A busy summer for me. Just got two of to college this last week and another back into high school. I have been checking in with the work here at the coop but failing add my blog. Sorry all! Here are four for the long exposure. The first (Under the Boardwalk) I took down at Atlantic beach while vacationing three weeks back. tried to get Larry to join us! The next two were shot earlier this summer in our front garden. The last, I actually shot last fall (Forest with a Twist).... sorry Mike but I like it.

Silver Dollar City

I was going through my picture files looking for some images for work when I stumbled onto this picture I took a few years back in Silver Dollar City. I thought it fit the theme for this month so I decided to share :o)

Long Exposure

For my first two photos, I had to go with fireworks. I figured Stacey posted the theme early enough for me to get some good ones on the 4th of July, so I tried several settings, exposure lengths, and methods of capturing them. The hardest part was aiming the camera where the fireworks were going to explode, so I got several that were cut off at the top or bottom. These two were from a display at Beaver Lake. I was sitting about 20 feet away from where they were being lit and they were going off right over our heads.

F/16 ISO 100 25s

F/22 ISO 100 30s

The next four photos are from a trip downtown with Mike and Micah. The first two are duplicates of pictures Mike submitted. I am doing this only to get feedback and comparison comments on what I could have done to make mine look better. Mike was giving me pointers and tips on how to frame the shot and what camera settings to use, so I am curious if I was able to come close to his shots. 

F/8 ISO 200 2.5s

F/22 ISO 100 20s

These last two are original shots that I really liked. I was trying to frame things in a unique way, focusing on perspective and lighting. The first one I really like because of the perspective of the Union Pacific sign, and the lighting in the alcove of the building. The second one I really like because of the lighting/colors of the sculpture, and the angle which I took the shot from (on a tripod near the ground). I also like the tip I received from Mike and Micah about using my 10 second delay timer to reduce the shake on the camera when pressing the shutter button. The shutter was only open for a few seconds, and other attempts at the same shot had resulted in just enough shake to blur the focus. Thanks guys!

F/8 ISO 200 2.5s

F/5.6 ISO 100 2s

August theme!

I want to continue to challenge people to use their camera and photo editing software in different ways so for August the theme will be Panoramic images.

Slower Exposure

I really didn't want to use any fireworks pictures.  I pushed myself to do other creative things, however nothing really turned out well.  I learned a few lessons and walked away mad a few times.  Here are the few I felt were "share worthy".

time lapse photography

For this subject, I decided to experiment. I had read an article called "Flower Whirl" in August issue of Popular Photography.I used my 100 macro lens. I photographed flowers at night for 5 to 10 seconds. There was some light from street signs and passing car lights. No tripod was used.I wanted distortion [ no focus]. Sometimes I would hold it steady with the anticipation of a little movement. Other times I would rotate camera or move up and down. Some of distortions could be considered impressionistic flower paintings. It was fun seeing what patterns I could achieve. One looks like a red fireball.

Long Exposure

I loved this month's theme and had tons of ideas, but only got around to executing a few.  Nonetheless, here are my long exposure shots.

ISO 100 | f/22 | 35s

ISO 100 | f/18 | 12s

ISO 100 | f/14 | 44s

ISO 200 | f/9 | 27s

Long Exposures

Here are my shot for the long exposures theme. This month I concentrated on the movement of cars within a still environment. These images were 30 plus second exposures using a tripod and a cable release.