Day 118 – Starting to get the hang of it

If you can stand another self-portrait. I’m fascinated with shallow depth of field portraiture, so I was experimenting today – on myself again since I had no one else at hand. I’ll have to try this on Sweetie this weekend, if he’ll let me. I think I could get better results if I didn’t have to rely on auto-focus to get the shot.

I shot this in my office. Lighting: diffused daylight to camera right and I held a large white box cover camera left to fill in the shadows on my right side (your left). Shot at ISO 100, 1/60s at f/2.2. The extremely shallow DOF puts my eyes in focus but makes the rest of my face and hair quickly fall off into blur, and even my nose is slightly out of focus. I really like this effect when I see it, and from what I’ve read, can be an effective technique when shooting the “mature” face.

Day 117 – My Reality

My current reality is stress. My final project is weighing heavily on me. Time is short and I have to have all my prints done by next Thursday when final critiques begin. In the meantime, I’m sorting and making decisions about what I want to go into the collection. I worry that I’ve not met the demands of the class, but also proud of what I’ve done. I want to tell the story more than worrying about lighting, but it is a lighting class and my grade will reflect how I was able to incorporate what I learned into my final project. Given the subject matter, the location shoot, the sensitive nature of it all, that wasn’t easy. So we’ll see. At this point I just want it to be over. It feels a bit like being nine months pregnant. I’ve enjoyed the experience, but I’m tired.

And then there is work. We’ve got important clients in today, with high level execs from their company and ours, and as the site’s executive assistant it falls to me to take care of the logistics (in addition to all my other duties – the plate is never empty). That will be over at 2pm. Then I leave at 3 for class. The schedule says “lab time” for printing, but I’ve seen these things go awry before. And the fact of the matter is there are more students than there are printers and trying to jockey for space is a pain in the ass. I personally prefer to come in on my own time to print. My goal tonight is to get a test strip done. That’s it. If I get more: gravy.

I hardly have time to think of anything else. I am neglecting my family right now. Ugh. Again, it will be over in a week and I can heave a sigh of relief.

Anyway, today’s Dilbert desk calendar page seemed especially fitting. Taken with my 50mm (1/60s at f/1.8).

Gotta go.

Day 116 – Late Night

Busy day. Work all day, meeting after work, stop at store after meeting to pick up breakfast foods for early morning client visit.

Late night ice cream.

Late night stock.

Day 115 – Roses!

I had to run to Whole Foods to grab some lunch for my boss’ boss (very nice woman). Outside the store were racks of gorgeous flowers. I want to plant some!

Day 114 – Heading Home

I shot these photos through my car window on the way home.

This photo looked best in black and white.

The overcast sky made an effective backdrop to John Ascuaga’s Nugget.

Day 113 – Photo Shoot

I needed to get stronger shots of two of the women who were key organizers of the MOR event I photographed last weekend. We met at the Dayton Community Center and spent about an hour and a half shooting. My husband was my able assistant, and I couldn’t have done this shoot without him manipulating the reflector.

One of the black and whites I will use for my final project. The color is just for fun.

Edited to add. I swear WordPress does something to photos. These photos have an odd bluish tinge to them that is absent in Photoshop, Facebook and on my Flickr page.

Backyard Beauty

It’s like every tree and shrub decided, “NOW!”

Apple blossoms

White cherry blossoms

Lilacs

More white cherry blossoms

And, still more white cherry blossoms

Day 112 – f/1.8

Playing with my 50mm lens again today. I really love the flexibility it provides as far as depth of field, but with opportunity comes challenge. Today I experimented with very shallow depth of field. It is quite the challenge to find that sweet spot, but oh how I love the effect of falling off focus! f/1.8 was a bit too tight, so I stopped down a bit to 2.2. The best results of both are below.