D-355 What will we do at the end of our projects?

I know I've brought this up before, but what are you planning on doing when your 365 day project is over? I have 10 DAYS LEFT!
After the 10th day I will take a very short break. Maybe a week or so. I'll catch up on some sleep and spend some time with my family.

I've had several suggestions that maybe I should write some tutorials on lighting. I'm no expert on lighting but I guess we can learn some more together. Any other suggestions?
When you come to my blog, what would you like to see? Learn? share? I am open for suggestions. I'll probably start writing some tutorials if there is an interest for that.

The daily shoot
#ds402 Make a photograph of a circular or round object today.

See the tree reflected in the bulb? Part of my home is also reflected in there.

I had several to chose from today

The colored reflections are not lights, they are jingle bells that are reflecting light.


bulbs, beads, lights and icicles all make for great bokeh.

Empty


Halo, the bearded dragon was content riding around on my son's head


Images Viewed: Sandra Nykerk

More bokeh and Light

The daily shoot today is: The Daily shoot
#ds395 Yellow is great at grabbing attention. Make a photograph today where the primary subject is yellow in color



I'm still feeling under the weather but I was not happy with my first set of shots, or maybe it's because the subject is just blah . . .
So I pulled out the flash and shot through the umbrella - The bouquet of flowers I got last week is well past it's prime. Time to get rid of.

D-347 Bokeh magic

The daily shoot:
#ds394 Shoot wide open today. Make a creative photo that uses a shallow depth of field to good effect.

I'm feeling pretty sick so I wanted to post my photo of the day really quickly and go to bed. Not sure this is what I was going for but there it is. LOL

D-340 & 341 Good enough

This week has been hard to keep up with my daily posting. I continue taking pictures every day it's just the computer time I'm having a hard time fitting in. My son moved back to the area and he's been coming by to spend time with us. There is also the Holiday thing going on added to my job. So I'm a little crunched for time. These are not my best work by they are good enough and that's just going to have to do for now.




Macro shot:


Images viewed:Hard to believe this kid is only 20! What an amazing photographer and person. Joey L

D-334 Christmas Icicles

The daily shoot DS381 Use vignetting in a photograph today. Either add it in post (easier) or do it in camera via lens or lighting (harder).

Continuing the Christmas theme



Yesterday's image I used a flash, today only the available light on the tree.

Images viewed: Jer in the box

D-333 Peak into my world

or at least a peak into my living room.

#ds380 The Golden Ratio has been used in art for millennia. Use or illustrate the Golden Ratio in a photograph today.

The fact that you can see my whole living room in that bulb was a nice surprise. I was concentrating on the Christmas tree bokeh.


In 36 days and I would have completed the second year of this project. I have accomplished the goal that I set out to do - Improve my photography. I feel pretty satisfied that I have accomplished that, there are several more goals that I still need to accomplish. Tonight I need to spend sometime brainstorming and putting pen to paper (away from the computer), to see what unravels.


Do you set yearly goals? Do you track your progress throughout the year?
The end of the calender year and the beginning of the new year always get me to writing things down. I do however constantly update my goals. Is there a specific time of year that you decide to revamp your goals?


Images Viewed: Another site that's well worth a look at: Visual Meanderings

D-329 Box with Bokeh in Black & Whtie

The daily shoot -
DS#376 Containers, boxes, and packages. Make a photo with one or more as a subject and illustrate what they mean to you.

Jewelry box with Christmas Tree Bokeh in the background.


I'm glad I had a day off today so that I can spend 12 plus hours cleaning and decorating the house for Christmas :) What a mess.
Everything we tried to do just went wacky. LOL

High ISO (6400) because it's very late at night and I used the Christmas Tree as the background. Converted to Black and white so the the colors won't compete for attention. Too tired to use the off camera flash and the on board flash looked, well, just "flashy."

Images Viewed: David duChemin's portfolio

D-308 & D-309 The world is your stage . .

go ahead and perform! LOL

The daily shoot challenge:
Today, make a photo that emphasizes or even exaggerates brightness in a scene.

Three shots for today showing 3 different lighting techniques.
Off camera flash to camera right. Candles used as background and bokeh.
Stage fright

Orange and red are very difficult to convert to black and white and not have it look muddy.
Candle light only - went for a more of a silhouette version


Light to camera right shot through an umbrella.


and for yesterday just another edited one

D-273 Just plugging away . . .

The Daily Shoot #317 Power plugs are ubiquitous. Can you make a creative photo of such a common thing? Try it today!
Not sure how to make a power plug interesting and creative so I played with lights.





Reading "Photography foundations for art & design" by Mark Galer

Nikhil asked about the lights in yesterdays post . . .they are a string of "Christmas lights." They are bokehed in the background. Aperature today is F/4.5 yesterday F/1.8

D-272 Brown Challenge

The Daily shoot: Make a photograph today dominated by browns or other earthtones. Explore how the color influences your subject choice.

Made by a local artisian it's my favorite pitcher - even had to order a matching bowl.


couldn't decide on which one I liked best so #2


again viewed images by Nikhil Ramkarran His images are so colorful and clear and thought provoking.

D-270 & D-271 lots & lots of editing . . .

First let me say that Saturday I had a photo shoot with this lovely young lady. Miss H - she's gonna be 8 in a couple of days.


and yesterdays Daily Shoot was: The Daily Shoot #314: Make a photograph that shows an interpretation of your favorite indulgence or guilty pleasure.
Here is definitely my guilty please, sigh, don't know why I cannot just walk away from them.


and today's challenge: Fences and walls can divide or demarcate. Make a creative photo of a fence or wall today.
A fence to separate


Read Portraits and Vision Mongers and viewed some Flickr images
Sammy Collazo's Flicker
Loren Zemlicka's Flicker

Hope Everyone has had a great weekend.

D258-259 Painting with light

I went looking for beauty in the yard today, I needed to start with a fresh view again.
Today's Daily challenge: The daily shoot: Use a door or window as a framing device to contain a smaller scene today.
Sunshine through a garden window





Nikon D-700
70-200 2.8

I played with the bokeh light and created a couple of other flower images they are posted on my facebook page and my flickr account.


Images viewed:
FLOWER PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES & TIPS

D-253 The daily shoot the number 9 & 6 and Hands

No portrait work today - today I followed the daily shoot. Two days worth to be exact.
The daily shoot:
"Make a photograph with either a 9 or 6 (components of today's date) in it represented in some way and post it today."

We've had these old milk quarts for a while. I happened to turn them over and there were the numbers.

The bottles were placed on a light box (light is underneath the subject).

A couple of days ago the challenge was The daily shoot
A person's hands can tell a story. Take a picture of someones hands today.


My mom is one of the hardest working people I know. She doesn't let much slow her down. She loves doing yard work.

Images viewed: Jose Villa Blog

Urban Weddings

D-233 Family

Today we had our first "family Picnic"
Davids nephew put it together and we all had a great time.
This is Adam and his lovely wife Laura

David and his mom
My MIL (mother in law) She's a great person.

and David and his daughter Alexandria


I took a lot of candids but then the sun started setting and I wanted to do something with that amazing light.

Read in Nikon d-700 manual pages 131-150
Images viewed: Various flicker

D-232 3 Sisters Portrait session

I'm just gonna post a portrait of each and them I'm calling it a night.
I read, I studied but . . . I'll update later.
Gorgeous sisters





Thanks and good night.

D-225 The great outdoors

Yes I've been so lucky to have great customers the past few weeks. I have been busy in the photography business and it feels great.

We did a couple of outdoor shots before the mosquito's chased us inside then we finished the session off in the studio.



Tasra Mar's Theme Thursday is Blue
I think this qualifies.

Read Nikon D-700 Users Manual 94-114
Viewed images on google

Nice & Simple D-222

that's about all I can handle right now, luckily for me the daily shoot today is
was a no brainer. "Make a photograph of a plant today. It can be a small one in a pot, a big one in the park, or a tree in a forest."




Today there were no blogs of inspiration, no reading accomplished, just work, cook dinner, appointment for my parents (lots and lots of waiting around), another appointment and the grocery store. So I'm off to take care of this pounding headache and recline while I munch on a bag of Cheetos. Yes, my indulgance is Cheetos, the puffy ones.

D-221 How do you discover your style?

Had another great session today. This time it was sisters, 9 year old and 2 year old. I've forgotten how much and how fast a 2 year old runs. LOL
We had fun. It was really hot and really sunny but we made due.

I introduce to you Miss T and Miss J




In trying to find my way, what my passion is, I seem to be leaning towards portrait photography. Although I enjoy photographing anything I enjoy people the most. The eye contact, the emotion. I really enjoy the connection with people, sharing stories and having "bonding" moments that are usually the result of taking pictures of their children or of themselves. Hopefully someday I will develop my style. Until then I will continue shooting everything and anything I can.


Viewed the blog of Busath Photography.
Pages read in Nikon D-700 Users Manual 90-91

D-206 a challenge and a challenge

Friday's fun challenge at Project 365 FB is "Sun"
funny it's been 98 degrees F over here for the past two weeks. As soon as I have a "sun" challenge it cools down and it's cloudy all day. It's just funny how things work out sometimes.
so I went and picked sunshine from my mother-in-laws house. Thanks Jan!



So I have this delicious lens. It's a 70-200 mm, Nikon 2.8. It's really nice but I haven't found the sweet spot yet. It's heavier than I'm used too and most images come out blurry because it's too heavy. My friend Pam, mostly uses that lens. She calls it her Pamaratzzi Lens. Today she challenged me to use this lens for a whole week and see if I wouldn't fall in love with it.
Today I put the 50 mm on then I changed it to the 70-200. The difference was amazing. The background easily boked out and became creamy. What every photog wants!




Images Viewed: Aleksandras Babicius

My reading corner:
Nikon D-300 Manual pages 324-344

D-197 Caught in a net . . .

or falling through the cracks? Sometimes it feels like one other times it feels like the other.


my image was taken a few days ago. Another long day but this time I relaxed in front of the T.V. and fell asleep.


Images Viewed:Jerry Ghionis
My Reading Corner:
Nikon D300 Manual pages: 302
Rangefinder July 2010
Vision Mongers" by David duChemin