Yet another unmotivated day. Here is my wife’s basil plant.
180mm f/5.6 1/125s on camera flash blocked with a blank paper
Jul 192010
May 032010
Prevents Poor Performance. I have taken to sharpening my own knives. That way I can always guarantee that the knives I use are in the correct “shape”. I believe that success in the kitchen begins and ends with the knife. A good sharp knife and using correct skills makes everything so much easier. Cooking is like anything else, you have to put lots of time in doing boring tedious stuff that way when the moment of truth arrives everything is second nature.
50mm reversed f/22 1.6s
This was a tough picture for me to get all right. Getting the mill marks lit correctly without over exposing the metal was a bear, and get the right details in focus was just as hard. This was as good as I could get, but it was fun to try.
Apr 232010
This is from a statement from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints about Jesus Christ.
50mm reversal ring f/1.8 1/60 on camera flash @1/128
This was a simple picture, but I like it I think the detail is really good.
Apr 162010
This is the most important herb in my pantry. I love basil or as the Italians call it Basilico.
50mm reversal ring f/22 5s
I spent a lot of time on getting this right and that was after I thought I had found a good picture. That has led me to another post. I have posted every picture I took yesterday in trying to get a picture ready for the challenge. Please check it out (link).
Apr 062010
One of my favorite Italian meals is torts in brodo (tortellini in broth). The recipe is incredibly simple: a can of beef broth, a crushed clove of garlic, 1 lb of dry tortellini, 1 tbs chopped parsley, and as much shredded Parmigiana as you can get away with using. Here is one part can you guess which?
I took this with a nifty-50 on a reversal ring. I can tell that we (Christy grabbed it and took a couple of really fun pics also) are going to have a lot of fun with this method.
As a 2-fer here are a couple of the pictures Christy took with it. I like them better than mine.
This is the off a bottle of Cholula
This is daffodil that is our centerpiece now. This is SOOC, pretty awesome huh! I think it looks like a watercolor.
Apr 012010
I had fun trying this shot. I have been trying to conceptualize it for a while; this was the attempt to make it happen. I have had this knife for 20 years I rarely use it, but I have it.
55mm f/18 1/100s SB-600 to the right bounced off a white paper
This was very hard to get what I wanted. I wanted the knife crystal clear and bright with the background completely dark. I just couldn’t figure out how with the equipment and knowledge that I had/have.
Mar 302010
Most of you know my dirty-little-open-fact… I really, REALLY, REALLY like Mountain Dew. In high school my friends and I referred to this golden elixir as the “Essence of Life” or Essence for short.
40mm f/36 1/100s SB-600@ 1/128 power from underneath
This was a hard shot for me. I had to find a platform so that the flash was under the glass, and focusing in the dark was a challenge to say the least. Lighting the handle was the hardest,and after I had finally given up I noticed a flashlight, bummer.
Mar 252010
This was another experimentation session. I wanted to try out two off camera flashes. Mike and I rigged up both of our SB-600s and even “gelled” them with the red ends of post-it tape flags. This is my key chain from work 
it is also what comes on every bottle of Blair’s many hot sauces so I have alot.
55mm f/5.6 1/30s 2 SB-600 “gelled” red and placed directly to the right and to the rear and left
I am thrilled with this picture. It was a lot of fun to make, and I am happy with the textures, the “red” background, the colors in general. Added to the fact how much fun it was to make, just great.
Mar 132010
A couple in our neighborhood got married yesterday. I figured it would be a good chance to try a “wedding” photo.
I really need to start putting the shot information down, maybe tomorrow This was done with my D40 and plastic cup as a brace, I ain’t proud. I feel ok about the results. There could have been a better focus on main subject.
Mar 102010
I know you’re not supposed to, but I like it! On a similar vein running with scissors never appealed to me. It seems to me that “all” the real photographers have a couple of shots that are in their portfolios. Maybe not, but I sure see alot of stained glass windows, broken down vehicles, bridges, train tracks, and matches. This was my attempt to be “real”
This was a really fun shot to create. I got a 8.5X11 sheet of paper and spray painted it black that was my backdrop. Using my tripod I got as close as I could focus. Then I set up my flash at 1/64 power with an envelope out of the junk mail pile so that the flame was shielded from the flash, but the stick was lit and there was a bounce from the counter top. This is a fairly tight crop of the picture but other than that this is SOOC.
I love the detail on the match-head and the corona at the edge of the flame. This picture is dedicated to my inner firebug. 
