April Sunset

Not a very creative title but please have pity on me. I am going on a little more then 36 hours without sleep so my mind is a little, ah, fuzzy I guess you could say.


Nikon D90
ISO-400
Aperture F/5
Shutter 1/800 sec.
Natural Light, Filter

I played with filters again for a few minutes. This one is a bi-color filter that seemed to bring out the reds and yellows in the sunset. I managed to snap this picture as I was driving into town for my night out. It has to do with sunlight and I have a barn/shed type thing in the picture as well. Haha, we have barns in abundance around here. Some of them I need to take a closer look at because of their fascinating wood texture.

Hope you all are having a good night. I am going to go pass out and sleep for 10 hours I think.

Cheers!
Sere

Sunset Meanings

I love sunsets! Sunsets are so different depending upon where you are in the world and the time of year. People attribute many different meanings to sunsets when they watch one, depending upon their mood, time of life, and who they are. Sunsets can mean the ending of a day, maybe promise of another day, riding off into the sunset of living happily ever after, to show someone God's beauty at what he has created or maybe it is just the different wavelengths of light that create the different colors that you see in the sky. However you choose to view sunsets, they are pretty spectacular to see.

Nikon D90
ISO-200
Aperture F/8
Shutter Speed 1/500 sec.
18-70mm @ 65mm
Natural Lighting

For me sunsets make me pensive and are thought provoking. I'm back to Brandi's moments in life. When the sun is setting that means that day is done, over. I sometimes ask myself what have I done this day? Did I make a difference for somebody, spend enough time with my family, tell the people that need to hear how much I love them? Did I do what God wanted me to do this day? Maybe you think these same things, maybe not. Maybe you just sit back and enjoy the moment of watching a sunset with your family and just enjoy its beauty.

My connection to Scott's is in the color red and moments with family. My family and I all watched this sunset together down in Key Largo, enjoying each others company (though my son had been pretty bratty this particular day as well). I hope everybody had a chance or gets a chance to enjoy a beautiful sunset with their family as well.

Sere

Dream a Little Dream

Ahhh my "happy place", it can be sooo many different places. I love my family to pieces, but I'm a natural born wanderer. Different sites and places intrique and excite me, I love the adventure of it. The open road calls me. I used to escape by driving, sometimes I would drive a half a days drive away or more, just because. That's a little harder to do now, but I still feel the need to get away from it all every so often, it helps to clear my head. Thank God I have a wonderful husband who, though he may not always get it, understands my need for it and accepts it. He even joins me from time to time.

Typically my "happy place" includes beautiful scenary, a National Park or state park if possible, lots of hiking, a lack of buildings, and lots of nature. I can do without the people as well sometimes :). Sometimes it includes my family, sometimes just myself, depends upon my mood. One thing is for sure though, I always have my camera handy when I do escape to my "happy place". The photo below includes just about everything I require.


Nikon D2x
ISO-400
Aperture F/6.3
Shutter 1/45 sec.
18-70mm lens at 28mm
Natural Lighting

This was taken at the Grand Canyon (beautiful scenary and a National Park) on our road trip down to Arizona, where we did lots of hiking. My family was with me and we were also visiting family. The park was not overly busy so we were able to enjoy it without wall to wall people. My dream is to hit all 5o states at some point in my life and attempt to capture it with my camera. My secondary dream is to hit all the National Parks. Some dreams are simple, some are more, ah, grand? What do you dream about and does it have something to do with your own "happy place"?

Sere

Friday Faces - How Did Tigger Drown in the Toilet?

He was looking for Pooh!!!

Canon 30D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L
Shutter Speed 1/200
Aperture f/7.1
ISO 100
Manual Mode
External Speed Light

I must start with a confession. When I made the suggestion to start shooting faces at least one day a week I was thinking of exactly what Brandi did here - taking shots of people we don't yet know. So far, all I've done is take a self-portrait and get a shot of my oldest son Ethan (pictured here laughing at my all-star joke). That's not exactly all that adventurous but the fact is today just wasn't built for me finding a stranger. Just couldn't do it, at this juncture (what the heck happened to SNL anyway? It used to be so good!).

Which leads me to this shot. As I was cleaning up dinner, Ethan says "Daddy! What a beautiful sunset!" After checking it out myself and totally agreeing, a light bulb went off and I thought about how I've always wanted to expose a sunset correctly and still get a well-exposed portrait. Eureka! Here was my chance!

If you're scratching your head, here's a bit more of an explanation. Cameras have light meters built into them. The purpose of the meter is to tell either the camera or the photographer how much light you have and what your exposure settings need to be. It is because of the light meter that your camera knows to keep the shutter open longer when there isn't much light and to snap it shut quickly when it's midday without a cloud in the sky. The camera might use aperture and ISO for the same purpose. Most of the time the camera does a bang up job (regardless of the make). However, there are situations that will just mess up your meter and need to be handled with a bit more effort. For example, a snowy field has got WAY to much white for your meter to expose correctly and will result in your camera thinking there is more light than there actually is. I imagine a black sand beach would have the opposite effect.

With this shot, it was difficult because Ethan was back-lit. Furthermore, I wanted the colors of the sunset to come through. Here's the issue - if I set up to meter Ethan's face, my camera would have kept the shutter open for quite some time in order to expose correctly. The result would have been a completely blown out sky and most likely a blurry face owing to the long shutter speed. If I set up to meter the sky, I would have ended up with beautiful colors but a face completely engulfed in shadow.

Here's the solution. You must meter for the sky and use a flash to illuminate Ethan's face. Bingo bango bongo, you have a portrait that most people can't figure out how to do! The only thing I wish I had is a gel to warm up the flash. Maybe next time.

So there you have it folks. I promise next time I will try to get a stranger. In the meantime, Ethan was a fantastic model and I got to try another new technique. TGIF!