Higher Ed.

From photo project 2010

I love summer hours - 2pm closing on Fridays if there are no crisis going on. Did a walkabout Princeton University this afternoon to photograph some architecture. I need some help in that department actually. 1 hour walk, and this was the only half-decent shot. ugh.

...He is like a tree planted by streams of water

From photo project 2010

Went for a walk with Sue after work today. Found a park 5 minutes from our house and walked the trail. It was a little discouraging at first since there was nothing noteworthy to photograph until we got to the end of the trail where the covering of the trees broke and this stream appeared with this tree looming over it. Reminds me of Psalms 1.

On another note, I was finally glad to be able to take some shots outdoors. I was getting tired of shooting everything in my house. It makes my life feel terribly uneventful.

Fun with Macro

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

Working from home today. During my lunch break, I decided to try some more macro work. Some of these are shot at f 11. Basically, I'm keeping the aperture wide open so I can see what I'm focusing in on, then, when I think I've got it focused, I turn the aperture ring up to F8 or F11, trying to keep the camera in place as much as possible. It works sometimes, not so much on others. None of these are shot w/ a tripod, but there were a few cases of different shots that could've benefited from the anti-hand shake that a tripod would've provided.

Macro on the Cheap

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

I've been wanting to shoot macro for a while now, but have always been held back by the price of a $300-$550 macro lens. I've been reading that you can achieve macro photography with a reversing ring for your fixed focal lens, so I decided to give it a try. Picked up a reversing ring today that reverses the way your lens mounts onto your camera. The wider the angle of your lens, the bigger zoom you can get. Only fixed focal lens I have is a 50mm so it'll have to do for now. I wrestled with the DOF on these shots. F stop set at 8 manually with the aperture ring on the lens (since you lose all control of the lens from the camera body, along with auto focus and metering), the DOF was still pretty shallow. I have bad eyes, so at 11 and 16, the aperture was so small that it was hard to see in my viewfinder what I was looking at, let alone trying to manually focus, so I was stuck at a maximum aperture of 8. Not too bad for a $30 reversing ring. Would I throw down $300 to $550 bones for a real macro lens? Definitely in the future. I want my auto focus and metering back!

Studded Turtle

From photo project 2010

Been trying to shoot at apertures of 1.8 to 2.5, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm shooting small objects that it's not working out. The subjects generally tend to be too soft, and even blurry. Maybe my hands are shaking too much? At first, I had Sue hold it up higher so I could focus in on the turtle and leave her out of focus, but for some reason, I couldn't get a sharp image on the turtle. Maybe both our hands were shaking too much? I didn't want the whole shoot to go to waste so I settled for this shot. meh.

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue...

From photo project 2010

So my wife complained that I wrote a poem for a guitar pedal on my previous post, but never wrote a poem for her in all our years together. Busted. So on the fly, I wrote her this:

Wife, embodiment of all that's fair
How I love running my hand through your hair
I remember how you bat your eyes to play coy
But the glimmer that shine from them bring me great joy

Wife, your happiness is my delight
And never would I wish that we would fight
If I can but forever hear your joyous laughter
I would not ever mind to be your clown and jester

-Fred Wong

Goodbye Love

From photo project 2010

Love, I never knew thee
Short was your stay with me
Your sweet song I thought would last
But a more magical sound from another was cast

Love, I must let thee go
A passion for tone is my wallet's woe
Had I more means and space to keep thee
Your song would continue to shine in any key.

-Fred Wong

Pagan Sunday, or God's Ordained Sabbath?

From photo project 2010

We didn't have church last Sunday because during the summer, we've been having services every other Sunday. On the off Sundays, we have a community outreach event where we serve our community and be the church out in the world. Sometimes, these events happen on a Saturday or during the week instead. I'll be the first to admit, not having church one Sunday where I don't have to worry about being responsible for leading worship, rushing out the door with all my equipment, lugging everything back and forth and such was nice. It was relaxing. I bet it was what God had in mind when He initiated "The Sabbath". We just tend to muck it up a little with complex programs and chores and tasks at church on Sundays just so we can hold a church service. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting we do away with church service on Sundays. Worshiping God together is a joy. But I wonder if sometimes we over complicate things with extensive Sunday Schools, church clean up, serving lunch, ministry meetings, etc., that we've lost the concept of the sabbath that God intended for us.

This last Sunday was nice. Weather was gorgeous, so I sat out on the patio reading and sipping coffee in the morning. I can't tell you how such a simple thing refreshes my spirit. By the way, those are not my flip flops. They're Sue's in case you're wondering why I have such small feet. And that book is The Hot Shoe Diary - a book about using flash on your DSLR creatively.

Golden Hours on the Beach

From photo project 2010

From photo project 2010

These were taken on July 4th at Ocean City during the "Golden Hours" of photography - the short span of time before and after sunrise or sunset. This happens to be about an hour before sunset. The light from the sun was a much warmer color and lower, giving subject more detail and shadows when hitting them at around a 70-90 degree angle. Heck, even little clumps of sand leave longer shadows around this time. The sun just basks it's subjects in such a rich color that it's hard to NOT take good pictures in these conditions.

Flashing Crabs

From photo project 2010

The Subject:
In-laws came over last night and brought a bounty of food to cook with. My mother in-law doesn't do anything small when it comes to meals. A dinner for four last night consisted of a huge platter of blue crabs, filet steak cubes, steamed fish, chinese vegetables, and an order of roast duck. I wasn't planning on taking anymore photos last night, but when the huge plate of blue crabs came out, I had to take a shot. I don't think we'll see that in my house for a while.

The Shot:
Prior to dinner, I was reading a book that talks all about using Flash. Flash is a frustrating device that frustrates novices like myself - wreaking havoc on the natural colors of any composition. But if used properly, it can produce amazing shots - but this isn't one of them. I read a little bit about using flash with the rear curtain, and how it won't impose it's cold harsh colors on a shot. It's used just as a fill flash, and will maintain the color of your natural light by adding the flash at the end of your exposure. So I figured this was a great opportunity to try out what I just learned, and here's the result. This shot actually came out really warm, and I had to dial in some color correction to the blue/green end of the spectrum a bit. The effects of the fill flash just fills in some of the detail underneath the crabs where it likely wouldn't been darker shadows had the flash not been on since the main light source was coming directly from the top of the crabs. Not the best example of what a fill flash can do I'm certain, but figured I'd give some introduction to it. Look for more experiments with flash in future posts. On a side note, I now find myself needing to get an Nikon SB600 flashgun. I guess macro lens will have to wait.