Books and flash

In addition to Scott Kelby's digital photography book volume 1, I've not gotten volume 2 and also Joe McNally's The Moment It Clicks. For me I've gotten more out of the Scott Kelby books but I think that's just due to the type of photography I'm interested right now. Joe does mostly assignment shots and since I don't have his budget for lighting and props it doesn't do as much for me.

I have managed to borrow my Dad's SB800 flash and tried some of the off camera settings with my D200 pop-up flash in commander mode. Very cool. I need a couple of SB800s now. Unfortunately I'm not independently wealthy or sponsored by Nikon so I'm really just hoping to get one for my birthday in March.

Camping trip and Photo Contest

I'm headed out on a camping trip with a buddy from work and some of his friends to Little River Canyon near Ft. Payne Alabama. I'm psyched about it. I have borrowed my Dad's killer tripod and have all of my camera equipment ready to go. Not the ideal time of year to shoot pictures since all the leaves are off the trees and no new growth has really started yet. That being the case I'm going to try and go for some moodier type shots that may look nice as black and whites. It's a good opportunity to scout out the place and make note of the areas to take some nice spring and fall shots when I go back.

My company has a photo contest coming up with a deadline of next Friday. I've been shooting primarily sports for the past few years so I don't really have many candidates for the contest. I'm hoping I'll get a few this weekend. I did take a few shots the other evening that I may enter.

 
Fruit

Fruit Bowl

Drew Practicing Piano

I really like the piano shot. I need to brighten up the fruit shots before printing and entering them into the contest. They were shot on my kitchen table with my D100 and the SB80DX flash. Drew's hands were shot with the same setup, just not at the kitchen table. I bounced the light off the walls so that the subject didn't get washed out and I could pick up some more detail.

 

Eddie the EBSCO Buzzard

Eddie perched on the window sill just outside the ISS cubes.