Just the usual “Daily Photo” that I’ve been slacking on. It’s been pretty busy around here. Not much picture taking has been going on. Sadly.I would say that I’ll be back soon with tons of photos to post but that would be a lie. Hopefully I can get out and get some shots in shortly.

© Chasiti Moore

My husband breaks during a game of pool Friday 21st while at Gazebo’s sports bar in downtown Ansbach, Germany.

Merry Christmas.
I love this time of year, not the cold snaps, but just the cheerfulness everyone withholds during this time. Decorations are always an eyeful and get togethers with the ones you love (or at least somewhat like) are always lovely. Hope whoever might be reading this will have a great one, especially with the fast approaching New Year!! Will be back soon after the holidays and hopefully, I’ll be more of an avid blogger then. Added to my New Years Resolutions list?? You can bet on it.

Yep, Just ordered myself one of these bad boys! A Diana mini; Based on a design popularised in the 60’s (Diana F+) this Eastern European, all plastic camera looks so dope! The toy like look and feel, and the grainy, unpredictable results look so impressive. It has numerous options for diy customisations. Also features such as the ability to split the photograph into 2 frames (as shown below). I can’t wait, look out for my tester pics in the near future…

Bringing back analogue!

This shot was not planned. In the village of scotter just outside of my town scunthorpe, there is a nice river running through surrounded by a constant flow of ducks and the occasional swan. Also in the village is the church right in the heart of it all, surrounded by trees and a small wooded area which leads to another opening next the the river. The plan for this evening was to head to the church and try out a HDR technique. This time of year its normally lit up from the ground and makes a wonderful shot, but when we arrived the only light we got was from the half crescent moon above, so this shot wasn’t going to happen tonight. So we heading down the road to the river which had been lit up nicely. Using my Sigma 10-20mm and also my 50mm i had a go at a long exposure hdr. Its something that i had not looked into nor knew how to go about doing it, it was around 8:30 at night and as you can imagine its quite dark.  The normal exposure was taken in full manual mode with a shutter speed of 30 seconds. This gave me the right light i needed and also made the image sharp enough. The under exposed shot was easy to do, this was taken at a 12 seconds exposure and aperture staying the same at F8. I then needed to switch to bulb mode as my camera wont allow me to do any exposure after 30 seconds, so to attempt to get the right exposure for this hdr shot i just worked out the time difference between 12 seconds and 30 which is 18, i then just added that to the 30 second exposure i had already done for the normal shot to give me 48. It was just a case of the right timing and plenty of blowing my hands to keep them warm. This is the result i got:

© Mac Danzig

Technical Data:

Camera:  Canon 1Ds Mk II

Lens:  Sigma 15mm Fisheye

Exposure:  382 seconds

Aperture:  f/5.6

ISO:  100

Story Behind the Photo:

This shot is part of an idea I had for quite some time. I can’t say it came out the way I planned, but just being here at the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park is an incredible experience in itself.   It was only mid-October when this was taken and the wind chill at night was pretty harsh, even for a cold weather lover like myself.   There was so much fine sand and dust being kicked around, you had to change lenses under your coat, unless you wanted a sensor full of dust spots.

We purposely camped here during a full moon and it was a little too bright for my taste… I usually only shoot star trails during a new moon.  Normally I like to get at least 20 minutes on a star trail shot, but 5 to 6 minutes was just about maximum for an exposure here, considering the desert floor reflects quite a bit of moonlight… On top of that, the sky was quick to wash out, so the exposure had to be watched closely.   One positive regarding the full moon was the exceptional visibility we had while searching for foreground subjects in the middle of the night.
I would love to come here some time during a half moon and get the proper illumination of the entire landscape, while still opening up for over twenty minutes.
This is one of those fairly-remote, magical places that really deserves a few trips a year, considering I live only a few hours away…

enjoy…

Some days are diamonds and other days you just get lucky.   Well yesterday was both.   Its been five weeks since I’ve ventured out to take a serious photo, not sure why probably a little battle fatigued from a pretty tough year.   I just had to get out last night and ‘recharge’ my batteries, I hopped in the car and with no particular destination in mind just started to drive.    Those who know me well enough would know that I instinctly drove to the coast for my recharge.    I hit the coast at Port Beach near Fremantle, and headed past Cottesloe Beach, Scarborough and then past Trigg Beach.   Finally I decided to hop out of the car and below me I saw a really small group of rocks that were just begging to have their photo taken.  Being the ever obliging seascape photographer that I am, I grabbed my camera gear and walked down to the beach and setup my gear.

After being there for an hour and working out my shots the sun finally set and I got to work.   The joys of taking seascape photographs came flooding back into my veins, I felt alive again and I think the joy of coming alive again were reflected in my photos.   I’m really happy with this one.   Where do you guys go for your recharge?   Is it just taking photos itself that recharges you, or do you have a certain location that you gravitate to?

Photo Settings:

Aperture – F22

ISO – 50

Shutter – 1.6sec

I hope you guys enjoy looking at it as much as I did taking it.   All comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson

the living dead?, originally uploaded by Photographs by Jim.

After a year, I was able to competently feel my way through my camera’s settings in the dark. This one came on bonfire night, along with a few of fireworks naturally.

Managed to photograph another characterful sunset tonight. It was a 30 second exposure @ f/22.

(image © Gary Danton)

This was taken at 5pm from a road that overlooks much of Horwich, so I had a commanding view! About an hour earlier, while still at work I could see a fantastic violet sky, i’d thought i’d missed a photo oppertunity but saw the above on the road home.

I’m thoroughly chuffed

Thanks

Gary

I spent this past weekend in Tokyo enjoying both the food and the opportunity to shoot some photographs outside the oppressive heat of Singapore.

One of the first places I visited was Meiji Shrine near Yoyogi Park. The gardens here are beautiful even in winter and I was amazed at the number of serious photographers strolling around. While most were trying to capture a shot of the scenic lake/pond here, I felt that the light was to harsh to do it justice (having arrived at around 10.30am on a bright, sunny day.) Instead, I opted for the shot shown here of a fallen autumnal leaf clinging to damp bark.

Technical information: Canon 5D Mk II. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L lens using an aperture of f/16, shutter of 1 second and iso 50.

My last morning was spent wandering around Hiroo Park. I used to live in this area a few years ago and have photographed the park on many occasions. For the image shown I used a polariser to cut down the reflections in the stream and like how the darkness of the water strewn with fallen leaves gives the impression that we are indeed in the middle of winter.

Technical information: Canon 5D Mk II. Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L lens using an aperture of f/22, shutter of 5 seconds and iso 50.

A series of long exposures taken at Sorrento beach, Australia.

The Last Blaze

Aspects of Night

The Thin Green Line

Surge – the pants wetter

I took some night photos last night with my uncle, fun stuff. Here’s my favourite shot of the night

( PS: Sorry it’s late!Tomorrow will explain why :] )

With plenty of rain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of late the waters are running strong.
© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Crystal city, originally uploaded by Carson Ting.

Been really busy working for multiple clients while juggling work at Rethink has been exhausting but creatively very rewarding. This shot is part of a series that was commissioned by Red Buoy Media of Vancouver. I had loads of fun getting these long exposures last weekend despite the frigid evening air in Stanley Park. Each shot took on an average of 25 seconds to capture.

Note to self: carry tripod, or similar sturdy object to place camera on, in car.

i like to go out alone. to an isolated, withdrawn place. to wild places. places with a touch of danger, silence and anticipation. this place not even far away, an escaped bridge joining here to there, the gap uninhabited. slowly the population thins, they’re walking the other direction, and eventually it’s just me.

i love to get out to jackson’s bay sometimes, to take pictures and look at how whatever little bit of swell is breaking. there are little outcrops of rock, patches of sand, and over the years i’ve noticed the gradual erosion of the cliffs.

it’s a good place to fish too, it always has that feeling that you’re much further away from scarborough than you really are. people stand silhouette on the cliff, you can hear light murmurs of them calling the dog. people rarely come down the cliff anymore, the path is a steadily decaying muddy stream. one day the cliffs will retreat further back, pulling the path down.

and camping too, i’ve camped on these beaches many times over the years. sometimes as party’s, sometimes as a couple, sometimes alone. the sun drops away early and driftwood makes the best fires. too hot on your face, too cold on your back, there’s never a comfortable medium. camping isn’t really about comfort, it’s comfort of the soul.

i don’t think i go there enough, i don’t think anyone does.