Playing with Flashlights

Here is the result from my work on this weeks self imposed photography assignment as part of the Camera Clickin' Cyclist group on Facebook. Our task: Home. No other parameters. I thought that I'd like to try actually drawing in a photograph instead of just writing. I thought that it might be an alright way to put a spin on the 'American Gothic' idea.

This morning I got up and had a bit of time before it became light out, so I made a few attempts at an image.


Well, I wanted to try the same image - but at night. I got a spotlight and I wanted to try to illuminate the house myself. So, I used the same timing from the morning for the interior lights, turned them off after the appropriate amount of time. I did the drawing and then I went around the house to light the structure and the visible trees.

This photo is what was taken inside of the camera. In the interest of full disclosure, I did tweak what's supposed to be a heart. I copied a portion of the photograph before this one to make the segment look more heart like.

The heart is still a bit wonky, but it'll do. I was working with a freaking laser pointer. :D Laser beams are fine to attach to the heads of killer sharks so that ... Read Moreevery creature can have a hot meal (says Dr. Evil), but they're not super useful drawing tools.

I'm pleased. Is that okay to admit? I hope so.

Macro Photography

A few of my cycling friends are photo enthusiasts as well. We all have other interests too, but cycling and photography are definately common bonds. We can relate as we each dive further and further into these potentially spendy hobbies.
:-)

The nice thing about both is that they each allow room for personal growth. Cycling improves one's health and both contribute to one's mental health and well being.

Since this is a photography blog, I'll focus on that. There are so many things to learn and relearn with photography. My friends have recently (in the last couple of years) acquired DSLR cameras. I studied photography in college and have had a film SLR camera. I purchased a DSLR model this summer. We all want to get more familiar with our cameras.

I think that my friends and I benefit from structured learning, in a way. We wanted to give ourselves assignments to practice things that we've learned in classes past and present, or have read about online.

We'll have weekly tasks to practice and then report back to a Facebook group (Camera Clicking Cyclists) with the results. I think that we'll be able to see some improvement as we work along.

This week was macro photography.

Here's a slide show that includes photos that I created for the task, plus a couple that just add to the series.

I have a Canon 40D and a Canon 430 Flash which I used on camera, set to 0 or -1 for most of these images. I also had a bounce card reflecter attached to the flash. The subjects were so close that the flash would bypass them, I needed the card to reflect the light down for a bit of front light. I also have a small Promaster flash that I have hooked to an optical slave. I handheld that and pointed it toward the background so that the light would bounce and backlight the fruit. Exposure was typically 1/200 (maybe a little slower on an image or two) and the fstop was typically between 16 and 22.