Sugar Snowman

 

Hello Mr. Sugar Snowman. You will be the first eaten when I dive into that Gingerbread House after Christmas.

Chris. 

Concentration Stone

 

This is a stone that I have on my desk at work. I picked it up from the gravel one day when it caught my eye. I find myself picking it up and rubbing at it when I'm stressed out or need to concentrate. I wonder how long it will take before I wear it smooth.

Chris.

Fun On The Hill

I'm Canadian and as a Canadian, I deal with the winter weather in the best way I can. For me and my family, that means dressed warm and facing it with contempt on our faces. We play in the cold white stuff just as if it was summer. We are Canadian, no winter weather is going to get the better of us!

 

Snow covered hills offer an opportunity for adrenaline filled fun! The younger you are when you begin, the better it is!

This photo, taken with my iPhone 4 which I love for moments like this, is shortly after the long trek back up the hill from a good fast run down.

Here is a link to the video on youtube I tried to make while we screamed down the hill at the speed of sound!! Nothing like an HD video camera to make it look faster than it really was.

Chris.

And The Season Of Snow Photography Arrives!

I'm always excited when winter first arrives. The photos look so clean and crisp. The excitement soon gives way to being tired of the cold and having to sweep the truck off and shovel the walks but oh the bliss of the first month or so.

 

It's been snowing most of the day today. The Girl and I tried to make a snow man but the snow is just too dry. She did make for a good subject though.

Chris.

Craft Kind Of Day

My kids love to do crafts. It keeps them busy with their hands and out of trouble. :)

My son painted a couple of bird houses that I'm quite sure anything larger than a hummingbird would not fit in. He likes color. Lots of color.

 

I really liked how the colors came out very saturated. I boosted the clarity all the way up and got this great grungy look.

He's also big on the details too. Adding just the right amount of accent color to please his 8 year old sense of these things.

Such fun to watch him concentrate on it.

Chris.

And Now, The Girl.

We had such good luck at the fence, I decided to make a portrait of the girl there as well.

I think I love this fence.

Chris.

Cool Fall Day Portrait

We popped outside for a bit and I just couldn't resist the color of the fence in the shade. I had my nifty fifty on and had to bump the ISO up to 1600 on my 50D so I could get the exposure I wanted.

I'm excited about the sharpness of his eyes and the way the color of his sweater, eyes and fence go together.

I'm quite happy with this photo.

Chris.

Hi Key Lighting

I've always been a fan of Hi Key images. That's to say images with a lot of bright white. Portraits on a seamless white background with the background completely white. It's something I've never been able to do with a portrait before. I only have the one flash so it makes it a bit difficult to get that white background pure bright white.

This weekend I borrowed a flash from my dad. He has an old Minolta Maxim 7000 film system that he never uses so I picked up the flash and added it to my lighting. This flash is pretty much unusable for anything else when it's off the camera it was made for. It's a dedicated flash with no easy way to adjust the power output. The head doesn't tilt or swivel either so aiming this flash took some creative positioning.

That is all OK for my needs at this time though. I just needed a flash to blast my white background and turn it pure white. This flash was more than enough for those needs. I tore my 8 year old son away from his computer game on my laptop and asked him to model for me so I could test out this flash on the background. I used my umbrella and flash for the main light and away we went. Basically this works the same as my black background that I use but I was not worried about spilling any light onto the background this time. I normally will try to control that on the black background.

What I ended up with was this fantastic Hi Key portrait. I am really please with the results.

 

I don't think the borrowed flash will suffice for long. I have plans of picking up another more modern flash that will allow me some easier control over direction and intensity of the light but I also don't think my dad will be getting this flash back any time soon.

Chris.

Taking A More Minimalist Approach

There has been a lot of discussion out there about how much gear you really need and which camera or lenses you should get. I get caught up in that myself and I will admit to having much gear envy.

But the more I think about it the more I realize that no matter what gear I have or how big and fast my lenses are, it will not make me a better photographer. What I need to do is get my creative juices flowing. I'm hoping to accomplish this by pulling back on the amount of gear I carry around with me.

Here's what I have done. I took my battery grip off the camera. It's so heavy. My camera is almost double the weight with this beast on it. I decided to only take one lens with me when I go out. Today I have the 50mm f/1.8 on the camera. Such a nice lens. Then, and here is the big one, I left my camera bag at home and just brought my camera with me to work. Normally I have everything with me. Today, it's just the camera and the one lens. Nothing else.

I must admit, it's a bit of an odd sensation and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. One lens, no strobe, no other toys! Yikes. Well we will see what happens but I'm hoping to increase my vision instead of relying on any gear.

Chris.

50mm Fun

There is just something about the nifty fifty. My Canon 50mm f/1.8. It's so sharp and light and easy to use. The only thing I wish was different about it is the minimum focusing distance. 1.5 feet is just too far away for my liking. I'd like to knock a foot off that. Maybe extension tubes would help. I'll have to look into that.

Anyway, my son and I were goofing around with the 50mm last night and I really liked this shot so just had to share it with you. It's so sharp! So awesome for a $130.00 lens.

 

Chris.