The last of my fireworks images and quite definitely my favorite. I simply cannot wait to try this technique again sometime in the future.

ISO 100, 4 seconds, f11, 75mm, focus shift

The third of probably four images I’ll post from the fireworks show.

ISO 100, 1 second, f14, 75mm, focus shift

Another image from the fireworks show Saturday night. Again, I used the focus shift technique described in my last post, starting with the focus up close and shifting it towards infinity during the exposure.

ISO 100, 1 second, f14, 75mm, focus shift

It’s hard to go to a big fireworks show and not take the camera along. And since Wamego has what they describe as the “biggest hand-fired fireworks show in the Midwest and possibly in the nation,” there was no way I could resist.

I’ve tried doing the typical fireworks picture before, but never got anything I was pleased with. This year, I read an article from JPG Magazine on using focus shift to create really interesting fireworks pictures.

I tried it, and I’m in love.

Basically, you set your camera on a tripod (and this type of shot requires a camera that has a manual-focus ring on the lens, so probably an SLR-type camera) and use your longest lens. Use manual focus and a long shutter speed. During the exposure, change the focus. You can go from focused to out of focus or the other way around. On this one, I went from unfocused to focused. Just make sure you don’t shake the tripod during the exposure.

More to come.

ISO 100, 4 seconds, f11, 75mm, focus shift

As I left a friend’s house around 10:00 last night, there was a massive lightning storm passing us to the north (I would later discover that it was near the Kansas-Nebraska border, a good 60 miles away). It was putting on quite a display, I actually had my camera with me, and my family was in California (and so not expecting me home soon), so I drove out to the local sports complex to take some pictures.

I used a mini-tripod to support the camera, a cable release, and a decently long exposure to capture this. The light on the grass comes from the parking lot lights that were nowhere near us, just to give you an idea of how long the camera shutter was open.

ISO 250, 15 seconds, f8, 40mm

Just in case anyone’s wondering why I’ve been a little out of commission, exhausted, confused, dangerous on the road, slow to respond, etc., lately, here’s the reason.

Our little Cate was born March 14th, a not-so-little 8 lbs 13 oz. I worked on this picture for one whole day in the hospital, not because I did that much to it, but rather because I was using a 7 year old laptop running linux, forcing me to completely alter my workflow and figure everything out from scratch. It was fun, though.

On a completely unrelated side-note, operating rooms have amazing light.

ISO 320, 1/80s, f5.6, 40mm

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go take a nap.

I’ve been going through the old files lately, getting ready to clean them off the main hard drive (after I backed them up to my main backup drive and DVDs, of course). I found this little gem that I shot about a week after getting the camera. The focus isn’t stellar, but I just love the feeling of the shot and the very cool background I got in there. Yes, that is the actual background. It’s a speckled, black foam playground top. I really, really need to get back there and shoot again.

I went back and reprocessed this to get it a bit closer to the way I originally wanted it (but couldn’t figure out how to do at the time). The Totally Rad Actions played a key role in this.

ISO 400, 1/30s, f4.0, 28mm

The texture, that is.

I’ve seen a lot of photographers do a number of textured portraits that I really liked. I’ve seen a lot of my attempts at texturing end up looking terrible. I think I finally found a texture that I love (at the local zoo) and matched it with the perfect image.

This is a really, really light taste of what’s to come, from a recent engagement session I did for my friends, Chase and Tara. UPDATE: here’s the rest of their sneak peek.

ISO 160, 1/100s, f3.5, 75mm

My wife and I got a portable dishwasher recently.

Our kids got a space shuttle.

ISO 100, 1/125s, f6.3, 50mm; Vivitar 283 at 1/16th through translucent reflector frame camera left, Promaster 7500EDF at 1/16th bounced off the ceiling for fill on the box (Strobist).

…from an engagement session I shot that day, I saw this sky and knew I couldn’t waste another minute. I pulled into the gas station I was passing, grabbed my camera, and squeezed off just one shot. Just a second later, the moment had passed, the brilliance faded.

ISO 100, 1/100s, f3.5, 28mm