Thursday, March 25, 2010

A Splash of Life

This weeks photo was made as the result of a longstanding curiosity with splashes and the perfect way to capture them.  Is this it? Probably not, but it's pretty :).  So I returned to school this week and completely forgot about this weeks photo.  I started thinking about what I could do and put together this very simple setup.  I tried one shot and it turned out better than I could imagine so I stuck with it(don't fix what isn't broken).  I changed the color using the in-camera white balance(set to tungsten).  The strobist info can be found here.  The rest was luck...the splash I mean.     

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Best Place in the World

Yes I said it....Crested Butte is the best place in the world.  There is so much for the outdoor adventurer to do here like biking, hiking, fishing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, skiing, snowmobiling, x-country skiing, rock climbing, wake-boarding, dog-sledding and probably more activities I can't think of right now.  Every year there is one of the nation's top art festival's showcasing photography, pottery, paintings, and many other mediums from 350 different artists from around the nation.  Food is a bug deal there and two of the best restaurants are The Secret Stash and Lobar.  I am leaving it at the strobist info because blogger is ridiculous and messed up my post...once again.  LP120 camera right @ 1/2(I think) and one more behind me gelled @ 1/2.

Eat What Makes You Happy

This week I did something that I've had in mind for awhile.  My girlfriend loves to eat healthy and even writes a blog that showcases some of her best dishes made healthier and easy to make for college students.  I...like hamburgers.  What can I say...I love the combination of beef, buns, bacon, bleu cheese, and bbq sauce(what an alliteration).  So I took this and came up with an idea to show that you should...refer to the title.  I thought the depth of field would be cool so the food is the subject and you can barely see that we are smiling.  I'm in Crested Butte on spring break so I'm going to leave it at that. 

The strobist info can be found here.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Control Light!

I must say, this has been an amazing week. I purchased a two light strobist kit in the mail a couple of weeks ago and it arrived recently so I had to learn how to use it. How did I do this? Well, I have been reading a lot lately, some scientific, some technical, and others artistic. The first thing that pushed me into this strobist movement is probably the man who coined the term, David Hobby, who writes the blog Strobist. You can find everything you need to know to start off on your way to becoming a better master of off camera lighting. It's an amazing way to make your photos more dynamic and artistic while giving them a professional look that is so easily recognizable.

While I definitely recommend strobist to start with, there are other ways you can learn about off camera flash(OCF). For instance, flickr hosts a plethora of great strobists who are willing to show their techniques and tricks to get that unique photo you couldn't get with an on camera flash. In my opinion, one of the best ways to learn OCF is by looking at photos that spell it out for you. A lot of people don't want to learn the inverse square law, and that's okay(unless you want to be the best :)), so turn to other platforms of learning. The best source of spelling things out in an easy to understand format would have to be Dustin Diaz's flickr profile. He is/was a huge flickr "star" that gave people great photographs every day in addition to pictures of the lighting setups he used for most of them. He also wrote the article "Flash photography, and pwning the inverse square law" which every aspiring strobist should read to become well-versed in the science behind the subject. Knowing the background information is crucial to succeeding as a strobist and on a broader spectrum, a photographer.

The last method to learning how to use OCF should be the most obvious....get out and DO it. Practice, practice, practice. You've heard it a million times and it is hands down the best way to increase your knowledge of the subject. Yes, you will fail...get over it. We all fail at some point so you just have to realize it's inevitable and practice so you can grow and reduce your odds of failing when the consequences are serious.

I have produced two photos this week that I am proud of...the first is number 9 out 52 photos for the year and it is also my first photo to make it to flickr's explore(top 500).

The second is a self portrait that was my second photo to make it to explore.