Wish List

I always have something that I want to add my photo kit, but with a couple of school aged kids, there always seems to be higher priorities looking to drain my bank account.  I thought I'd use this space to keep a running list of the things that I'd like to ad to my kit, so when the chance (and funding) comes along I can come back to pick something.

Camera's
Casio High Speed Exlim point and shoot EX-FC100WE - $255.00
This little point and shoot camera gets high marks for its high speed HD video allowing for slow motion playback of your videos. 


Accessories
Manfrotto Tripod Head - 88.00
I have a Manfrotto ball head, but I don't like it much.  I'd like to use the video capabilities of my D300s more, but I find that the format of a large DSLR isn't ver condusive to smooth video.  And a ball head is useless for video.  I want something that will allow for independant pan and tilt functions and I think this one will do it.

Kata E-702 Elements Cover - $60.00
When the rain starts to fall my camera quickly gets tucked away.  This cover would allow me to shoot in adverse conditions.

Nikon SB-900 Speedlite - $500
I love the Nikon CLS.  I already own two SB-600's.  I've been in a couple of stuations where it would have been really nice to have a third lite.  I'd love to have a third souce, and while an SB-600 would be ok, an SB-900 is more powerful and more flexible.

Muslin
I'm finding myself increasingly in need of undistracting backgrounds. I'm adding black and white muslins to the wish list along with a background stand.  A minimum of 10x20 for each, but even larger, such as a 10-24 would be better.  I can already think of situations where two stands would be valuable, but I'd be happy to have one setup for the time being.

Challenge #12: The Street

Challenge #12 is 'The Street'  I like these kinds of challenges because they force me to go outside of my normal 'comfort zone'.  I probably wouldn't wander into the less-desirable part of my city's core at night to shoot a picture just for kicks.  But I might for a challenge :)

This is my first published High Dynamic Range (or HDR) shot in the challenge series.  It's not my first HDR shot - I've done a few of them now, but this scene definitely lent itself to the HDR process.  

To me 'The Street' means something in the realm of tough, lonely, abandonment... I hope this image captures something in that range of emotion.  

One of the coolest parts of this image is that my daughter decided to come with me on this shoot.  I like that we share this interest.  If you have a keen eye you can find evidence that we're both there.

Despite this picture having more of a 'dying small-town' kind of feel, it was actually shot near the core of a city of over one million people. While shooting this location we were questioned by members of the Calgary Police Service as to our motives.  I mentioned the weekly challenge and that we were shooting the pair of shoes (have you spotted them yet?).  They dismissed us as harmless and went about there patrol - and we about our shoot.  After processing this shot I thought it would have been cool to convince the cops to pose in this shot some how - parking their car in the frame would have changed this shot entirely.  Turning on their light bars would have had even more dramatic effect... damn!  Opportunity lost, but lesson learned.

I haven't printed this yet.  Now that I'm into the InkPress sample pack I wonder what paper would work best for this gritty sort of image.  Hmmm.....

Challenge #11: Photoshop Skills

Hmmm.... This week's challenge isn't really a challenge.  Most photos I've used have some post production work done in Photoshop. 

For some reason, I have a picture of Superman laying on the floor in our bedroom.  I don't know why it's there - it used to be in our son's room, but it is.  And every morning since this challenge was issued I look at this picture and think that I should do one of those lame superimpose-your-face shots and replace Superman's face with my mug.  Well... tonight's the night.  I present to you 'Superken'.

I'm probably going to get some letter from DC Comics legal team telling me I can't do this and have to take down the picture (which would be *really* odd since no one ever reads this blog).  But if that's the case I'll take down the picture and replace it with a copy of the letter!

I couldn't quite get the skin tone to the point that I wanted, but I ended up with a reasonable compromise, I think.  Several things are happening in this image, including surface blur, colorization, cutout, posterize, injection of some noise, and a whack of dodging and burning.

I'm beginning to hate printing, which is why I'm looking forward to the Digital Darkroom course I'm registered in at SAIT this fall.  I'm hoping that this class will help remove some of the mystery of printing (mostly from the Mac).  Incidentally, I came across a link that may help get my communication errors resolved on my Mac.  This guy seems to have done a fair bit of research and come up with a procedure that's suppose to correct a bunch of printing issues using the Epson 3800 printer with a Mac.  I'll have to try it on the next rainy day (after I replace the kitchen tap, caulk the new tiles in the bathroom, install the missing baseboard...).

Challenge #10: Best Friend

It's hard to believe that I've been doing the Photo Friday challenge with Conrad for 10 weeks already.  That means that we've met and critiqued each others work over at least 4 or maybe five beers now.  I'm enjoying the challenges, although I have to admit that I've not been feeling particularly creative lately and I think the quality of my work demonstrates that.

Best Friend was an easy shoot for me.  Shot the morning the challenge was issued, my son ended up climbing into my bed with his blankets and his best buddy 'Snowy'.  Before leaving for work I checked my Blackberry for this week's challenge and looked back at my bed.... it was a no-brainer.

I put a little more effort into the post production of this shot than I have on my last few shots.  A tight crop to the faces of 'the boys', some adjustments to the brightness and contrast to get the shadows to fall off quickly,  the application of some filters (charcoal and chalk to give the image just a hint of a sketched look, and some blur to soften things up a bit.  I printed the image on Ilford Galerie Smooth Fine Art paper which worked well for this shot.  Best Friend - done.  Next!

Challenge #9: Crooked

The crappy summer weather continued into the August long weekend.  Threats of severe weather and guarantees of rain were all over the news so we didn't venture too far.  Finally, on the holiday Monday we decided to get out of town if only for the afternoon.  We drove out to Bow Valley Provincial Park near Seebe, AB and went for a walk on one of the trails.  The walk took through a diverse area within the little park, from the riverbed of the Kananaskis River, where we found trout fry stranded in pools in the rocks away fro the main river, to a high ridge overlooking the river and much of the valley below.  A disturbing part of the hike was near the beaver ponds.  Mosquitoes were particularly thick in that part of the park and we were being eaten alive!

As we walked through the wetland and into the wooded thicket I found this boardwalk to be particularly crooked, along with all of the branches and grasses.  A bit of a stretch, I know, but I'll take it.

Challenge #8: Sky High

We were driving out to Cochrane, AB just west of Calgary to see my nephew and his new wife when my son spotted this huge nest on top of the tower.  Were stopped and I snapped a few frames of the nest but never got a good shot of the hawk, despite all of the noise she was making. 

When I turned around I saw this sunset and thought it would be nice to capture both the nest and the sunset, but that wasn't going to happen.  In order to get that shot I'd have to be standing in a mosquito infested bog.  So, I fired the shot of the next tower towards the sunset and pasted the nest in from one of my previous shots.  Not terribly artistic, nor was it challenging but it was quick, simple and it worked.

I printed this to Ilford Galerie Smooth Heavyweight Matte paper.  I'm learning that I'm not much of a matte finish fan.  Luster is about as far away from glossy as I seem to want to go.