Fathers

No I'm not confused (well.. nevermind). It is not Fathers Day nor is it my fathers birthday. They are separated by a few short days in June.
My very loose, connection to Scott's post is fatherhood.
Scott was a father taking a picture of his son and I am a daughter taking a picture of my fathers hands on the steering wheel of the family truckster.
Headed down 218 in Iowa last night, my dad kept us all safe contending with some whipping winds and periods of white out conditions.

Thanks Dad.



Nikon d40 kit lens
ISO 400
shutter speed 1/4sec.
f/3.8

Here's a question to all my fellow photographers out there. What could I have done differently to get better focus? The car is moving, I'm moving, the outside is moving and we're all moving differently. I tried a couple different things but in the end this was a sharp as I could get. Thoughts, ideas???

Hoping you're having a fun weekend. Maybe you're spending some time with your dad too.

xoxo,
Brandi

Friday Faces with E-Man!

There is no question I'm in love with my first born. And when he says "Daddy, am I going to be on the computer again?" it's simply too hard to resist. I took this photo pre-Christmas yet felt it appropriate if only for the bokeh. Sere's photo of the figurines had great color too. So I decided this would work. Then there's the fact that the wrestling meet I was planning on shooting ended up happening without me. Oh well. Next time. Without further adieu, heeeeerrrrreeeeee's E-Man!



Canon 30D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4
Shutter 1/160
Aperture f/2.0
ISO 200
Natural Light

For the shot, I had Ethan stand near a window with indirect sunlight (and I think it was cloudy). The biggest challenge was white balance as the light from the window was different from the ambient light in the room. I'm not sure I know the correct answer but I chose to make sure Ethan's skin tone was the best and didn't worry about the background.

Then of course there was the challenge of getting him to smile without moving like a punching balloon. It's a serious problem if the subject is constantly changing the distance from the focal plane. And when shooting with an aperture of f/2.0, you don't have much depth of field to work with. My solution was to give him a spot to plant his feet and he could move anything else. I still got many out of focus shots but I also got many keepers.

Okay, that about does it for me folks. All of you have a great weekend and check us out tomorrow for some Brandi inspiration. I should mention Brandi is traveling and might need a substitute. In that case, you'll get a double dose of me. Whoopieee!!! Peace out y'all!

Scott

Wordless Wednesday with Sere

An unorthodox edit by Brandi
Sorry Sere to step on the top of your post. The announcement for last weeks Wordless Wednesday got forgotten somehow. Our apologies.
Allow me to announce the winner now. Random.org has declared comment 2 as the winner. Scott--aka S4 said... snow in both pics
S4 - Send an email to 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com
Apologies again. We now resume our regularly scheduled Wordless Wednesday.


The poster(that's me) will post a picture and its settings. No other verbiage is allowed. The commenter's(that's you)will guess in the comments section below how my picture associates with yesterdays(Tuesday's) picture. It can be a setting. It can be a play on words. It can be a theme. In every photo there are numerous ties, thus creating no right or wrong answer. Just make a comment below and you will be entered into our drawing to be our next guest photographer.

What if I am not good enough to be a guest photographer?
You are good enough. We love all kinds of photographers! That's what makes this so much fun. We believe that everybody has a unique view of this world and we want to see it through the lens of your camera. Any camera goes, camera phone, point and shoot, film camera that has its photos turned into jpgs., high end professional grade cameras, any and all of them! So make a guess and have some fun!

How does this all work?
The contest will go on until my (Sere's) next post. I will use random.org to choose the winner and post the story behind my picture and what the connection is, along with my photo for that day. All you have to do, as our chosen winner, is email us your picture before 10pm on your post day. Usually on a Sunday, but we are flexible. The photo has to be yours, has to tie into the picture from the day before, and 3C1D has to be authorized to use it. Just remember to keep checking back with us to make sure you get the post about who has won.

Only one guess per person. Have fun!

READY! SET! GO!!!!



Nikon D90
Lens Nikon 35-70mm at 62mm
Aperture F/5.6
Shutter 1/25 sec.
ISO 400
No Flash, natural lighting

Playtime

You can practically hear the giddiness in Scott's post yesterday. He's like a big kid playing. All those lights, flashes, playing in water... all fun stuff.
It reminded me of this photo...

Nikon d40 kit lens
ISO 200
shutter speed 1/10
aperture f/20

I had to pull from the archives (shame on me), life has gotten the better of me as of late.
It's been so long that I have no idea what in the free world I was thinking with my settings. There are about 30 shots of this circus train and I remember playing around with some settings trying to yet again learn the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO but *scratches head* an aperture of f/20 with a shutter speed of 1/10 in broad daylight. Hmmm....

Hoping all of you are having a calmer start to 2011. I promise our happy chicks and dude will be stripped of their holiday wear soon.
xoxo,
Brandi

The Texture of Red

I knew I had my chance to show off my favorite plate once I saw Jay'me's post. This is simply a plate that has the most gorgeous color and texture. I've photographed it before and I've photographed it with water. This is the first time it's made the blog:



Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Shutter 1/200
Aperture f/9.0
ISO 200
2 external flash heads through a light box

My thinking here was 2-fold. First, there was the red of Jay'me's backdrop. Second was the texture of the red fabric. I couldn't think of a better way to replicate texture than running water frozen in time. My only challenge is getting a quick enough exposure.

In theory, you can use the duration of the light source as surrogate to shutter speed. In fact, it's paramount to do just that. You cannot speed your shutter too much or it outpaces the electrical impulse to the flash head and you get dark images. So you are dependent on very fast flash times. My flash heads apparently aren't quite up to snuff. It's just another of those very specific features that cost very large amounts of money.

What I should have tried next is hot lights - lots of them - and sped up my shutter as much as possible. This would negate the need for quick flash heads and might improve the stop action. Tonight, I'm too tired to think about that (anyone else hate how early it gets dark!?!?). But I had fun with this and I hope you like it. Happy Monday all! I'm out!

Scott

Back To Work-Now say Cheese!

Cannon Rebel XT

1/60

f5.0

44mm

ISO 400

Yes, this looks fun! No, it's not easy! I'm selling Katie and I need photos to send people. This is the product/result of several attempts over two days. I decided I needed help. She just wants to climb on and kiss you then scoot around like a crazy woman.

I have a million white blurry spots with eyeballs I could send people. This puppy just turned 8 weeks old and got her first lesson on how to stand still. We coaxed her with cheese. She is actually a beautiful cream/champagne color. Flash makes her look white.

I will load a few fun candid shot on the overflow flicker account if I can today.

I need to practice photographing an egg against a dark background but then it wouldn't be running and jumping around like her then. Hmmm.

You know when you press the button half way down to set your camera and it's ready to instant shoot? Yah, well through that technique out here. She's too fast for that too!

I feel like I went hunting an elephant with a BB gun.

I love my pups and am proud to share with you the prize of a "good hunt" success!

Wish her well on finding the perfect home. Don't worry I screen people thoroughly.

Now it's Monday Get back to work!

Jay'me