This was not an extremely high contrast image, but I did an HDR photo merge and brought out the water drops on the flower.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
A small icicle
Outdoor macro shots during the winter can be fun. This small icicle was hanging off our shed behind the house. It almost looks like the face of some weird insect.
March's topic is Flash photography. No fancy studio flashes, just shoe mounted on-camera flash, or the built in flash.
March's topic is Flash photography. No fancy studio flashes, just shoe mounted on-camera flash, or the built in flash.
Milk Truck Rollover
We responded to a truck rollover early one morning recently. Nobody was hurt, but it took a while to get this truck back upright and on it's way!
I've never really been bothered by Friday the 13th. I did not ask the guy that was driving this truck how he feels about that day though. Just guessing, but he may not be a fan.
I've never really been bothered by Friday the 13th. I did not ask the guy that was driving this truck how he feels about that day though. Just guessing, but he may not be a fan.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Station Light
Originally uploaded by LightBin
I'm a little late getting these uploaded, but here are the January photos for the Lightbin Challenge.
The January challenge at lightbin.com was for night or low light photos. I took photos of various lights. Some came out better than others, but this one of the light on the front of our fire station is my favorite.
February's challenge is outdoor macro photography. That will be interesting in the Northeast this time of year, but it will get us OUTSIDE!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Lightbin Photo Assignment
I have been following various photo challenges, and participating in a few when I can. The problem I have in participating is that some require daily shooting. During the winter months, it's dark when I leave for work, and dark when I get home. That, along with the other activities in my life limits my time shooting to the weekends, or to subjects that I can shoot on my way to or from work. So what happens? I just don't shoot.
So, I'm going to challenge myself, and post the subjects and rules here in advance so that anyone else that would like to participate can follow along. Even if nobody else ever reads this, the fact that it's posted in a public spot gives me some motivation to get going and shoot!!
OK, here are the rules. One topic per month, all year long. Each month, I will attempt to get 5 good shots for that month's topic. The photos need to be taken any time during that month.
Some of the pics will make it here to my blog. The rest will be on Flickr. January's challenge will be tagged lightbinassignment-january2009, February's will be lightbinassignment-february2009, and so on. If anyone else want's to participate, tag them accordingly so they can be found easily.
And here are the first topics so that everyone can start thinking about them (and for January, to start SHOOTING THEM!):
January will be Night or Low Light Photography. No flash. Use a tripod and long shutter speeds.
February will be Macro, Outdoors! For those of us in the north, that will mean putting on the gloves, boots, and snow pants and going out in the snow to see what is available to shoot that isn't buried under the white stuff.
March is Flash photography. This is pretty open. I only ask that you limit this to a shoe mount or built-in flash, not any elaborate studio flash systems.
April's topic is Rust and Decay. This should be self explanitory. I like shooting this type of thing in April. In the northeast, the snow is mostly gone, but the foliage hasn't come out fully yet. Old junk that sits in fields and hedges, hidden for much of the year in the grass/leaves, or under the snow, is out where you can see it, and shoot it.
That should get us started. Leave comments here if you have any topics you would like to see for May through December. Happy Shooting!
So, I'm going to challenge myself, and post the subjects and rules here in advance so that anyone else that would like to participate can follow along. Even if nobody else ever reads this, the fact that it's posted in a public spot gives me some motivation to get going and shoot!!
OK, here are the rules. One topic per month, all year long. Each month, I will attempt to get 5 good shots for that month's topic. The photos need to be taken any time during that month.
Some of the pics will make it here to my blog. The rest will be on Flickr. January's challenge will be tagged lightbinassignment-january2009, February's will be lightbinassignment-february2009, and so on. If anyone else want's to participate, tag them accordingly so they can be found easily.
And here are the first topics so that everyone can start thinking about them (and for January, to start SHOOTING THEM!):
January will be Night or Low Light Photography. No flash. Use a tripod and long shutter speeds.
February will be Macro, Outdoors! For those of us in the north, that will mean putting on the gloves, boots, and snow pants and going out in the snow to see what is available to shoot that isn't buried under the white stuff.
March is Flash photography. This is pretty open. I only ask that you limit this to a shoe mount or built-in flash, not any elaborate studio flash systems.
April's topic is Rust and Decay. This should be self explanitory. I like shooting this type of thing in April. In the northeast, the snow is mostly gone, but the foliage hasn't come out fully yet. Old junk that sits in fields and hedges, hidden for much of the year in the grass/leaves, or under the snow, is out where you can see it, and shoot it.
That should get us started. Leave comments here if you have any topics you would like to see for May through December. Happy Shooting!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Firefighter Training
Fire Training
Originally uploaded by LightBin
I recently completed NY State's Firefighter 1 course. In 86 hours of training, we learned various skills, from searching a smoke filled building, to ventilating a roof. We ran hoses, hooked up to hydrants, learned to deal with HAZMAT incidents, and learned how to properly handle ladders. And we spent a lot of time using air packs.
In this photo, the class was learning how to ventilate a roof with a chainsaw. I snapped this shot while waiting for my turn on the roof.
Monday, September 1, 2008
The $50 Film Camera
Epic Edits recently kicked off a photo project, challenging photographers to obtain a film camera for under $50, take photos, and publish them along with a review of the camera. My first thought was, “film, yuck!” For all you who are fans of film, I'm sorry, but I haven't exposed a roll of film since May of 2003 when I bought my first digital SLR.
After I thought about it, though, I remembered how I originally made “the jump” and started learning how to go beyond what I could do with a point and shoot camera. I had a vague notion that there was something called aperture, and shutter speed, and.... well there was “more” to photography than pointing and shooting. I wanted to learn, but I had never taken the next step because I always thought that point and shoot cameras were all I could afford, and SLR's were way too expensive.
So, I asked a photographer friend of mine if there was any way to find something used that would not break the bank, but would let me start along the path of knowledge and enlightenment. He recommended a couple older Minolta SLR models that could usually be found on eBay fairly cheap, and my quest started.
I have now come full circle. I read the particulars of the photo project on Epic Edits, and started trolling on eBay to see what cheap cameras could be found. I was surprised to find some older SLR's on there, and eventually decided that was what I had to do this article on. I hope that this will break the notion in someone else's mind that you have to spend lots of money to learn photography.
I do want to warn you... even though you can get a camera to start out with for very little money, once you are hooked on this hobby it may start to become expensive! Email me about my current inventory of cameras, lenses, and accessories if you have any questions!!!
Where was I? Oh yes, eBay. So there I was trolling on eBay. I was finding Canon AE-1's that were starting under $50, but they kept going over that barrier. To be fair, I was also making sure that the camera stayed under $50 even after adding on the shipping costs. So I tried, and failed to get a couple different AE-1's. They are going just over $50, and would make an awesome camera for someone. But they did not fit this project. I currently shoot with all Canon equipment, and would recommend them highly to someone getting started. I did start finding Minolta's that were staying under the $50 cut-off for the project, and finally picked up a Minolta X-370 for $44 and change, including the shipping charges. This was very similar to the Minolta XG-M that I purchased (and still own) as my very first SLR camera.
The X-370 came with a fixed focal length lens and a flash. A fixed focal length lens, for those of you that don't already know, is one that has no zoom capabilities. These are also sometimes referred to as a prime lens. If you've been using any kind of modern camera, you have probably gotten quite fond of zooming in to get closer to your subjects, and are wondering what good a fixed focal length lens is. Well, first of all, they give you images that are tack sharp. Second of all, they are inexpensive. They are also small and light. The beauty of an SLR, though, is that you can buy additional lenses, including zooms, as you get more interested in the hobby (remember, I warned you about how this can become expensive later!!).
Here's what I got for my money:
So, what photos did I get with my first adventure with traditional film in over 5 years? Here are a sample of images from one roll of film, for which I used Kodak Tri-X. The rest of the photos from this project can be found on flickr.
As I said at the beginning of this review, I haven't shot a roll of film in over 5 years. So, how did I like it? I remembered things that were difficult with film that are easy now. Like using a camera with a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second in daylight with 400 speed film does not allow you to easily shoot with a large aperture of f5.6 or higher to get shallow depth of field. And if you want to change the ISO setting you're shooting at, you need to finish the roll of film you're on and then load something different in the camera. But overall, it was fun. I hope that I've shown people that they can experiment and learn the basics of photography without spending a ton of cash, at least not right away!
After I thought about it, though, I remembered how I originally made “the jump” and started learning how to go beyond what I could do with a point and shoot camera. I had a vague notion that there was something called aperture, and shutter speed, and.... well there was “more” to photography than pointing and shooting. I wanted to learn, but I had never taken the next step because I always thought that point and shoot cameras were all I could afford, and SLR's were way too expensive.
So, I asked a photographer friend of mine if there was any way to find something used that would not break the bank, but would let me start along the path of knowledge and enlightenment. He recommended a couple older Minolta SLR models that could usually be found on eBay fairly cheap, and my quest started.
I have now come full circle. I read the particulars of the photo project on Epic Edits, and started trolling on eBay to see what cheap cameras could be found. I was surprised to find some older SLR's on there, and eventually decided that was what I had to do this article on. I hope that this will break the notion in someone else's mind that you have to spend lots of money to learn photography.
I do want to warn you... even though you can get a camera to start out with for very little money, once you are hooked on this hobby it may start to become expensive! Email me about my current inventory of cameras, lenses, and accessories if you have any questions!!!
Where was I? Oh yes, eBay. So there I was trolling on eBay. I was finding Canon AE-1's that were starting under $50, but they kept going over that barrier. To be fair, I was also making sure that the camera stayed under $50 even after adding on the shipping costs. So I tried, and failed to get a couple different AE-1's. They are going just over $50, and would make an awesome camera for someone. But they did not fit this project. I currently shoot with all Canon equipment, and would recommend them highly to someone getting started. I did start finding Minolta's that were staying under the $50 cut-off for the project, and finally picked up a Minolta X-370 for $44 and change, including the shipping charges. This was very similar to the Minolta XG-M that I purchased (and still own) as my very first SLR camera.
The X-370 came with a fixed focal length lens and a flash. A fixed focal length lens, for those of you that don't already know, is one that has no zoom capabilities. These are also sometimes referred to as a prime lens. If you've been using any kind of modern camera, you have probably gotten quite fond of zooming in to get closer to your subjects, and are wondering what good a fixed focal length lens is. Well, first of all, they give you images that are tack sharp. Second of all, they are inexpensive. They are also small and light. The beauty of an SLR, though, is that you can buy additional lenses, including zooms, as you get more interested in the hobby (remember, I warned you about how this can become expensive later!!).
Here's what I got for my money:
So, what photos did I get with my first adventure with traditional film in over 5 years? Here are a sample of images from one roll of film, for which I used Kodak Tri-X. The rest of the photos from this project can be found on flickr.
As I said at the beginning of this review, I haven't shot a roll of film in over 5 years. So, how did I like it? I remembered things that were difficult with film that are easy now. Like using a camera with a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second in daylight with 400 speed film does not allow you to easily shoot with a large aperture of f5.6 or higher to get shallow depth of field. And if you want to change the ISO setting you're shooting at, you need to finish the roll of film you're on and then load something different in the camera. But overall, it was fun. I hope that I've shown people that they can experiment and learn the basics of photography without spending a ton of cash, at least not right away!
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