Shuttercal - oneshotonex's Calendar

oneshotonex

Name:

Carl

Location:

Seattle, WA

Gear:

I recently bought myself a D700 and I LOVE it. I enjoy my D80, too, as I'd had it with me every day since the day I bought it. I believe I shall loan it to a freshly starting photog, though.

I have been using the Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 and 70-300mm VR zooms. I acquired the "old" 20mm f/3.5 AI-S and I'm presently learning how to shoot wide scenes. I recently ordered the impressive 70-200mm f/2.8 VR to help me grab quicker, better portraits of people I see while I wander about.

Started On:

10/1/08 (Day 536)

About Me:

My name is Carl. I've always loved looking at creative photos and now I'm learning to create them myself. It's a slow process but I'm learning a lot and I'm having lots of fun.

2010
2009
2008

Today's weather was too dark and wet so my camera stayed inside my knapsack. I'm borrowing this expedient photo from this past Saturday.

Another grey day so I dumped these electrical patch cords onto a table and played around a bit with color spaces, saturation enhancement, etc. I'm not sure I really learned anything but it's a start.

The positioning of this art installation at the Ballard Locks makes it impossible to compose a shot around more than a small amount of it and not include various distractions. I dislike distractions so I cropped just a piece out of the whole thing (~7 or 8 curlicues, total) to suit my momentary tastes.

Too grey? Who says it's too grey outside to shoot!? Just change the white balance! I wish the D80 were equipped with a second FUNC button I could assign to this property.

I'm fixated on maples this time of year. The reds are amazing against a blue sky.

All the other photo geeks showed up as I stowed my gear and started walking away. They missed 'best light' because they waited for the sun to hit the horizon. This isn't great -- the haze made it difficult to get a good focus -- but it sure beats what was left over for those other folks.

Olde skool primaries: Red, yellow, blue. Kids today don't even know that yellow used to be a primary color. Why, back when I was a kid, yellow really meant something. Now, it's all green this, green that, green green green.

I think this bird was about 2000 feet above me. I tracked it with my 300mm zoom but it was just too far. The blob on the left is a powerline insulator. Also picked up a speck of something when I changed lenses previously. Great photo skillz, eh? Oh well, there are lots of these eagle flying around here and I'll get more opportunities.

I work patiently at getting close to this guy each time I see him. I think he's growing accustomed to me and I'll eventually be able to get close enough to shoot him with a 50. Or so I dream.

Today he was mostly focused on the fish that were jumping nearby -- he's a patient one too! -- and he didn't flush until some lunchtime bicyclists came within hearing range and spooked him with their loud conversation.

Someday I'll be able to get close enough to this bird that I'll trip over him whilst I'm peering through my viewfinder. Then he'll peck my eyes out and that'll be the end of my photography career.

On days like today when I'm too tired to go looking for interesting stuff, I throw my gear down at a convenient spot and try to figure out how to get sharper, brighter pictures. This spot looked pretty good. The artwork in the pool would be more fun if it weren't overshadowed by the building. But it's all kinda neat.

Monkeying with the aperture to change depth of field and fuzzment. I see in photography books that people like to use the word 'bokeh' in lieu of 'fuzzment' but I'm very traditional and I use the latter term because it is directly traceable to the latin, which is the official language of photography.

Everybody shoots at least one self-photo in a reflective surface, right? This is a piece of black, opaque glass and I thought 'Oh, neat, it'll turn out dark and mysterious!' Wrong! I dialed the shutter wheel until the meter centered and then I squeezed the shutter. I realized when I reviewed the image in the LCD that the meter gave me shutter suggestions based on a full exposure. Duh. I could have shot it 'til I got what I wanted but was bored with it already.

One of these clouds is not like the others. Which cloud doesn't belong?

I stopped to snap some photos of the ceiling of this room through the window blinds. My bus rolled up and I had no time to switch to manual from the night scene program -- I had to grab my camera and tripod and go. I'll hit it again when I get a chance.

Socio-economic commentary at the local skatepark. Krylon on concrete.