The colors in this are straight out of the camera. I added some detail in Lightroom and Color Efex Pro 3, but eveything else is pretty much untouched. I love this.

Prime Time

I am now 72 days into my 365 project and thought it was time to get a little creative. I’ve been thinking about doing some sort of mini-series where for a few days in a row all of the photos would have something specific in common. Today I thought of the first series.

Starting today through Friday, my daily photo will be taken using my Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime lens. I first bought this to improve my photos at conventions and it certainly did its job. However, I haven’t been to many conventions recently, it’s sort of been just collecting dust. I decided it was time to pull it out and put it to use.

Prime lenses have only one focal length. So if what I see framed in the viewfinder is not what I want, I have to move instead of zooming in or out. I think that’s my main reason for avoiding using it. But there are benefits to using prime lenses. There’s a lot less distortion and vignetting with them and they tend to have a much wider aperture. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to use this lens at the widest setting and still get the sky in it, be we’ll see.

For the first time, I also brought my dSLR with me on my bike ride. I’ve always been afraid of it getting damaged somehow, but this lens is really small and with the battery grip removed from the camera, it’s not a whole lot bigger than my point and shoot. So I stored it in my backpack inside a Tamrac SLR case. The Tamrac case has plenty of coushioning, so even if I did fall, I think the camera would be fairly safe.

If all goes well and this series is a success, be on the lookout for more. Some other ideas I’ve had are using a specific subject or theme of the photos. Please feel free to make suggestions.

Check out my first in the Prime Lens series here: Day 72

So far, so good…

Ok, so it’s only the third day of my 365 project, but I’m feeling pretty good about it so far. I was afraid I’d have difficulty coming up with new shots and not just shooting around my apartment on days when I don’t go hiking or biking. It’s been easier than I expected so far.

The first day I managed to catch the sunrise and took a nice shot of that. Yesterday while running along 48^th St., I saw a cool shot and was able to capture it on my iPhone. Today at work, I saw a cool shot and grabbed my Canon PowerShot SX120 IS. I always keep the PowerShot with me when I go to work because there had been times in the past when I wished I had a camera on me, but wasn’t about to start taking my dSLR with me.

So three days – three different cameras – three very different photographs. I think 365 is manageable. Keep up with my 365 project on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9143496@N03/5388276007/

365 Project – Arizona Skies

When I first moved to Arizona, I took many pictures of the landscapes near my home in Mesa. This was before I became really serious about my photos. One friend made a comment that is the inspiration for this 365 project. She told me to take more photos but include “more of that gorgeous sky!”

She was absolutely right. The sky here is fantastic. Part of the reason is that there are very few trees to block out the sky so you get to see more of it. The other reason is that it’s so dry that the sky tends to be a really clear, deep blue color. When there are clouds, they are generally very dramatic looking.

Another reason I decided on the sky for a subject is that I am starting this on my birthday. I am an Aquarius, which is an air sign, so it seemed a bit fitting.

All of the photos in the project will in some way incorporate the sky. Most will have some sort of foreground scene. Of course, I may not be in Arizona ever day for the next 365 days, so there may be a few times that I’ll have to post skies outside of Arizona. You’ve been warned.

My first photo I managed to take this morning at sunrise. Quite fitting – the beginning photo taken at the beginning of the day.

Well, I hope you enjoy the next 365 days!! Click the link below to see the first photo.

Click here to view the photo