Saturday, May 28, 2011

Buzzzzy Bee!

We here on 3C1D have had our share of bees on flowers so this is not new subject matter. I enjoy seeing the different viewpoints and angles that each of us does with our shots. So here we go...





Nikon D90
ISO-400
Aperture F/4.5
Shutter 1/500 sec. +1 exposure
18-70mm Nikon @70mm
Natural Lighting/RAW

The challenge with this shot was that I saw this guy buzzing around and wanted to quickly catch him, but I had already set my ISO for a shadowy kind of setting and well I completely forgot to change my ISO for the brighter sunlight. I also should have upped my shutter speed but I didn't think that my lens would give me a wide enough aperture if I had done that. I am so wanting a F/2.8 lens.

I shot in RAW because those of us that don't have macro lenses have to improvise and zoom in as much as possible, plus editing is sooo much easier with RAW as we have commented on before. I also had the way wrong lens for what I was trying to shoot here. I should have had my telephoto lens, but I had brought my other lens for a different purpose so I had to make do.

I think my friend thought I was a little crazy because I'm chasing after this bee muttering to myself and at the bee trying to make it do what I want. Because that works so well haha. It was a good afternoon though of fun. We climbed trees, got muddy, and I got this shot. All in all a good day.

Ohhhh I totally didn't see that there is a aperture connection between Scott's picture and my picture of all having an aperture of F/4.5. Totally not planned on my part, but how cool is that?

Enjoy!
Sere

Friday, May 27, 2011

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

So Brandi unwittingly led me to my happy place - macro photography! Of course if you've check more than one of my posts, you already know that. I'm so happy for B and her new equipment. And her new lens kicks ass.

For my shot, I just drove over to the Fox River to see what I could see. I had designs on shooting more of a landspace with flowing water blurred in the foreground. Alas, the blessed sun was in full force and there I was without a nuetral density or polarizing filter. Turns out I really needed the polarizer for this shot too. Guess who's shopping tomorrow?

Canon 30D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
Aperture f/4.5
Shutter 1/320
ISO 100
Sunlight

The lens I used is Canon's version of the exact same lens Brandi used. They are both just kick ass, hardly take off your camera glass. Ordinarily I would have used my dedicated macro but for the sake of a connection I chose to leave this one in place. Plus, Brandi is absolutely right. You can pretty much do macro with these lenses.

Alright, time for an early bedtime. Get out and enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Scott

Thursday, May 26, 2011

WooHooo!!

I had a photo I wanted to use to follow up Sere's picture but with Jay'me going in between us I wasn't sure I would get to. Lucky for me Jay'me gave me something to work with.


Nikon D300s Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8

ISO 200 natural light and a bunch of other settings that I can't extract at the moment.

This is a weed. It was the coolest weed I've ever seen. Instead of being rough, pointy and hurting, it was soft like velvet. While my daughter and I were enjoying some time on a friends 30 acre property I noticed this fuzzy little guy and a few of his friends. I was drawn to him from the beginning but then it rained.
And WooHoo!
The water drops caught in the soft hairs on the surface of plant creating a wonderful texture. I've been so impressed with this lens and it's almost macro capabilities. This picture is straight out of the camera (SOOC). I've done nothing but sharpening it for the web so that when Blogger tanks the quality of the photo it still looks like it does in real life.
Love it!!

xoxo,
Brandi

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Everywhere But Right Here...

Nikon D40
1/40
F5.7
52.mm
Natural light
ISO400

We have had our fare share of wet and rain. However; just as soon as the lighting goes away, we get our wellies on, and head out to play in it, it stops. Major disappointment! But it made a cute moment and it ties in with water. This picture actually looks better B&W. The umbrella is teal and when cast on Maddies face, she turned that dreadful ashen grey. You know how pink and green paint don't make a pretty color when mixed? So I was pleased to see B&W I could follow along with!
I hope you're all safe and sound tonight and out of the storms.
Jay'me

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Water, Water, Everywhere....

My current photography obsession is water and water droplets. I was having fun with our sprinkler system and a fast shutter speed the other day, experimenting a little. Here is one result of that.

Nikon D2X
ISO-200
Aperture F/3.5
Shutter Speed 1/2500 sec.
Nikon 18-70mm at 45mm
Natural Lighting, Manual

I, unfortunately, do not have any city pictures from Chicago or really any kind of a city. That is kind of sad. I just hardly ever visit a city. I am probably one of the few people from Chicagoland that does not have a picture from "The Bean." I don't even know where it is located in the city. Sorry Scott I am a deprived person. So my only connection to Scott's picture is the black and white part.

School is almost out for my kiddo, so summer break here we come....

Sere

Monday, May 23, 2011

Sweet Home...

Dan is so good at capturing Chicago and providing real insight to the history and breadth of the Windy City. I can't speak for you all but I really enjoy it every time Dan graces these pages.

Seeing his shot I had no choice but to post my version of The Bean. Everyone (and I mean everyone) has a shot of the The Bean. And perhaps mine isn't all that special. But I like it and so here I post!

One of the things I like most is that you have to search just a little bit to find me. All too often it's the shooter that is the subject. My aim (pun intended) was to really let the reflection of the city be the subject and for the impulse to find me become secondary. Did I pull it off?


Canon 30D
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 24mm
Aperture f/13
Shutter 1/160
ISO 100

One of the biggest challenges when shooting in this type of light is achieving the depth of field. When you have so much light, a large aperture is often out of the question simply because you can't achieve a high enough shutter speed combined with the large aperture. For this shot is wasn't a problem because I wanted a large depth of field. However, I ended up seeing exactly every spot of dust my poor little camera sports. And believe me, there are many. Such is the trade-off with a small aperture. So the editing was a bit intensive.

That's it from this wannabe. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and thanks so much Dan for joining us.

Scott

Sunday, May 22, 2011

We're Back with Dan

Initially developed in the 1950s, ABLA homes was the third largest Chicago Housing Authority project in terms of area and one of the densest in terms of occupancy. It ranked right up there with the infamous Cabrini-Green Projects in terms of crime and crushing poverty. Four separate developments (whose names create the acronym ABLA) stretched across the near southwest side of Chicago from Halsted to Ashland on the east and west and Roosevelt Road to 15th Street on the north and south. Some buildings were high rises, others row houses, but in either case the complex social forces in play led to a drug and gang war within its borders in the late 1990s. Seriously... a war. As the city contemplated the gentrification of the University Village area by UIC on the east, it developed a plan to renovate the row houses and demolish most of the high rises that had proven to be such a disaster. In partnership with a private development company, the entire area was to be redeveloped into mixed income housing, much of which was to be new construction. Then the recession hit.

The Roosevelt Commons project is still on, but much of the development has been put on hold. There are large tracts of vacant land which the city has seeded with grasses. In most cases, the trees were not chopped down so that I can look out of my condo and see various tracts of land defined by straight lines of trees which had grown up on the fence lines. One of those lines of trees became my picture for today.

My tie in with the Jayme's picture is the use of foreground and background. In this case it is not a son and a tree, but a tree and the skyline of Chicago. The city reinvents itself constantly. What was once ghetto, becomes gentrified. Just as Jayme hopes her son becomes his father and more, I hope that the city will rise above gang warfare and become a more just community.


Nikon D3000
f/13
1/60 s
ISO 800
Focal Length 62 mm