Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far, Take 2

A second take on this week’s Photo Challenge.

Backed-up traffic on Hwy 50 heading out of Carson City. When there is an accident, there is no place to go. And so we waited.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Day 254 – Fun with Photoshop: Triple-Play

This was my inspiration for today’s photo.

After dinner tonight I set my tripod up in the backyard and it didn’t take Nina too long to give me an idea. She loves to nose around in these boards for lizards and so I just sat there and waited. I used my flash, with the LumiQuest bounce attachment. My shutter speed was a bit slow, hence the motion-blur in the exposures. Post production was quite time-consuming, with lots of “Oh, Phooeys” and start-overs, but all-in-all this was a lot of fun!

Day 252 – Handy Helper

My workplace held a tailgate party today at the University of Nevada’s first home game of the season. This little guy caught sight of me snapping away and stopped just long enough for me to capture his sweet face.

Day 251 – Yellow! Bees!

Day 250 – Bill Nye!

We went to see Bill Nye at the University of Nevada tonight. The stage lighting was quite challenging!

Looking at the sundial. And looking . . . and looking. . . (yes, there is a back-story to this!)

Just one more.

You can find more at my SmugMug Gallery. There was a science expo outside the Joe Crowley Student Union (“The Joe”) and I’ll be posting those photos as well. I’ve got some up, but it’s late and I need to get to bed.

Day 249 – Portrait Lighting Practice

Maybe I should hire a model? The shoot I thought I was going to do may not come to fruition, so you are stuck with me again. I’m working on getting the lighting right: no weird shadows, getting highlights in hair, and creating shape.

Okay…set up: Soft box at 45 degree angle to subject (me) at camera right. Light was about 6-feet high and angled down (that’s the light that you see on the top of my head). Light over my shoulder was my Speedlite at about 1/8 intensity bounced from umbrella. Pop-up flash at lowest intensity (1/124) used to fire Speedlite, but at that intensity did little add illumination.

In the shot below the Speedlite did not fire, but I still like the lighting in this one.

Day 248 – Harvest

The birds appear to have beaten us to most of the pears, but our apple tree and grapevines are going gangbusters.

Day 246 – A little gem near Lake Tahoe

Spooner Lake is one of our favorite places to take the dogs for a hike. Given my heart issues, the trail is reasonably easy for me to handle, and the scenery . . . AWESOME!

The lack of rain is evident in the shoreline.