Simply ... S p l a s h

Simply ... S p l a s h, originally uploaded by Faisal | Photography / (OFF).

I admire this image, i like the colors and the reflection

20100226-Glad this day is over

20100226-PhotoFu0070, originally uploaded by gservo.

Tasting Beer and more indoor Photo-Fu

My Beer Appreciation Club, the Draught Board 15, recently, met with a Representative from Samuel Adams andhad a semi tutored Beer tasting of a variety of beers at the Gaslight Brew Pub in South Orange NJ. For me, it was another chance to practice my indoor event photography. 

Unlike the last event, I used my 28-80mm 3.3. This lens  does not handle low light as well as my 35mm 1.8 lens, but allowed fir some light zooming when I could not get up and/or close.  Anyhoo, after processing the images,  I sort of realized how I could of done things  better , Exposure Compensation.

The Exposure Compensation button is an important control on the D90 or any other camera, but I really have not used it much. It is time to change that

“Hold the button and spin the rear dial. + makes the next picture you take brighter, and - makes it darker. If your photo is too dark or light, just change the setting and try again. Easy!” Right now I am reading , How to Set Exposure.

The pictures came out half way decent but could have been much better. The group, by beer club enjoyed the images and even used them on their site. It’s great to have my Pictures viewed.



Created with flickr slideshow.

The Crusade For Color Photography

By Claire O'Neill
Life is in color. So it seems pretty obvious to photograph in color, especially nowadays when black and white seems "classic," i.e. hopelessly retro. But that wasn't always the case. Back in the 60s and 70s -- at least in the art world -- color photography was a source of major contention. In the spirit of revolt, or individuality, or just plain curiosity, a few photographers were on a crusade to permit the polychrome.

Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970 – 1980

Brewing Beer and Indoor Photo-Fu

 Photo FU Gaslight Brew Day : Saturday 2/20/10 - a set on Flickr
Gaslight Brew Day with the Draughtboard15 : Saturday 2/20/10 I Joined award winning brewer D.J. Soboti as he brewed The Eliminator, a double honey Mai-Bock (The Maibock style is a pale version of a traditional bock. It is a fairly recent development compared to other styles of bock beers, frequently associated with springtime and the month of May.) . It was a Great event at the Gaslight Brewery in South Orange, NJ and a great learning experience, beer wise and photo wise.
I attempted to shoot mostly in Program mode on my  camera. So speed up the shot set up. I did not handled the ISO settings well at first, and i should of used matrix metering  instead of Center Weighted.
I basically have to master taking pictures indoors in bad light with no flash. Challenge? YES!!!!
the best choice i made was to use the 35mm prime, because i had the ability to move around at will and the lens was very fast. It is now my favorite indoor lens, the next post will tell you why. Oh and there are some phone pics in there as well too

When the beer is ready, i will go sample and take more indoor pics



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The South Orange, NJ Signature Gaslight

20100218-PhotoFu0114, originally uploaded by gservo.

Small and Lightweight Travel Tripod Spreadsheet of Specifications

 I am searching for a travel tripod,, i found this link, thought it was useful even though it's a bit dated

While looking for a small and light travel tripod I put together a spreadsheet of tripods would meet my needs. I have not used all these tripods, and don't pretend to know what is the best for each situation. This subject comes up over and over again on Usenet, so I thought that posting this spreadsheet might be helpful to others

The Beginner’s Guide to Photojournalism « The Phoblographer

Photojournalism is the process of documenting the happenings of life on camera through photography. These days, it tends to extend into videography but the main elements of the practice still hold their roots in still image capture. Photojournalism can still be a tough job as far as getting work and images that are different than other photojournalists but that is still a story that would hold an audience captive.

Feeling Prime, DX 35mm f/1.8 Prime lens that is.

I am thinking of just using my prime lens this week. I’ve been using my 28-8o mostly, that’s become my every day lens. I have used my 70-300 a little recently. I think it’s time to pull out the prime Its not been used a lot lately. I like it for working on composition. With it I have ton of ’depth of field’ at my disposal . I usually use this lens for coffee shops, pubs, etc etc, because it’s so great at low light shots.


“In the end, what this all boils down to is this; Prime lenses force you to compose better photos. You can’t just zoom in and out from the safety of your own home. You have to move closer to your subject and get down on your knees or climb a fence, jump up and down while patting your head and rubbing you tummy to get that shot.”


Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 160

Ala Unidos da Tijuca Carnaval Rio de Janeiro Carnival carnavalesco Paulo Barros 2010 Vídeo HD Carioca Brazil Brasil samba

Ala Unidos da Tijuca Carnaval Rio de Janeiro Carnival carnavalesco Paulo Barros 2010 Vídeo HD Carioca Brazil Brasil samba, originally uploaded by SeLuSaVa.

I really want to go to this one day....

ZipShot ME WANTS

ZipShot

Experiment log

20100214-PhotoFu0067, originally uploaded by gservo.

- added Opteka .45x High Definition Wide Angle Lens which is the same thread as my sigma lens ( 70.0-300.0 mm f/4.0-5.6) but not meant for it
Exposure:0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 102 mm
ISO Speed: 250

Winter [sucks]

20100211-PhotoFu0005, originally uploaded by gservo.

by Anne Hunter
Behold the gloomy tyrant’s awful form
Binding the captive earth in icy chains;
His chilling breath sweeps o’er the watery plains,
Howls in the blast, and swells the rising storm.

See from its centre bends the rifted tower,
Threat’ning the lowly vale with frowning pride,
O’er the scared flocks that seek its sheltering side,
A fearful ruin o’er their heads to pour.

While to the cheerful hearth and social board
Content and ease repair, the sons of want
Receive from niggard fate their pittance scant;
And where some shed bleak covert may afford,
Wan poverty, amidst her meagre host
Casts round her haggard eyes, and shivers at the frost.

Sold my Nikon 18-105mm VR Glass

I once read “…Lenses Are the Real Key to Stunning Photos … and I have come to learn how true this. The lens is what can travel from Camera body to Camera body , no matter the ISO, image noise, shot-per-second speed and image processing. You hold onto them they last. But if they don’t perform well, do you keep them? Me I am not planning to, and when it comes to the Nikon 18-105mm VR Glass , the Kit Lens that came with Cambot mk3 ( my Nikon D90) ,It’s now been sold. Sometimes the bad pictures were comedic, or horrifically horrible, collectively they are what led to the sale of this lens.

With the lens, in essence, being the eye of your camera, it’s good to have something that works well for you. My Problems with the Nikon 18-105mm VR Glass began at 18mm, there it’s really unclear at the corners, with strong barrel (bulging) It was sometimes ok with landscapes but most time it was just annoying. The Auto Focus is not speed fiend either.

I really noticed this the most after I received and started using my AF 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G a discontinued, but since Nikon made over a million of these, easy to find lens. “The Nikon 28-80mm G was sold as a kit lens with Nikon's cheapest film cameras. It was introduced in February 2001 and I suspect it was discontinued in January 2006 along with most of Nikon's film cameras.” . The AF 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G is my current every day lens.

The Nikon 18-105mm VR Lens was a great starter lens, but just did not measure up. I may replace it one day with either a Sigma 18-250 or Nikkor 18-200 VR but I do have a Sigma 70-300 which is not hard to carry around in case I need to zoom further than 80mm.

#SNOMG

20091219-DSC_0083, originally uploaded by gservo.

The Snow-Storm

by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come see the north wind's masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry evermore
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly,
On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;
Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer's sighs; and, at the gate,
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.

my most recent product photography proficiency training session thingy

"2-07-2010 - a set on Flickr"

Well if you followed this blog at all, you know I am endeavoring to develop my product photography proficiency. I have learned the most important thing ,in this type of photography ,is the lighting. Another thing, that is important, though, is your back ground. My most current experiment consisted of using a Dark Blue Foam Display Board background. Tri-fold design opens to 36" x 48" Smooth surface, Lightweight, rigid and easy to put away. It is strong enough to hold my light clamps also, which were place on top of the two folds with a horrible make shift light bar in front of the subject. The Subject was floated on top boxes covered by a darkly blue cotton material that did not really match up.

In the end the pictures did not come out the way I wanted. I had the ISO too high. So fix this, I used one of my light room presets to basically black out the back ground. I do like how most of these images came out especially the dark evil redness of the Onslaught toy with the shine. In the worst hour of the worse season is where this character belongs in comics, looking at this image , ok so my imagination is running wild, its Monday I have the right.

Step Closer Instead of Cropping for More Interesting Photos - Photos - Lifehacker

Nowadays, we can do so much photo editing after the fact that we often don't realize what a difference framing makes. Despite what you may think, stepping forward will probably be better than cropping later (or digital zoom) when taking photos. - Lifehacker

Well North NJ lucked out

20100206-PhotoFu0001, originally uploaded by gservo.

so much so, that i got to drive easily, even stopped by a park , snapped this pic real quick, not the most inspiring, but it was something

Exposure:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture:	f/4.5
Focal Length:	28 mm
ISO Speed:	200

[Review] Ricoh GXR, a Great Idea with Impressive results « Akihabara News

Ricoh GXR Photo Sample

Ricoh GXR Specs
-12Mpix Senor
-3.0″ transparent LCD; approx. 920,000 pixels
-Picture quality Fine, Normal, RAW (DNG)
-Storage SD/SDHC memory card, internal memory (approx. 86 MB)
-Dimensions (W x H x D) 113.9 mm x 70.2 mm x 28.9 mm (excluding projections)
In the world of Cameras there are many names/ brands available on the market but if you ask around, the names Canon & amp and Nikon may often come if it is for serious photography. Yes, for sure Canon and Nikon offer some amazing products, but there are other companies, less known to the public and yet offering some impressive cameras, like for example Ricoh and its new GXR compact shooter.« Akihabara News

waiting for snow here in NJ & a low light photo

20100203-PhotoFu0085, originally uploaded by gservo.

it's may be a bad one. We had a little snow not too long ago but this may be worse , i am ready though, not plans to go out.
This pic is interesting to me because, I used to think this bike was abandoned but it moved one day. Then came back. At the time of this pic it looked like the bike did not move the previous night . There was a nice enough snow built up.

Exposure: 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture: f/4.2
Focal Length: 48 mm
ISO Speed: 1600

Think i got the hang of low light photography, i got the hang of my ISO settings. Came up with a nice cheat to help me figure out settings. I will post more about that later

Galaxy in a Cup #RDGC

DSC_0063, originally uploaded by juliskacc.

This image is brilliant , all i see is a Galaxy in the middle of the coffee, spinning. It is one of my Favorite coffee images

Onslaught has ordered a break

20100129-PhotoFu0062, originally uploaded by gservo.

see you on the other side