After the rain…

A few days before my trip to RI, we had some really heavy rain for a few days here in Phoenix. On one of those days the rain ended a couple of hours after I got home from work and decided to attempt to shoot some flowers with rain drops on them. I’m sure you’ve seen many photos of that before. These came out ok, but I did struggle a bit with a few things.

The optimal lighting conditions outdoors is typically 30 minutes after sunrise or 30 minutes before sunset. These shots were taken about 2 hours before sunset. I have also read that shooting with overcast skies is almost as good. Well, I definitely struggled with the lighting here. I had to really put Lightroom to work here in order to balance the lighting.

  Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 84mm, f/5.0, 1/100 sec, ISO 640

I was hoping to get some really good close-ups of water droplets, but it proved a bit difficult with my lens. I don’t have a macro lens for my Canon XSi, so I ended up using my Tamron 18-270mm. I love the range of this lens because I was able to get some shots of flowers high up in a tree as well as some on bushes without needing to switch lenses. I’m starting to see the limitations in the quality of the lens, but overall it’s a decent lens. I also put my tripod to good use here, hoping to get sharper shots.

  

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 119mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 800

My girlfriend came home from work while I was out shooting and she told me about a butterfly what was just sitting on a palm leaf along one of the paths. I went over there with her and it was still there. It continued to sit in the same position for the entire 5 or 10 minutes that I stood around it taking photos from all kinds of angles.

 

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 142mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 800

To see the full album, visit the set on Flickr here or on Facebook here.

Time to get this blog moving

Ok, it's been way too long since the last time I posted. I think I really should do it more often. I've been reading quite a few books on photography, mostly on processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, but I'm on the third volume of a basics set of books by Scott Kelby, called Digital Photography. Click the name to see the set on Scott's website.

I started reading these because I had previously read he book on Lightroom 2, which I used to learn Lightroom 3. He has a very good way of explaining things very simply and easy to understand. He also has a great sense of humor so reading his books is very enjoyable.

The Digital Photography series of books is just basic photo tips on things like flash photography, portraits, landscapes, sports, etc. Basically everything. I'm more interested of course in the outdoor and macro photography, but I've been reading it all hoping to pick up some good tips. Let me tell you, it has been well worth it.

I've seen a dramatic improvement in my photography all around. Even some of the comments I've received on my facebook page have proven that others have seen it as well. Here are a couple of images I took recently using techniques from volume 2:

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 39mm, f/4.0, 1/50 sec, ISO 800

I shot this last night at Loving Hut in Central Phoenix, AZ. It's the garlic sensation. I tried to make a very shallow depth of field and have the point of focus close to the front of the dish but not too close. About a third of the way in. I think I should of had it a little be closer, but other wise I think it came out well. I think I need a macro lens to really make this type of shot work.

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 39mm, f/4.0, 1/30 sec, ISO 800

This is the Hawaiian burger that my girlfriend, Mary, had. For the most part I'm very happy with the result, but I think it would have been better if I had her turn the burger a little to the camera's right and then rotated the plate clockwise so I could get more of the fries in the shot.

Besides for these shots, I've been improving my nature shots and have been taking quite a few shots at anime and comic conventions. Mary has been selling her handmade accessories and makeup at these conventions and I go with her to help out. Of course I have my camera with me and take a lot of candid shots. I prefer them to the posed shots that everyone likes to take. There is a convention coming up next weekend so that will give me quite a bit to work on. We will also be traveling to RI in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping to get a lot of good fall foliage shots.

My plans are to keep this blog going a bit more than I have been. I think it's a great place for me to discuss what I've been working on. I use facebook to display my photos, but it's not the best place for describing my work.