Day 105

10/23/10

"Nights on the Highway"

I drove around a little bit to get some food with a friend and took this shot while driving down the highway.

Day 104

10/22/10

"LIVE"

A reminder to myself to just live my life.

(Shot in one exposure. Out of all the ones I took, this was the best, though obviously could be better. Its the thought that was important to me. I did this at 3:30am too, without a tripod.)

Day 40

8/19/10

"Sleepy Bunny"

I've been pretty busy today. With all my packing I didn't have much time to go out and hunt anything interesting down but I did "hunt" a little something down in my own backyard. Just a few days ago these bunnies had no fur and their eyes wouldn't even come close to opening. Today they were hopping around in their little burrow.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 37

8/16/10

"The Atrium (HDR)"

Tonight I again was stuck on what to shoot. It was late, and dark, and the stadium was right there. I had just read two books on HDR photography and was inspired to try one more HDR of Lambeau. This time I manually bracketed exposures +3/-3 at 1 interval. 9 photos, and it didn't require much post processing, which was disappointing. I'm planning on doing more HDR photos and putting in the hours on post processing so I can iron out problems I was too lazy to iron out before. For now, heres an HDR of the entrance to the Lambeau Field Atrium.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 34

8/13/10

"Light over Ephraim"

Today I moved back home to Green Bay for the week. One lease up and the other one not started, we had a long day of packing and moving, and on the way home I fell asleep in the car. I immediately went to bed, but woke up at 10:00 pm remembering that I hadn't taken my photo yet. I quick went downstairs and looked for something interesting to photograph, and since this lamp with an illustration of Ephraim was not only beautiful but by a comfy chair, it was my subject. Oh, and I just HAD to make this title a pun.

Day 33

8/12/10

"Mango Habanero"

Today wasn't a particularly fantastic day for photography. I would have been unmotivated to say the least, to go out and shoot photos today in the sun, as it was around a 100 degree heat index. On top of that (really, superseding that) anyway, was the fact that I had pain that was indicative of that you'd feel with a hernia. After suffering through some of the worst pain of my life at work, I went to the doctor to be told that it wasn't a hernia, and that I wouldn't have to have surgery, but that recovery from this "strain" could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Left with the idea of possibly missing the entire fall climbing season I resigned myself to finishing packing for the first move of two in a weeks time, and barely made it out to a meeting I really needed to get to. Afterwards, my friend Dylan and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings, with my camera in tow, and I decided a nice candid shot would do the trick. Though my ISO was set at 100 (by mistake) and therefore the shutter time was long (1.3 seconds), the slightly blurry picture I was left with was more interesting than any of the others of Dylan looking away. Another attempt at portraits. I don't want to be the guy that brings his camera out to dinner and takes pictures, but I could learn to enjoy portraits after a little work.

Day 29

8/8/10

"Lights on Regent"

Today I had a nice relaxed and slow day. I spent most of the day editing photos from the past 4 days, and I didn't really get a chance to find something particularly interesting to shoot. Instead of doing something concrete, I went out (into the harsh biting mosquitoes, which I wasn't expecting) and took a long (3 seconds at 3.5 f stop) exposure photo. Then I went and just played with dials, in all honesty, until this blue-tone photo came out. Pretty cool colors here.

Day 27

8/6/10

"Schizophrenia"

Today I went out with some friends to climb at Governor Dodge State Park, near Dodgeville, WI. Though the day wasn't productive for climbing for me, Mike and Dylan got on a few things and I was able to get a few pretty good pictures. As for the conditions, it was again clear that a lens with a higher aperture than 3.5 f-stop at 18mm. I often found myself more likely to use a full wide angle shot than zoomed in, so a wide angle lens with a larger aperture would be great some day. For now though, I really do like what I came up with.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 18

7/28/10

"Wednesday on the Terrace"

It was another Wednesday night down by the Union. I ran over to see if I could get some more shots of the fire dancers, but none of them turned out nearly as good as anything last week, and it would have been too easy to post those yet again. Instead, I went down to the Terrace to hang out with my friend Dylan and some other friends on Dylan's birthday. While sitting at a bench down by the lake, I saw this image framed in my view. Instead of a nicely lit, perfect image that I would like to take, I realized the limitations of my lens and decided to go a different direction. Low ISO, grainy, raw, long shutter speed, blur, and overly saturated. Here, I got almost everything I wanted. The only flaw in my image, through my eyes, is the two green dots that came through the lens. Not quite sure what causes that, something with how the light interacts with the lens I'm sure, but its too bad.

I've realized over the last 18 days that I love low-light photography. Maybe because thats when I have the most time, or most motivation to go out and shoot. Maybe its just because of the shots and the life you can pick up even in the dark of night. This realization has made me think that, depending on my financial situation at the end of the summer, I might like to buy the Nikkor 35mm AF-S prime lens that I was looking at. It would be perfect for shooting landscapes and shots like this, and with the high f-stop of 1.8, it would be able to shoot a wide variety, from grainy, to nice and clear, and this lens also would give me more options for bokeh, which I would like to shoot more of. Then, it would probably be time to save up for a wide angle, which, again with a higher f-stop, I could shoot more photos like this and in a nice wide angle to get more in my frame.

Thats all for now, click for a larger image.

Day 13

7/23/10

"Lights Out Lambeau"

Another night, a new subject, and another attempt at HDR. There are a few things I wish I had control over. The flare in the upper left corner from a parking lot lamp was unavoidable if i wanted the shot I wanted to get. Sad but true, and with my current equipment, I couldn't do anything about it. Also, with the multiple AEB shots I did and a moving part of this shot as well (the flag) being so lit up, a small amount of movement can be seen there. Lastly, a large white spot of a large spot light lights up part of a sign, creating almost a white hole in the photo. In my opinion, not bad for my second true HDR image, and I'm sure I will get better with time. Tomorrow I hope to get a chance to go in a different direction with my shots. For now, I sign off.

As always, click the photo for a larger view, and a reminder, that all my photos are copyright of myself. If you want to use them for any purpose beyond a desktop background, please let me know. Also, if you pick a photo for a background, let me know that as well, because it would sure make my day. Comments can be done with a Google (Gmail, etc.) account, or even anonymously, but you're encourage to sign anonymous comments so I know who you are. Thanks!

Firestorm Shoot

I wanted to share some of the 50+ photos I got last night at the fire spinner shoot. The beginning of the shoot caught me unprepared, as I had just walked up on the beginning, when one of the group began to hula-hoop. I only got my tripod out to catch the next part of the show, but those pictures I did get with a tripod were fantastic. Click any of these photos for a much larger shot.

"First Time Fire-Dancer"

The next few photos were done with the performer using a flaming hookshot.

"Snake"

"Alpha"

"Burning the Air"

I'd like to note how much I like this photo just because of the vortex that you can see of the flames, and the individual little tongues of flame as well. A bit over exposed, but I thought I might as well try many settings just in case I was missing out on something, and I have to say I really like the results.

"Butterfly Effect"

These photos are of a performer with a flaming staff.

"Light at Our Backs"

"Bending the Atom"

This last set of photos is of the performer with flaming poi.

"Ring of Fire"

"Flower"

"Ying and Yang"

"Buzz Saw"

"Kamehameha"

Day 11

7/21/10

"Firestorm"

This photo you HAVE to click to see larger. It was a great night. I wanted to shoot some more HDR, so I made my way to a spot I had picked out to take long exposure shots of traffic from a good vantage point. I was so lucky that that required me to bring my tripod, because on the way back, one of this guys lady friends was starting to hula-hoop with a flaming hoop. I didn't get the tripod out in time to shoot clear shots of the hula girl, but when the guys saw me shooting he pointed out where I should be (far enough away from the fire, and with my tripod), lit his hookshot and went to town. I have a bunch of photos that I will process later, but this shot, at 200 ISO, 1.6", f5, is completely untouched. Not one dial was moved during conversion from RAW.

Seriously. Click it. Make it bigger. Use it as a desktop background. For real.

Day 9

7/19/10

"Midnight Capitol Across Monona Bay"

Tonight, after my internet went out at around 8:30pm and I read through my new Rock and Ice, Urban Climber, and Climbing Magazines, cover to cover, I decided to go out and shoot some frames to cure my boredom. Though my original plan didn't work out quite as expected (I will share pictures that work in that fashion some other night), I thought of something I had hoped to take on a clear night as this: the reflection of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building, brightly lit up and reflecting off Lake Monona, one of the two lakes that butt up against the isthmus that is downtown Madison.

I took this right after midnight, probably around 12:15pm. Constantly worried that I will get accosted by police, even though I am always on public land with no posted time restrictions. After a parking mishap that lead to a ticket, I might be a little paranoid now. I sit listening to NPR (970 AM in Madison) in a parking lot next to Lake Side Fibers coffee shop, which turns out is closed for July, not that it matters much at 1:00am. You can still get WIFI!

The photo is just cropped, however just processed slightly from its RAW file. Just adjusting the brightness and black level. Not done as an HDR. After taking many pictures on both bulb settings and long exposures (15 seconds - 30 seconds), it became quite obvious that I need a remote trigger, so I will likely pick one up tomorrow. Additionally, as is seemingly the case with nighttime photography, there is a lot of noise in the sky, a bit more on the uploaded photo than in RAW or TIFF, but some there as well. I may have to consider buying Noiseware to start getting rid of noise in my photos, because its so bothersome to me and I feel it ruins some photos. Here however, I am overall very happy with my photo tonight.

As always, click for a larger photo.

Day 5

7/15/10

"Storms behind Lake Wingra"

Taken at about 1:15 am, I was hoping to get out and catch some lightening but none was close enough to get. My ISO settings were all off for the storm, but I decided to not touch this one. When you enlarge you can see the lake and lifeguard chair as clear as day. Learning my ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed is the main thing I need to work on.


Click the photo to enlarge.

Day 3

7/13/10

"Patrick at the Ivory Room"

The exposure just wasn't right, but I didn't have a chance to take many more as the place filled up. So I went with this. I also forgot to trim the photo a bit, but the proportions were what I wanted, so again, I just took it as is.


Click for a larger photo.