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

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

Foot Fetish Anyone?

My original plan for following Brandi was to get a close-up of a broom. Low and behold, it's about as disgusting as you'd imagine. The dust and dirt just don't need to be seen that close. While I was shooting the broom, I noticed this image just out of the frame and decided it was kismet. So I repositioned (meaning my aim was moved about an inch - no lie!) and shot this guy:



Canon 30D
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter 1/10, 1/4, and 0.6
ISO 100
Ambient Lighting

Any guess where this guy is? I love that I could make it seem a bit 3D by focusing on the front foot while tilting the surface of the image. You gotta love messing with the viewer.

Anyway, I also chose to do this using HDR. I was hoping to get more detail. In all honesty, I don't think it was necessary for this image. But it never hurts to throw crap at the wall and see what sticks.

My connection is fairly obvious - this guy is walking out of the frame, similar to B's sweeper. I wish I had more time to experiment. Isn't that always the case?

Time to put B to bed - duty calls. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Scott

Roy G Biv

First, a round of applause for Brandi, who once again joins our insanity. You were missed my friend and we're thrilled you're back!

Second, taxes suck! I would have put a bit more effort into this photo if I didn't forget my tax appointment tomorrow evening. See, I have a procrastination thing going and, well, taxes and root canals are pretty much on even footing in terms of things I like to avoid. The only thing higher really is an IRS audit. So...I did my taxes and I'm ready for tomorrows appointment. As a result, this photo is more concept than success:


Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Aperture f/2.8 (Connection baby!)
Shutter 1/13
ISO 100
Incandescent lighting (read: too lazy to set-up anything else)

My connection to Brandi's is two-fold: I matched her aperture setting and this is a music CD by a friend of mine. I happen to know several of Brandi's friends jam on guitar as does this particular friend of mine. Shameless plug for him, here's his website. And here's Don playing the title track:


I hope you enjoyed is. And now, I'm off to drown my sorrows with whatever I can find in the liquor cabinet!

Peace!

Scott

Texture Fever

It turns out I have a fever too. I can't seem to shake my attachment to macro and specifically the textures that appear when I hold the camera to my eye. So you've been bombarded with macro macro macro and texture texture texture when I post. So with no further adieu, I give you more texture:

Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8
Aperture f/10.0
Shutter 1/10
ISO 200
Natural Light

My tie-in is simply the texture. The strawberries scream knobbly bumpy texture. I promise I'll start shaking it up soon. I can feel the outdoor photography floating closer. Until then, bear with this macro loving, texture craving freak!

Peace,

Scott

Green for Me Please

Jay'me served up another softball! Just to be sure, I mean that as a compliment. I simply LOVE green and water - and she gave me both! Rock on chicka!

This is a picture of a head of cabbage. I had just washed it and the the sun coming through the window just looked too cool to not photograph. I was particularly drawn to the magnifying effect the droplets have. The only thing I didn't do was set-up my tripod. It was magic hour and I didn't think it had enough time.

Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 (yes, that's all I've been using lately. Whatcha gonna do about it?!?!)
Aperture f/8.0
Shutter 1/400
ISO 400
Sunlight

I actually tried to go outside this afternoon to shoot outdoors (what a novel idea!) but I forgot it was still winter and was completely unprepared for the cold. I took one shot and high tailed it for the warmth of my Subaru. Funny how 37 degrees feels SO much colder after you've had a sniff of 65. What the Hell!

Anyway, were I to do this over, I would use an even smaller aperture, employ my tripod, and set the ISO speed to 100. All of which would have improved the quality, mostly in regards to noise and sharpness. Oh well. I know where I can get cabbage so maybe some other day. For now, I'm content with this.

Get your guesses in for WW! There's still time!

Scott

Drops of Water

Jay'me's painting/Brandi's photo gave me a chance to shoot flowers, something I really enjoy doing. Normally this time of year I would scoff at the idea. After all, it's a bit more authentic when you can actually get outside and shoot flowers as they grow. Here's the thing. Round these parts it's winter. Furthermore, the sun has been completely MIA. I mean, has it taken a liking to a different planet? WHAT THE HELL!!! So I thought maybe shooting a flower might give me a little jolt of synthetic sunshine and turn my frown upside down. I still miss the sun, but it did help staring through the lens at this extraordinary flower.


Canon 30d
EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
ISO 200
Shutter Speed 1/4
Aperture f/9.0
A single hot light

I tried about 7 different set-ups with different ideas each time. The truth of the matter is that it is devilishly difficult to balance the light with the water and the flower and maintain focus throughout the shot. You can see that the water droplet loses sharpness at the edge. It seemed necessary to achieve a sharp refraction through the water droplet. I couldn't get both.

To be fair, I chose not to completely close up my aperture because the Sahara Desert rears it's ugly head in the form of a dusty sensor when I do that. Perhaps if I'd just get it cleaned I could have achieved both a sharp refraction and water droplet edge. Or then again, maybe it's not possible. Do any of you know?

Lastly, I wanted to make something of an announcement. I was thinking the other day (dangerous, even on the good days) and I thought it would be a great idea to have a 3C1D outing for us four and any of our small but faithful followers. I checked it out with B and J and they are excited by the idea. Sere I'm confident with be all in as well. What I'm thinking at this point is spring time, and I'm hoping to sort of center it where as many people as possible can join in. So what I want from you readers is a thumbs up or thumbs down on the idea and a general idea of where you be! I can't speak for all of us but I would be willing to travel a bit for the sake of the group. I think it could be a total blast and a great way to strengthen our little community and learn a bunch. So what'd'ya think gang? Are you in?

See y'all later

Scott

Peek-a-boo

Another outstanding photo from Scott to follow up. I'm a pretty lucky girl, or I guess maybe I'm unlucky because how does one follow up such great photos. This is my quandary.
While I sort out my rather confusing feelings you can go over and enter to win this weeks Wordless Wednesday, all the cool kids are doing it.

While I was thinking about what I should take a photo of I decided that anything snow covered would do. So off I went to the job site I "work" at from time to time. Scott went with a soft and delicate blooming flower and went with the polar opposite. A hard, stark, brick.

Nikon D40 kit lens @ 42mm
shutter speed 1/800
aperture f/5.3
ISO 200
natural light

Another non-macro macro. I was really working on finding the "sweet spot" on my lens. I've been reading that all lenses, even the often poo-pooed kit lens, has a sweet spot. A spot where given the right aperture, the right shutter speed and the right light, the lens will truly shine. I think I figured out today that my "sweet spot" is right around the f/5.3 that this was taken at. My tookis was freezing so my analysis is incomplete but it's a starting position for sure.
So tell me fellow photogs... Do you believe in the sweet spot? Have you found it on your favorite lenses.

xoxox,
Brandi

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 (Scott'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
EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Aperture f/4.0
Shutter 1/30
Natural Light

Pine's a Little Different!

It's not often I look at the post before mine and immediately know what I'm going to shoot. Heck, I've made it obvious that I often shoot first and ask later, so to speak. This time, with Jay'me's lovely pine cone, I knew exactly what my subject was to be - my 4 year-old sons Christmas art project from preschool. He is very proud of it and when I told him I would take pictures he immediately beamed. I love the simple exuberance children possess.

You may not be able to tell but this thing is LOADED with glitter. And glitter is like sand - it gets in everything. But I simply had to shoot it. I fell back on an old habit and used my macro lens. I actually did take photos of the entire piece but decided I liked this one the best:



Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Shutter 1/2000
Aperture f/2.8
ISO 100

I set-up my makeshift tripod and used one of my 500 watt hot lights to really set-off the highlights from the glitter. I used manual focus to ensure correct focus and adjusted white balance and contrast post shoot. All in all it came together fairly easily. I do want to try it again sometime as I already know what I'd do differently. But that's always the case. Happy New Year! See you all in 2011! Be safe and have fun tomorrow night.

Scott

Winter Snow Crystals

Yes we did finally get some snow down south and yes I was out with my camera trying to capture it. Well that and a little sledding as well. I needed to get out and capture it fast because it will be gone in a day or so. No kidding, we are supposed to be 60 degrees in two days here. Crazy, crazy, so back to my picture.....



Nikon D90
Lens 18-200mm at 120mm
Aperture F/6.3
Shutter Speed 1/60 sec.
ISO-400
Off Camera Flash with orange filter, Nikon Speedlight SB-900

I knew that I was going to have to use a flash because I wanted to get the effect of glittering snow. I had to shine the flash through the branches of this weed, because that is what it is a weed, in order to do that. So I knew that I had to use my flash off camera and the Nikon D90 can be used in commander mode in order to control the flash. I believe the flash was turned down not quite as low as it can go, but close. I used the orange filter to soften some of the harsh blue/cool light that you get in the winter. When I first tried this, I had tried it on some leaves that were still on my tree and it actually gave the picture a very fally look to it. You can see that shot here if you would like to.

I love taking pictures of snow, especially if it is at all glittery and shiny. My connection to Brandi's is in the white, kind of glowiness look of both of them. A bit of a stretch, but I see it. Hope you do to. Enjoy the glitter of winter.

Sere

Amanda, how much do we love ya?

We are so lucky to have our first repeat guest photographer.
We were first introduced to her here and then she won again last week

In Amanda's words:

I thought I would give a little more detail this time. As you know my name is Amanda and I love photography! I have considered myself a photographer for about 10 years though I have taken breaks. I recently started to edit using Photoshop CS5. My main subject these days is my son, but I am in love with taking landscapes and macros. Ialso crochet and sew when I have the time. I am currently working on newborn props for myself and my aunt who is a great photographer.
Sorry if that rambled... :-)

Didn't ramble at all Amanda. It's so great to get to know you even better. To see more of Amanda you can pop on over to her blog http://querylovephotography.blogspot.com. Go on over and follow her, I do. Oh and this is Brandi in case you didn't know.

Now on to the photo. Here's the story behind the picture:

When I looked at Scott's photo I instantaneously knew what my subject would be. I took a similar photo in high school, though it wasn't as cool as Scot ts, of a glass ball that had a little world with butterflies and green in it. I love that photo, but I didn't want to recreate what I or Scott had done, just use the inspiration. So I got my glass ball that has orange and air bubbles inside it and found some natural light with some cool background to reflect inside the ball and voila! I got what you see here (with a little editing thrown in)!

Thanks again! I really do enjoy your challenge and I find it is very cool that you give your readers a chance to have a go at it.

Canon Powershot A495
Exposure 1/1250
f/4.5
ISO 800

Excellent job Amanda! Gorgeous as always.
I'm already getting excited about how to follow it up.

Scott awarded last Wednesdays wordless winner already. Kevin McQuire you need to give us a shout at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com so we can make proper arrangements. As Amanda would tell you, it's an easy process. We like to share our sandbox so we always play nice.

Thanks again Amanda!!!

You Spin Me Round Round

Let's all give a round of applause to Jay'me and her efforts to soldier on in the absence of a camera (sorry iphone users - it's not really a camera in my eyes). Were it I, I'd probably have a brand new credit card bill and a camera worth drooling over. It's fortunate not everyone is as impulsive as I. So Jay'me , well done! You did a great job capturing a photo despite your limitations! I'm proud to call you a co-conspirator.

Moving on, what I noticed immediately with Jay'me's post were the arcs. There are at least 3 circles implied and I would probably say there are actually 5. I don't think it was Jay'me's intent but it was a study in circles. Because of that I immediately thought of marbles (maybe it's because I've lost mine!). My son has a gallon bag of hundreds of marbles. I had a great time trying different things...with one exception. My tripod is dead. It will be buried alongside Jay'me's corpse of a camera and I will move on after sharing a few kind words for my 3-legged friend. I will miss her. And my mourning started tonight.

I really needed to brace my camera and because of the death in my camera family, I had to get a little resourceful. So I stacked 7 bean bags atop a box of business cards and a DVD case and nestled my camera among it all. Meanwhile, I piled up 3 more bean bags on top of an overturned Tupperware container so the lens would rest on something. Then, after selecting the marble, I placed it on a sheet of white paper and used my sons new "Buzz Lightyear" flashlight to provide harsh side-lighting. Firing off 3 bracketed shots I set about editing. Here is the result:



Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Mode Aperture Priority
Shutter Speed 1/4, 1", and 2.5"
Aperture f/14.0
ISO 100
Buzz Lightyear Flashlight

It's worth mentioning that I always shoot in RAW. Actually, I always shoot in RAW+sJPEG. What this means is that my camera simultaneously records the image in RAW format and small JPEG format. The purpose is to give me a file size that's easy to preview (sJPEG) and the loss-less format to actually edit and use (RAW). Additionally, it means more time in front of the computer, something I feel is reality in this day and age.

Photographers of old spent loads of time in the darkroom. Today's photographers are often faced with similar demands. In the case of this photo, I had to combine 3 images using Photomatix, process the results, save as a 16-bit TIFF, then proceed to edit the TIFF in Digital Photo Professional (my editor of choice currently), and finally save as a JPEG for the final edit and post. The entire process took about 10 minutes, which I feel is reasonable. But one can imagine the demands of editing wedding photos! Work flow is important!

So I've managed to completely wander away from this post but darn it, it's what I'm feeling right now!

I did my best to capture the circles given me by this marble. It was more challenging than I thought it would be (when is it ever easier!). I shot with HDR in mind because of something I read recently. The poster mentioned that in addition to dealing with dynamic range, HDR can really bring out detail in a setting that you might not normally think of as "perfect for HDR." In this case, I'm not sure I achieved better detail. What I certainly did after much trial and error is better saturation on the blue halo. I couldn't duplicate it with a single exposure. I tried several techniques and just couldn't do it. So once again, HDR was what I needed.

Okay, I've had enough for tonight. I think tomorrow we're inline for a guest photographer. WooHoo!!! We love our guests (no its not because we get out of posting!). It's such fun seeing the work of other people.

I'll leave you with a joke that I'm thinking of as I ramble aimlessly through this post. Here ya go:

How many AD/HD kids does it take to screw in a light bulb?
............
............
............
Wanna ride bikes?

Scott

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

Poison

In the immortal words of Brett Michaels from Poison circa 1989

Every rose has it's thorn,
just like every night has it's dawn
just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.

I fully understand why all of you from my generation hate me now. I accept it.


Nikon d40
18-55mm 3.5-5.6
ISO 200
f5.6
1/320sec @50mm

Seeing Scott challenge himself to do a shot he's long wanted to attain pushed me over the edge to finally get this picture. I've made quite a few attempts at this photo. It's a difficult shot to get without a macro lens and it certainly would be sharper if it was a macro lens but, some days we just have to work with what we're given.
I set up some tripod lighting, created the most ridiculous set up, using things I had around my house (like my favorite black skirt) and camped out on my bedroom floor for the better part of an hour. Taking shot after shot making adjust after adjustment. On something like this where the smallest movement in light position effects everything I had to be careful.
I would love to hear from some of the macro "professionals" following our blog for some tips for improvement. I'm always open to some constructive criticism, can't get better without it.

I am happy to report though, that at the end of my hour I had several pictures to choose from that I would happily post and have connected to my name. This, my friends, is a successful mission.


******
In other blog news - Amy, the proud winner of last weeks Wordless Wednesday will be joining us for her guest post tomorrow. Can't wait to "meet" her.

Additionally, with Jay'me's absence we never announced the winner from Wordless Wednesday two weeks ago. Congratulations Allison! We'll be sure to keep you posted on when Allison will be joining us for her guest feature.

If both you girls could kindly send an email to 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com to get further instructions that would be wonderful. I promise the entire guest photographer process is super easy and I'll make it as painless as possible.

Looking forward to the new faces. Stop in to see what Amy gives us tomorrow and then Sere will start off the work week on Monday.

xoxo
Brandi

Summer Coming to an End

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed 1/4000
Aperture f/3.2
ISO 400
Mode Aperture Priority
Natural Light

This photo comes from Woodstock Square, the site of the movie Groundhog Day. It's a fantastic square that just screams "quaint Midwest town" and most of the sites are of the big variety: the Woodstock Opera House, the gazebo, the brick roads, you get the idea. And when I went to photograph the square, I thought I would walk away with a photo of something large. But while I was strolling through the square enjoying the sunshine, I was struck by these flowers. I noticed two things immediately. First, the bees LOVED them and were zooming around with glee. Second, what appeared to be a rather large bloom was actually many small blooms bunched together giving the illusion of a larger bloom. My wheels started turning and I thought about why this might be. Could it by evolution in action? Are bees more attracted to big blooms? I certainly don't know. Maybe it's for defense and the bigger blooms are meant to look like something else. Whatever the case, I promptly popped a squat, screwed on my macro lens and tried desperately to capture a bee. And because you didn't get a picture yesterday (sometimes, the holiday's get the better of you) you get 2 today! WooHoo!!! I'm not cheating, I'm catching you all up!

Here's the bees - I call it "Summer Lovin'!"


Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Shutter Speed 1/2000
Aperture f/16.0
ISO 400
Mode Aperture Priority
Natural Light

You'll notice in both cases I had an ISO setting of 400 and a very fast shutter speed. The idea behind that decision is my attempt at freezing the flight of the bees. Turns out 1/2000 isn't fast enough as you can see the bees antennae blurred in the above picture. Plus, catching a bee mid flight is devilishly difficult. I might as well come clean - I haven't done it. But that's not for lack of trying. I managed to get this shot only by slowly moving closer and closer. That and the fact that they were literally "getting busy" allowed me to get really close.

The other detail to notice is the difference in aperture. With the flowers, I wanted to isolate a focal plain and bring to the fore a few blooms with one really the crux of the picture. With the bees I wanted to maximize my chance at getting the bees in focus from head to tail. So with the flowers, I shot rather wide at f/3.2 to get the tight depth of field. With the bees I stopped down to f/16.0 to achieve a much deeper depth of field. Those of you that have read multiple posts know we all like to play with depth of field and I promise this won't be the last time we mention it.

My connection to Sere's post is simply the colors. There are great colors in her picture of the carnival (Brandi's too for that matter) and I wanted to really concentrate on colors for this post. Plus, in the case of the carnival I attended this weekend there were fireworks. These flowers sort of reminded me of fireworks. So here you go, the fireworks of nature, both on the color front (the flowers) and the romantic front (so that's why they say "the birds and the bees!").

And I'm spent. What a weekend, what a beautiful flower, and what beautiful fireworks. May your day be blessed with the same. Till next time...

Scott