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Ballet Pictures II

At the same performance as the previous picture I took this picture of my daughter as she was dancing. I had switched lenses from my fast 50 to my 70-300 mm. It is a slower lens but I wanted to get some close ups that the zoom would allow me to achieve. Since it is a slower lens and the lighting was not favorable to photography (see previous post) I had to bump the ISO up a lot to 1600. This can be very noisy but a good noisy shot is better than no shot.

Before I got any closeups I was able to get this picture of Katelyn in a good pose as she was dancing. It can be difficult to isolate one dancer from among several on the stage at the same time. It takes tracking with the camera for the correct composition and then getting your shot, not unlike trying to catch birds in flight.

I like this picture because of the pose and the colors. This was shot in portrait which allowed me to get all of her in the shot. The original was a little underexposed as the lighting on stage was subdued at this point. I lightened the picture using Adobe Lightroom but did not do a lot of extra processing. Even though I was using a high ISO it didn't turn out too noisy and so I didn't need to use anything other than Lightroom for the noise reduction.



Click for a larger version

Camera: Nikon D80 with 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens. Shot 1/60 sec at f/4.5, 70 mm focal length, ISO 1600

Ballet Pictures I

My oldest daughter has been taking ballet for over 14 years and is quite good at it. Several times a year we will go to different performances and attempt to take pictures. I say attempt because the lighting is horrible for photographers. In all fairness the reason we are there is to see the dance, but wherever I go I also like to be taking pictures.

In this picture I was using my fast 50 - that is the 50 mm f/1.8 lens. I was in a seat so I could not move much for the composition. That is why their feet are cut off. But I like this picture for the color and the expressions on the dancers faces.


Click for larger image

Camera: Nikon D80 with 50 mm f/1.8 lens. Shot 1/125 sec at f/2.0, 50 mm focal length, ISO 800

Cold Saturday

After work yesterday I decided to take the younger kids out to run some errands and hopefully grab a few pictures and continue to test out my new lens (70-300 mm). I didn't realize how cold it was when we left so I only got a couple of pictures. They are more in the nature of snapshots and they are not the sharpest (that is more a function of the photographer and the cold than the lens and camera), but it was something. These were taken outside of the Manassas Museum.

Freedom


Dad, it really is cold out


I love being out with Daddy


Are we done yet?



Camera: Nikon D80 with 70-300 mm f4.5-5.6 VR lens.
1. 1/40 sec at f/5.6, 230 mm focal length, ISO 200
2. 1/30 sec at f/4.8, 90 mm focal length, ISO 220
3. 1/30 sec at f/4.8, 90 mm focal length, ISO 200
4. 1/30 sec at f/4.8, 90 mm focal length, ISO 280

Heather

We were on vacation and staying with a friend. We took a bunch of pictures. One I really liked was of his daughter. The picture works best converted to black and white, but I was missing her blue eyes. So I sweetened the blue a little so it would stand out in the black and white and used a mask on the black and white layer for her eyes to come through. As I looked at it I thought a crop might be interesting so I cropped the picture. As you can see it is an unconventional crop but I think it works. Let me know what you think, leave a comment.







And here is a version without the sweetening of the blue, this is her natural eye color.



Camera: Nikon D80 with the Nikon AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/200 sec at f/9, 70 mm focal length, fill flash, post processing described above.

Snow and Ice today

We had an ice/snow storm last night and today. So we had to clear off the driveway. Here are before and after pictures:

Camera: Nikon D80 with the Nikon AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/320 sec at f/9, 18 mm focal length, no post processing.

Camera: Nikon D80 with the Nikon AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/200 sec at f/7.1, 18 mm focal length, circular polarizer filter, no post processing.

It's been a while

Hi, I know it has been a while and I am behind in uploading pictures. On top of that I have a new camera, a Nikon D80. While this is not a point and shoot I will still use this site to post pictures. I still use my Cannon SD400 but not as much now.

I have two lenses with the D80: a Nikon AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, and a Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8 which is a great lens.

Renee's Drawing

If you look at my other blog you will see this picture. It was the picture that started this blog. My other blog is for reviews of music and books so this didn't really fit it there but I really wanted to blog that picture. Hence this blog was born. However, I didn't start with that picture. My wonderful wife suggested that I also have that picture here also and I thought it was a good idea. So here is the picture along with the original entry from my other blog.

Ok, so this isn't a review but I had to post this picture. My daughter Renee (#7 of 8) drew a picture of Carol and me. Carol had me take a picture to capture the moment.

Technical Details:
I used my Cannon SD400 and a bean bag to stabilize the camera (instead of a tripod). I learned this trick from a podcast I listen to called "Tips From the Top Floor." I cropped and sharpened the picture using a free (as in beer) program from Google called Picasa, which I am also using to publish to this blog.

This picture shows you one of the myriad reasons it is fantastic being a dad. With 8 kids I am greatly blessed by God

Technical Details:
I used my Cannon SD400 and a bean bag to stabilize the camera (instead of a tripod). I learned this trick from a podcast I listen to called "Tips From the Top Floor." I cropped and sharpened the picture using a free (as in beer) program from Google called Picasa, which I am also using to publish to this blog.

This picture shows you one of the myriad reasons it is fantastic being a dad. With 8 kids I am greatly blessed by God