Shattered

Shattered, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I was excited about this challenge.  While I was setting up the shot, I realized that this could be a better photo if I had a better flash.  I have always hated taking photos with a flash but I think it may be time to look into a more powerful/faster flash.  We'll see...

The Challenge:
Capture something that's shattered. Whatever you like. However you like. The only requirement is that a shatter is the subject of the photo.
http://gizmodo.com/5887352/shooting-challenge-shattered

My Comment:
After reading this week's challenge, I knew I was going to shatter a wine glass. I went to the store and bought a $2 glass, poured some red wine and dropped it on a nice white surface. I had my camera set up on a tripod and to a fast shutter speed. The only problem was that the glass didn't shatter. I tried again and only the base broke off. Then again; nothing. Finally a fourth time, it didn't break in frame but bounced onto the tile and broke. Shot ruined. What to do now? My wife and I had finished off a bottle the night before so I decided to give that a try. I filled it up with water to enhance the shot, dropped it and got a mighty explosion! I am very pleased with the final shot.

Night Photography Assigment 4: Light Painting

So I did not have class this week due to the "ski week" holiday. I decided to stretch my assignment to encompass the two weeks. I started out last week trying to do some light painting with my flashlight in my backyard. After numerous "graffiti-esque" shots, I finished with a couple of "drawings" that looked fine. Later on in the week, I read about the gizmodo shooting challenge, "Steel Wool" which fit right into this assignment. This turned into a fantastic failure but is something I will try again. This week I returned to the backyard to try some new light painting shots, this time with color. I was super pleased with my Pac-man photo, which I tried the night before, then realized if I held a string in my hand, I could make Pac-man into a cleaner, better circle. The color shots were done using my iPhone app "flashlight" which allows you to change the color of the screen. I finished it all off with a fun spin (fearful my flashlight would fly out in mid-circle). Hope you like the photos this week. I had a lot of fun but I feel that these aren't the best I could do. They seem a tad elementary. I'll keep trying some more of these shots to see if I can improve.

30 second exposure, f/16, 18mm, ISO 400
30 second exposure, f/16, 18mm, ISO 400
43 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 200
30 second exposure, f/16, 18mm, ISO 200

30 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 200

Fire fail

Fire fail, a photo by olmjohns on Flickr.

So I kind of spazzed out with this photo.  I was so freaked that I was going to catch something of fire, or ruin my camera or get caught by the cops or something like that.  Turns out, none of these things happened but everything else failed.  Oh well...

The Challenge:
Create a long exposure photograph of sparks, using the classic steel wool trick.
gizmodo.com/5885452/shooting-challenge-steel- wool

My Comment:
So I failed miserably. I spent half the night searching for steel wool. I went to 5 stores and finally walked out with "lemon scented soap steel wool." I then went to where I was shooting and set up the photo. I had an awesome shot in my mind with the sparks hitting the walls of the hallway and cascading down the stairs. The only problem was I couldn't get the steel wool to light. My shot is in the middle of a 30 second exposure of me trying to catch the wool on fire. I hadn't realized that I was actually capturing some sparks falling. I had such a fantastically frustrating night, that I am submitting my fail, to not only show that I tried something new, but the importance of planning ahead.

Night Photography Class 4: Redondo Beach Boardwalk

So I can't believe how windy it was! The wind nearly blew my camera and tripod over a few times during our class at the Redondo Boardwalk and Fun Factory. High winds don't help with crisp photos. Apparently, most of the business are closed on Monday which made for a less-than-vibrant shooting experience. We met at the Fun Factory which, to be honest, isn't that fun. It is a relic of an arcade that is filled mostly with ticket style games in which you roll a quarter down a slot and hope the moving arm pushes some quarters off the edge. Mostly empty, I tried to find some interesting shots in the arcade. It was much brighter than I was expecting so in order to get some long exposures, I had to shoot at a higher f-stop. My photos are a little boring but they are below. We then moved out onto the boardwalk and into the marina. Some flags flapping madly in the wind caught my eye and was curious as to how they would look photographed. When I was taking the photo, I was imagining in my mind that the flags would appear as stiff rectangles. They are still blurred with motion. I wonder if the exposure was shorter, I could have got what I was looking for? I spent the rest of the evening wandering around, taking shots of the boats on the water and of the boarded up businesses. The long exposures of the water came out well - almost looking like solid ice. I got separated from the class and ended up packing up a little early when I couldn't find them again. Of course, when I got home, eager to go through all my shots, iPhoto was not cooperating and I had to wait until the next day. When I was starting to crop and straighten the photos, I ended up cropping many at the 16x9 setting. I never crop at this size but the photos seemed to warrant a more wide screen, panoramic shot. I'm not sure I will use this format again but the photos seemed to fit better. All in all, the boardwalk was an interesting place to shoot, although it may be much more exciting on a night less windy and in which there are more people and more activity. I'm most pleased with the last shot. The light streaks and blur from the boats came out quite nice. My better shots are below:
0.6 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
2 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
14 second exposure, f/14, 33mm, ISO 200
11 second exposure, f/22, 18mm, ISO 200
25 second exposure, f/22, 18mm, ISO 200
22 second exposure, f/18, 18mm, ISO 200

Night Photography Assignment 3: City Lights (abstract)

So I have been battling a really rotten cold this week. I haven't been up to taking many photos. On Sunday, I realized I hadn't taken any additional photos than the daily 365 shots I always do. I had to force myself to go out Sunday night to go and capture some night photos. I should have worked on the weekly Gizmodo shooting challenge too, but I felt that the night photography was more important. Last week at our class, I asked for some assignment ideas. The themes I got were interesting but nothing struck a chord with me. When I left my house on Sunday night, I still wasn't sure what I was going to shoot. I went down the street and tried some long traffic exposures (which I may post later) but felt I wasn't getting anywhere. I decided to head to my parent's house where they have a nice city lights view. I shot some long exposures of the LA basin that were rather boring. I decided to switch to my zoom lens and try some "zoom exposures:" During a long exposure, I zoom in and out on the lens creating an interesting effect. These photos were better so I decided to go with "city lights" for the assignment. I even tried a new technique in which I start the shot vertically, zoom in and out, then turn the camera horizontally, and zoom again. Although I like the wiggly light lines caused by my unsteady hand, I would love to be able to zoom so smoothly that lines are straighter. Oh well, perhaps I can find some kind of tutorial on how to build a "smooth zoomer." Here are my better shots this week:

45 second exposure, f/22, 300mm-75mm, ISO 100
31 second exposure, f/22, 75mm-300mm, ISO 100
24 second exposure, f/22, 300mm-75mm, ISO 100

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
1974
★★★✰✰
So I had a hard time reading this book.  I enjoyed the story, especially the third part of the book, but had a difficult time following along.  A slew of characters, spy lingo, and a multitude of flashback scenes made it hard for me to know exactly what was happening.  That being said, its a good book and definitely exciting to read.

Redondo Beach Super Bowl 10k Photo

So I look pretty goofy in this photo.  My hat isn't on straight!  Oh well, at least I'm in a photo...

Night Photography: Class 3

So I was happy to get out to this class. I enjoy shooting the ocean and was looking forward to doing it at night. Our first task of the night was to use our (gasp) flash! Ugh; I know. But let me explain. Patrick asked us, "How do you capture a subject up close while keeping the background in view and interesting at night?" For instance, photographing a person up close while shooting a sunset behind. Without the flash, the person will be a black silhouette. With a flash, the background is lost in darkness. Quite the conundrum. By using the right lens, aperture, shutter speed and ISO, you can create this photo. My shots with my 50mm prime lens worked fine, giving the background of the beach lights a nice "bokeh" effect. We then wandered around the pier, taking in the sights. The view from the pier looking back toward Palos Verdes and South Redondo was fantastic. I wanted to get a nice glassy ocean reflecting the lights on the beach so I shot a 30 second exposure and was pleasantly surprised with the "star-bursts" of light. Moving on, the pier was bustling with people: fishermen at the railing, diners eating at the multitude of restaurants and walkers strolling around. Plenty of interesting subjects. I wanted to ask some of the people if I could photograph them but lost my nerve. I did capture some good scenes with long exposures, blurring out defining characteristics of the people on the pier. The area that I was shooting was lit with a horrible green fluorescent light which made my color shots look horrible. I switched over to black and white and was pleased with the results. I then shifted my attention to shooting the pier itself, attempting to capture the light on the water, coming under the pier, through the pylons. I tried to shoot the action of the waves breaking on the beach but even with the aperture at f/1.8, I couldn't get enough light at a fast enough shutter speed to get any good photos. I settled for some multicolored reflections on the water. I felt this was a very good class. Good shots and I learned something new! Below are my better shots, a few more this time...
1/25 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 400
30 second exposure, f/22, 50mm, ISO 100
10 second exposure, f/16, 50mm, ISO 200
1 second exposure, f/5, 42mm, ISO 200
6 second exposure f/10, 29mm, ISO 200
4 second exposure, f/9, 50mm, ISO 100
1/40 second exposure, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 1600

Competition Corner: Letters Feature

So I started taking part in a photo competition group on flickr: Competition Corner. This month's assignment was "Letters" and my photo was chosen as a featured runner-up. It's an honor to be included with these other photos. Please check out the winning and other runner up photos.

Redondo Beach Super Bowl 10K Results

So I am not sure why the time highlighted is the gun time rather than the sensor time but I am pleased with my result.  I wanted to finish in under an hour and 55:45 is a good time for me.  I am especially pleased where I finished: 1230 out of 3462 (almost top 35% overall) and 911 out of 1850 (top 50% of men).

Night Photography Assignment 2: The Moon

So I want to keep up with my weekly assignments for my night photography course. This week I was having difficulty coming up with a theme. I thought I would try light painting as my kids opened up a bunch of glo-sticks on Friday night but my shots weren't too exciting. Our class instructor mentioned the moon in an email on Saturday. I went ahead and changed subjects and these are my better shots. Some notes on these photos: I spent a lot of time on the tree photo. I attempted to back light the tree by using a flash (my little elph camera worked fine) but found that it didn't create too much of an effect. I am surprisingly pleased with the moon ring shot. I wasn't too sure how the moon halo would come out in the photo but along with the light burst from the moon, it works as a good photo. As for the moon photo, this proved to be quite difficult. I wanted to get as much of the shadows and texture of the moon without losing too much of the brightness. After adjusting aperture and exposure many, many times, this made the cut, although I still think it could have been brighter.

26 second exposure, f/7.1, 23mm, ISO 400
51 second exposure, f/13, 21mm, ISO 200
1/50 second exposure, f/18, 280mm, ISO 200

Redondo Beach Super Bowl 10K

So I finished my first race of 2012.  I had one goal for this race: finish in less than 1 hour.  My Nike+ iPhone app said I did but we'll wait for the official results.  Good race.  Tons of people.  I didn't want to pick up my t-shirt and swag bag until after the race (so I wouldn't have to store them somewhere).  Of course, once I was finished, all the swag bags were gone (not much exciting in there anyways) and no large t-shirts.  I settled for a medium but its a tad too small.

Night Photography: Class 2

So I was looking forward to our first "location" shoot. We met down in Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes Estates for our second night photography class. I concentrated on two subjects: the Neptune fountain in the center of the plaza and a large pepper tree. I spent some time working on how shutter speed and aperture affects the photo. I had difficulty shooting Neptune as I was trying to shoot at a lower aperture while keeping a long exposure without washing out the marble statue. I was hoping to include the clouds behind the fountain but wasn't able to. We then started to play with flashes in attempt to back light the fountain. Due to the powerful spot lights that illuminate the statue, I could not get a decent photo. We then moved to the tree where we worked on "light painting." Although I am pleased with the shot below (Red tree), most of my other shots came out too bright (too low of an aperture) and then too dark (too high of an aperture) after adjusting my settings. I think I understand this concept and would like to try this again. I took entirely too many photos which I ended up deleting nearly all. Here are the shots that made the cut:
8 second exposure, f/14, 55mm, ISO 400
1 second exposure, f/4.5, 50mm, ISO 400
1/2 second exposure, f/9, 46mm, ISO 400
28 second exposure, f/8, 50mm, ISO 100
36 second exposure, f/8, 18mm, ISO 100