuming is to die for. Some of the colors are just fabulous.

I've just started going through the photos, but wanted to post these, I think they are some of my favorites of the bunch. The colors, the expressions on her face, just great. She plays a villainess very well. Oh, and the show itself is really good too!









Off to proof the others.....I can't wait to see them.

Obnoxious enough without being too obnoxious?

So, if I put the theater shots online for people to order, is this watermark obnoxious enough to help deter people downloading them without totally turning them off? I know, where there's a will there's a way, and it won't totally stop people...but I also don't want to make them mad either. KWIM? Please be honest.



On another note, Colin found out last night he has been cast as "Tobias" in the show Sweeney Todd which will be performed the last 2 weeks of July. Yay Colin. It's a theater company he's never worked with, and I am thrilled he will be working with new people, getting new direction, and just all in all a new experience for him.

However, I honestly don't know how he's going to work the rehearsals into his school schedule and maintain his grades (school doesn't get out till June 25th here). They begin the day after "Millie" ends, are 6-10pm 5 nights a week, and it will take him an hour to get to the theater nightly in rush hour traffic, and about 40 minutes to get home. His stock answer "I'll be fine Mom." So far he's always been right, so I guess I need to trust him. And so much for family dinners together.....

And a Robin shot from the other day, just one.....he wasn't as cooperative as the Blue Jays were the other day. Speaking of birds, S'mores brought us home a live one the other night. That CAT! It was a warm evening so the back door was open, and she walked in making that sound cats do, so I knew something was up without even looking at her. She dropped the bird in the living room. I thought it was dead. By the time Brett and I got it together to get the bird out, it was flying around the house, into the windows and all. Poor thing! Brett finally managed to toss a towel over it, scoop it up, and take it outside, far away from our house where hopefully it will live and long and happy life. I would love a bird feeder or two in the backyard, but I don't dare because S'mores just loves bringing them home for us. She is such a hunter :(



This was taken with my Tamron 70-300, zoomed out to 300 with my 1.4 tele-converter on it as well (which cuts the light even more...usually between one and two stops). The aperture was f/6 and the SS was 750. I had been resisting using 1600 ISO due to noise, but I think all in all this is a sharper image because I was able to up my SS.

154 of 493

WARNING, LOTS OF PHOTO BELOW!

That how many pics I edited of rehearsal from Friday. 154!!! Yes, I've officially lost my mind. And no, I'm not posting all of them, so you can rest easy ;) I've never done that many, nor have I ever shot that many at one rehearsal. Yikes me. Tuesday at the dress rehearsal I'll definitely shoot less.

Some of the sets aren't done, the kids were only partially in costume, so that's why you'll see a lot of weird clothing, missing props and missing sets in these. Fighting lighting too, both colored gels and a lighting crew that missed some of their cues, so there was quite a bit of under lit scenes, at least I hope that's the case. I'd like some stuff to be better lit for sure.

Oh, for the record, the show is Thoroughly Modern Millie. I'd like to know your thoughts on some of the tilted images, as well as the B&W's that are sprinkled through. On some of the color ones I just gave up on trying to make the colored lights acceptable-ish, and just converted, but I think they're losing impact as B&W's:









































Love the lighting on this one, but wish i hadn't had to slow my SS down to 1/60 to capture it: