Feline

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LensBaby Roscoe

This week, I won a LensBaby Composer. Finally got over this cold enough to take the lens out and play with it. It's interesting, but I'm going to have to get used to it. Focusing and metering seems a bit off from using a regular Nikon lens.

Exif is not to be trusted. I believe it's equivalent to a 50mm lens. On this shot, I used either the f/2.8 or the f/4.0 disk, but the camera always reads f/2.8 with this lens.

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Michael Soli

Michael Soli playing at the Fiesta Casino in Henderson with Betsy Holm.

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September Sky II

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Groveland

I think I almost like this.

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Fred

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Rene & Missy

Rene and Missy are getting married next week and wanted some pictures before the event.

I used a couple of flashes. An SB-800 on camera right, and an SB-600 on the left.

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Son

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Dished

My wife hates being photographed, but for a moment she sort of enjoyed it. Here's another test shot using my new DIY Beauty Dish.

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Lone Pine Peak through Mobius Arch

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Gauge

There's an old fire engine in front of the Interpretive Center at Manzanar.

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Arch

Here's the backside of the Mobius Arch and the Alabama Hills in the background.

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Red Hill

Red Hill can be seen in the background on the left. It is a 10,000 year old cinder cone. The rocks in front are what's left of an ancient lava flow.

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P51D Mustang

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Yellow

I have no idea what this is.

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P51D Mustang (Spinner)

Mike and I spent the day at the Planes of Fame Airshow in Chino. More images can be found here.

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Green

We had our annual golf scramble yesterday. I severed a tendon in my shoulder a couple of years ago, so I don't play anymore but the photography was fun to try. I need a bigger lens. About a third of the players didn't appreciate the sound of my camera.

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Close Up

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Pinnacles (HDR)

I haven't played around with HDR on this new camera. Decided to give it a go. From five images bracketed. Merged using PhotoMatix.

Did what I could to reduce that halo effect, but the solution eludes me.

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Passage

Steve and I spent a few hours up a the college working with my daughter, Shannon and her friend. It was a fairly productive day.

This was shot with a single SB-800 through an umbrella up high and camera left.

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Jennyfer (Small Strobes, Big Results)

Yesterday, Steve and I attended David Tejada's workshop, "Small Strobes, Big Results". It was a good enjoyable day. David and his assistant, Eric really know their craft.


The model is Jennyfer Mariposa. She was far better at this than I.


I should note that in this workshop, David and Eric set the lighting. I simply pulled the trigger.

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BW Portrait II

I got a new lens today and some other gear and just before sunset my daughter got home from school. I rushed her out to get a few shots and then realized that I was shooting at ISO 3200. Arrgh!

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I didn't know she had eyelashes

My wife's three month old cockatiel, she calls "Twitter." I couldn't talk her out of that name. Until I took this photo, I didn't realize that she has eyelashes. Look at the large view. They're there.

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Left Eyed Gaze

Steve was kind enough to invite me over and we spent a few hours plaing with strobes. I really had a good time. Before I knew it, we burned through three hours.

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Tokyo House Chef

My old D50 doesn't create full resolution JPG images if you choose to shoot in RAW. This D300 does. Just to see the difference, I set the picture control to "Vivid." I kind of like the color. Wish the composition was better.

I gotta say... the noise at 1000 ISO isn't bad. This was shot with a 50mm f/1.8 lens and no flash.

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1947 Stinson 108-3 (Panning)

While waiting for my flight instructor to arrive, I watched this aircraft work the pattern. For a 62 year old aircraft, it looks pretty good.

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Lone Oak

When I started editing this, I intended to go black and white, but then decided I liked the yellow and green amidst all the gray.

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Field of Gold

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Low Clouds

Steve and I got up early and headed west for an hour or so, hoping to find a bit of sun. No such luck.

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Sense of Direction

For the past couple of days, I've been watching a series of photography critiques by Zack Arias and it's got me thinking about photography and where I think I want to go with it.

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Mute Virgin

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Screen

I'd been working on this photo for a few minutes and I thought I'd got to the point where I liked it. Then, I zoomed in. Whoa... after spending two years with my 6MP D50, I was not expecting the detail that I'm getting with the D300.

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I remember being young

I went digging for pictures today because a friend referred me to TogetherWeServed, a website for veterans.

At this time, I was on board the USS Leahy (CG-16). We were anchored at Al Masirah off the coast of Oman. I remember that we were hanging off the side of the ship on a scaffold, painting the green Battle Efficiency "E" on the side of bridge wing signifying our operational expertise. After days upon days of being inside and monitoring RADAR scopes, this was a good day. It was 1984. I was 22.

Together We Served

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New York New York Casino

I took this a couple of years ago. Decided to have another go at it. This is actually two images combined, just to get more traffic in front.

The first attempt is here.

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It's a Beautiful World... Photographers for a Cause

A few months ago, Sophie Addison asked to use this image for her book, "It's a Beautiful World..." This book was created to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and thus far, she considers it a success.

The book can be found for sale at Blurb, and if you would like to see a full preview, you can find it here in her Flickr photostream.

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Private Crossing

Even in the middle of nowhere, there are stop signs.

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Trona Railroad

I can't seem to escape trains lately, and I'm not even an enthusiast. I decided to leave the Trona Pinnacles out the back way and stopped at the railroad crossing just on the off chance there might be one along. This one was here in minutes. Quite a bit different experience than the trains at Cajon. This one was shorter, and slower, but the earth shook so much it was almost frightening.

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Self Portrait

This afternoon, the clouds outside compelled me to jump in the truck and go in search of photographers. I made it as far as the Trona Pinnacles. After a couple of hours, I decided to do a self portrait. Some post processing here and a touch of the LucisArt filter.

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BNSF 7726

A friend of mine is a bit of a rail enthusiast. He invited Mike, Steve and I to watch trains with some of his friends . He could go on at length about the types and gross tonnage and speeds and horse power and any number of details. Me, I can tell you that some were orange and others were yellow.

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Heavy Zephyr

They come on faster than you expect. They stir up the air, shake the earth, and assault your senses with the noise of heavy moving parts and the smell of burning diesel. And then they're gone.

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Cessna 172 (LucisArts)

Playing around with the LucisArts filter set.

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Almost there

My friend, Matt, completed his first solo today. He did great. If he was nervous at all, he didn't show it. He's well on his way.

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Sierra Clouds

Another view from the 172.

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Slipping the surly bonds of Earth

I've been up a few times alone, but this was the first time I remembered to drag a camera along. A bit of weather today. Ceiling between 2500 and 3000 feet above the field. I must admit, that the clouds look more broken in this picture than they seemed while I was flying. I stayed about 1000 feet below the ceiling simply because it was getting bumpier as I climbed.

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Dune

Here's one using a LucisArt filter.

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