Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day!

So today, among other things, I went to Portsmouth and took a boat tour around the harbor. It was a good chance to get some photos. I haven't taken time to shoot lately, and I've been feeling a little uninspired. So today was a good time to change things up a bit and get behind the camera again.

Heritage: The Boat

Anchor

I'm on a boat!

Now if anyone else is from the Northeast, you know that the weather has been downright terrible over the last month or so. Today was a good change, and for the most part was beautiful. There were a few menacing clouds, and a few showers that blew through.

Interesting weather we're having.

Clouds of DOOM!

Finally, I'll take the last part of this post to talk about a post processing technique that I've learned recently. Specifically, the technique of converting color images to black and white. Of course, the easiest way to change a photo to black and white, is to simply convert it to grayscale and be done with it. This process leaves something to be desired, in my mind, and doesn't add anything to the picture to make it special. Black and white done right can look incredible, but it can also be drab and boring if not done right.

Portsmouth Lighthouse

For the above image, I used a conversion method that is described here. The site I linked does a better job than I could ever do in describing how it works and how to convert an image using this method, but needless to say, this is much better than a straight grayscale conversion.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Water drops

Water drops

So one thing that I'm starting to play around with in my photography lately is off camera flash. One great resource I've found for learning how to use off camera flash is the Strobist blog. There was a great post recently that spelled out how to shoot water drops. It was very informative, and I found that it was easy to take that info and apply it. So today, I tried the technique and had a great time with it.

Water drops

Water drops

Water drops

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

My current equipment.

So I figured I'd post what equipment I am currently using. If you are here for the photos, then you can skip this post and wait for the next batch of shiny photos.

For my camera, I use the Canon EOS Digital Rebel ETi. I've had it for a little over a year now. It is certainly a usable camera, but I am feeling the itch to upgrade it in the near future.

As for lenses, I've been collecting quite a few since I started shooting last year. The pride of my collection, and my most recent purchase is my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM. This lens is incredible. Tack sharp, and the colors are fantastic. My other lenses are the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS, the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro, and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. The kit lens treated me well for wide shots for a while, but I have all but outgrown it now. The 100mm and 50mm prime lenses are great. The 50mm can be picked up for around $100, so if you are shooting with canon cameras and you don't have one, do yourself a favor and pick one up. Finally, the 55-250mm is a decent telephoto lens for me, but I hope to upgrade to L series glass in that range in the future.

For other gear and equipment, I just made the jump into the world of pocket wizards and off camera flash. Right now, I only have one flash, the Canon Speedlite 430EX II, and a pair of Pocket Wizard FlexTT5's to trigger it off camera. I plan to get a few more flashes, a light stand or two, and some other random lighting gear. There is a chance that I'm obsessed.

An introduction.


Self Portrait
Originally uploaded by scotsdc2000
First things first. I'm Scott, and I am not a professional photographer. I take pictures because it gives me something to do, and I enjoy it. Taking a picture is a simple thing that anyone can do. Photography in it's simplest form is using a camera to capture a moment in time, but it is also so much more. There is always something new to learn. There are as many ways to take a picture as there are subjects. This is what I love about photography.

The purpose of this blog is... well I haven't really figured that out yet. But I think that I'll be using it to share some of my photography. I might also talk about the gear I have, the gear I'm thinking of getting, or the gear I love to drool over. This is a learning process for me, so we'll see where it goes.

Now I'm not expecting many views, but if you are reading this, I sincerely thank you, and hope you enjoy it. Feedback on my photography or the blog itself is always welcome.