Day 42 - Wolf

Trying out a simple product shot with a simple technique. Large diffused light source camera right (3 foot softbox) with a reflector camera left to fill in the shadows. Added a gridded light over and behind the wolf for edge definition.

Day 41 - Winter Leaf

Out in the snow and elements, this lone leaf is holding on still. Shot available light and wide open for the depth of field.

Day 40 - Flower

Shot inside, under tungsten light. Applied an Orton technique, which is basically layering an out of focus image over the in focus image with different blending modes to get the soft look about it.

Day 39 - Quilt

My wife is a member of multiple quilting guilds, so there's always quilts around the house. One of our friends asked me to take a couple shots of some of her quilts, for posterity. Figuring out how to light something as large as a king size quilt isn't as easy as I thought. Here's today's attempt.

Day 38 - Self (Again)

Today, I felt like playing with a different lighting pattern. Set this up with 4 lights and a reflector. Key light is a beauty dish directly in front and up a bit, feathered down slightly. I have a gridded spot on both sides, aimed at my shoulders from just slightly behind and another gridded spot directly behind me, aimed at the background to give a slight halo around my head.

Day 37 - Chopstsicks

I can't remember where we got these decorative chopsticks, but I found them in the drawer and thought they'd make an interesting figure study. I placed them on white seamless paper with a light almost directly overhead. Shot with my 24-70 at f2.8 with a 21mm extension tube.

Day 36 - Female Cardinal

Even in the dead of winter we get cardinals on our back deck, on our feeder. While the male birds are invariably the prettier of the species, the female cardinals are still quite attractive. This was shot hand held, with a 400mm (Thank goodness for Sony's built in anti vibration technology).

Day 35 - Tequila

My basement bar needs some stuff on the walls. I shot this with that specific purpose in mind. Another bright field lighting experiment, but I added a gridded spot to light the limes and bottle this time, while keeping the edge definition of the glass.

Day 34 - River Tam

Playing with white seemless paper and shallow DOF again. Lit with a softbox camera left and a white card camera right for fill.

Day 33 - Candlestick

Shot with my nifty fifty and a 21mm extension tube. This is a sterling silver candlestick with a glass bowl on the top.

Day 32 - More Guitar Study

Another guitar image, this time shot wide open to get the narrow DOF.

Day 31 - Silk Flowers

Day 30 - Caitlin and Sandy

Caitlin lives about 5 minutes from me and asked me one time if I could shoot her cat, Sandy Charles. So, she popped over today for a couple hours with Sandy and we took a bunch of shots. This one was lit with a beauty dish camera right and slightly over her head and with a strip box camera left providing fill. There was also a reflector just out of frame below, bouncing some light back up under her chin.

Day 29 - Natalie P

Had a shoot with the lovely Natalie today. She's great fun to work with, has a great attitude and is just beautiful.

Day 28 - Valentine's Day

We had dinner reservations at a very nice french restaurant in Acton, MA. Of course, before we went out, I had to get a portrait of us and what better way to complete my image of the day! This was lit with 3 lights, the key light being a 4 foot softbox camera right with the fill/rim camera left being a 3 foot strip. Also added a small hairlight on a boom above and slightly behind Robyn.

Day 27 - The Champ

I also play fantasy baseball, and last season my team won the division I'm in and made it to our world series. I thought the trophies this year were really cool and I just loved the color and detail on them.

Day 26 - Dark Field

Playing with dark field lighting. For this technique, you place a large light source behind the item you're shooting and place something between your subject and the light such that the only light that hits the item is from either side. This was list with reflectors on either side of the glasses so that the light behind the black seemless was able to wrap around a bit more.

Day 25 - Kuma (2/11/09)

I have 2 dogs. Getting my German Shepherd to sit for the camera is like pulling teeth, however getting my Golden Retriever to pose is like offering money to a congressman. Here's Kuma sitting pretty for me in my kitchen, lit with the overhead light and show wide open at f2.8.

Day 24 - Snowman (2/10/09)

One of the last winter decorations we have sitting around our house, this ceramic snowman was shot wide open at f2.8 under tungsten lighting on my dining room table.

Day 23 - Red, White and Shot

Playing with bright field lighting and glass. Placed red and white wine glasses and a shot glass on a plexiglass sheet, on white seemelss. Lit the paper with one bare light and placed black cards on either side of the glasses for definition.

Day 22 - Figaro and Mouse

My cat Figaro just would not stay still and let me photograph him until I put down a fleece sweatshirt of mine. Then he just settled in and let me work. This was lit with a large soft box camera right and just above eye level.

Day 21 - Weapon of Choice

Lately, I've become enamored with very shallow DOF portraits. I just love the way f1.4 transitions from soft to sharp. So, todays image is of my latest weapon of choice, so to speak. My 50mm, 1.4 from Minolta. This was taken by window light in front of a south facing window.

Day 20 - Straight Flush

Played poker tonight, in 6 separate small sit and go tournaments. Finished in the top 2 in half of them and came home with more money than I left with. Always a good time. So, in honor of poker night, I took a picture of a straight flush.

Day 19 - Robyn's Guitar

My wife has this 20+ year old guitar that she never plays anymore. I dug it out of the attic and it was just begging me to photograph it. I wanted to shoot it in natural light near the window, but it was evening so I took out a large softbox and used that to mimic the window light.

Day 18 - Firiona Vie

The High Elven princess Firiona Vie. She is a character from the online game Everquest that I found laying around the house and thought she'd make an interesting portrait subject. Shot with a single light with 10 degree grid spot and a white fill card.

Day 17 - Fireballs!

In my office at work, I keep a bin of these Atomic Fireballs. I love 'em. I have 1 every day after lunch!

Day 16 - Fabric

Home today and realized that I hadn't shot anything all day. Traveling always is such a pain, especially when coming home. Went up to the studio and saw this pile of fabric and I was drawn to the pattern and texture.

Day 15 - Amber

My stepdaughter wanted a new profile pic for her facebook profile and of course it was mid-day at the time. Great chance to practice overpowering the sun. :) Shot with a bare flash at high noon, I was able to knock down the ambient enough to even out the exposure and even darken the background a bit.

Day 14 - Brighton

Another shop had this jewelry my wife and her sister-in-law really like. The maker is Brighton and I really liked the display they had to necklaces.

Day 13 - Self Portrait

Went to visit the cute little down of Mount Dora and while my wife shopped, I wandered around and shot a little. Found this great advertisement for a salon and shot my self portrait in it.

Day 12 - Zowie

My Brother-In-Law and his wife have an older Golden Retriever. She's a great dog and I thought very photogenic.

Day 11 - Orlando International Airport

Just landed in Orlando for my mini vacation and I thought the ceiling had a great look to it. I grabbed this architectural abstract while waiting for my wife.