Archive for December, 2008

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Dec
19
2008

King Cobra

King Cobra

When it was too cold to do anything else, I went to the Zoo. I might have been the only one who thought it was a good idea because in three hours I saw maybe 5 other people. Lot of animals were surprisingly off display – maybe Africa in the snow should have been my first clue. It was a good day to shoot though – no crowds to shoot around and as some of my favorite stuff isn’t even alive, it didn’t matter how cold it was. I did see some animals though, and it made me reconsider what I was there for. While most animals don’t want you getting too close, some don’t mind. This King Cobra was right up against the glass. He knew I was there and didn’t care a bit. The whole “not moving much” part was nice too.
  • ApertureValue: f/2.8
  • DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:16 15:37:08
  • ExposureTime: 1/5 sec
  • Flash: No Flash
  • FocalLength: 100 mm
  • ISOSpeedRatings: 200
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

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Posted in Photos | 5 Comments »

Dec
17
2008

Branch Arch B&W

Branch Arch B&W

Its been a very long time since I’ve thought much about Black and White photography. In the film days everyone started with Black and White, mostly because it’s possible to process by hand without massive expense. I spent several years doing nothing but B&W so I burned out on it for a long time. In the digital age, there is no reason to start in B&W, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have it in your mind. B&W reminds you to think about shapes, shadows, and contrast, which can do magic with pictures that wouldn’t otherwise be special. I’m posting this one with it’s color starting point as well. Which one do you like better?
  • ApertureValue: f/11
  • DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:16 13:47:22
  • ExposureTime: 1/250 sec
  • Flash: No Flash
  • FocalLength: 24 mm
  • ISOSpeedRatings: 200
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

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Posted in Photos | 4 Comments »

Dec
15
2008

Snow Fountain

Snow Fountain

Here’s another one from a snowy night at Volunteer Park. Generally I’m a fan of regular objects – one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken is of a fire hydrant. For some reason the city saw fit to endow this particular part with extra nice fittings and fixtures, perhaps to match the great Deco look of the Seattle Asian Art Museum. I love the octagonal rim, standing silently at attention, waiting at the ready. I love the glow of the ambient yellow street light (way better than what happens if you use a flash), and I love the bokeh from the f/1.8 lens.
  • ApertureValue: f/1.8
  • DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:13 22:03:31
  • ExposureTime: 1/4 sec
  • Flash: No Flash
  • FocalLength: 50 mm
  • ISOSpeedRatings: 800
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

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Posted in Photos | 1 Comment »

Dec
14
2008

Snow Lines

Snow Lines

It’s snowing in Seattle. It never snows in Seattle, which means that the city can’t cope with it. Which is the fun part. I went for a walk with friends last night to see what there was to see. Other than an amazing snowball fight, the best pictures were the simple things. It was dark and hard to shoot with falling snow, my tiny 50mm lens and wet gloves so I have a lot of things that might otherwise have been cool. This is a longer exposure, even under the lights, and I love the moving snow crossing the stark and clean power lines. Geometric pictures like this are some of my favorites.
  • ApertureValue: f/1.8
  • DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:13 22:36:50
  • ExposureTime: 1/13 sec
  • Flash: No Flash
  • FocalLength: 50 mm
  • ISOSpeedRatings: 400
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

Tags: ,
Posted in Photos | 2 Comments »

Dec
13
2008

Payphone TtV

Payphone TtV

Another one where the loose focus, rough edges, and distorted lens make you look for something old. When you see it, things make sense. When you see that it’s in our apartment, I guess that makes a little less sense. What – you don’t have a payphone? Who’s the weirdo now?
  • ApertureValue: f/2.8
  • DateTimeOriginal: 2008:12:04 15:03:17
  • ExposureTime: 1/4 sec
  • Flash: No Flash
  • FocalLength: 100 mm
  • ISOSpeedRatings: 400
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

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Posted in Photos | No Comments »

Dec
12
2008

Upgrades!

I’m sure you’ve been in the situation where someone gets really excited to tell you a story or joke and upon seeing the not-so-amused look on your face after telling it, they say “well…I guess you had to be there.”  This post is kinda like that – it’s exciting to me, and you have to suffer through it.

I upgraded to WordPress 2.7 yesterday, which handily broke my favorite photo-posting plugin PhotoQ.  Today they released an update which fixed my issues, but also fixed my biggest beef – the EXIF info (details of the camera setting when a picture was taken) from my camera wasn’t being read right, so I couldn’t automatically tell you all the things I wanted about the picture.  Now that it’s fixed, you get to see things like ISO speed and aperture values that aren’t totally nonsensical.  Hooray for progress!

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Posted in Minutia | No Comments »

Dec
11
2008

More macro, minus the tools

So this morning I thought it would be a great idea to upgrade to the newest version of WordPress.  While it works great, my fancy photo plugin is now broken, so consider this one freestyle.

My friend Charlie has these neighbors.  It’s not so much that they’re crazy, in a medically-diagnosed kinda way, but they sure don’t like throwing things out.  The yard is full of tarp-covered “finds” – it’s all very great depression.  In any case, they also have a great little chain-link fence out front, which they decided to decorate.  With bread tags.  To each his own, right?  Back to the photography.

Breadtag-fence

This one is shot with the same macro lens, but for a different reason.  I really like the blurry look – there is a lot going on in the frame and blurring out most of it makes me happy, which this lens is great at.  The photo snobs call that “bokeh”, which loosely translates from it’s Japanese origins to “some stuff is blurry and some stuff isn’t”.  Anyway, here it is.

  • ApertureValue: f/5.6
  • DateTimedigitized: 2008:06:28 13:15:00
  • Flash: No Flash
  • FocalLength: 100 mm
  • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
  • ShutterSpeedValue: 1/500 sec
  • WhiteBalance: 0

    • Tags: ,
    Posted in Photos | 4 Comments »

    Dec
    10
    2008

    Macro Jewel

    Macro Jewel

    Top on my photography frustration list is finding a good setting – my apartment has brown doors, eggshell walls, tan carpet, ivory blinds, and a beige cat. Pictures inside are almost always uncompelling. Another reason I love macro so much is you can always find something to shoot if you only need a few square inches of interesting subject. Here’s a couple inches I like.
    • ApertureValue: f/2.8
    • DateTimeOriginal: 2006:02:03 06:21:03
    • ExposureTime: 1/20 sec
    • Flash: No Flash
    • FocalLength: 100 mm
    • ISOSpeedRatings: 100
    • Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

    Tags:
    Posted in Photos | No Comments »

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