Category Archives: Canon EOS Rebel t1i

Tools of a Craftsman

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ISO800 50mm f/1.8 1/25sec

As I eagerly await the arrival of my new dslr, I cant help but get a bit antsy! So tonight, with my digital beauty on my mind, I went over past photos to see what gems I may have missed the first time through.

My mind was quickly distracted from the continuous thoughts of photog gear, when I started going through the pics I took of my grandfathers workshop back on Mothers Day. As I mentioned in my post Grandpa’s Workshop, my grandfather had passed away a few years ago, however his workshop has remained in tact, the way he left it, ever since. I took the opportunity of being at grandmas, to grab some shots of a sort of creative portrait into the working mind of gramps. Exploring the workspace and tools left behind, that he invested so much time into, really allowed me to appreciate how truly creative he was (Which thank god was passed down through the generations :D )! Everything has its place, and most of everything is either hand crafted and or recycled materials from past projects and workshops, and although I may have the Mayo creativity running through these veins, I still look at some of his creations and wonder… How the hell did he come up with that!! haha

So yet another tribute picture to a extraordinary man, and a great inspiration!

What Goes Around Comes Around

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ISO100 27mm f/11 1sec

I thought I would break into the archives and bring back an unreleased light painting pic to add some extra inspiration for the Long Exposure Project going on right now. Most of the other examples we have posted have been longer shutter speeds into the double digit seconds range, and I wanted to show that good fun can be had even at 1sec or less.

Back when I posted the original “Candle Magic”, I had a hard time deciding between whether I was going to post the original pic or this one. If you follow the blog you know Im a big fan of simplicity, so Im happy to have a reason to post this image finally haha.

Mystic Creek

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ISO200 18mm f/18 2.5sec

Mystical and fairy tale-ish. Thats how I felt when I was tromping through the water to get this shot.

Yet another fence hoping photographic adventure as I made my way into the local parks little ravine here. I loved how the light was just breaking through the trees as it settled its way down to the earth signaling the days end. The calm cozy characteristics of the prospering foliage around lent to a mystical feel, as if at any moment a fairy or leprechaun could come breaking into the scene.

As I dug my tripod into the muck below, the only sounds I could hear were that of the wind passing by the park above, and a single bull frog who was probably awaiting his princess amongst this magical stream.

I do wish I could have gotten the camera even lower, however at this point the tripod was maxed out at its minimum height and I was practically sitting in the water as I peered through the view finder. I love the star-bursts that f18 was able to provide, again adding to the explained feel of the scene.

Chair Details

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ISo1600 50mm f/6.3 1/200sec

I love the detail shots! Those shots that give you enough information to fill in the picture in your head, but not too much to bore you with over explanation. Sometimes it makes for a simple display of a complex scene or character, or in this case it takes a simple scene and simplifies it even further.

 

Hot Wheels

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ISO100 25mm f/8 2sec

Given this months community project theme is Long Exposures, I figured Id edit another photo from this weekends “car show”.

When it comes to late night lengthy exposures I tend to lean towards the HDR side, so that I have the flexibility of bringing in as much detail as I feel necessary. Once again I went with an over processed car for this image, different from what I usually do, being when I originally seen this car I immediately thought of the Hot Wheels cars I had as a kid, and wanted to bring the look and feel of that childhood memory out in this pic.

I decided in this instance I would leave a bit of the effect from the long shutter to emphasize the exposure time, for example the ghosted person in the background as well as the light streaks off to the left. If I would have thought of it at the time, I would have liked to capture a scene with some people making their way around the car admiring its beauty.

I always love playing with these late night hdr photos, they can be a good amount of fun to see come together. Its incredible how much detail can be captured due to the lengthy exposures.

I look forward to continuing to dive into the subject of Long Exposures with all of you who are joining in on this months Collab Fun!!

 

White Walls

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ISO200 29mm f/5.6 1/125sec

This old beauty showed up at the park, during our cook out this weekend, with a pack of High school prom goers. They came to the park to get some pics taken (By a simple point and shoot, I about offered up my services hahaa), and while they were off shooting around the park I got a chance to grab a few shots of the ol’ Ford before they needed it for their own shooting.

She was in extraordinary condition and all the wheels and tires looked like they were right off the show room floor making for some crisp photographs. The nice hard light washed out the white walls giving such great contrast to an already contrasting color scheme.

This is one of those instances where always having your camera with you pays off.

Drive-in Classics

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ISO100 25mm f/8.0 2.5sec

I must say, so far this year I have been somewhat disappointed by the quality of cars at our local hot spots. The last couple of years have been a bit dry when it comes to the turn out of friday and saturday night hot rodders, both old and new.

Tonight on the other hand, this was not the case, as our local Sonic Drive In was packed with hot rods, muscle cars, tuners and bikes. It was a great turn out and I definitely took advantage of the vintage settings and rides with my camera. I was a bit nervous about this shot at first. For one it took me forever to get because people kept walking in front of the camera haha (To be expected when everyones attention is on the cars and not the crazy photographer laying on the ground behind them). Next it was the lens flare that worried me, which actually turned out to be a great happy accident, as it added to the dreamy retro background. Lastly as we were packing up and the car was taking off I realized that I had forgotten to turn my autofocus back on during the whole time I was shooting the car, so it was up to chance on whether or not the shot would be sharp or not. Well luck was on my side tonight as it turned out to be a sharp shot with a certain flare to it (get it.. cause the lens flar… alright). Either way I racked another HDR auto shot to add to my collection :)

 

Papa Bear

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ISO200 60mm f/4 1/160sec

Heres the last of the edits from the other days zoofari adventure. I always love the bear exhibit as the large beasts pace from side to side and occasionally take a dip in their bear pool.

I was drawn to this photo because of the motion that it had as the bear had sneezed as it was making its turn to pace back in the other direction, leaving a bit of motion in the paw and head. Last year at the exhibit I seen the two bears (One brown, one black) get in a bit of a brawl, and was sticking round hoping that I would be lucky enough to capture a similar quarrel through the lens. No such luck this time around.

As you can probably tell over the last few posts, Ive really enjoyed shooting and editing these “wild life” shots, and its made me kind of excited to go on some actual wildlife photo adventures in the future. Im not one for hunting and killing animals, but I am down to do some big game shooting with the ol’ canon!

Her Majesty

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ISO100 79mm f/4.5 1/200sec

The Mighty Lion! What an absolutely stunning ruler of the animal kingdom!

Our zoo just recently redid their africa exhibit to include these majestic beasts, and it definitely had me excited. I remember as a kid, watching the Lion King feeling like I wanted to grow up to rule the kingdom like Simba. I always seemed to walk a bit taller after watching the movie, building a sense of courageous self confidence from Simba’s adversity defying triumphs. But then the whole thing was lost when my sister started watching the movie 4 times a day… Evvvverrrry… Siiinnnggglleee… Daaaayyy!!! However I did see it recently again, when it came out in 3D and absolutely loved it! (Forever Young my peeps… Forever Young) Continue reading →

Monkey’n Around

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ISO100 187mm f/5.6 1/250sec

I decided today would be a good day to take a brake from all the constant working, and took my Sister and Niece to the Zoo. Its still spring hours so we didn’t get a whole lot of time to make it through, and ended up skipping one of the larger exhibits as we had already managed to squeak by the zoo staff and got an extra 30 min in after close. he he Continue reading →

Spring Shadows

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ISO100 50mm f/5.6 1/320sec

Get it SPRING shadows. har har har