Blog Posts

New Underwear Needed

2012-05-30T03:47:51Z

I had an assignment for the magazine tonight that took me to the GoldField Ghost Town just north of Apache Junction. I got some good images as I took advantage of a warm sunset. This isn't one of those good images.

As I was leaving, I decided to take a picture of the sign at the entrance. I pulled the Hummer to the side at the exit and proceeded to capture the unique sign from a couple of different angles. The last picture took me back toward the Hummer and I heard the sound of a cricket. NO...WAIT....in the desert that sound isn't a cricket. About eight feet to my right was this rather angry rattlesnake. He didn't really seem to appreciate my intrusion on his evening's siesta.

Once my heart started to beat, I had the presence of mind to capture this image. Most of the light was gone and I wasn't exactly sure how fast a rattlesnake could move on asphalt. It didn't seem to be a good time to experiment. Forgive me for rushing the exposure but I needed to hurry home and change my underwear.

9:03 am on April 19, 199

2012-05-17T00:57:34Z

On April 19,1995, the United States was changed forever. At 9:02 on that day, Tim McVeigh set off an explosion that killed 168 people including 19 children in the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City . Terrorism displayed its ugly face in the US for the first time. Now, seventeen years later, a tribute to the victims and heroes of that attack stands in the space once occupied by the building. A reflecting pool is flank by two arches. One is labeled 9:01 to signify the peace and calm the moment before to bomb was ignited. The other arch is labeled 9:03 to recognize everything that changed at 9:02.

Lily Pad

2012-04-27T02:10:57Z

I have been trying to find this image for years. Today, just before sunset, I took a short stroll at the botanical park and found this lily pad hidden within a thick growth of reeds. I used a flash and high speed sync to get the lighting I wanted.

Time Lapse of Lilies

2012-04-25T02:19:29Z

This is a series of approximately two hundred and twenty images taken every five minutes for about 36 hours. I set up the flower against a black backdrop in the shower of my home. It is lit with hot lights. I really need to get a life!!!

Light Pipes

2012-04-09T03:19:34Z

OK...one more from the "Let's Think of Crazy Ways to Use My Flash" file. I got this idea from a friend at work who told me he once took some interesting pictures of a box of straws. Well, do you know how difficult it is to find a box of unwrapped plain paper straws? I finally found a box of multicolor plastic straws. I balanced the box of straws on the face of my flash and started experimenting with different combinations of white balance and gels. I took approximately 20 images and really loved the images. Bouncing different colored light through the straw pipes gave me some fascinating results.

Two Tulips

2012-04-07T23:23:01Z

Another way to look at those tulips I have been watching over the last week. I used a Nikon SB-29s ring flash and the 105mm f2.8 Nikkor Macro lens. I was trying to get something that was a different look at the traditional spring tulip pictures.

Tulip

2012-04-02T18:14:44Z

In the spirit of the Easter season, I purchased some Tulips yesterday and couldn't resist taking another flower picture. I have said it before, the world doesn't need another flower picture. The Internet is overgrown with flower pictures!!! But, they are great subjects to use when experimenting with lighting. Flowers don't move very quickly so I can take my time planning the shot. This image was taken with a single flash at night on a table in the back yard. I used a Rogue Flash Bender and their new diffusion panel to soften the light. A fast shutter speed allowed me to make the background solid black.

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

2012-03-30T04:56:56Z

The Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is located on the bluffs of Point Loma overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is hard to describe the feeling of reverence that one has standing there among the acres of tombstones that honor the memory of Navy veterans.

The image is an HDR photo that was taken just before sunset. The actual sunset was a bust as a fog bank rolled in about three miles off shore. Just enough to kill the light but not enough to add drama!!!

Egg Drop

2012-03-26T02:52:25Z

Catching a water droplet as it approaches the surface is pretty easy compared to catching an egg as it impacts the surface of a table. You would be surprised how hard it is to catch that moment and how many broken eggs one has to clean up trying to capture that magical instant. Well, this image is as close as I came to the moment of impact. I will keep trying....anyone interested in a twelve egg omlet???

The Second Drop

2012-03-25T18:30:09Z

I took a few minutes this morning to capture water drop images. Timing the arrival of a drop at the surface of the water is challenging. I got a lot of images that were interesting pictures of the water's surface AFTER the drop arrived. Every now and then, I got lucky and captured the arrival of the drop. Even better, I got a few images with the drop in focus. Remember, the depth of field for this macro lens is very, very shallow. This image below is interesting because it is the arrival of a drop just a few nano-seconds after a previous drop caused the visible ripples.

The technical details are as follows:

Nikon D300 with105mm f2.8 lens, ISO 200, F5.6 at 1/250 second. I used two flashes. One was bounced off a reflector to the surface of the water. The second was fired through the side of the basin with a blue gel. Both flashes were TTL and the blue gel flash was set at -2.0 EV.