Category Archives: Photography

Related to Photography and taking or dealing with pictures.

Flower Power

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I am glad that what appears to be my favorite subject, flowers, are back. I wouldn’t have guessed that when I first got my camera, but judging by the number of pictures I have taken, it seems to be a close second to pictures of my kids.

I currently have this one as my background at work:

DSC_0463

This was growing in my grass in the front yard. I take lots of pictures from my yard, or the neighbors when I go out for walks by myself or with the girls. It is hard to get landscapes in the south end of Minneapolis, but flowers… we got plenty.

I am also happy with the 50mm f1.8 I got. I wasn’t sure if I would like it, not being able to auto focus. I am getting better at it, having finally adjusted the diopter on my camera correctly for me. I especially love the bokeh that I can get with it when I take pictures of flowers.

Tip toe through the tulips in the rain

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I looked out the kitchen window, and at the back fence, I saw that the tulips were coming up. Woo hoo. I have been waiting for flowers to come back around here. I like shooting flowers. Anyway, it was a bit of a trick to take their picture. It was raining. I grabbed Kate’s umbrella. Oh yea, I only had one hand for the camera, and the 50mm F1.8 I had on my camera is manual focus on my D40.

So, what I did was to hold the umbrella in one hand, the camera in the other with the focus set for as close as possible. Then I crouched down with focus just short of the flower. Then I took pictures as a slowly leaned in. I figured something had to be in focus.

This is what I got. Click for larger on flickr.

Red Tulip

Spring Tulips

Water, People, Cards, and the Need for a ND

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There has been a lot of water running down Minnehaha creek recently. I took Kate to Minnehaha falls to try to take some pictures. Kate hadn’t seen a live waterfall either.

I had to park several blocks away. There was a MS walk, and what seemed like thousands of people. Way too many people. I did get the tripod set up once, but I couldn’t get the shutter down slow enough for the look I wanted. It was too bright. Yes, I was there a little too late in the morning, but still, it makes me think that I need to get a neutral density filter of some sort. I would enable me to slow things down a bit more to get that real silky look to the water.

I also me another photographer there, with a massive tripod. She is also on flickr, but neither had a pen. Note to self: carry a pan and paper. Better yet, I want to make some business card type things that would have the address of my blog, and mybe my flickr ID.

Edit: Here is one of the pictures. Links to flickr.

Minnehaha Falls

Buy this book. (The Digital Photography Book)

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Judging by how many of these have been sold, there is no shortage of “The Digital Photography Book, Volume 1” if you want to borrow from someone. Scott Kelby wrote this book, and just found out it is the best selling digital photography book ever.

I have this too. In fact it was the second book I bought after some D40 manual. It is a great book. His writing style is great. He is funny, and presents topics in a conversational way that is interesting to read. There is lots of good info in here for beginners, and intermediate photographers that want to get the most out of their cameras.

It is cheap, about $16. Just go buy it.

[Update]

There are now three of these books. They are really quite useful. He covers a lot of ground across the three books. In the first there is a lot of “this is what lens, and settings I use of this type of shooting”, which is quite useful to beginners. In the other books he delves into lighting and portraits a lot more.

Probably the best thing about the books is the “recipes” section at the back of each book. In one or two pages he posts a picture, then describes the lens, the settings, and how to get the “look” he was going for in each shot. Very helpful.

The Nifty 50

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A few days ago I received a new lens in the mail. A Nikkor 50mm 1.8D. I debated getting this lens for quite some time. The lens only costs about $120, so what was the holdup? It doesn’t auto focus on my D40. I really wanted something that would let in more light. I had been kind of saving for a Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC HSM that does autofocus on my D40, but it is around $400 now. Bit of a difference in price.

When I first got my D40, I soon found out that the kit lens on my camera was almost useless shooting in my light deprived house without flash. I did get an SB400 flash, but I wanted to shoot available light.

The 50 has been pretty good, but I am finding it a bit difficult to focus. There is no focusing screen on my camera, just a little dot in the bottom left corner that I have to look for. I find that trying to focus and look for the dot is adding just that little bit more that is making it hard to compose and ensure that I am setting the proper exposure and other settings.

I think it is good that I am forced to focus with this lens, as a learning experience, but it sure would be nice if I didn’t have to.

Here is an indoor picture of Kate that I couldn’t have taken with the kit lens.

Eating

The Art of Children’s Portrait Photography

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childrensportraitphotographyJust finished reading the book The Art of Children’s Portrait Photography (amazon) by Tamara Lackey. I really liked this book, but the title doesn’t completely reflect the content of this book.

All the pictures in this book are of children, and the content is definitely geared towards photographers that take pictures of children, but this book sits squarely in the middle of a creative book, a how to book, and a business book. I am not really sure how you can sit in the middle of three different things, but it does.

Keep in mind that my overall impression of the book is very positive, but I may be just the right target audience. If you are already taking portraits, and have some understanding of you camera and lighting, but want some more specific advice on taking contemporary pictures of children and how you could structure your new business and handle workflow, then this book is for you.

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