Carnival Lights

I've always loved carnival lights. The brightness and gaudiness just kind of begs to be photographed so when I saw Brandi's post I had to do something similar. I might be pushing the too close to the same picture rule here I don't know. I had wanted to try another idea, but it failed miserably and after photographing that wedding yesterday my creativity had done run out for today. So here we are.

Nikon D90
Lens 14-24mm
Aperture f-16
Shutter Speed 2.5 secs
ISO 200
14mm
Flash(Nikon Speedlight SB900) rear sync flash mode
I had to crop some because the lens I used is a wide angle lens

This weekend is the annual Nauvoo Illinois Grape Festival which is a pretty big festival around our small town and they had a carnival set up. My family and I went because it was wristband night, so all the rides you can take for one "low" (at $16 a pop, still crazy expensive to me) price. My son loved all the rides, but I quickly found out that I can't handle them like I used to. All that spinning was not fun for me! We took more interesting pictures, especially one where I was cramped into a child roller coaster ride that is definately not meant for tall people, I was kissing my knees. The things we will do for our children...

This was an interesting shot to set up because I was trying to show motion and all the different colored lights, but without a focal point it was hard to do and the picture itself was just missing something. Which is why I ended up using myself. I had to enlist the help of my husband to push the button to take the picture because I don't have a remote release and the timer was just not going to work. My husband took a quick peak to make sure all was good with me and then pushed the button. I absolutely LOVE the glass in my new Nikon 14-24mm lens. I mean when people are buying adaptors to be able to use this lens on Canon cameras you know you've got a good lens. Sorry Scott I just have to throw a shout out to Nikon for this particular lens. The colors are so vivid and the pictures are so crisp compared to other, less expensive lens. I can definately understand why photographers are willing to pay more for better lens, there's just no comparison. I mean look at the vivid blue sky in this picture! Beautiful!

Rear sync flash mode is different from using a regular flash. In rear sync flash, the shutter opens and takes in all available light for as long as it is open, in this case about 2.5 seconds and then at the very end of the shutter time the flash goes off. So instead of the flash going off at the beginning of your picture, it goes off at the end. I'm sure there is a better way to explain this, but for tonight I am half asleep so my brain isn't firing properly. This picture connects to Scott's Friday Faces shot and Brandi's self-portrait "flair" shot as well.

Jay'me can't wait to see where you will go with this!

When it Feels Like Life is Passing You By

Canon 30D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Shutter Speed 2 Seconds
Aperture f/20.0
Focal Length 18mm
ISO 400
Speed Light and Natural Light
Manual Mode

The genesis of this photo is Brandi's post on her other blog. She wrote about something we all go through from time and time and she did it with the typical grace and personality that only Brandi can show. I was moved by her words for many reasons and I thought about how I might try to duplicate those feelings with a picture. What I came up with is not quite in the spirit of what Brandi was saying but the process began with her post.

The next step was me thinking about ways to improve our experiment and increase the attraction of our little home on the web. My thought was that we need to include people more often. I love photographing a sunset as much as the next guy. But people are fascinating in so many ways. Photographing people is equally fascinating and all four of us could use some practice. After a few hurried emails and texts we decided on a small change. So, with that somewhat disjointed introduction, I present to you the debut of "Friday Faces!" Hence forth, every Friday there will be a face on 3chicks1dude. It can be any face but the rule of connecting somehow to the previous post is still in effect. Who knows, maybe one of you will be on here someday - I certainly hope so!

With my first face picture I decided on a self-portrait. I did this partially because of my feelings on life passing by faster than I can keep up but also because it would tie in to what Brandi posted a few days ago. I can honestly say that my expression sums up perfectly my day on September 3, 2010. It was an exhausting and stressful day and the world indeed felt like it was moving much faster than I. I'm thrilled this turned out because I only looked at the camera 3 times (it was better that way, trust me).

Which brings me to set-up. For this shot, I used a Joby Gorillapod wrapped around the side view mirror. I had my remote trigger hooked up and my speed light in my lap. I had to use manual mode to ensure consistent exposure. Headlights wreck havoc on the camera's meter. Now because my camera is 4 years old (and the model itself is 5 years old) I do not have a built-in remote trigger for my speed light. So I literally had to fire off the flash by hand. Summing up, I was steering with my left knee, pressing the shutter with my left hand and firing the flash with my right hand. To make matters worse, I had to hold the flash about 18 inches from my face to get the exposure right. For that reason, I see a purple dot in the center of my view as I sit here and type this post. Thank God I drive an automatic! BUT, I was wearing my seat belt!

Once I had the exposure tuned, I tooled around downtown Crystal Lake and fired off about 125 shots, sometimes turning, sometimes waiting for a car to go by. Once again, I got lots of looks. People walking by had to be wondering what the flash was that kept flooding my car with light! It was all worth it. This has to be one of my favorite shots I've posted yet. And aside from the fact that I have the world's largest Adam's apple, I don't even mind how I look.

I only had 1 scary moment as I flew down Rakow recklessly watching my camera slowly loosen from it's perch. Tip #1 kids: do NOT exceed 30mph with your camera clinging to plastic made in China and attached to your side view mirror. Just don't do it! I managed to pull over and remove my camera before anything bad happened.

My connection to Jay'me's lovely pictures of the ice are the striations in the cubes. It's something Jay'me herself pointed out to me. I immediately thought of my zzzooooommmm! post and how the time-lapsed lights were similar to the striations. One thing lead to another and next thing I knew I'm driving around wishing I had this lens but making due and getting several shots I liked in spite of my budget woes. For the record, that lens that I want isn't available yet, but if any of you want Christmas ideas for me, this lens will do. All kidding aside, this photo is a perfect example of using your brains and creativity to get a shot. I used the cheapest lens I own for this and yet it was just what I needed.

I'll wrap it up for now but make sure you check us out tomorrow. Brandi is sure to show her flair for photography and I for one can't wait!

Scott

Zzzzzoooooooommmm!!!!

Canon 24-70 2.8L
Shutter Speed 15 seconds
f16.0
Focal Length 40mm
ISO 400
Natural Light

This photo comes with a great story. Those of you that have met me (or heck, even seen a picture of me) know that I wear glasses. Those of you that know me a little better know that I stubbornly refuse to switch to contacts. There is just something creepy about sticking my fingers in my eyes. I know, I know, you get used to it after awhile and you don't even feel them. I don't care. I'm not sticking my fingers in my eyes.

Which brings me to this photo. At this point in the evening, I was wearing prescription sunglasses. You might ask why I was wearing sunglasses. It clearly is dark enough for regular glasses. Well, let me tell you. I started the evening on a bike path in Lakewood. It wasn't even my destination but I saw some cool lighting and pulled over. I set-up my tripod with remote trigger and was promptly devoured by the worst swarm of mosquitoes I've seen since I was in the boundary waters. I cannot begin to describe the ferocity of these insects. I'm lucky to have gotten away alive.

So, as I'm trying to hang on long enough to get a few shots I swipe at a mosquito that's munching on my right ear. I think I got him but I also hooked my glasses and promptly flung them directly to my left into the grass/woods. Expletives followed as I crawled around WITHOUT glasses trying to find them as the gathering darkness deepened. They must have landed in the epicenter of Mosquito Nation. There were plumes of mosquitoes wafting directly into my face, and I swear I heard a war cry! It wasn't long and I started laughing. After all, you can't write comedy this good. I couldn't stay long owing to the utter futility of it all and the fact that I was rapidly losing blood. So I ran back to my car, put on my prescription sunglasses and drove on over to Ridgefield. I figured my night couldn't get much worse.

Anyway, this photo is something I've always wanted to try - a time lapse of traffic. So when I saw Brandi's photo it fit too well. Like Sere, I hadn't even seen Brandi's post when I took this! Eerie I know. The hardest part was waiting for a car to show up. Ridgefield isn't exactly a thoroughfare, especially at this time of night. But eventually, several cars came along and this is what I got. There is a bit more chrominance noise than I like typically (that's a Canon thing - Nikon usually does better with chrominance but worse with luminance noise) but in this case I think it sort of adds to the mood. Click here for a great explanation of noise (I love this site by the way). Besides, anytime you have an exposure this long you are bound to get higher levels of noise. I played with some noise reduction tools but decided against it. I did sharpen a bit , crop a touch and tried this technique, but again, stuck with my original edit. I hope you like it. And watch out for those mosquitoes!

Scott