Stir it up Saturday ?

Cannon Rebel XT
Manual
1/25
f4.0
30.mm
Natural light
ISO 400


So my last post was all about the music, guitar, strings, man hands... My little brain went CRAZY. So Scott's friend Hank is testing the merchandise (aka shopping) right? Hmmm? Buddy Guy plays the blues and Bubble Gum starts with B & G... are you following me?
So I took a picture of Bubble Gum for sale. See how easy that was? Totally connected!
Certifiably CRAZY. I love you all,
Jay'me

Friday Faces with Scott (and Hank)

TGIF everyone! It's me, Scott, filling in for Sere, our resident traveler. I can honestly say I have no idea where she's headed but I do know that posting today would have been close to impossible so you get me.

Before moving on, I'd like to announce Amanda as the latest "winner" for WW. Congrats Amanda. We love when you join us! Drop us an email at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com. You know the drill.

For my post, I went over to Guitar Center hoping to find someone just like Hank. Hank was playing quietly, enjoying the fine humidity controlled accoustic room when I barged in and said "Hey, I want to take your picture!" He was a good sport and continued to play and ignore me, exactly as I requested. So not only did I get a willing model, but I also got a nice soundtrack while I shot.

Speaking of soundtracks, I'd like to share a recent re-discovery I made. Here's a little bit of "The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet." I lent this CD to a friend years ago and forgot about. Last week he returned it and it fits perfectly with this weeks theme. Hope you enjoy!



Love those guys. So with that as your soundtrack, here's Hank:

Canon 30D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm (kit lens - man I want a good wide angle!)
Aperture f/3.5
Shutter Speed 1/30
ISO 1600 (tons of noise as a result - 5D Mark II anyone?)

The unfortunate part of this shot is that I had to use an ISO speed of 1600. My camera just can't do that well and yet I had no choice. Sometimes as photographers, we are forced to make sacrifices. For this shot, I could have used one of my faster lenses. But I don't have another lens this wide. So I was forced to choose between the composition I wanted and an acceptable ISO speed. Sometimes, it is your equipment that is the limiting factor. I could have used my speedlight but in this case, it would have been rude and completely destroyed the feel.

So you get something close to what I wanted from a compositional standpoint, but something far from what I wanted in terms of noise. I did get to play with Photoshop Elements this time, and I know I'll like it eventually. I have a bunch to learn and I can point out several very troubling spots caused by my editing. But it's all part of the learning process and I can accept that.

My biggest triumph by far is finally taking a picture of a stranger! WooHoo for me! I've joined the ranks of Brandi. The next goal is to take a good picture of a stranger. Baby steps I tell ya, baby steps.

Have a great weekend everyone and tune tomorrow for some Jay'me action!

Scott

Tickling the ivories

I'm loving music week on 3C1D. I've always dreamed of being musically inclined. A singer with a beautiful, haunting voice, a classical guitarist or maybe a funky blues singer so I can wear sequins.
Spotlights, crowds cheering my name, camera lights flashing... Sounds kind of cool.

I was not destined to be a musician though. Even my 3 year old will say "Mommy, please stop singing. You ruining the song." when I sing along in the car.

What's that saying
Those that can't take pictures?
Something like that anyways...

Nikon D40 kit lens @48mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/160sec
Aperture f/5.6
natural light

I decided I wanted something classic and simple for today. No bells and whistles just clean lines. This is my daughters keyboard. I converted it to a warm black and white to take away the plastic-y look (it's a kids toy what do you expect).
I've also been wanting to play with texture. I think if done right texture can add some depth to a photo. I might have been a little too tentative in adding the texture to this picture. Tell me what you think. I would also LOVE any links to tutorials on how to properly add texture to a picture.

Tomorrow is Friday kids! Almost time for the weekend. Scott will be back with another picture to help out a traveling Sere.
Drive safe Sere. I know your camera(s) will be firing non-stop on your journey. Bring us back some sunshine pictures.

See you guys soon.
xoxo,
Brandi

Wordless Wednesday with Scott

Rules
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 (Brandi'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!!!

Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Aperture f/6.3
Shutter 1/5
ISO 200
1 Hot light

Scott

Favorite Old Friend

Cannon Rebel XT

Manual

1/40

f5.0

37.mm

Natural lighting

ISO 400

Well, I really couldn't wait for my hubby to come home tonight. Not only did I miss him while he was away having fun with his brother last week, but I needed this shot for you! I really wanted to catch a string vibrating but his hand was too blurry when I attempted that. The ties to yesterdays shot are obvious.

My hubby comes home most nights and unwinds not only himself, but all of us with a few tunes. This guitar fills our house and makes his presence a welcome sound of security. Daddies home and he's happily relaxing with us. Next to them all laughing, Its' one of my favorite things...

Good night, sweet tunes,

Jay'me

Our New Toy

My family and I were in St. Louis this past Saturday picking up this beauty and a HUGE toolbox for my husband's shop. I mean not like a normal size toolbox, but an extra size one. St. Louis is where we drive to when we want to get some city visiting done, since it has everything and is a fairly short drive for us (well if you consider 2.5 hours short to get to a city haha). If anybody would like to guess what this is (pretty easy) and/or what kind this is (maybe a little more challenging) I would love to hear your guesses.


Nikon D90
ISO-400
Aperture F/4.5
Shutter 1/800 sec.
50mm focal length 18-70mm lens
Manual
One off-camera flash

I decided that I would practice some more of my still-life photography to go with Scott's still-life picture. Not sure if that is a photography term or just an art term but it makes sense to me. I don't photograph still-life stuff very often so it was interesting to work with lighting and how to set the objects up to make them look good and get a good shot of them. I don't "see" shots like this very easily so it was a challenge. This one and one other were the only two that I liked out of the several shots that I took. But as we all know practice makes perfect and more practice is needed. Hmmmm I think I will need to remember that here while playing with this baby (pray I don't get too frustrated and throw the thing against a wall)! Talk about stepping out of my comfort zone with this in more ways then one.

Hope you all try to step out of your own comfort zones in life!
Sere