MM 142 - Post.01

I have completed my first week of classes at the local community college and one of the classes I am taking is MM (multimedia) 142. This class is a digital photography class. It will be the first and possibly the only photography class I take in my life. I thought that over the course of the semester I would share my assignments with you and display my projects (photos) as they become available. As I post my projects, feel free to contribute comments concerning any thoughts you might have.

This sequence should inspire me to post more often. Hopefully my assignments won't be a complete bore

In Him,
d.price

Pitch Black + .45 ACP + 2" exposure =

Okay, it wasn't actually pitch black, but it would have worked better if it had been. In acquiring this photo I was able to use my new Nikon 80-200 F2.8D AF lens. It wasn't a must, but it allowed me to not have to stand too close.

dp

Black Olive

Black Olive Photographic is a studio I am apart of. We have just launched our web site and I have a public portfolio of my work. To view it you can either navigate to it via the link in my links menu or click on the link below to go directly.

My Portfolio

dp

SB-600

I know it has been a long time but I am here to tell you about a new "tool" I have picked up and started using with my camera. A few days back I picked up my first external flash unit. Nikon has dubbed it the "SB-600 Speedlight". Since my puchase I have enjoyed several key features included.

#1: Power!

#2: 270 degree swival head

#3: Power!

#4: and again Power!

Now there is a lot included within the word "Power" that I am not specifying. With the "power" of the flash I'm am able to do short burst whereas with my on camera flash I am crippled to one shot at a time. The other aspects of Power is the range of the flash. It is capable os being effective up to 98 ft. Power also comes into play for the use of the swival head. with that feature I am able to use flash everywhere indoors and bounce the light off of walls, ceilings, and even floors if need be.

Here is a picture of my dog taken with my new flash unit. the light is bounced of an adjacent door (right). with this lighting, pleasing shadow detail is created on the left side of her face




dp

a slow approach to lightning

A couple of nights past I had the opportunity to sit on my deck and enjoy several hours of magnificent lightning. I had my camera ready of course. That night it recieved quite a work out as I kept it clicking away constantly. However, because of the quick nature of lightning it is virtually impossible to predict and therefore created problems for photographing.

My own personal solution included a way for me to enjoy the lightning as a person while also taking pictures of it. Usually I am faced with the problem of disassociating myself with my subject and therefore never fully enjoy the actual moment. With this lightning store it was a different case. I shot from the hip that night. I also used very slow shutter speeds. By using long exposures I could point my camera toward the activity and during the 10 seconds I could sit back and enjoy the lightning. By using this method I was able to capture the photo below along with others.


Nikon D50
10 sec (shutter)
50mm MF
ISO 200
f6


dp

Panarama

This is a compilation of 9 photos I shot of a sunset after a storm. This is the view from the back of our house.



I owe getting this picture to my sister who heckled me to come and look at this sunset. Thinking I had seen about every sunset out there I wasn't too enthusiastic when she told me to I should get a picture of this one. I took one look, grabbed my camera and came back and took the 9 pictures which make up this wonderful scene.

dp

Audience Participation "Round 2"

here is the second photo in the series.



If you find yourself speechless then please just leave a ( * ) to ( ***** ) rating.

dp

A Turning Point

Someone asked me a while back, why I started watermarking my photos. I have a clear answer to give, ownership. I have met many people who refuse to acknowledge the rights belonging to a person to own a work they have created, or in my case captured. Many people justify, their actions of appropriating photos for personal or commercial use by saying “I could have done this”. Well if this is true I would recommend to them that they do just that. If photography or other forms of art were simple or easy to replicate, it wouldn’t be rare, it wouldn’t be sought after, and people would never pay for it.

As a photographer I spend a lot of time behind the camera taking pictures of various people and their daily expressions. I often get weird looks and crazy stares but it is what I enjoy doing. However this dedication to the art of photography allows me to capture distinct facial expressions, even as it disassociates me from congenial interaction. The benefits received by me staying glued to the back of the camera are; un-posed, purely original, and truly keepsake photographs. I prefer to take candids for this very reason but often people assume that I am merely doing it for my own entertainment and that I am willing to shoot anything because of this enjoyment.

As a photographer striving to start a studio, I am faced with the challenge of promoting myself professionally and often times come across as protective and snobbish. This is not the case, I am very eager and happy to provide photos to people who ask, but appreciate people who realize the cost of time and money, past and present, I have spent in the ability to provide memorable photos.

To end this note, I would like to thank all those of you, who have acknowledged and appreciate what I have been and am doing.

dp

Audience Participation "Round 1"

I am starting a regular posting that will include a strange or not so strange photo that everyone can share opinions about. Please speak your mind. This will only be interesting if people participate.

here is the first photo in the series.


dp

Macro photography with any lens

well folks, it was a mystery to me a couple of weeks ago, however when thinking about it for a moment I could see how it would work. By simply holding a lens backwards in front of a SLR camera a photographer can achieve stunning macro capability with any lens. The two photos below were taken with ordinary lenses held backwards to my DSLR.

Taken with Vivitar 85-205mm f3.8 MF (backwards)


Taken with a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 MF (backwards)



DP

Fast enough to stop!

Well, I have just acquired a new lens for my Nikon D50. It is a 50mm f1.8D Nikkor lens. 50mm on any Nikon Digital SLR is actually 75mm due to the digital sensor size.

Anyway my main attraction to this lens was that it had an aperture option of f1.8. What his means is that aperture of iris of the lens can be opened really wide, allowing a lot of light into sensor allowing for shooting capabilities in lower light situations.

These pictures below are some selections from numerous photos taken during this game of ping pong. My camera settings were 1/500 sec shutter, f1.8, 50mm, ISO 1600. If you notice, the subject maintains a very similar pose between the shots. It is almost like there was 2 photographers who took the photo at the same time.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think of my new lens.

Strength in numbers

Quantity is a real factor in taking nice pleasing candids. Even really good and experienced photographers don't get good photos 100% of the time, however they may get a higher percentage. The answer then is to shoot and keep shooting. The other night at a a local benefit talent show, I shot over 335 photos and out of those pictures I recovered 13 nice shots.

Senario:
The lighting was poor and flash was not a possibility. The only available lens that was fast enough for that lighting condition was a manual focus 50mm f1.8. Focusing manually can be a little difficult. specially when the camera it is attached too doesn't provide a focus aid. The majority of my problem was in focusing, however I did have some exposure issues as the lighting varied from act to act. The other factor to the night was I was confined to a single seat, it would have been weird to get up and move about for better angles and such.

Here are a few of my winners.







DP

School

Sorry folks, I have been busy with my first couple of weeks school. Hopefully I will have new cool school projects to post and various techniques to pass on. Keep in touch.

DP

The buy out!

Well folks "My Critical Thoughts" has been bought out by "My Critical Techniques". Not because I am so arrogent to think so highly of my technique, but because it really applied better to where I am going. When I first started this blog it was my intent to write more with images displaying my meanings. Well I hate writing, so it really ended up being a gallery of projects and stuff I have done, with a little bit of writing mixed in. Anyway it is no longer "My Critical Thoughts" but more oriented around my technique.

DP

Low Light

This photo was taken with my new camera.
Nikon d50
18-55mm f3.5-5.6G DX Lens

Specs:
Shutter - 30sec (tripod)
ISO Speed – 200
fStop – 5
Exposure Date 1.14.2006





DP

Posterization No.2

DP

Copyright 2006 David Price

Saturation

Saturation in a photograph can have a lot of emotion effects on how the image is perceived.

"normal"

This normal photo was taken mid day. I was using natural light (sun) and the person, the guitar, and the stones seem very bleak. I have several renditions of this photo below to illustrated the benefit of varying the saturation beyond the "normal" photo.

"high saturation"


"low saturation"


"black and white"

DP


copyright 2005 David Price

Posterization No.1

copyright 2005 David Price




DP

Cool Picture #3

copyright 2005 David Price

DP

Long Exposure

Here is a picture shot with my new DSLR. This photo was an experiment to see the noise level generated by this camera during long exposures. It was shot with a 6 second exposure time, a f10 stop, and a ISO speed of 200. I have to say I was amazed at the results. Take a look at the close up and let me know what you think




DP

copyright 2005 David Price