Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Washington DC

So I took this little trip to Washington DC as the event photographer for work, and spent the first day there just walking around.  While I didn't get anything spectacular, and to be honest I was running on fumes from waking up that morning from a family camping trip and rushing to catch my flight. To top that, I don't have my glasses, so my ability to do any post, color correction, or just plainly see how sharp the photo's are, is a bit limited, so bare with me here.   I really can't share much of what I took for work (like you would care), I did manage to get off a few shots to play with my new toy (more on that in a minute).

As always DC, is just a ton of walking, way more walking than a fat thirty something should be expected to do in a afternoon after 7 hours of traveling.  None-the-less, since I was staying at the Washington court hotel, I was within a 5 minute walk of the Capitol building. The first shot and second of the Washington Monument here is with my new, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S.  I have to say this lens is SHARP!!! Let's just say, if you weren't paying attention, which I normally don't do, it's hard to take a bad shot.  While the Washington Monument here seems to be a bit of a hazy shot, I am not sure if it was my skills or air quality, turn around and you get a clear shot of the capital building.  I'm going with air quality!

Now with this lens, look in the lower left hand corner of the monument, (click on the image to make it larger), just above the tree line on the right, you will see this spec.  trust me, when I first say that, I was like great, I have something on my lens, filter, sensor, or worst yet a bad pixel. So I cropped in on the spec and to my amazement it was a kite.  Not that the fact was a kite was exciting, its the fact I could tell it was a kite when I zoomed in that much.  To me, that was the coolest thing.   Ok so there is some graininess to the image, but still.

Anyway, pretty cool city to take some photo's if you have the chance.  Here are a few more that I thought were ok to share.  Take care!

It's my capital duck!  
I always take photo's pf ducks as they are great subjects for those who aren't two quick on the draw. Getting one here in front of the Capital, was just a treat for me.  It's the little things.  
For those of you who are wondering.  If you have a shot that you like, and you just totally messed up the exposure and the sky is just totally whack.  Go B&W play with the Exposure and make it artistic... Yeah that's it.  

So many flowers and landscapes to photograph, just wish I wasn't so lazy.




Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Headshots II

Took me a while to get back up here.  It's amazing how long the post process takes to get done.  Heck just trying to pick the images you want to keep is time consuming in itself.  


I spent some time the other day going through what I thought I would want to work on, but took another approach to it this time.  Instead of working on a ton of photo's I wouldn't know if anyone would like I put together a page for each model and posted the ones I thought had potential.  From there I gave the link to the model and let them choose the ones that worked for them.  It was amazing how fast I got the feedback.  Problem is now, when do I have the time to actually work on them?  
For this shoot I actually got a new battery grip the Nikon MB-D80.  It's ok and certainly extends your battery life, especially if you are shooting something like a D90 or 80, which seem to have a great battery life already.  Getting used to shooting in portrait mode in a comfortable stance is a bit weird and seeming unnatural, but after a while you grow to enjoy the more comfortable way of shooting portrait.  




Anyway, I am going to post a few here that I only played with the levels and White balance, so no touch-up's here folks.  Pure unadulterated models giving it their all and one mediocre photographer posting for all to see.  


Not sure if I like the shadow's on this one.








This one, was set-up by the workshop guy and is kind of cool if you ask me. 






OK so maybe not technically all Head shots.

My next shoot is next weekend and is in DC, will definitely change the tone from this posting I am sure.