Geometric explorations

I like exploring themes in photography, this one in particular being geometric. I saw this image while walking in Disneyland California Adventure.

The image of the popcorn all alone in the frame just looked so...sad. And I love the break in the geometric pattern.

Canon Powershot SD780, which is apparently a popular little camera.

And of course I look for geometric patterns in nature.

This shot is a similar composition to the above popcorn photo. I really like breaking the monotony of color/pattern with a pop of color in the lower third of the photo.

Shot with Canon 5D Mark 2, Tamron 90mm macro lens, f/5.0 at 1/1600, ISO 200.

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Princess Cereus

Ah, the Night-Blooming Cereus, a magical flower. She blooms for just one night in July or August, starting to open her petals to the world just after the sun sets. Getting larger and spreading her petals further, she gives off a beautiful fragrance to lure pollinators for the duration of her short life. She reaches her apex of beauty, and then daylight breaks. Princess Cereus closes her petals to the world as the sun rises, and then dies.

Not even the most handsome, strong prince can save her. But luckily my eye caught her.

Of the macro flower photos that I have taken, this is one of my favorite flower photo shoots, and here is one of my favorite images from the evening:

Since the Cereus only opens for one night (key word here), I got to try my hand with the strobes. It was now or never, as Elvis sings.

Using two Canon Speedlite 580 EX II's, one slave was bounced off of a white diffuser, while the master strobe was held above the flower through a diffuser by an innocent bystander (whatever family member I could dupe). of course I used the Canon 5D mark 2 in case there were any low light issues.

My dad also partook in the photographing of the flower, so we switched off as flash holder. In other words, I got a taste of my own medicine.

This was a fun and challenging macro shoot, since I usually do my macro photography during the golden hour, or inside where I can control the flower of choice.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful flower, and I hope she blooms again next year!

Thanks for stopping by.

Leave as is please...

Humans just cannot seem to leave well enough alone. An example of this is Oat Mountain, a mountain in the Santa Monica Mountain range. It is owned by the gas company, and the peak is home to telecommunications, so it has been spoiled.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Oat+Mountain+Mtwy,+Chatsworth,+CA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.819956,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oat+Mountain+Mtwy,+Chatsworth,+Los+Angeles,+California+91311&ll=34.309808,-118.60838&spn=0.031336,0.077162&z=14&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

Aside from that fact, well enough cannot be left alone. I recently went up there for the first time in about 18 months (I have been going there since I was a toddler), and of course brought my camera.

This photo was taken in February 2008, and note the wall on the right of the photo:

I took the following last weekend, July 2010.

Now, Oat Mountain is kind of a hike to the top, and the only way that someone can get to it in a car is by owning a key (which not to many people have access to).

I am sad that someone would travel to the top of the peak, with spray paint, just to deface a wall that very few people will see.

I noticed when looking through my Flickr set of Oat, that the scenery has changed (of course), but so has my eye. In February 2008, I was taking photos like this:

And in July 2010, I took a photo like this:

Now, for those of you that say, "What kind of camera is that? It takes such good pictures!" the first photo was taken with m first SLR, a Canon Rebel XTi. The last photo was taken with my iPhone.

Quite interesting to compare the type of photography and to see my growth as a photographer.

A couple of my favorites from this latest trip up there:

Of course I found the flowers on the otherwise brown mountain.

I'm also experimenting a little bit with some Lightroom presets and customizing:

This aged tone really spoke to me for this photo, because the tree is old, and the surrounding vegetation is brown anyway. I always think warmly of Oat Mountain because it has been part of my life, so this tone reflected my warm fuzzies for it as well.

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Citrus Classic Balloon Festival 2010

Last weekend, Santa Paula experienced an influx of hot air balloons for the third Citrus Classic Balloon Festival. About 16-18 balloons showed up for a soiree of color. I caught a few photos as the balloons were rolled out and set up before the sun set:

Taken with the Canon 5D Mark 2 (the only camera I use anymore), Canon EF 24-105 L.  f/7.1 to get a good amount of focus, at 1/80, ISO 100.  Cropping and color correction done in Lightroom 2.

I liked focusing on the guys that were working with the balloons to get them up and running for us to enjoy.

I played around a bit with this photo, keeping in mind the recent Creative Live weekend with David DuChemin, "Vision-Driven Photography":

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Canon EF 24-105 L. f/5.6 at 1/25, ISO 200. This particular photo didn't go along with my original vision, and I wish I would have done a few things differently with it, but I knew that it was important to the story of the balloons. In terms of editing, I used Lightroom to direct the eye a little bit by using some gradient filters.

In terms of the vision I had for this event, these photos are the closest to what I wanted:

The colors and the detail of the balloon are pretty much what I wanted (the execution to get exactly what I wanted was just a bit off).

I love this photo because it shows the wonder and awe that goes along with seeing these huge balloons lit up. It also looks a bit like the Wizard of Oz to me.

This little guy was tuckered out before night even fell:

I had to get his picture, his face was perfect.

Check out the rest of the set here , I really like how a lot of these photos turned out, and can't wait for the festival next year!

Thanks for stopping by!

Whiskers on puppies

OK, if you don't like puppies, just stop reading. Actually, if you don't like puppies, maybe it's time for a little self reflection. Who doesn't like to at least look at puppies??!

So, my lovely friend had some adorable puppies about 7 weeks ago. Well, her dog did. I have been waiting for these puppies to become little fuzzballs of love for their closeups, and I was not prepared for the cuteness before me:

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80) Aperture: f/2.8 Focal Length: 90 mm ISO Speed: 4000

They are a mix of possibly Jack Russell Terrier and Chihuahua (but they are cute, I swear!). I only got a chance to really photograph two of them, since puppies have A TON of energy. The little black and white guy (called Marcel Marceau) and this other little guy, named Fatso:

(That's my friend Kelly kissing her puppy)

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80) Aperture: f/2.8 Focal Length: 90 mm ISO Speed: 800

The light in both photos is from a Tungsten light to the right of the camera in front of the subjects. Guess which smarty pants forgot to bring their powerful 580EX II flash? That would be me.

I love both of these photos because they really show the bond of human and animal, and how tiny and helpless these puppies are in the hands of a human being.

I like the paws and nose detail of the first photo, and the juxtaposition of puppy paws and human hands.

So this is another case I couldn't pick one photo of the day for my Project 365ish Photo 65. It's just too hard when cute puppies are around.

This reminds me of a photography teacher whose class I sat in on VERY briefly in college. She handed out the syllabus, and told us she really wanted us to push the envelope, and didn't want to see pictures of puppies and kittens. I didn't go back for the second class. But that's another story...

Thank you Kelly for inviting me to take photos of those precious little puppies! It was a blast chasing them around!

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 31 and Aquarium of the Pacific Photographers Night

Yesterday I promised Day 31 getting its own post, and here it is! For Christmas I got tickets to The Aquarium of the Pacific's Photographers Night in Long Beach, CA. After all the non-photographers went home, the aquarium stayed open for me and 300 other photographers to let loose and take pictures. It was so wonderful of the aquarium to do this for us, however, all 300 people at one time were trying to take photos of the sea dragons, and then half moved over to the octopus. The outside parts were closed (no sea lions or lorikeets), but many of the exhibits stayed lit until 10 pm.

It was great to see so many photographers, and there was a range in equipment and skill level from point and shoot to pro. They also had Nikon set up to give free equipment rentals for the evening (enticing, but I was toting the 5D).

This was also my first real outing with Mark the 5D, but of course we made quite a team. An ISO of 6400 in an aquarium is magical. And yes, everything that has to do with my new camera is magical.

Of course I took a few hundred photos, but fish are fast little buggers. Also, thick, round acrylic aquariums aren't really the best conditions for the pesky little task of, you know, focusing. Among all the little fishies at the aquarium, I found this detail to use for my 31st photo in my Project 365:

I love the detail of this fish's fin. When he was moving, he looked like lace. I caught him while he was resting at the bottom of the exhibit (by this point I was kind of tired of chasing fish around). I love that when you first look at this image, you don't know that this is a detail of a fish. By the way, I don't know that this fish is a guy, I'm not a marine biologist. Taken at 1/160 at f/2.8, Tamron 90mm, ISO 2000.

But I TRULY cannot just pick one. Here are some of my favorites from the evening (All photos taken with Canon 5D Mark 2):

I love the detail in this living coral. Taken at 1/320 f/3.2, 90mm. ISO 6400.

I did a bit of experimenting with blurring the pretty colored fishies:

1/2 second at f/2.8 with Canon EF 70-200f/2.8L, 165mm, ISO 800.

Of course everyone wants to see the jellyfish. Thankfully, by the end of the evening a lot of the crowd had thinned out, so I got an opportunity to get these jellyfish photos:

Taken at 1/40 at f/4, Canon EF f/4L IS 24-105mm24mm ISO 6400. Some stray flash from other photographers, aquarium lighting.

Taken at 1/125 at f/2.8, Tamrom 90mm ISO 6400. Aquarium lighting.

And what kind of photographer would I be if I didn't play around with my FISHEYE lens at the AQUARIUM? :

Taken at 1/100 at f/2.8, Canon 15mm fisheye ISO 6400. Some stray flash from other photographers, aquarium lighting.

It was a great experience, and I cannot wait until the next photographers night! Thank you Aquarium of the Pacific for the photo opportunity! You can check out my edited photos on my Flickr set.

And as always, thank you for stopping by!

Project 365 Week 4- (Days 26-30)

And here is Week 4 of my Project 365! One whole month, and I am still taking one photo per day, editing it, and then putting it up somewhere. So here is a catch up from this past week. I am posting all the photos, because there is something that I love about every one. Day 26- January 26, 2010

Sometimes I am inspired during the day, and sometimes during the evening. Well this inspiration hit as I was scoping out dessert:

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, 1/250 at f/4, ISO 3200, 90mm Tamron. No flash, just overhead lighting.

Rafael is a friend of my boyfriend, and happens to be a pastry chef with his own shop in the Burbank/Glendale area (I'll link to his site as soon as it's up and running). I'm setting up a photo shoot with him, so I'm sure you'll see more of his work in future posts.

This wonderful creation is a vanilla Napoleon, and it tasted even BETTER than it looks. Rafael is fantastic, as you can see his from creation for my birthday almost three years ago:

Day 27- January 27, 2010

Tried a little bit of backlighting with my crystal bracelet that I made. I LOVE teal, and bought these beads a while ago. I finally put them together and was wearing them, and noticed the lighting from behind them and explored this just a bit:

This is obviously something I need to practice with, but I thought this was a nice little exploration.

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, 1/500 at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Tamron 90mm lens (This is my FAVORITE lens, and I will be using it almost exclusively come springtime!). One Tungsten light to the far left of the camera, and one Tungsten light higher and behind the bracelet.

Day 28- January 28, 2010

And Thursday I borrowed a new toy from Borrowlenses.com. I won one week's rental from them on amazingly talented photographer Jim Goldstein's blog in November, and decided it was time to use it. So, I extended the rental a little bit longer, and paid for an extra two weeks. Anyway, it was my first day to play around with...the Canon 15mm fisheye!! Oh boy is this thing sa-weet!

Hello, need I say more? And this was just messin' around the house with some banisters. I love the banister and stairs because it has a lot of straight lines that really show off the fisheye effect.

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Canon 15mm fisheye, 1/200 at f/2.8 (Oh yeah, this baby is fast!), ISO 3200, no flash, just Tungsten lights overhead that you can see in the ceiling.

You have GOT to check out my Flickr page for more fisheye fun!

Photo 29- January 29, 2010

I am always looking for photos. I just don't see things like other people do. So when my crystal glass was sitting in front of me at the dinner table Friday, this lemon just looked beautiful:

I promptly took the glass into the kitchen, which had better lighting, and got a chair to stand on so that I could look down INTO the glass, positioning the lemon just so. I love the way the bubbles are trapped in the lemon fibers.

Taken with Canon 5D mark 2, Tamron 90mm, 1/400 at f/3.2 ISO 3200.

Day 30- January 30, 2010

Late afternoon, beautiful lighting creating shadows through an iron gate:

Taken with Canon 5D mark 2, Tamron 90mm, 1/1600 at f/3.5, ISO 1600. Only available light.

OK, so I am currently working on the photo for Day 31. It's VERY special, and will get a post all by itself!

Thanks for stopping by!

Project 365 Catch up: Day 17

Whew! It has been a little bit since I have blogged about my 365 project (Don't worry, I'm still on it!). So let me catch you up a bit with photo days 13-17. It has been suggested to me to add metadata (Since this IS a photoblog and all), so I am going to try my best and do that for you, starting today! Photo Day 13

Two things for Day 13: I forgot my trusty point at shoot at home (How could I?) And then went out to dinner and shot this little ditty with my iPhone:

A little noisy, but I liked how the light hit the glass with the oil in it.

Photo Day 14

Big news for me and my photographic journey:

Is now mine! It was the only photo that I took that day, because really, that was the only thing that mattered on day 14.

Photo Day 15

Took a trip down to Anaheim to visit the funny talking mouse. I started out at Disney's California Adventure, which has changed a lot since it first opened--my last visit there--and all for the better. One of the details that I enjoyed seeing was a Gaudi style mosaic bench. This photo is one of the details of that bench:

I liked this particular detail because of the colors, and I'm a sucker for Shamu.

Taken with Canon Powershot SD780 (aka my trusty point and shoot). Camera on auto, 1/200 at f/3.2, ISO 200, 5.9mm.

Photo Day 16

I am a Pixar nut. Anything that comes from them, I am a huge fan before I even see it. And of course my foundation of love for them came from the movie Toy Story. These are my favorite little characters from that movie:

I loved these little aliens in the movie, and when I saw the "Bucket o' little green men" I had ideas for my new camera and these little guys. I like this photo because it's funny (how can you look at these and not smile?), and I like putting a little twist into photos.

Taken with THE Canon 5D Mark 2, 1/200 at f/4, Tamron 90mm, ISO 800 (Notice the lack of noise?? Love it!!)

And here we are at...

Photo Day 17

It ain't so sunny today in Southern California and I must say, as much as I normally don't like the rain, I loved it today because I could play around with Mark the camera and get photos like this:

I love reflections and water shots, so this was my first foray combining these two things with the high ISO.

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, 1/160, f/4.0, Canon EF 24-105mm at 105mm, ISO 6400 (Did I mention I love it!)

More rain this week, so I'm sure I'll get a few more rain shots up this week.

Thanks for sticking with me, and as always, thanks for stopping by!