We had a rather long walk from our parking spot to the Santa Monica Pier when we decided it would be a nice place to visit. Our view was pretty nice from there, too.
This guy was taking a nap from his hard day of work playing the guitar at the top of the cliff.
Canon 7D with EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 @ 55mm 1/800s f/5.6 ISO 100.
According to some[one], Maggie has been significantly underrepresented this year. With time running out on the 2010 52 Project, I figured I better get started posting pictures of the “cutest, nicest, softest, fuzziest black dog ever.”
Canon 7D w/ 17-55 f/2.8 IS
Taken at 55mm, f/2.8, 1/80s, ISO 1600
Previously, I mentioned how I would use other shots from our vacation as fallback material. Welcome to the first one of those. This shot was from the morning of our balloon flight as they were preparing the balloons. It’s quite the process and very neat to watch. The man standing in there was actually our pilot. Another balloon had a dog helping out, which was cool. The dog really liked the fans.
Canon 7D with Sigma 30mm f/1.4 @ 30mm 1/6400s f/2 ISO 100.
I don’t really dabble in HDR much. In fact this is only my second attempt (the first being the Golden Gate bridge from our Napa trip.) Anyway, stained glass is something that, to me, almost begs for HDR; it’s the only way you can really convey the color and beauty in a single picture.
Canon 7D w/ 17-55 f/2.8 IS
3 photos, Taken at 44mm, f/2.8, [1/80s, 1/100s, 1/400s], ISO 100, Merged using Oloneo
As it turns out, last week’s experiment with getting off-camera lighting going with my camera was time well spent. Today (well, tonight) we hosted a Halloween party and most everyone even dressed up! We had a jailbird, an animal family, a Minecraft creeper (huh?), a snow ninja, a doctor, a door-to-door witness, Snooki and the Situation, vampires with their cute pet ladybug, and Amelia Earhart with her doctor husband and their not-allowed-on-Apple-products baby (huh?).
For the costume photos, I had my external flash sitting on the countertop being triggered by my camera. My goal, in the limited space I had (our kitchen), was to hit everyone from the side and get their shadow up on the wall for a more “Halloween-y” look. Next year? More lights, I hope!
Earlier today I was playing with the 7D’s ability to remotely command off-camera flashes. Up until now, I haven’t been able to, well, make it work, but I finally got it tonight.
The downside to the Canon system is that the on-camera flash is required to trigger any other flashes. Normally, this isn’t too big of an issue, but in my case, I’m right in Roxy’s face (as she would certainly tell you) and the on-camera flash was affecting the picture. So, this was taking with one hand being used to block the on-camera flash from hitting her, but far enough away that my external flash sitting on a foot stool to my left would see and trigger off of it. Got that?
Those of you more familiar with what I’m talking about might be wondering why I don’t get some other type of wireless trigger. Fact is, I have a Cactus V2s set that works most of the time, but takes CR2 batteries which I don’t really have on-hand. I would love a set of the much-more-reliable V4 triggers, or heck, Pocket Wizards, but I’m not really good enough at it to need those.
If you’re curious to learn more about what-the-heck I just said, I’d suggest starting here with David Hobby’s excellent series of articles about off-camera lighting.
We went to the KC Renaissance Festival this week. It was… an experience. I didn’t take much in the way of pictures so I’m stuck posting a random picture of a camel. Oh well.
Canon 7D w/ 17-55 f/2.8 IS
Taken at 42mm, f/2.8, 1/1250s, ISO 200
Earlier this week was the annual United Way Day of Caring in Fargo. My team from work grouped together to go help a few local senior citizens with fall yard work and house cleaning. Definitely a worthwhile event. I didn’t have a chance to take too many photos as I was actually doing stuff, but you can see all twelve photos here.
Canon 7D with Sigma 30mm f/1.4 @ 30mm 1/200s f/2.8 ISO 100.
Our good friends Shaw and Maureen are having a baby soon, and in anticipation of the soon-to-be arrival we took some pictures. It was my first ever (non-baby) “photo shoot,” and overall I’m really happy with how they turned out. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have such good looking subjects.
The whole gallery is here.
Canon 7D w/ 17-55 f/2.8 IS
Taken at 46mm, f/2.8, 1/125s, ISO 200
