Gizmodo Shooting Challenge: Oscars

So I got featured this week! Yea! It has been a while. Even longer for me as I felt I had some pretty good shots the last few weeks. This week's winning shot is fantastic! Check it out here: http://gizmodo.com/5880811/13-new-best-picture-nominees

Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda 2, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I was starting to feel pretty good about my submission for this week's challenge and then I stumbled across the photos that my flickr friend, Diego Jimenez , took for the challenge.  He ended up doing a food-inspired theme to go along with the movie.  All his photos look fantastic and could easily be used as marketing material.  I don't think I stand a chance now...

The Challenge:
Take a photo inspired by or paying tribute to a film from 2011. It can be an Oscar nominee, or it can be a film that you wish were nominated.
http://gizmodo.com/5879170/shooting-challenge-the-oscars

My Comment:
As a parent of a 3 and 5 year old, I don't make it to the movies very often. I haven't seen any of the movies up for Best Picture but I was able to enjoy a family night out at the theater with a showing of "Kung Fu Panda 2," up for Best Animated Film. We enjoyed the movie immensely and I was struck by the amazing visuals, whether CGI or during the paper-style animation flashback scenes, throughout the film. My shot is of Po (my son's happy meal toy) in front of a paper background with some paper cutouts I added. I back-lit the photo with a desk lamp in an attempt to give the panda a little less toy feel.

Night Photography Assignment 1: Stars

So I was hoping to get an assignment for this week in our class but I'm not sure if we will ever get any. I went ahead and made myself my own assignment: stars. I have tried to photograph stars in the past with not much luck. I have always liked "star trails" photography and hoped to make my own photos. Many people use computer software to layer a number of 30 second exposures to create a full sky of trails. I tried it in a single exposure. The only problem I got was it allowed in too much ambient light giving it a washed out feel.
I also read about "urban" star shots. One blog, Long Exposure Tips, discussed using a 50mm prime lens and opening up the aperture to f/2.8, lower the white balance to 2500K and shoot at a low ISO. This seemed bizarre to me as you typically need a high aperture with a long exposure so it doesn't create too bright a photo. I tried this a few times and found that the stars end up blurry and if the exposure goes to long, you get small streaks instead of stars.
I noticed on my long exposures of the sky, especially the third shot below, I am getting small red dots across the photo. Are these airplanes or a problem with my camera/lens? They seem to be in the same place on every photo. I was pleased how the sky in the long exposures of the second and third photos still stayed a dark blue instead of brightening up like the first photo. I adjusted the white balance on these photos to a lower level (Tungsten light, Approx. 3200K). I'm not too sure how to use these settings or even how to create my own. Maybe we will learn some of this in future classes. Here are a few of the better photos from this week:

6,404 second exposure, f/18, 50mm, ISO 100
45 second exposure, f/2.8, 50mm, ISO 100
2,759 second exposure, f/22, 18mm, ISO 100

Unforgiven

Unforgiven directed by Clint Eastwood
1992
★★★✰✰
So I know this won the Oscar for Best Picture and is supposed to be one of the best westerns ever but I just wasn't into it.  It may be because I watched it edited with commercial interruptions on television and parts of the story were removed but it didn't seem like an "awesome" movie.

Night Photography: Class 1

So I finally signed up for a photography class! This class, through the Palos Verdes Art Center, meets once a week for six weeks and we will be studying night photography in and around the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The class is taught by photographer/artist Bernard Fallon and photojournalist Patrick Fallon. I am very excited! Hopefully my photography will improve with this class.

Our first class consisted of introductions and a brief overview of the course. Then we went out into the mall to take some photos utilizing long exposure techniques. These are a few of my better shots:
4 second exposure, f/16, 50mm, ISO 400
6 second exposure, f/20, 50mm, ISO 200
6 second exposure, f/20, 50mm, ISO 200

Onyx necklace heirloom

Onyx necklace heirloom, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I like my photo this week but I don't think it has enough "pizazz" to make the cut.  Who knows?  Maybe it will...

The Challenge:
Capture a photo of an heirloom.
http://gizmodo.com/5877168/shooting-challenge-heirlooms

My Comment:
I don't have many heirlooms, at least ones that would make a good photo. After trying a shot of my grandfather's pocketknife and one of my grandmother's blue glass pitcher, I settled on my wife's grandmother's onyx bead necklace. I really liked how the beads lit up when light was shined on them. I played around with my office lamp trying to get the best lighting and was pleased with the shadows and reflection in the table top. Hope you like it.

Super 8

Super 8 directed by J.J. Abrams
2011
★★★★✰
So I really ended up liking this film.  Entertaining, fun and exciting.  Just the right amount of scariness with a good helping of sci fi.  What's not to like about a J.J. Abrams movie?  Check it out.  Its worth a rental...

Point Vicente

Point Vicente, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I don't think I stand a chance this week.  I use the rule of thirds all the time but I don't feel that this photo really exemplifies the concept.  It's a nice photo but may not be the best for the challenge.  Oh well...

The Challenge:
Capture a photo that demonstrates and celebrates the rule of thirds.
http://gizmodo.com/5875104/shooting-challenge-rule-the-thirds

My Comment:
I find myself using the "rule of thirds" a lot. I knew I wanted to take a landscape photo for this challenge along with incorporating the ocean as well. I was hoping to get a shot of Catalina Island in the background with the Point Vicente lighthouse in the foreground but the weather wasn't cooperating. Instead, I decided to take advantage of the clouds and intermittent sunlight and shoot it in black and white using my polarizing filter.

Nerd Do Well

Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg
2011
★★★★✰
So I always enjoy Simon Pegg's movies.  Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are two of my favorite movies.  It wasn't a stretch to figure I would like his book.  Very funny and the novel interspersed throughout the book is fantastic.  If you have no idea who Simon Pegg is it is still worth a read if as long as you like Star Wars and other scifi. 

Crest Fire

So I heard that a brush fire had started near our house. I went to check it out and took a few (not very good) photos. The local news blog palosverdes.patch.com asked if they could use them for their story on the fire. Pretty cool! You can view the entire article here: http://palosverdes.patch.com/articles/brush-fire-breaks-out-in-rancho-palos-verdes#c Here is a screen shot of the web page:

Macro leaf

Macro leaf, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I have really enjoyed macro photography so this challenge was interesting for me.  I really wanted to recreate the example photo from the tutorial video but I figured that wouldn't show too much imagination.  I am pleased with my shot but wished I could have got some more "pop" that was in some of my other photos.

The Challenge:
Duplicate the tutorial's methodology to create a glowing, studio-quality macro shot with little more than the sun.
http://gizmodo.com/5873034/shooting-challenge-creative-sunshine-macros

My Comment:
Looking forward to a new macro challenge, I took a lot of photos of random items but nothing was getting the "vibe" I got from the example from Bryan Peterson. His photo said "fresh and cool" to me like it was something from a "Sprite" ad. After watching the tutorial again, I changed my direction into something that would look like it was taken in a studio but was really taken outside. I ended up with a shot of a leaf with light streaming through its veins. My setup included a black backdrop, a sheet of aluminum foil directly underneath the leaf and a large sun reflector for my car's windshield to the side. I also had a small plate wrapped in foil that my five year old held to reflect sunlight onto the leaf. I really like how the sun illuminated the jagged edges of the leaf.

The Quick and the Dead

The Quick and the Dead directed by Sam Raimi
1995
★✰✰✰✰
So I want to know how Sharon Stone was ever considered a good actress.  You would think that a movie with Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio (although he is in his annoyingly young phase in this film) would be a smash hit.  It could have been if not for Sharon Stone.  The story wasn't very good either...

Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond directed by Edward Zwick
2006
★★★✰✰
So I thought this was a stellar movie.  After seeing Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception I decided to remove him from my "banned" list (I still refuse to see Titanic).  I felt the story was incredible and acting good although Jennifer Connelly was a little weak.  Entertaining and disturbing, even for the edited for TV version I watched.

Maphead

Maphead by Ken Jennings
2011
★★★★✰
So I guess I must be a "maphead" because I thoroughly enjoyed this book by Ken "you-know-the-Jeopardy-guy" Jennings.  I don't typically take notes when I read but I found myself writing down all sorts of things to look up later and research further.  In one of the chapters, Jennings explains "geocaching" in depth.  I was so interested, I signed up on the website the next day and have already found 4 caches.  Fun read and incredibly informative.

The Education of Charlie Banks

The Education of Charlie Banks directed by Fred Durst
2007
★★✰✰✰
So I got sucked into this film when it was on TV the other night.  It starts off quite intriguing but becomes slow and boring. Not great but I ended up watching the whole thing.  I probably disliked it more after I found out it was directed by Fred Durst...