undocumented pizza

IMGP7345, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

This one's the best of a not-so-great batch because it embraces the blur as motion as opposed to other exposures that were blurry for lack of focus on the right thing. Had my camera hoisted above my head and could not focus well, I guess. Also like the pizza boxes in the background.

day 29: bummed

IMGP7298, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

My trigger battery was dead! So no off camera flash could brighten this scene with the best sushi I have ever eaten. I post this picture out of regret for what it COULD have been... Teaches me to charge these elinchroms up more regularly.

day 28: bitter

IMGP7290, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

this subtle texture caught my eye during breakfast yesterday. Color balance is tricky in long morning light on a warm colored surface with warm colored subjects. this could probably use some adjustment.

day 26: suspended

DSCN2212, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

I caught this one with a point and shoot garbage camera while on a foggy job-site for work. It seems like all my hobby time has been consumed in legal/ procedural business related to the house. I'm sad on days when I neglect the blog, so I'll try to do my best to keep up. Don't want to lose momentum!

day 24: offer approved

P1040294, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

We placed our first offer on a condo last night which was accepted today. My mind has not been on photo making, except insofar that I documented every neat thing about the house. This photo shows the front; ours will be the 3rd and 4th floors with the big arched/bay windows.

day 23: fingers crossed

P1040279, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

day 22: my brown eyed girl

IMGP7243, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

This was fun. I read about this "heart shaped bokeh" technique on my friend's blog last year, and the opportunity to try it myself became available with the new fast 50 lens. The technique is simple and plain neat in its concept, but I found that the fixed lens made the execution of the actual shot to be quite a challenge: In order to really blur the background, you move your subject as far from the dangling christmas lights in the background as possible -- done -- and you use the closest focal range possible on the lens. Unfortunately the closest point in my fix lens would be less than a foot from the lens -- too tight for a portrait like this. Very frustrating, because I could see that if I had focused on something closer to my lens the hearts would be nearly double the size that you see here!

But alas, I had to fit in my brown eyed girl, so smaller hearts it is. Lesson learned: I think this would work easier with a fast and wide telephoto lens.

Works on street lamps and car headlights as well!

Here's a bonus picture from this afternoon.

IMGP7266, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

day 21: new religion?

IMGP7167b, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

Three weeks, and almost without fail -- I can't think of another hobby I've picked up with such regularity in recent past.

Today's photo was during a hard freeze after a few days of warm, sloshy thaw.  A lunchtime meander brought me to a fantastic old shingle-style Gothic revival chapel near my office, and the condition of the white-washed shingle courses was befitting of the day: weathered. 

Couldn't quite decide how to crop the photo, so I've posted an alternate on flickr.

I like really desaturated palates for winter, but they're hard to get right. This one still feels a little rose colored.

One more frustration: I don't think I can rely on Picasa anymore as a direct viewer for RAW files -- it's the reason so many pics turn out grainy, because it's stretching out the histograms to brighten the dark photos.  Still, the Pentax software for developing RAW files is asinine.  Any free software out there that does a better job?

day 20 (and day 3/3 of "norovirus")

IMGP7150, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

Not a stretch of the imagination or talent, to be sure--I see how tabletop photos are becoming as much of a rut as was shooting things out of the window--but these were nevertheless photo-worthy and handy.

Still staying in, but finally feeling 100% again.  Thanks for the well-wishes.

day 19

Enough said.

day 18: guest picture from the Nile

photo taken by Linda Floyd

Well, I'm sicker than a dog today and could barely sit up to my computer much less take the camera out. But I have to give a shout out to Linda for just one of her many fantastic shots from her river cruise down the Nile. I love the color and composition, the expression on her subject, and the variable textures of the water, grass and sand. An inspiration!!

(I think I've got the same bug Peter had on the boat... hope it ends as quickly as his did.)

day 17: dusty vase

IMGP7073, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

This remote strobe fun almost shouldn't be allowed.  Makes for nice pictures and formerly impossible setups in very little time.  This is is a normally opaque glass vase but illuminated with a strobe below and behind it at a very low power setting (1/132).  The vase then becomes a kind of bulb to illuminate the rest of the scene.

day 17: alice in stripes

IMGP7027, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

I may post quite a few strobe balancing photos going forward, because I'm totally addicted. This little lady was a pleasant model despite having an unpleasant stomach bug. She's in a somewhat dimly lit, late-afternoon setting by a north-facing window to her right/front, a dining room light to her back right, and my remote triggered strobe almost immediately behind her on the piano (ceiling bounce).

Once again, I didn't get many shots that I was pleased with today because my moving target was so often out of focus. But one thing I learned is that my success was better once I turned my Select Focus dial to Center-focused, and then turned the AF to single focus (instead of constant). My buddy Chris (Alice's dad) reminded me I could center focus first, lock it in, then re-frame the shot. That's so much faster and I think more dependable than using the focus selector tool to move the red dot focal point around the screen to where I want the focus to be.

day 16: trigger happy

At last I have control of my strobe! Picked up the triggers today at the Calumet store in Cambridge, and I'm indeed grateful. The ability to fire remotely AND have full control of all of my flash functions (including reduced power) will be revolutionary. Consider this fact alone: when firing only the power necessary to balance a shot (often 1/4 power or below) the flash takes almost no time to recharge, so I can take rapid fire shots! Amazing.

This photo is certainly nothing spectacular (except for its subject of course!) but it illustrates a challenge I've already discovered: when attempting to balance by first taking a meter reading and metering the camera as if taking a picture without flash, what if the meter reading comes through as impossible to shoot without a tripod, such as in Sharon's dark office tonight? Clearly, the flash then becomes the dominant source of light and not just a balance fill. I'm trying to figure out what the rules would be in this case, because I imagine this is common problem to 90% of parties, receptions or indoor events.

Also, why is everything so much more grainy in dark lighting conditions such as here:

day 15: bok

Our local grocery store called Market Basket is a great place to find produce that is fresh, varied and colorful. (I'm struggling to hold back a virtual glut of pictures that all were contending for the photo of the day, only because I went overboard in Produce). The store is such madhouse of bustling shoppers that nobody stops to notice an amateur photographer snapping away.

day 14: nearby shops

IMGP6753, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

I broke away for lunch to take pictures at the bikeshop, but gladly stumbled upon another neighborhood goldmine.  But damned if I didn't mess up the focus under pressure in my eagerness to get the flash/lighting right!  The barber was a little unhelpful too in that he kept posing and looking straight at the camera.  Nevertheless I'll keep trying,  because the challenge of peopling my pictures is too rewarding!

Of course, bikes are still cool too...

IMGP6727, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

IMGP6749, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

IMGP6739, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

IMGP6737, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

IMGP6742, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

day 13: textures morning and night

IMGP6675, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

two pics from my walk to and from the subway today, ca 7am and 7pm. We had new snow monday, and very clear skies ever since. I had to bump the contrast on the morning shot in order to bring out the subtle texture of the snow to contrast with the obviousness of the bark. The night shot would have been nice in color, but I didn't have a tripod and had to use 1600 iso at 1/40s and you could really tell in the color shot -- grain and blur was more prominent.

IMGP6707, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

day 12: early

IMGP6633.DNG-1, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

it's winter. I'm not getting out as much as I'd like. Here's one more view out our window. (Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I've covered everything there is to see out there.)

So my fear was that the obvious blue tone would misconvey the scene -- like maybe I didn't meter it correctly -- but this is honestly what our morning looked like at 6:20am. The lit windows help to tell the story, I think.

This pic makes it look like a pretty shabby neighborhood!

day 11: pinhole

IMGP6618-1, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

This was a very keen gift from my brother Adam, Christmas 2006. I'm ashamed to admit I've only ever used it as an objet d'art on our mantle, but that's mostly for lack of large format film and processing. (Excuses...) They're sold by the Lomographic Society in New York, and it's exquisitely crafted and finished: a beautiful reduction to photographic elementals. And I love the bubble level on top for its eminent practicality.

day 10: out the window again

IMGP6495, originally uploaded by elbowclarke.

Still studying--exam on tuesday--so here's another one from out our apartment window. I added a touch of gradient to the sky and bumped the contrast some. I ended up trading back to the 50mm to get better sharpness/detail of the woodgrain, though compositionally it meant accepting a certain amount of bleeding with the subject running out of frame in all directions. I see now that the focus is just off the wood, more on the wires beyond. Rats.

I'm interested to buy a book on flash work, if anybody's got a recommendation.

Go Pittsburgh!