Woman on Wood

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18-70
f/11 at 1/40
ISO 100
Manfrotto 055 Tripod

My interest in both graffiti and old faded things shows again in this photograph. Freeman Patterson says the camera looks both ways. He means the images a photographer produces tell you as much about the photographer as it does about the subject in the photograph.

He also suggests that it takes time for a photographer to understand his/her motivations. I need more time with this one. One day I will figure out what my attraction is to theses and other objects. Until then I will just keep shooting what intrigues me.

Have you noticed recurring themes in your photographs? If so, why do you think you are drawn to this subject matter?

Waiting for the Mail

Camera: D200
Lens: 28 – 105 Nikon
f/11 at 1/8
ISO 100
Manfrotto 055 Tripod

This picture is almost two years old. It was one of the first pictures I took with my D200 after switching from film. I was simply testing the camera. I went for a walk down the alleys in my East Vancouver neighbourhood and found this old door attached to a reasonably new garage.

I believe I used the mirror lock-up function because with a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second there is always the possibility of camera shake from the action of the shutter. I love old faded and weathered things. This door is older than I am. I wonder how many letters have passed through the mail slot.

Sing Song

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: 70 – 300 Nikon VR
f/11 at 1/200
ISO 500
Manfrotto 055 tripod

Once again being a workday, I have been unable to take any new pictures today. Therefore I can only present something I shot last year. My wife and I live reasonably close to Vandusen Garden and usually have a membership so we can go as often as we like.

There are many things to see and take pictures of if you like flowers and nature. This little guy was singing up a storm for several minutes. I set up my gear and got off only a few shots before it bolted. This was one of the better ones. Unfortunately I had to use a high ISO setting to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action.

In post I boosted the saturation and contrast a touch and cloned out a small twig that was in front of the bird. I didn’t do a great job with removing the twig. I’m not that experienced with retouching photos in Photoshop. This is definitely one area of my workflow that needs improvement.

Questions

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18-70
f/9 at 1/15
ISO 100
Manfrotto 055 Tripod

On my way to shoot the car graveyard photo, I passed by this scene. Not an award winner from an aesthetic point of view. Also, I’m not sure I put much thought into my camera settings. I took several shots framing this in different ways. I chose to present this one for no particular reason.

Why did I shoot it? One reason is that I seem to find graffiti interesting. Frequently it is incomprehensible. This one however, I feel is easy to understand. Who is the author or artist? Why did he or she feel the need to express this in such a public way? This is not just a picture of some paint, it is a picture that shows rebellion and inner turmoil.

Does the statement made here reflect the thoughts of today’s generation? We do live in an age of science and many younger people in Western society are losing their ties to religion. Should I be presenting this photo on the Internet? Am I helping this person spread their message? These are but a few questions that have come to my mind when examining this photograph.

Frost on Grass

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 18-70
f/18 at 1/8
ISO 100
Nikon SB-600 Speedlight
Manfrotto 055 Tripod

After shooting the frost on my car window I noticed this frosty patch of grass. The lens I used has a macro setting that allowed me to get quite close. Once again I chose a very small aperture to try get as much in focus as I could.

The morning light was not very interesting so I chose to add light to the scene with a speedlight. I put a full CTO gel on the flash to warm the light but left my camera’s white balance setting on daylight. In post I cooled the image down a touch.

Frost on Glass

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Tamron SP90 Macro
f/16 at 1/125
ISO 100
Nikon SB-600 Speedlight
Manfrotto 055 Tripod

When I headed out yesterday morning to take some pictures, I made it only as far as the car where I paused to shoot the frost on the driver’s side window. I used a small aperture to try to get enough depth of field to see as much of the intricate details as possible.

If I used only ambient light, trees and other things in the environment could be seen in the photograph through the window. However, using my flash allowed me reduce all of the background to black. I tried both backlighting and front lighting. The image presented here was the best of the bunch and was front lit.

Car Graveyard

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon 28-105
f/8 at 1/50
ISO 100
Manfrotto 055 tripod

I have passed by this scene hundreds of times and always thought I should come back with a camera and take some pictures. This morning I finally did just that. It is kind of a pain because you have to park the car several blocks away and walk to the viewpoint.

The initial composition I had in mind did not work because of lens flare from the early morning sun. I vow to go back another time in the afternoon and see how I like the light. I know I won’t get lens flare at least at that time of day.