Today Lori made waffles for breakfast. She likes them with strawberries and whipped cream on them, I prefer syrup, but hers look better! This was taken next to my patio doors, and is shot using all natural light.
Today I read page 86 in the 5D Mark II manual, Self-timer Operation.
Today we have a picture of my son Caleb and my wife Lori. We were at my mom’s house tonight and she likes to give the kids baths. Caleb really loves baths now and was being very funny. I caught this sweet moment of Lori and Caleb during his bath. The lighting was just the bathroom light, so it was a good thing I had the 5D MArk II so I could shoot at ISO 1000 with no problem.
Today I read page 141 in the 5D Mark II manual, Protecting Images.
This morning our area had a lot of fog. I knew that there might be something cool to photograph as the sun came up through the fog. this picture is some woods at the end of a field near my house. The fog actually got quite bad this morning. So bad in fact that there was a 31 car pile-up on the highway, and another 7 car pile up about 2 miles south of the first. By some amazing miracle, no one was killed, and only one person remains in serious condition. The highway was closed for over 7 hours while the State Patrol reconstructed the accident, and removed the cars and cleaned up the highway. I actually drove past where the cars were taken and saw some of them. Simply amazing that no one was killed. There were cars flipped over and cars piled on top of each other. Unfortunately, I could not get a picture of the cars. The State Patrol would not let me, but I will never forget seeing 30 cars lined up, and completely mashed.
Today I read page 31 in the 5D Mark II manual, Attaching and Detaching a Lens.
Cookies! Snickerdoodles to be exact. The are probably my favorite cookie of all time. I had to make some tonight for tomorrow, and I thought, why not make it the subject of a photograph. I am really interested in food photography, and would like to learn how to get better at it, but that will come with time. For this shot, I used a large fluorescent ring light I have and lit it from above. Pretty simple set up really.
Today I read page 172 in my 5D Mark II manual, Setting Custom Functions.
Today we have Elmo. This is one of my daughter’s favorite toys, and unfortunately, tonight I didn’t have a lot of time to shoot. Elmo was lit from the front (camera left) with an Alien Bee 800 with large soft box, and with an Alien Bee 800 to the right and behind Elmo with just a 7-inch reflector to create the rim light look. I tried a few shot with the light in the same position, but with a softbox, and just couldn’t get the effect I wanted. With a little playing I threw the 7-inch reflector on there and got closer to what I wanted. It was good practice for sure.
Today I read pages 78-80 in my 5D Mark II manual, Selecting the AF Mode.
If anyone out there is considering a photographer, do NOT choose these two! Judge Joe Brown, who really knows his stuff, smacks these two “professional” photographers with a judgement $1500 above what the plaintiff was asking for! These photographers were using and entry level DSLR (The Canon Rebel XTi), and kit lenses that come with the camera. Any one can get this kit right now at Best Buy for probably $800 and get a printer thrown in too! I actually started with a kit similar to this to learn the basics, and when I decided to open my business, I opened my check book! A good photographer could probably get away with using the camera, but those lenses are paperweights! This is why I only use top of the line camera bodies, and top of the line lenses, flashes, and anything else I have. These so called “professional” photographers got exactly what they deserved! This is also why it pays to ask the photographer about their equipment. Even if you don’t know exactly what they are talking about, the photographer better! These ladies didn’t even know the speed of their lens! That is probably only the top 1 or 2 things you should know! Rest assured, that this kind of situation would never happen with Adam Marin Photography. Besides acting like and having professional equipment, I absolutely stand behind my work 100%. If you are not happy, 100% money back!
Today I was able to figure out (sort of) how to get the shot I was trying to get last night. I saw a picture somewhat similar to this on the internet and I was trying to recreate it last night. Everything I tried, just didn’t work. The biggest problem I was having was actually just trying to get the wedding rings to stand up inside the book! The lighting I got close, but the standing of the rings just wasn’t working. I am using my, and my wife’s rings and they have very round bottoms. A little google search unveiled several images of this type, and I came across one that had the rings setup like this. I tried it, and finally got it to work! I also saw someone had a post that said they used a flashlight for the light, and that they were able to get the light into a heart shape to match the ring shadow. I played with things a little but and voila! I was able to recreate the image. What I did was to tape my Surefire flashlight onto a light stand with some gaffers tape. I aimed the flashlight, and was able to get a good shadow. It was until I made the image that the heart shape of the light appeared. It was pretty cool to see, and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. This is something that will come in handy for the weddings I have coming up!
Today I read page 85 of the Canon 5D Mark II manual, Selecting the Drive Mode.
Welcome to day 3! This was a hard one for me. I was working on one idea, and it just wasn’t working out, so I ditched that idea and decided to shoot my 5D Mark II. I actually shot it with my two Alien Bees 800 with large softboxes to camera right and left. Left was my main light and right my fill.I shot it on my black granite tile to give a slight reflection.
Today I also read page 101 in my 5D Mark II manual, Mirror Lockup.
1/250 sec at f / 4.5 ISO 200 100 mm Canon EOS 40D EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Today is day 2 of my 365 day project. The image i created tonight is a simple one, but I like it. I decided to make the image using my Canon 40D, since I never really get to shoot with it. Having the 5D Mark II, I use that most of the time with the 40D as my back-up camera.
The image was made using one Alien Bee 800 to camera left with a large softbox. I used my 100mm Macro lens again. I may just make every image this week with my macro lens. Again, this is a lens that I don’t get to use a ton, but that I really like. I guess that will be one of the benefits of this project as well. Mini assignments within the major project, and the chance to get to work with equipment that I don’t get to use all the time. I guess I will make it official. This week all images will be with my 100mm macro lens.
Today I also read page 97 in my 5D Mark II manual, Auto Exposure Bracketing.
Today begins my 365 day project. What is a 365 day project you ask? Well, as it sounds, it is a project that lasts 365 days. The goal of this project is to take my photography to the next level. The best way to get better at photography is to take more pictures! The way this will work is that I will be taking and uploading at least one image each and everyday. That is the goal anyway. I know that it will be a very challenging project to complete, but I am going to try the hardest to do so. The images may not be great, and the images may be kind of stupid at times, but they will be images. I plan on taking images with my professional gear all the way down to my iPhone. I am also looking for a point and shoot camera to carry with me at all times. I am thinking about going with the Canon G11, or possibly the Olympus EP-2, but we will see. I got the idea for the project at Tasra Mar’s website. Scott Bourne inspired her to do it, and being a fan of Scott’s, I had to try it for my self as well/
Along with this project, another thing you can do to become a better photographer is to read a page out of your camera manual each and every day. It helps to keep you familiar with the operation of your equipment, and keeps things fresh in your mind. It also helps you remember how to work the camera when you are under pressure, of needing to get the shot. I will not only be reading out of my camera manual, but also the manuals for my flash, and possibly any other equipment I have. Today, I read page 96 of my Canon 5D Mark II manual: Setting Exposure Compensation.
The image that you see in this post, is my first image of my 365 day project. I thought it was a fitting image to mark the date and time that my project has started. It is an image of the Fossil watch I received as a gift for standing up in my cousin Ben’s wedding. The watch was shot with two Alien Bees 800 flashes with large softboxes triggered with Pocket Wizards. It is resting on a piece of black granite tile I bought at Lowe’s and was shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 100mm Macro lens.
Besides the images being posted here, I have also created a little web gallery using Lightroom 3 Beta that I will be updating with all the images, so that they can be seen easier. That gallery will be located at http://www.adammarin.com/365/. Please feel free to check it out.
I look forward to working on this project, and I hope that it will help me to grow as a photographer!
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