What day is it and what's my name again?

I'm so easily confused these days. Forgive me.

Yesterday Jay'me shared her feelings with us via a photo. Today I'm going to do the same.


Nikon D300s Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 @56mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/1600 sec
Aperture f/2.8
natural light

I found this gorgeous rose in the Magic Kingdom. I was instantly drawn to it. The soft, dewy petals, layers upon layers of not quite perfect pieces all held together to form something glorious.
To me it's the imperfections of this rose that make it what it is. If every piece was the same, if there was no "worn" spots this rose just wouldn't have any charm or character.
That's very much how I'm feeling these days. My "worn" spots are what makes me interesting. Like a perfect piece may fall away but it won't leave me ugly.

Dude will be here tomorrow. I can't wait to see what he brings.

Stand in your own beauty.
xoxo,
Brandi

Surprise!

Hey there Kids! Time to run and hide, Brandi's back!

Before I get down to business, I want to take a moment and thank everyone for the overwhelming support, love, prayers and positive thoughts that you have sent to my family. Losing someone you love is never easy. The support and care my daughter and I have received in the past couple weeks has been such a blessing.
Scott (my husband not the Dude) was my not only my biggest fan he was my biggest cheerleader. He was the main reason I got my new camera gear. I just wish I had gotten it sooner so I could show him what I can really do with it.

He inspired me everyday he was here and it is in his honor that I carry on.

In order to have Jay'me's picture tie into my picture I had to use our good friend YouTube.


This song about fish was played (in part) on this.

Nikon D300s
Nikor 24-70 f/2.8 @ 58mm
ISO 250
Shutter speed 1/4000sec
Aperture f/2.8

I know we've already done the musical instruments thing and I apologize for bringing it up again. I've been obsessed with depth of field shots at f/2.8 on my new lens and this guitar was just screaming to have it's picture taken yesterday. I didn't even know that I would be sharing it when I snapped it. Hell, I didn't even know I would be sharing it until 2 hours ago.

So there you have it. I'm back. Scott can resume his place following me tomorrow. Sere will be here on Tuesday and Jay'me (who is rocking the D40) will be here on Wednesday.

Love one another.

xoxo,
Brandi

Friday with no face

We're all kinds of messed up over here on 3C1D. People are posting for other people, dogs and cats are living together, two of our contributors are trying to get arrested, anarchy. Total anarchy.

To add to that, I give you Friday Faces with out the face.

It's been such a nutty week (maybe that whole full moon theory is true), I set out today to take some pictures and completely didn't think about it being Friday. Heck, I thought Scott was going to be posting when I shot this picture.
Doesn't matter what day it is. Some times you just have to chill.

Nikon d40 kit lens @46mm
aperture f/6.3
shutter speed 1/500sec
ISO 800 - because I'm an idiot


I took this standing on the second floor of an open building still under construction. Standing on nothing but iced deck steel with this handsome little cable keeping me from slipping and sliding off the edge. I was fine Mom (and Kim). Click here to see some other pictures that I've taken from this location in somewhat better weather conditions.
I guess I don't really have to tell you the connection. Call it ice or call it getting in to trouble while taking photos. Either way, I'm loving it.

Someone will be posting a photo tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it will be the resident Dude.
Happy Friday everyone~

xoxo,
Brandi

I Got to Drink for This One!!!

I loved Jay'me's latest post. I've discovered that I'm drawn to the abstract and Jay'me really played that up. What a fun shot to follow!

Originally I kicked around ways of capturing light refracted through a prism, or maybe a different piece of glass. But ultimately, I decided I needed some wine tonight and I might as well play with shooting a wine glass. Plus I have about 1.24 million beads (think Mardi Gras) that my dad has given my 2 boys and I've been dying to try something with them. I know I know, my dad must be one heck of a blast to party with but the truth is he's never been to Mardi Gras....or maybe he has! Dad, if you're reading this, I don't want to know!

Moving on, I used a single hot light to the right of the shot and hand held my camera using a small aperture to really notch up the butt kicking bokeh of my 50mm (sorry B, you'll have your own someday - unless you pick up a Canon and borrow my gear anytime you want!).

Next, I poured a glass of wine and sat down and drank it (you ever have one of those weeks?). Then I poured a refill and started playing around a bit. I shot about 30 photos, down from my norm. That's because one of my New Years resolutions is to shoot less and shoot smarter. Historically, I'm a big fan of "shoot early, shoot often." But I'm trying to apply what I've learned before the fact and get the shot I really want with less waste. So far, I've kept this resolution. Here's the final product:

Canon 30D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4
Shutter 1/200
Aperture f/1.6
ISO 200
1 Hot Light, white balance 3200K

My tie in is the points of light that are just out of focus, something that's unavoidable when shooting so close with a small aperture. Yet the soft focus really is part of the draw. It's easy to get lost looking at a photo with such buttery bokeh, especially when you're 2 glasses in!

I should also add that the light I used has a color temperature of 3200k, something that is just awesome to know and use, making white balance a cinch! But for this shot I actually upped the color temperature to 3400k just to warm it up a bit (why do the Brits spell it colour? You know, they're probably right, since they are English and it's the English language - sounds like a Deep Thought by Jack Handy). A tick up in color saturation and contrast and some sharpening and I was finished.

It was nice having a photo done quickly because I took the time to think a bunch before I shot. I'll have to keep this up. The wine didn't hurt either - gotta love Bordeaux!

I'll leave you with this from the "real" Jack Handy:

"As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint."

Tag B, you're it!

from, hiccup...Scott.

Wild Orchid

Well... I got it at the grocery store so it isn't really that wild but it's an orchid. An orchid that is indigenous to Hawaii. Hence, my tie in.


Nikon d40 kit lens @ 48mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/5sec
Aperture f/5.6
manual
kitchen light and supplemental living room light

I should have taken a pull back photo of this little mini photo shoot. I'm heating up the spicy sweet chili that our friend Josh brought over for dinner. I've got cornbread in the oven and I'm cutting up the brownies for dessert. All the while, I've got the tripod sitting in the kitchen, a potted orchid plant sitting on a stool in front of the only white space we have in our house (a door). Miss K, my 3-year old is eating dinner, Josh and my husband are talking in the living room. I'm using my remote to fire off a couple shots. Occasionally, walking past making adjustments and such. I decide there isn't enough light in the kitchen so I grab a lamp out of the living room, walking right past the boys chatting. Pay no attention to the crazy lady with the lamp.

The food was delicious. The photo was well... adequate. I wish I had gotten my potted orchid a little earlier in the day so I had some natural light. I also wish I had a macro lens so I could really have had fun with this beauty. But isn't that the nature of photography? Always wishing you had something more, different, better.... What do you wish you had? What piece of photo equipment, kitchen gadget, book, tool, accessory are you coveting?

xoxox,
Brandi

Sailors

I really liked Jay'me/Craig's photo. I happen to sail a bunch and it immediately brought about feelings from summers past. Originally, I planned on photographing a few things I own that also evoke memories of sailing. Instead, during bath time I had my boys do their best pirate impersonations. The first thing they did was give themselves bubble beards. And then the "Rrrrr Matey" reared its head and I had no choice but to snap away. I took about 60 shots and decided this one of Brandon was my favorite.

Canon 30D
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter 1/100
ISO 1000
Natural Light

This is a setting where my most expensive lens really shines. The lighting sucks in this bathroom but I didn't want to use flash (read: I was lazy). But because of the incredible optical quality this lens possesses, even when wide open, I was able to get sharp photos with great bokeh. You really can't substitute for good glass.

I shot in color and later converted to black and white. I also blew out some of the highlights and backed off the shadows. Finally, I applied a noise reducer and sharpened before converting to JPEG.

As always thanks for checking in. Tomorrow you will be treated to the photographic art of RJ, our most recent WW winner. Check it out and be sure to tell him hi!

Scott

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

Frosty the Snowman

Brandi has been playing around with different perspectives. Scott has been using HDR and both have been getting some great shots. Poor Jay'me has been having some technical difficulties and doing a great job working with what she has. My latest photography obsession has been getting those awesome warm, glowy, Christmas lights as a background. I have spent the last few nights practicing, messing around with all my settings to get this right. It is probably because the Christmas season is in full swing. We, down in the central part of the state have no snow (all you northerners are stealing it from us) to use for my Christmas portraits, so lights it is. I actually love Christmas lights, they are one of the absolute best parts about Christmas but I have always had a hard time getting them right. So while this shot is far from exactly where I want to be, considering where I was at (read, I shudder at looking at my Christmas light picture archives) I was pretty pleased with what I got.

Nikon D2X
ISO 400
Lens My Nifty Fifty again (love this lens!!!)
Aperture - F/2.8
Shutter Speed - 1 sec.
No Flash

All I did to the picture was give it a touch of fill light in Lightroom. Mr. Snowman was an absolutely perfect subject. He never argued or gave me a goofy, unnatural smile and he always sat exactly where I wanted him to sit. I had a lot of fun practicing on him. My connection to Brandi's picture is tenuous at best. If you look at her shot you can see some holiday lights and decorations set up around the storefront, that's what I used as my connection. Sorry but it is the Christmas/holiday season and I had to jump on anything I could :).

The key to getting nice Christmas lights is to have a really, slow shutter speed, so use a tri-pod or something to help you stay steady, and as low(wide open) an aperture as you can get to get that nice blur look. Also your subject should be not too close to the lights themselves. Mr. Snowman here was a few feet away in reality, and do not, I repeat do not, use a flash unless you absolutely must. Here is an article worth reading about to help you with those holiday light pictures.

Now settle yourself down with the lights off and your holiday lights on, grab yourself a cup of hot chocolate or coffee or whatever floats your boat, and join me in enjoying this most beautiful part of the holiday season.

Dinner?

My dinosaur has eaten your duck for dinner.

Nikon D40
kit lens @38mm
aperture f4.8
shutter speed 1/40sec
ISO 200
manual
natural light

This is the guard dinosaur that has been in my parents bushes since they moved into the house in 2002. Rex even stayed and guarded the house during the construction that followed my parents house fire.
Technically Rex is a toy from the original Jurassic Park movie. I'm not sure how or why it came about that Rex lives in the bushes but he does. We dress him up for holidays. He's got his very own Santa hat. We leave him dinner. Just last week he had a fork and plate in front of him. He's just like a regular family member.

I set about finding a photo today and thought I would find another animal to photograph. I tried to get my parents grumpy cat Gizmo to participate but she just asked me to speak with her agent. Pretentious little brat.
I looked around for squirrels while I was taking photos outside. All the squirrels in my parents neighborhood must be watching the University of Iowa game (Go Hawkeyes!). Not a single one to be found.
Then walking up to the front door, I spotted Dear Rex. He was a good sport.
Nothing overly complicated in this photograph. I was in spotty shade (from a tree) so I needed to watch my exposure. I didn't want to get 'hot spots' and I didn't want to underexpose all the details in Rex's coloring. Borrowing my brothers CS4 Photoshop, I gave Rex a little tweak to balance him out. I really wanted to play up the dirt and grit he has in his mouth from eating Scott's duck. So I highlighted those areas and gave them a little boost.
A great afternoon spent playing with toys.

Our Wordless Wednesday winner from this week, Myndi, will be posting tomorrow. Watch for it.

Dewy Fireworks

Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/200
Aperture f/2.8
ISO 100
Aperture Priority
Natural Light

I went out this morning to brave the frigid frost and dew and had a blast. It's just amazing what there is to see in your own backyard. In case you're wondering, I live in a modest home with a small yard that backs to a small wetland area. On the other side of the wetlands is more houses - a lot more houses. This means as I crawled around my yard and the wetlands I again had ample time to further incriminate myself as the weirdo of Lake in the Hills. I can't wait to see what my next door neighbor has to say.

For this shot I used my macro lens and a small aperture coupled with a tripod and remote shutter. I tried to highlight the end formation. I succeeded to a point but you can see that some of the droplets at the end are blurry. This speaks to the challenge of aperture selection. I actually thought I had f/4.0 dialed up but while uploading I discovered I was at f/2.8. Bummer! F/4.0 has slightly more depth of field and is sharper on the whole and is still sufficiently small to achieve a beautiful bokeh. Oh well - next time.

As it is, I'm happy with the results. I had to wait for quite a while for the sun to peek above the house next to mine but in the meantime, I managed to get many other shots. All in all, though I froze my tush off, I had fun crawling around with numb fingers (you know it's cold when you can't tell if your finger is on the shutter release button!). So get out and shoot you photogs!

Scott