D-58 Set #2 of my photography photo series

I bought a bunch of daisies, but this one looked a little sad to me. so I gave it the lime light.









Work Admired: Dustin Diaz Yes again, He has several albums in Flickr and I love the strobist one. Love what he's doing with the light.

Pages read: 59 Image size

D-57 Fun Friday Photo Challenge

David has been a Police Officer his whole adult life. He was shocked the other day when we counted how many actual years he's been a police officer - 19 Years.

When I started dating David he was a Corporal. I've seen him go through 3 ranks. He is currently a Lieutenant. I am very proud of all of his accomplishments.

The challenge today was to take a Portrait with out the person actually being in the picture. Every time I see his uniform laid out or hung up I think of him.

Technically this image is not correct because of the light flair but when I looked at it in the camera, I thought that it looked like it represented the guardian angels
that have protected David his whole career.



The number he's had all 19 years, "1211"


Photographer: Zack Arias that's his 365 Site
this is his other photography site I'd love to take one of his classes.
Read: 47-58 AF area Modes, ISO, Picture control

D-56 The light in their eyes . . .

is me :) They love everyone in the house BUT everyone knows they prefer me. I'm so lucky.

Reesee in the studio.
She's a long haired, miniature Doxy.
6 Years young. Used Coffeeshop, creamy chocolate black and white.

Set up the studio for High Key
ISO 200, F8, 28-105mm @50M, 1/125S

This one was not taken today but I wanted to share both together.
Twix in a basket
She's a long haired, miniature Doxy, she's 4 years young.




A little bit of sunshine I wear around my neck. It's a pendant Dave bought for me in Michigan. It's actually a small glass charm - photographed in Macro.

I love the colors and the smooth surface. Reminds me of sunshine and sunflowers, both of which I love.





Photographs admired today: Dustin Diaz
Pages read: 37-45 Metering modes, exposure compensation & histograms

D-55 Just everyday life . . .

This one is a macro shot. It's a plant I have in water and these bubbles are on the stem.

F4.5, 1/40S, ISO 200, 28-105 @105

Here is a true lost art. The art of fancy hand writing. When I was younger, a lady told me that they used to have to take "Hand writing" especially for clerical and secretarial work. I was admiring some of these document in our archives at work. This is from the late 1930's and all of the court dockets were hand written in beautiful hand writing.

ISO 400,50MM, 1/160S, F2.8
Auto WB


Here's the photographer I admired today. Ed Pingol

Read: Pg33-36 Detailed explanation of Exposure Modes.

D-54 Architechtual Element - More Textures

Another white sky day and this old church revisited. I think I can go back to this place many, many times and still find something different. To me, white skies equals lots of textures. Especially if the subject is still life.



The textures used today are by the ever talented and ever generous Jerry Jones AKA "Shadowhouse Creations" AKA SkeletalMess" Drop by his blog and leave him some blog love. We could all use a little more of that.

Today's Photographer is Barry Rosenthal. Of Particular interest is the "Lost in Nature" series which I just found today, but it really goes with the photo series I started yesterday.

Book: Pages 13-32 "Exploring the Nikon D300" Just gave a little more detail than the quick tour did. I did learn that I have some control over the on camera flash. I can control some of the brightness. I also learned a different way of formatting the card without having to go into the main menu.

D-53 New Photography Photo Series

I have been wanting to do a Photography Series or Study for quite some time but the subject matter has always eluded me. Today I decided I would do the series on Flowers. Not just flowers but mono-chromatic flowers. I will do this at least once a week. Here is my first set. I bought some flowers for my friend and I took pictures of this one before I gave it to her.





Studio shot, ISO 200, F 5.6, 1/125s, 28-105 @105
Shot in Raw

A few post ago I recommended Tasra's Blog I'm really enjoy reading her blog and watching her mini-videos.
According to a challenge from Scott Bourne to Tasra these 3 actions will improve your photography skills by 300% (that's a whole lot!)
The actions are:
1. Take at least 1 photo every day.
2. Read at least 1 page in my camera manual every day.
3. View other professional images every day.

#1 - Check
#2 - My camera manual is in storage so I'm reading the Nikon D300 Digital Field Guide by J.Dennis Thomas, which according to my husband, is as good as the manual. I'll be posting tidbits from that book on my blog.
#3 - I'll continue doing that also.

My reading today consisted of a quick tour of the camera, where everything is and what it's called. Pages 1 -12

The professional I'd like to share today is Roy Volkmann, I found his name in an old photography book and I fell in love with his work immediately. He does mainly commercial work and it's apparent that he views the human body as art. (Some nudity on his site)

Last, but not least, I'd like to introduce you Jelly Bean. This adorable puppy belongs to my Co-Worker and his wife. I believe Jelly bean is 6 or 7 weeks old and weights 1.5 pounds! Very playful and cute! Congratulation Brandon and Michelle.
Oh and I get to puppy-sit for a couple of days soon. So I'll get a chance to get some nice studio shots of him. I think I'm an auntie to Jelly Bean.

D-52 Water Challenge

Another day home bound so I challenged my photography with fast shutter speeds, flash, water and colors.

See Mikes Photo Gallery for the simple yet effective tutorial.







Nikon D-300
F 5.6 SS 125
Macro Lens 28-105 @ 105
Speedlight SB-800, Manual 1/64

Thanks for visiting my blog.

D-51 Just a blah day

Stayed in all day caught the Squirrel from my window and the birds just outside the door.







Used the Nikon 70-200 at 200mm
F6.3 1/200ss

D-50 Friday Challenge {SWEET}

Today's Fun Friday Challenge is "Sweet"

I had a couple of ideas in my head that did not pan out. So since I love all fruit and nature made products I ended up with a pink grapefruit for my challenge. Sweet.



Nikon D-300
Macro lens
Light box
Manual mode F-6.5, SS 200

Speaking of sweet, here is some eye candy from another photographer. Her work is amazing. JinkyArt

D49 - Happy Chinese New Year

Isabella Made this "Dragon Mask" at Pre-school and she is proud of it. So in honor of the Chinese New Year


Nikon D-300, 50mm lens, F-1.6, aperture mode, window light.
Post processing: Started out with a pre-made storyboard from Coffee Shop
I added the Text and changed the color to grey.
I scanned an old Chinese news paper I've been holding on to for texture.
I overlaid the text over the whole image and erased back off of the images.

I them outlined and feathered in red.

Today's theme is "About Me"

Yes, it's a celery heart - My daughter made me some chicken noodle soup because I'm sick. When she was cleaning up she said "do you want this?" for the compost of coarse. I said yes I want it, for todays picture.

I feel lucky to have come across this lens a couple of years ago. Even though I couldn't appreciate it then, I sure do now.
I used my Nikon's AF Zoom Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5~4.5D IF MACRO wideangle-telephoto zoom lens. Yes Wideangle, Macro and telephoto. More on this lens here
Manual Mode 4.5.

It was rather plain see flicker
So I added a texture by Pareeerica

D48 Word Challenge

The teddy bear was given to Isabella when she was in the hospital, the words came from a fortune cookie I had the other day. The bokeh is lights inside my red glass vases and a heart shape cut out.




The reason for the image - todays theme is Words/ink
Nikon D300, 50 mm lens
Manual mode
ISO 320
F - 1.4
Ss - 50

Next time I'll move the whole set up where I have more room. I should have more separation from the background.

D47 Architectural Tuesdays

I took the day off of work today, after working out this morning David and I went to the Chicago Car show. Very interesting. We picked some of favs and pretended on which ones we'd be taking home.
Then we went to the Casino and had some awesome sea food. While we were there we played on the slot machines (the penny slots) and I won $15.00! Woohoo what a way to end the day.
David taking in the Sky Line


David's Dream Car, Chevy Transformer Camaro


A girl can dream . . .


but this is what's in our budget - LOL


These are not product images - the reason I only took the front of the cars is because it reminded me of the commercial with all the "faces"

D46 It's more than just Black & White

I came across this 365 blog today and I really enjoyed his ideas and his photography. His 365 project includes reading a section of his camera manual daily and/or posting a blog or site that he has come across that inspires him. Read in his own words here and his Blog
Thanks for the inspiration.

Monochromatic Monday -
It's one of the areas I'm trying to learn more about. I have learned that contrast is very important for Black & White images. I also learned that some textures work really well for black & white images. So during my lunch break I was ankle deep in snow looking for contrast and texture.


I thought of texture and the contrast in the "white" sky


Thanks for reading my blog.

D45 Other inspiration

I enjoy reading Steve Gallow blog because he shares his learning process in his blog. He describes what he likes about a shot and what he learned in the process. That's not always an easy thing. Plus you get to see some great images. See here Steve Galloway's While reading his blog I came across this,

Read Tasra's blog and be inspired. Here: Tasra 365 I mean the whole purpose of the 365 was to learn and share and be better photographers right?
Just in case we are needing more inspiration. Yes I signed the dotted lines.

And so for today's post. I really like the high key (#2)my family likes the other one. What's your vote? Please tell me which one you prefer?

or


It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. ~Agnes Repplier

Think positively about yourself.... ask God who made you to keep on remaking you. ~Norman Vincent Peale

and I posted those 2 quotes because I found so many flaws in myself that I finally had to let go and just be happy. p.s. I love portraiture!
Technical stuff
Location - Home studio
Camera - Nikon D-300
Lens - Nikon 50 mm
ISO - 200
SS - 125
Aperture - F-8
The backdrop was metered at F-11
Large softbox camera right and reflector on subject camera left.
Reason for this image - Need an updated picture for Blog Header.

. . .by the way I met my running goal for the week. This week I logged 15.5 miles.

44/365 Winter

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer”
Albert Camus


black & white


coffee


sepia

41 - 42 - 43/365 Update

Yes I have been taking pictures I just hadn't had a chance to post them but here they are:
Wednesday is my Winter Star. Another boring white/grey winter image so again I added some of my favorite textures. I like it.


Thursday I went to a basketball game. I stayed until half time trying to capture a good image of this kid but the lighting was bad and I have not practiced sports photography enough. His mom told me that right after I left he got elbowed in the face and he blacked out with his mouth pouring out blood! They also thought that he fractured his hands from the fall. The good news is that even though he had a huge gaping hole inside of his mouth they were able to stitch him up and his hand were just badly bruised. Back to school the next day.


and Friday's Fun Photo Challenge is "A loved One" even though I have many loved ones in my life - who else would I put here but David.
I mean he drove us to downtown Gary and even took off his jacket in 20 degree weather so that I could complete my challenge. Thanks Babe. He could tell you stories of the places we go and the things that we do just so I can take a picture.
He supports my passion whole hearted.


Rumor has it that this used to be a park with a huge circular fountain. I Have yet to find actual documentation of this place in the archives but it looks like it could have been a great place once upon a time.

40/365 Maternity Session

Jasmine & Manny are expecting their first baby anytime soon! They were such a fun couple to work with. These are just a few, of the many, that we chose to post. Thanks guys and enjoy.

39/364 Monochromatic Monday

Monochromatic Monday
the bench is from the park, it's cold and we are expecting a snow storm. The church window is revisited. It's an old church in Salem Massachusetts.





Worked, took pictures and ran 5.25 miles today.

37/38 Update

Had a migraine yesterday so even though I took the picture yesterday I was not able to upload until today. So here is Saturday's image. Ms Isabella,




Today I went duck shooting ;) for my nature images.

Duck, duck, Goose or goose goose Duck!

36/365 Fun Friday Challenge

What is the color of love? Well of coarse the first thing that comes to mind is red and pink and add anything sweet...



then there is the blue tropical waters of the beaches I miss so much, where David proposed to me. There is the white warm sands, the pink and purple sea shells, the white, green and blue beach glass that I've picked on our trips. I have a little bit of all of those in my home. It warms me up on cold winter nights. On days where the Sun has been hiding for weeks at a time and the only color in the sky is grey. I light my candle and I'm at the beach again.

35/365 My Friend Flora

My friend Flora is a police officer in one of the local towns, her Favorite quote
is from Joan of Arc, “I am not afraid…I was born to do this.” That tells you what kind of woman she is. She's strong, outspoken and beautiful.

She interviewed and got the added position of EVOC (emergency vehicle operations coarse) instructor, with her department. Congratulations Flora! I'm so proud of you.



p.s. she just got her new braces yesterday!

On the way to the gym we dropped by her house with a congrats cake. Needless to say we never made it to the gym. We sat around ate cake and laughed.