Bread... Tasty Bread.....

We had a Christmas Party for our whole family on Christmas Eve, and my sister (The Fantastic Baker) made some bread. She left it on a wooden bread board to cool, and I was suddenly struck by the light on it over in a darker corner of the kitchen. So being the camera geek I am I whipped out my tripod mounted camera and started shooting. The best two shots are here, in reverse order. These were taken with my 50mm f1.4 at either f8 or f11, with natural light.

Nativity and Temple Shots

I have loved sitting by this fountain on warmer days, looking at the temple and drinking in the peace of temple square. I especially love temple square during the Christmas Season. It brings back memories of High School Choir times, singing in the visitors centers and assembly hall. Ah... I love this place.

I was very excited to see this nativity in the middle of the reflecting pool just east of the Temple. It just seemed like such a cool idea. It was hard to photograph due to it's lighter color and the amount of light it received. I think I handled it fairly well.

Backlit Windows on the Assembly Hall

Shooting through the trees created an interesting pattern of lights and darks. I really enjoyed taking these images.

Lights on Temple Square

I have a "Thing" for lights glowing under snow, and the interplay of light and shadow on the snow. It is something that I can stare at endlessly, take pictures of endlessly too.

OK, You wanted the finished tree......

Here ya go!!!

Snowy Sunrise

Lauriann woke me on the morning of Dec 15th to come witness a magnificent sunrise, I missed the best part of it, but I was able to get this lovely image.

Resized to crop off a bunch of crud on my sensor, need to buy some swabs I think.

Building a Christmas Tree

OK so they are in reverse order, sue blogger, they are the ones that put them in reverse order from the way I picked them!

I feel that photography can and should tell a story, well this is a story of getting ready for Christmas.

Again in reverse order. sigh...

The Ghost of Christmas Present

I was playing/practicing low light photography with a master and dumb slave flashes, I did OK, though I need to use a better bounce for my master, can you guess what I did wrong? Yep, I got up and walked away before the exposure was done. Turned out kinda cool though.

Different Post Processing What do you think?

I had realized (With the help of some friends on DPReview.com that my white balance was off (Left it on Tungsten instead of resetting.) I tried to clean this up and make it look more like it did at the start. Comments and Criticism are welcome.

By the Light of the Rising Sun

OK, I decided on impulse to grab my camera on the way out the door last week, I thought I had missed the sunrise because the color was fading as I left home. Well as I crossed near to this Temple I saw that the light was getting better again, so I pulled in and grabbed a few quick shots. I liked this one the most.



My Brother has started playing with some Post Processing technique called HDR (High Dynamic Range) it involves taking several images that are exposed differently to create an image that has detail in both the shadow and the highlight areas. Below are a sampling of the shots I sent. (There are 3 here and I think I sent him 5) and the last is his HDR. Which didn't come out so good. We are still learning, It is kind of a neat shot but "Posterized" a little much.

I think we ended up with not enough dynamic range to work with because I never got the foreground light enough. I dunno....

Over Exposed Sky

Pretty Good exposure of Sky and under exposed Foreground

Under Exposed Everything, except for the highlights of the sky.

The HDR Version

I $aved someCa$h!!!!!

How  you wonder? Well here is the saga:

 

Monday morning I get into my truck, turn the key, nothing happens......... I can get power to the radio, no startum, no clickies, and the key keeps turning, round and round. This tells me my ignition key cylinder is now dead. It has been widgy for awhile and I kinda knew this was coming, but still am NOT excited about it.

 

So, I call some locksmiths. I GAG at the prices $150 to $180 to replace the silly thing. You know, they do have to come to your house (That costs) because if it don't start..... (Yeah we had some giggles about what if's involving driving it somewhere to get it fixed.)

 

Then I get on the internet and search a few auto stores, they have the cylinder for $15-16. OK. Do a few searches, the procedure doesn't look too hard. I'm a doin' this puppy myself. Problem: I don't have the correct type of star head screw drivers to take the housing off. Sigh. I'm sure my Dad does, so we pack the kids up after homework, drive over, taking his ladder back. (I hate to have one thing out and go borrow another thing.) Get what I need. This morning, I take the old module off (With the battery disconnected thank you very much!!!) and spend 45 minutes getting the old cylinder out. Then I can't get the new one in, one part sticks out. So I drop off Laur at her Visiting Teaching Appt. and go to Auto Zone, together two clerks and I figure the thing out, get it back in and I come home. Stopping at the park so patient Emma can play and show me how good of a climber she is. Quite excellent by the way, she kinda scares me sometimes.

 

So  I have the thing back in, turn the key it works right, everything is hunky dory, right? Nope, as I put the old cylinder in the box to save for now, I notice a pin that is supposed to be in the silly thing. Sigh, take it apart install the pin, put it back together. Now I am done.

 

It took me about 2-3 hours of time and chasing, but I changed my own ignition key cylinder. How cool am I?

What do Photographers do when they can't go outside?

Correct! They take pictures of themselves.

I have been wanting to play with the flash from my old Canon Film Camera (Sunpak Auto30) and try to do some self portraiture. I have been fascinated, in the long distant past and recent past, with pictures with strong shadows and contrasts. I am less interested in making Flattering shots than with showing the character of the face and the inner melancholy we face. Or it could just be Seasonal Affective Disorder... whichever you want to choose.

Anyway, here are my starter shots and my processed attempts. All were taken with my 28mm Pentax lens set to f8, and the flash set to minimum for 200iso, covered with a kleenex to soften and hand held, for lack of a more sophisticated set up. I triggered the camera with the remote on bulb setting and released after triggering the flash.

Fooling around

Ran across a link on DPReview of a chap who over flashed himself: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=29916692

As you will see if you read it I mentioned that I had the idea long ago of putting my flash in my mouth and firing it with the shutter open. Yes I made sure that my flash was NOT powerful enough to cause damage, no I am not that dumb, close..... but not quite.

Anyway here is what I got:

First Try
Second Try Two flashes

Third Try

Self Portrait

I am proud of my Halloween Lights this year, which really were an excuse to get the Christmas lights up early with a different bulb set. Now I just have to pick a warm sunny day, swap the bulbs and I am good to go!

Wish I could afford to catch this Disease: LBA (Lauriann do NOT read)

OK, LBA may be a horrible disease, but I would love to be in a position that I could have it and not impact my life in any negative way. What is it you say?

LBA=Lens Buying Addiction.

Many photographers have it, they get started by thinking that a better lens will make them a better photographer. This really isn't true, horrible photographers will make horrible images even if they have $20,000+ of camera equipment (See Poseur). Conversely, great photograpers can make great photographs with quite un-remarkable gear. What kind of photographer am I? Well, I will let you decide that for yourself. Isn't that the true test of photography? To produce an image that not only means something to yourself but that others like too?

Back to the point of this post. I love the lenses I have (Thanks Dave Shields and Dave Wilkinson) but I have none that are autofocus, and sometimes it is just nicer to not have to fiddle, or impractical. Part of the reason I chose Pentax for my camera system is the availability of really good lenses. Both older manual focus types like I have, and I truly to like what I have, and older auto focus lenses as well as more modern lenses designed specifically for digital cameras. I find myself wishing for something that will autofocus for days when I am too lazy, and lenses with a wider range. Meaning wide angle and telephoto. I have been looking at times at what is out there and there are an amazing array of lenses to choose from. Here is what I am thinking of in terms of everything from a low budget kit to wowie-zowie I won the lottery! So here goes.

Bargain Basement Kit:

Pentax DA 18-55 AL II Zoom Lens. $105.98
Pentax DA 50-200 ED Zoom Lens. $179.99

These do come as a kit at times, the 18-55 would have been the "kit" lens had I bought it with my camera body for about $69 extra, which I didn't have at the time.

Better Kit:

Sigma 10-20 EX DC Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens. $469
Sigma 24-60 EX DG Wide Angle Zoom Lens. $199 (On Closeout, it is normally $400+)
Or
Sigma 17-70 DC Wide Angle Zoom Lens. $355.28
Pentax DA 55-300 ED Telephoto Zoom Lens. $315.99

Best Kit:

Pentax DA 12-24 ED AL Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens. $649.44
Pentax DA* 16-50 ED AL IF SDM Wide Angle Zoom Lens. $ 656.51
Pentax DA* 50-135 ED IF SDM Telephoto Zoom Lens. $750.95

Ultimate Prime (Non-Zoom) Kit:

Pentax DA 21 Limited. $409.95
Pentax DA 35 Macro Limited. $599ish
Pentax DA 40 Limited. $259.33
Pentax DA 70 Limited. $444.95
Pentax DA*200. $875.46
Pentax DA*300. $1,088.00

OK, I KNOW I will likely never buy most (if not all) of the lenses on this post, but it is a fun exercise. There are some lenses on the horizon that may push their way on, eg. Tamron 10-24, and Pentax DA* 60-250, and a DA 15 Limited. But to be honest I could easily live with the 18-55 Mark II the 55-300, and the Sigma 10-20 along with the 3 lenses I have, if I HAD too. The Sigma 24-60 is an intriguing lens, it is a Film Pro lens being discontinued, it is f2.8 and can be had from Cameta Camera for the quoted $199. If my brother can get enough from selling an older zoom I have I may be able to get that kind of money. Wouldn't it be nice? Fast, Pro Quality, Screaming Deal, AUTO FOCUS. sigh.............................

Thanks for letting me get this out of my head!

;-}

Autumn Roads

When I was a kid I always wished I lived back east where the color was so awesome in the fall. (Or so I was led to believe.) As I get older, I realize that we have some pretty good color here as well. I like to road trip, I like to take short drives, the road is a powerful symbol to me, Autumn leaves falling at the side of the road on those drives... well they make me want to cry and laugh at the same time. Fall signals the start of the holiday season, and all the sounds, sensations, anticipation that goes with that. When the weather changes, I change........... and I think I like it.

I know that neither of these is a spectacular photo in it's own right, but the memory of driving these roads in our first real rainstorm of the fall, between sessions of conference, all my girls happy to be there doing it. That is a special memory I shall treasure every time I look at these two shots.

Quantaray 28mm f2.8

Conference Saturday Drive..... In The Rain.... Of Course.

This first image was taken with my Pentax SMC-135mm, the colors are interesting, they day was interesting, it was pouring, very difficult weather to shoot in. Most of my time was spent under an umbrella with my cheapie Quantaray 28mm (Which I used for the rest of the images here.) I put it on so that my more expensive lenses would not get wet/killed.

One day... weather sealed lenses to go with my weather sealed camera body... sigh.

These were all taken up Millcreek Canyon east of Salt Lake City, and just south of Interstate 80.

I loved the trees marching off into the distance, fading into the clouds, and rain.

The Quantaray may not be the sharpest lens, but it does all right close up.

Lauriann and I just wondered at the carpeting of leaves in the lower canyon, this is not the most artistic shot, but it is a nice memory of the scene.

Good/Bad Polarizer

Shot the first one with my Pentax 135mm without polarizer, then the second with, and the exposure adjusted to compensate for the lost light. I had forgotten that I had turned up the contrast and some other settings just for fun prior to that, I think it made the second one a little gaudy don't you?

More Color from Butterfield Canyon

All of these were shot with my Polarizing filter on.

Pentax 50mm Pentax 50mm
Pentax 50mm
Pentax 28mm