Photo of the Day March 2015

[Scepticalscribe]

[url=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7618/16367304733_3c36a915e2_z.jpg]Image[/url]
Voyeur by oliverandrews, on Flickr​

Just testing out a new lens

I rather like book shops, and houses with many, many bookshelves. Nice to see some; is this an office or a boo-shop, or someone's home?

Anyway, I don't think I have seen a picture where books feature until this; personally, I like it.

Third and final instalment in the Jess "having a moment" Trilogy.

The model (a friend) hit me up on Facebook, telling me she was going through dark times at the moment and that if I could take advantage of this to create some art, she would be appreciative. I took her up on this challenge and hit my hair and make up team ten minutes later.

Came up with the concept (this, the chainsaw wielding and the Mummy Dearest tribute) within two days and the team put it together on short notice wonderfully.

[url=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/16986718292_bc98dd650b_b.jpg]Image[/url]
Mirror Mirror by Adam_Campbell, on Flickr

A rare photograph where the model, (a friend, which may be a telling detail) actually looks like a person, or a real, live, human being (rather than a beautiful object with dead eyes); excellent shot and wonderful rendition of both light and character.

 

[NYCkid]

Congratulations -- that's great news!

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I normally photograph hummingbirds against a background of natural foliage, but my daughter brought some colorful artwork home from school and agreed to let me try using it as a backdrop...

[url=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7625/16975253755_87c6b3d529_c.jpg]Image[/url]
Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird (Female or Juvenile) by MCH-1138, on Flickr

D7000 • Nikon 300mm f/4D (AF-S) w/1.4x TC • 1/250 @ f/11 • 3 Speedlights

Eyegasm, WOW!

 

[MCH-1138]

Words fail me about how incredible this shot is. Again I am a fan of the hummingbirds.

Fantastic humming bird shot. Brilliant.

Eyegasm, WOW!

Thanks, Kenoh, Scepticalscribe, and NYCkid! A little easier on the color for today...


Anna's Hummingbird (Female or Juvenile) by MCH-1138, on Flickr

D7000 • Nikon 300mm f/4D (AF-S) w/1.4x TC • 1/200 @ f/16 • 2 Speedlights

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Thanks, Kenoh, Scepticalscribe, and NYCkid! A little easier on the color for today...

[url=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7603/16986040752_26e247a5bf_c.jpg]Image[/url]
Anna's Hummingbird (Female or Juvenile) by MCH-1138, on Flickr

D7000 • Nikon 300mm f/4D (AF-S) w/1.4x TC • 1/200 @ f/16 • 2 Speedlights

Magnificent! What a beautiful shot - absolutely stunning.

And thanks for sharing your gorgeous hummingbird shots with us; they are an utter spell binding pleasure to behold.

 

[VirtualRain]

Thanks, Kenoh, Scepticalscribe, and NYCkid! A little easier on the color for today...

[url=https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7603/16986040752_26e247a5bf_c.jpg]Image[/url]
Anna's Hummingbird (Female or Juvenile) by MCH-1138, on Flickr

D7000 • Nikon 300mm f/4D (AF-S) w/1.4x TC • 1/200 @ f/16 • 2 Speedlights

Another great one... I would love to see a wide-angle shot of your setup for these shots? And how do you lure the birds into the right spot?

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BTW, here's another from my rainforest series...


Rainforest by Chris-VirtualRain, on Flickr

 

[Ollé]

I rather like book shops, and houses with many, many bookshelves. Nice to see some; is this an office or a boo-shop, or someone's home?

Anyway, I don't think I have seen a picture where books feature until this; personally, I like it.

It's a book stall at our city market, although the proprietor has it set up as much like a bricks and mortar bookshop as he can. He's always sitting reading during the quiet times, must be an awesome job!

 

[MCH-1138]

Magnificent! What a beautiful shot - absolutely stunning.

And thanks for sharing your gorgeous hummingbird shots with us; they are an utter spell binding pleasure to behold.

Another great one... I would love to see a wide-angle shot of your setup for these shots? And how do you lure the birds into the right spot?

Thank you, both, for the kind words.

My setup varies some from day to day, but here is a quick setup shot from yesterday's photo to give you an idea (pardon the mess). At right, in the umbrella, is an SB-800 set at 1/16 power. At left, with the cardboard snoot, is an SB-700 set at 1/64 power. The background is being lit by another flash (which you can sort of see on the counter near the bottom of the image) at 1/64 power.

In order to facilitate the lighting setup, I photograph the birds at a feeder. The feeder in this image has three feeding stations. I cover two of them so there is only one spot to eat from. I also take down some of the other feeders that I normally have up in order to encourage the birds to eat from this one.

Today's photo was shot using basically the same setup, but shooting back the other way (so the umbrella was to the left) and without a background light (so the leaves were dimly lit by the ambient light).

 

[JamesMike]

Thank you, both, for the kind words.

My setup varies some from day to day, but here is a quick setup shot from yesterday's photo to give you an idea (pardon the mess). At right, in the umbrella, is an SB-800 set at 1/16 power. At left, with the cardboard snoot, is an SB-700 set at 1/64 power. The background is being lit by another flash (which you can sort of see on the counter near the bottom of the image) at 1/64 power.

In order to facilitate the lighting setup, I photograph the birds at a feeder. The feeder in this image has three feeding stations. I cover two of them so there is only one spot to eat from. I also take down some of the other feeders that I normally have up in order to encourage the birds to eat from this one.

Today's photo was shot using basically the same setup, but shooting back the other way (so the umbrella was to the left) and without a background light (so the leaves were dimly lit by the ambient light).

Your hard work and effort is justly rewarded! Keep up the good work!

 

[VirtualRain]

Thank you, both, for the kind words.

My setup varies some from day to day, but here is a quick setup shot from yesterday's photo to give you an idea (pardon the mess). At right, in the umbrella, is an SB-800 set at 1/16 power. At left, with the cardboard snoot, is an SB-700 set at 1/64 power. The background is being lit by another flash (which you can sort of see on the counter near the bottom of the image) at 1/64 power.

In order to facilitate the lighting setup, I photograph the birds at a feeder. The feeder in this image has three feeding stations. I cover two of them so there is only one spot to eat from. I also take down some of the other feeders that I normally have up in order to encourage the birds to eat from this one.

Today's photo was shot using basically the same setup, but shooting back the other way (so the umbrella was to the left) and without a background light (so the leaves were dimly lit by the ambient light).

Very cool... thanks for sharing!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Thank you, both, for the kind words.

My setup varies some from day to day, but here is a quick setup shot from yesterday's photo to give you an idea (pardon the mess). At right, in the umbrella, is an SB-800 set at 1/16 power. At left, with the cardboard snoot, is an SB-700 set at 1/64 power. The background is being lit by another flash (which you can sort of see on the counter near the bottom of the image) at 1/64 power.

In order to facilitate the lighting setup, I photograph the birds at a feeder. The feeder in this image has three feeding stations. I cover two of them so there is only one spot to eat from. I also take down some of the other feeders that I normally have up in order to encourage the birds to eat from this one.

Today's photo was shot using basically the same setup, but shooting back the other way (so the umbrella was to the left) and without a background light (so the leaves were dimly lit by the ambient light).

Wow. Just wow. Count me impressed. An impressive amount of thought, preparation, sheer dogged, tenacious hard work, endless patience, rapid reactions, a sense of what the birds themselves want and might like, and visually and an excellent and perceptive eye for what works very well from a photographic perspective went into all of this. Take a bow - exceptionally well done!

Seriously, these are good enough to be on a wall - personally, I'd be more than happy to frame a selection of them.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Great news indeed. I've downloaded your interview, and will read it this evening. Looks like you're going in the right direction...

Image

Ha! Love the photo accompaniment there.

Congratulations, that is great news, and very well done. Thanks for posting then link: I read the interview - extremely interesting, what a fascinating intellectual 7 photographic journey and some lovely photographs, too.

Thanks so much!

 

[The Bad Guy]

A rare photograph where the model, (a friend, which may be a telling detail) actually looks like a person, or a real, live, human being (rather than a beautiful object with dead eyes); excellent shot and wonderful rendition of both light and character.

All the people I post up on here are friends, I put it down to the half bottle of scotch she drank during the shoot that gives her that look in her eye.

 

[Ish]

I don't think I ever shared the reprocessed version of this photo from the Dolomites. There were a few things that had been bothering me about it since I first released it, so I took another whack at putting it together (focus stacks with moving elements are always a bit tricky).

Also, today is an exciting day for me because I have some big news to share! I have been invited to be the first-ever addition to the Photo Cascadia contributor line-up. I imagine that PC needs no introduction for most of you who are into landscape and travel photography. I have counted those guys among my idols for years, so I'm really pinching myself right now! They started me off with an introduction and interview, which you can read here. I'm super excited!

(Click to enlarge)

[url=http://www.erinbabnik.com/phrasikleia/CrypticalEnvelopment.jpg]Image[/URL]

Well done P and well deserved!

 

[Hughmac]

Edit:- I fell for it, it's April now - reposting in correct thread

Cheers

Hugh

 

[MCH-1138]

Very cool... thanks for sharing!

No problem.

Your hard work and effort is justly rewarded! Keep up the good work!

Thanks, JamesMike!

Wow. Just wow. Count me impressed. An impressive amount of thought, preparation, sheer dogged, tenacious hard work, endless patience, rapid reactions, a sense of what the birds themselves want and might like, and visually and an excellent and perceptive eye for what works very well from a photographic perspective went into all of this. Take a bow - exceptionally well done!

Seriously, these are good enough to be on a wall - personally, I'd be more than happy to frame a selection of them.

Again, thank you, Scepticalscribe. I am sure they are not everyone's cup of tea, but they are subjects I enjoy coming back to and find fascinating to observe. Photographing them has been an iterative learning process for me in a somewhat-controlled environment where I am able to test many different ideas. I like to think that I have made some progress over the past 12 months since I first started photographing them.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

All the people I post up on here are friends, I put it down to the half bottle of scotch she drank during the shoot that gives her that look in her eye.

Well, it is a very good shot, and she looks like a real person rather than a bland, but beautiful, dead-eyed objet d'art, which is what most models end up looking like when they are photographed.

Nothing wrong with consuming half a bottle of scotch, as long as it is the good stuff.

No problem.



Thanks, JamesMike!



Again, thank you, Scepticalscribe. I am sure they are not everyone's cup of tea, but they are subjects I enjoy coming back to and find fascinating to observe. Photographing them has been an iterative learning process for me in a somewhat-controlled environment where I am able to test many different ideas. I like to think that I have made some progress over the past 12 months since I first started photographing them.

Well, I could easily imagine a number of those hummingbird shots elegantly framed in a a house; the would go equally well on the wall of a Victorian or late Georgian house, or in a clean modern building.

Personally, I think they are excellent. More to the point, I also think that they could be lived with on a wall - not everything that is arresting or well shot could be put on a wall.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Well done P and well deserved!

Thanks, Ish!

 

[AlexH]

Edit: Oops, posted in the wrong thread.