Old Photo

The suspension of a bridge while driving. My wife took this on my cellphone camera while we were crossing. It amazes me how versatile camera phones are! she held the camera near the dash (not against the glass) and got a decent shot off. I only wish the light post wasn't in the shot, but traveling at freeway speeds in traffic doesn't afford those luxuries.

Festa Major by Marc Pallàs

Shot a few tests with camera. Not happy with the focus overall, but thought this had a neat look. Deleted most of the shots on import.

PARDON MY CLOUDS I'll be honest… I know looking at clouds is akin to watching vacation slides. It's a terrible cliché, and everyone does it at some point or another and expects everyone else to view them. I think its just that they're so darn fun to shoot, and maybe just a bit less so sometimes to view. Today  was an amazing day–clear skies, cool autumnal weather as I lay on my freshly prepared deck. I fired a few, and added them to my pack of cloud pics. Enjoy (or loathe if you prefer).

Experimenting with "Lightpainting" product shots. Shot on a wooden stool in  a basement using some flashlights (both LED and regular).

Bgnd (for the beer) an iPad.

red led used on the V8 can (composited 3 shots)

LED light only on the persimmon, and a smooth plastic wall sheet from ikea on the stoool

a bit of post  on all.

Bottom photo is the "studio" where they were shot (a basement ;-) and the ‘high-tech' ;-) lighting tools (led flashlight, krypton bulb flashlight, iPad).

Just playing at this point. Still getting the hang of it all.

OLD SLIK broke up. Got this today via UPS. Looking froward to using it… thing is built like a tank! Not the  BENRO, MANFROTTO, or GITZO I'd like, but very solid so far.

The backstory

Funny story about these orchids: I got one of the centerpieces from our student design show reception in April. It was the end of the night, and we were cleaning up the area, and there was a remaining orchid after all of the students and guests had theirs, so one of my colleagues said that I should take it home for my wife.

I know very little about flowers, but what I did know was that orchids were supposed to be finicky. It was a cold night, so I warmed the car. There was a support clip that the orchid stems were attached to a small rod on, to train them up. I set it carefully in the cup holder and began to drive home.

As I turned right at some point, my elbow hit the plant, snapping the stems almost in two in two different places. Aaagh! If not for bad luck I'd have no luck at all!

So I ran into the house, and grabbed some packing tape, wrapping it around the stems, propping them up. Yeah..that should work I thought to myself. Using the logic of a mischevious six year old, I brought the plant in and showed it to my wife.

She also was disappointed about my careless elbow, and slightly amused at my packing tape "cast." But we figured that we'd give it a go anyway. After about a week, one of the stems showed signs of dying, so I pulled it off and tossed it. The other seemed to be OK though, so I kept it in the sun and kept on watering it. 

It appears to have come through OK (knock-on-wood). You can see in the top pic the areas where both stems snapped, and the one surviving stem thriving with two flowers, and a new "bud" forming behind them. The tape is till in place (afraid to remove it for fear of breaking it again).

The photos

On a rainy Wednesday, I thought I'd photograph this survivor for kicks. Put a cheap poster board v-flat behind it, and propped it up on pizza boxes. Used only window light (which admittedly wasn't much on this very gray day).  

I also wanted to see under similar conditions what I could get out of the old iPhone 4 camera I have (5 mp). The bottom two shots are from the iPhone. They are a bit more contrasty, and have some noise in the bgnd, but look really good in average light conditions. There is also a bit of the flat and tape that got caught in the shot as the angle of approach is different with the phone (tried to smooth the tape on the flat out, and looks sad I know). The data on the iPhone shots is saying they are f2.8, and 1/120 to 1/60th of a sec? What that means on a lens that is a few mm is pretty relative, but still impressive. I imagine the Samsung and the iPhone 5 would look even better. 

Oh...and guess what happened next? The flimsy V-flat fell onto the plant. But alas— alive and well still. That thing is like ROCKY.

PARDON MY CLOUDS II.

wonderful, smile, clean motion graphics

Types of Matter

Celebrity portrait photography is tricky business, but Peter Hapak has mastered the technique.

His incredible portfolio will leave you wondering if there’s someone famous he hasn’t met. Check it out below!

Celebrity Portrait Photography at Its Finest

via It’s Nice That