Day 210 – This and That

On the good side, the Olympics are fun to watch. On the bad side, Dad is back in the hospital and what’s going on is pretty scary. I don’t know if I’ll be hopping a plane soon or not.

Anyway, I played with my new toy in the backyard this morning using the silver reflector and diffuser panel to provide fill light against some pretty bright backgrounds. I used my flash to fill in what otherwise would have been dark shadows cast by the morning sun.

Sweetie left his work gloves in the wheelbarrow and a windstorm blew them out into the yard. We think Nina did this.

Grape leaves against the sky. I love that I didn’t blow out the sky and that the grape leaves in the shade were perfectly exposed.

Buddy is a bit camera-shy sometimes. He’ll sit still, but he doesn’t like to look at me when I’m holding the camera to my face.

Day 209 – A new toy

There was a photographer (Bruce Press) at TAM using this interesting bounce device and I was so fascinated, I had to ask him about it. Bruce told me how it throws 80% of the flash straight up and only directs 20% onto the subject. Very nice for indoor event photography. I just had to get myself one and it arrived today.

And of course, I had to test it out. But not too much. After all, the Opening Ceremonies are on, and I love, love, love the Summer Olympics.

No harsh shadows, pretty nice. I can’t wait to work with this some more. Like, maybe shooting some people for a change! But tonight, it’s the critters again. Not bad for on-camera flash.

Gotta go. They’re about to light the torch.

Day 192.5 – We have to leave them for a while

Tomorrow morning we’ll be heading out the door for five days. They’ll be in good hands, but we’ll miss them. I got my to-dos done earlier than I thought so I pulled out my Speedlite and my reflector umbrella and set them up on the light stand. The cats were nowhere to be found, but the pups were available.

The heat of the day (100+ degrees today) had taken its toll on Buddy, and our big boy wasn’t interested in doing anything but lay out on the carpet.

Nina gave me a little more as she worked hard on the Nylabone, which as you can see, is about as big as she is!

Day 180 – Squeaky

The same day I bought the catnip toy I also bought another toy that I thought would be a sure-fire winner with the cats. It’s a lightweight ball with a mouse in it. The mouse squeaks when the ball is shaken or bounced along the floor. I thought the cats would dig it. Eh, not so much.

Nina, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it.

Day 165 – Family Photo

I was playing with lighting again doing some self portraits using diffused flash. This is a cropped version of one of the shots. In the background is the family portrait taken at our wedding.

Day 154 – Playtime

I just played with my camera today, mostly shooting in the backyard.

Here’s a great one I got of Nina stalking the wild lizards in the backyard. They like to hang out in the lilac bushes and Nina walks her patrol hoping one will slip out.

Whee!!!

After supper I played with second-curtain sync on my flash. Nina again.

Day 153 – Discovery

I got my five-year service award bonus check in the mail today, and while perusing the reviews for the Speedlite 580EX II, I discovered that the EOS 7D pop-up flash can act as the master to my current 430 EX Speedlite. Actually, I know that many DSLRs have this capability, but I did not have it with my EOS T1i and so it slipped my mind that I should have it with the 7D.

So I played grabbed my flash manual and the 7D manual and did me some learnin’ tonight. I set the pop up flash to the lowest intensity so that if it were the only flash firing it did not expose anything. All I wanted was enough light to fire my off-camera 430 EX. It worked! And then I had to practice.

Once again, the cats were cooperative.

Jezebel lit with flash to camera right and bouncing off the ceiling.

Maya framed by dog paraphernalia. Flash to camera left and bouncing off ceiling.

Jezebel again. Diffused flash to camera right (on floor).

So, for now, the 580EX II can wait. I’ll spend my bonus check on sorely needed clothes.

Day 148 – Birthday Present!

Yes, I’m spoiled rotten. I know it.

Sweetie gave me a Canon EOS 7D EF-28-135 IS USM kit for my birthday. I’ve had my eye on one for a while and I’m really, really happy with it. It’s much heftier that my Rebel T1i, and has a wider range of capabilities. ISO starts at 100 and increases at 1/3 stop intervals up to 6400. Very, very little noise at the highest ISO (one of the comments I read over and over and over again about this model). Also, 100% field of view means the photo I compose in my viewfinder will be the photo the camera will produce. No unknown stuff around the edges. I took it out for a whirl today. Here are just a few of my shots. Very little processing done to these, just a bit of sharpening of the RAW files.

Close-up of a buckle on my leather jacket.