Trine Football - First Time!

Well, took quite a bit to get the scheduling together but I got it all figured out with some help from the wife. Very busy weekend. One event did fall through. But 2 out of 3 ain't to bad.

Good game for Trine. I was really hoping to catch a sack but I guess they took place before I got there. Also, big thanks to my co-worker/friend Dean who helped me sort out some more camera body issues. I believe I finally got some focus issues worked out! Now it is all about my skill with the guns......


"Touch Down!!!!!!!!!!!" (one of many on the day)

f/4 ISO100 @73mm 1/1600 sec

"Scramble"

f/4 1/2000 ISO100 @200mm

"Defense"

f/4 1/2500 ISO100 200mm

"Scramble II"

f2.8 ISO100 1/4000 @200mm

Trine Women's Soccer

The kids played outside a little bit and I got my camera out. Photo below has quite a bit of PP done to it. Quite proud of how it came out. I used my nifty fifty, well because I didn't have anything else to shoot with!

"Slides"

f/4 1/3200 ISO100 @50mm

Out in the fields!

Well, I'm back at it again. Bought some new gear and had a great weekend out. My uncle was in town and we went to the Flat Rock Festival in Paulding, Oh. City boy was out in the thick of it too!


"She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy!"

300mm f4 1/2000 ISO100


"Running Like a Deer"


420mm f5.6 1/1250 ISo100



"Heat of Battle"

300mm f4 1/1600 ISO100



This kid is an 11 year old who won his class by more than 10 feet. Yes, he was competing with adults!

"Don't Ask Me for Sh*t!"

200mm f2.8 1/250 ISO640

Dog Day Afternoon

Trying out my lens. Wanted to shoot my pups.

"Sophie In The Snow"

f/8 1/1250 iso100 @200mm

"Cera in the Powder"

f/11 1/500 iso100 @188mm


"Smug Mug"

f/11 1/640 iso100 @188mm

More from the Fight Club......

"Your Move Frau Gregory"

f/2.5 1/250 iso200 @50mm

Inspiration......

First rule of fight club......

Beth came up with an idea to do photo assignments during the week and post them on a private flickr just for friends in Fort Wayne. I thought it was a great idea, even though I knew about them from thephotoforum.com but never participated. Its better her way because its just us. Even though I'm my worst critic, it will be great to get some feedback from some people local that are in our circle of friends. I thought it would be great to do a topic a week, but she wants to do more which is fine. We are also taking turns for subjects every week. Here is what I posted so far in our group. I still feel like I rushed myself and didn't mess with apertures to get the right sharpness of the photo.

"Blood & Wine 1"

f5.6 iso100 1/400 @20mm

"Blood & Wine 2"

f/5.6 iso100 1/250 @33mm

"Numis 2"

f/5.6 iso100 1/400 @40mm

"Numis 3"

f/5.6 1/400 iso100 @40mm

"Numis 1"

f/11 iso 100 1/400 @40mm

"Numis 4"

f/5.6 1/400 iso100 @40mm

Keys......

Well, its late..... really late.... as in 3am late.... Kay is in the other room going mad with wrapping paper... so I decided to play the DoF game..... with the Piano in the other room. When you lack the creativity to create something different on your own..... steal. That's what I did. I didn't have any shadows to play with, I was really just hoping for some sharp detail, no noise and good contrast. Using my tripod, I shot these bare in mind, most of these are cropped BIG TIME!

"Heaven's Keys"

f/11 1/5 Sec iso100 @40mm

"Heaven's Keys 2"

f/5.6 1/5 sec iso100 @40mm

"Heaven's Keys 3"

f/7.1 1/10 sec. iso100 @38mm

Project Vitamin-D

I built a low budget Light Box today. Spent about 3 hours shooting one of my Wife's Mother's Santa Clause figures that she hand painted with oils. I also shot a ton of pictures of a coffee mug and some Vitamin-D Milk! I'm going to post a link to my photbucket account so you can view the rest if you so choose. The milk pictures would have benefitted from a flat black background but towards the end, I really started to make a mess and the wrapping paper I used for the background was getting messy.

"Vitamin-D"

f/11 1/250 iso200 @40mm

More from Indy.......

More pictures from Indy. While killing time, I had my camera out trying to take what I could. Not to bad, not stellar. Lots of noise in the pics. I didn't have my tripod. If I go back in this weather, I'll have my tripod in tow. I had it, but of course, I left it in the truck.

"Washington St."

f/4 1/25 iso800 @40mm

"The Bench"

f/4 1/30 iso400 @17mm

"The Body 2"

f/4 1/25 iso400 @17mm

"The Body"

f/4 1/25 iso400 @17mm

"The Fish"

f/4 1/25 iso800 @40mm

Circle Center

So Dave, Beth, Mason and I went down to Roberts in Indy today. Going with Dave to a store is never good news. I went down with the intentions of buying the TAMRON SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD ASL IF Wide Angle. I had them bring out the Canon f4 17-40 L as well. I mounted both of them on a 40D. Dave took two pictures of me, trying to get them as close as possible. I looked at the pictures, even on the smallish LCD I could tell it was no contest. I told the guy there to put the Tamron back! Have a look.

Canon L 17-40mm @ f4 1/50 ISO 400 40mm

Tamron 17-50mm @f2.8 ISO400 1/80 17mm

Mason and I were sitting in Circle Center Mall. I wanted to walk around and shoot some of the Christmas shopper, but I was disapointed for the lack of sitting areas. Mason looked up and said "Hey Dad take a picture of that!" And he pointed up and boy does he have an eye for a 5 year old! Here is just a small taste of what this little puppy can do!

f4 1/30 ISO500 17mm

Needfull Things

Well, a major update. Week before last I dropped about $250 on an off-camera flash setup. Included were, a PC cord, Vivitar Manual flash, flash tripod with a shoe adapter and an umbrella. I've been clicking off shots at a pretty good rate. I tell ya what, a good flash is worth its weight in gold! Its an amazing investment for such a small amount of money. I will post a link later to a lighting blog and to a shop that is assembling "kits" for the hobyist on a tight budget.

Links: http://strobist.blogspot.com/
http://www.mpex.com/page.htm?PG=Strobist%20Kits

Last week e also got a new puppy! Its sort of a sad story. My brother's female had puppies and shortly after giving birth, she got out into the street and was struck by a car, paralyzing her. Lots of drama insued but everything has worked out so far. Eric is building her a wheel chair so she can get around better. He also said she is putting on weight. He had some issues with the local animal control, they wanted to put her down. He was really pissed about that and we were all afraid the pups would die.

The pup is a mix breed. The sire's grandfather or great grandfather was American Bulldog, the rest of her is all American Pit Bull Terrier. This is the third Pit Bull I've owned. I love these dogs. Great breed, great temperament. Funny thing is, we've yet to name her.

Here are some shots of my boys with the new pup in a Christmas setting. After Christmas is only a week or so away! I used my 30d of course and my 50mm f1.8. I used Photoshop to crop, auto sharpen and to resize the image to something better.

"Scrappy"

f2.8 ISO 400 1/160

"Merry Mason"

f4.5 1/125 ISO640

"Cuteness"

f4.5 1/125 ISO640

"co·me·di·enne"

f4.5 1/125 ISO640

"per·sis·tent"

f4.5 1/125 ISO640

"Fight!"

Yesterday me and the boys and Sophie went outside to play in the snow. I had planned on going to the Park or Fox Island but I looked outside to find nothing but snow.....

"Airmail!"

"Cheddar"

Photoshop Fun....

"Oops"
I installed a copy of Photoshop Elements 5. I'm not very proficient with photo editing and my creative abilities are very limited. I hope to learn more as the days move on.