Week 14 of 52 Theme: “Lego” Allergies…

Tags

#LPTG14WK14, 12mm Extension Tube, 50mm f/1.8, Achoo, action, Alternative, Backyard photography, Benro, Benro A298M8 Tripod, blowing, Bridle, Budget Cuts, business man, camera, camera controls, Camera Mode, challenge, Clone Trooper, composite, cowboy, Cowboy Trooper, creepy crawly, D7000, D7000 Blog, Dandelion, Digital Camera, Digital Photography, DSLR Modes, Extension tube, Flash, focusing, Fun, Funny, Gesundheit, Howard Jackman, Learning D7000 controls.Camera Controls, Lego, Lego Toys, LensProToGo.com 52 week challenge, LPTG, LPTG 52 challenge, LPTG.com 52 week Challenge, LPTG52, Macro, Mini Fugure, nature, New D7000 user, new DSLR, Nikon, Nikon Blog, Nikon D7000, Nikon D7000 Benro Tripod, Nikon D7000 Controls, Nikon D7000 From Snapshots to great shots, On Camera, Photography, Photoshop, Reins, Rocket Blower, Rodeo, Saddled, Salt Lake City, Salute, Sanils, Seeds, Sequestration, Shell, Shooting Mode, Slim, slimey, Sneeze, Speeder Bike, Still Life, strobist, sumoetx, Use of, Using a Nikon D7000, Utah, Wind

Allergies! Who needs ’em right? The  older I get the worse mine have become and I’ve got to tell you it can get quite annoying, I mean breathing is so overrated…

Legos Rock! I never really played with them as a kid as I was more into GI Joe but I made sure that my kids had the chance to play with them and my son still keeps his handy (mostly for my sake I think) I had a few ideas for this theme and with my kids help I think I was able to come pretty close to what I had envisioned.

Spring and Summer time means fun in the sun and lots of sneezing – even for Lego’s…

I used the 50mm f/1.8 with a 12mm extension tube for this shot, I also had the YN-560 flash on camera to freeze the dandelion seeds as they blew away. For the motion I had my daughter and son squeeze a rocket blower just out of frame while I held the dandelion with one hand and pressed the trigger release with the other. I have to say coordinating a blower squeeze with the shutter was tougher than I had anticipated. I then “modified” the expression of the Lego man to better fit the action.

Earlier I had wrangled up a few snails from our garden to attempt a shot with some Lego Clone Troopers.

“I’ve got $5 on the slimy one”

 

“Sequestration cuts suck! I miss my speeder bike…”

Just so you know no snails were harmed during the shoot, in fact my daughter released them back into the wild of our backyard where I’m sure they’ll find their way back to our garden.

It’s been fun working on these, I still obviously need a lot more work with compositing, but it’s been exciting to make something I envisioned come to life with a little Photoshop work.

Thanks so much for stopping by I hope you have a great week!

Happy Shooting!

Howard

 

Advertisements

Utah State Capitol and Cherry Blossoms

Tags

8mm rokinon fisheye, Building, camera, camera controls, Camera Mode, Capitol, Cherry Blossoms, classic, colonades, columns, cuppola, D7000, D7000 Blog, D7000 HDR, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Digital Camera, Digital Photography, Dome, DSLR Modes, exterior, facade, Fisheye, Flag, focusing, fountain, Handheld HDR, HDR, Howard Jackman, Lamp Posts, landscaping, Learning D7000 controls.Camera Controls, lens, LensProToGo.com 52 week challenge, LPTG, LPTG 52 challenge, LPTG.com 52 week Challenge, LPTG52, museum, Nature HDR, New D7000 user, new DSLR, Nikon, Nikon Blog, Nikon D7000, Nikon D7000 Controls, Nikon D7000 From Snapshots to great shots, Nikon HDR, North Side, Old, Photography, Photomatix, Photoshop, Photowalking, Roosevelt, Salt Lake City, sepia, Shooting Mode, South Side, State, Steam Engine, Still Life, sumoetx, timeless, urbex HDR, Using a Nikon D7000, Utah, utah HDR, Utah State Capitol Building, walkways, wave

Remember my interior shots of the Utah State Capitol building here and here? Well I promised a few shots of the exterior and I usually follow through on promises, although I have a habit of taking a very long time to do so, (you’ve been warned!)

We were visiting as part of a field trip for my daughters class and of course that means showing up in the middle of the day when the light is at its worst, thankfully the blossoms were at their best.

3 shot HDR handheld of the Capitols Dome through cherry blossoms.

Week 13 of 52 – Theme: “Self Portrait” Focusing a “Selfie” can be a bit of a stretch…

Tags

#LPTG14WK13, AE-L, AF-L, Back Button Focus, Back Button Focusing, Benro, Benro A298M8 Tripod, camera, camera controls, Camera Mode, composite, D7000, D7000 Blog, Digital Camera, Digital Photography, focus, focusing, Fro Knows Photo, Fun, Funny, Homemade Strap, Howard Jackman, I Shoot RAW, Improve Photography, Learning D7000 controls.Camera Controls, LensProToGo.com 52 week challenge, LPTG, LPTG 52 challenge, LPTG.com 52 week Challenge, LPTG52, New D7000 user, new DSLR, Nikon, Nikon Blog, Nikon D7000, Nikon D7000 Controls, Nikon D7000 From Snapshots to great shots, Out of Frame, Photography, Photoshop, reach, Salt Lake City, Self Portrait, Selfie, stretch, sumoetx, Using a Nikon D7000, Utah

I do not like having my picture taken, let alone doing it myself so I decided to have a little fun with the theme of “Self Portrait” and do a composite.

You’ll notice that I’m reaching for the AE-L/AF-L button, this is because I use Back Button Focusing on my D7000 and if you have a DSLR and don’t use it you’re really missing out on a very useful tool! I won’t bore you with a list of pros, but I will suggest you check it out in your manual and give it a try for a day or two, I think you’ll love it, I know I’ll never go back!

I have to thank my son for helping me out on this, in fact if you look close enough in the viewfinder of my D7000 you’ll see him reflected in it crouched next to our point and shoot camera as he took the picture of me and the D7000, He also took the shot of me hanging off the swing set I cut out and used for the LCD. Also notice the sweet “I Shoot RAW” hat I’m wearing, it’s from “Fro Knows Photo” and is a great high quality hat  that spared my bald head a sunburn and your eyes some major glare.

So there you go a “Self Portrait” that doesn’t actually show much of me, you’re welcome! 🙂

Happy Shooting!

Howard

Week 12 of 52 – Theme: “Wide” Fisheye Capitol

Tags

#LPTG14WK12, art, bills, Building, camera, camera controls, Camera Mode, Capitol, Chandelier, crafstmanship, D7000, D7000 Blog, D7000 HDR, desks, Digital Camera, Digital Photography, Dome, DSLR Modes, elegant, field trip, floor, focusing, free, Gallery, glass blocks, Government, Governor, guided, Handheld HDR, HDR, historical, House of Representatives, Howard Jackman, lamps, law, Learning D7000 controls.Camera Controls, LensProToGo.com 52 week challenge, Local, LPTG, LPTG 52 challenge, LPTG.com 52 week Challenge, LPTG52, marble, New D7000 user, new DSLR, Nikon, Nikon Blog, Nikon D7000, Nikon D7000 Controls, Nikon D7000 From Snapshots to great shots, Nikon HDR, Office, Old, Photography, Photomatix, Photoshop, Pioneer, Power, public, Regional, Rotunda, rules, Salt Lake City, school tour, seats, Senate, Sentae, session, Shooting Mode, staircase staircases, State, State Capitol, State Government, Still Life, Supreme Court, tour, tours, urbex HDR, Using a Nikon D7000, Utah, utah HDR, Utah State Capitol Building, Viewing gallery, visitor, Visitors, woodwork

The theme of “Wide” was perfect for our field trip to the Utah State Capitol Building that I shared a few images from in a recent post. I’ve wanted to get a wide shot of the Rotunda for a long time and having a Fishseye lens finally allowed me to really get it all in. This view is from directly underneath the Capitols Rotunda an impressive structure in its own right  the artwork surrounding it depicts scenes of Utah history. The beautiful marble used in the construction of the building is perfect for HDR images as its texture really pops! The orientation of this shot is that North is down, and East is right. The portions of murals you see in each end are over  the Supreme Court to the right and the House of Representatives to the left.

3 shot HDR Handheld

 

Turning 90° we get this view with North to the left Getting that chandelier centered was a challenge as it looks really small in the viewfinder.

3 shot HDR Handheld

A few more shots of the interior of the Capitol as we walked around, all shots were 3 shot HDR Handheld with the 8mm Rokinon Fisheye.