Plaza Lights

So last Saturday I went with Digital Labrador to a "photo safari" on the Plaza. In my 10 years in KC, I have never really taken pictures of the lights so I thought this would be a fun learning experience. There were a couple pros stationed around the Plaza with fun equipment to use and tips/tricks to share. They had a Canon 5D Mark II that was amazing! I didn't use it but I saw some of the images it was producing and it's truly a fabulous piece of equipment. If I had an extra $2700 laying around I would buy one.

It was FREEZING that night but I managed to hang in there and shoot for 3 hours straight. It was hard to shoot with numb fingers but I got a few shots I was happy with. I was hand holding everything because I couldn't find my tripod- which was fine because I hate lugging that huge thing around anyway.

My favorites:

Jake

Just wanted to post some pics for the grandparents!









Trixie has kept any tree damage to a minimum, Simon is obsessed with chasing the reflections of the lights and Jake just wants to eat the branches. Every so often there will be an incident involving Simon trying to "get" Trixie behind the tree, but so far nobody has been hurt. And I don't know if it's the weather, the season or the fact that my cat Gabby is losing her mind, but she has been coming out into the living room a lot these days! This is the cat who practically lives in the bedroom, only to leave for the next room where the litter box is (if we're lucky).

We are looking forward to our first Christmas with a child- I get teary just thinking about it! I can't wait to see him get excited about Christmas morning and watch his eyes light up as he see's what Santa has left him. Of course, it will be a couple years before this happens...it's still fun to think about!

Fun with a tilt/shift lens

A photographer friend of mine sent this video to me a while back and I came across it again today. I love it! It looks like a scene of miniatures but it's really a time lapse "video" shot with a dSLR using a tilt/shift lens. I believe it's all stills put together to look like a movie. SO COOL! I'm diggin' the song too...


Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
From this blog.

*About tilt/shift lenses:
A tilt shift lens looks like a complicated little piece of equipment with movable parts, but it's pretty simple to use. I've never used one on a dSLR but I played around with one at KCAI on a 4x5 camera. The tilt controls the position of the plane of focus which results in a very shallow depth of field, so most of the image is out of focus except for a small area that is in focus. The plane of focus can be adjusted to make a large scene appear much smaller, as the shallow depth of field is similar to that achieved by a macro lens on miniature. You can't get this effect using a large aperture on a regular macro lens. Shift controls perspective, and this can result in some cool effects. Shifting is used a lot in architectural photography so that there is little to no distortion of lines. You can shift the lens to be parallel to the subject, instead of tilting the camera back to be perpendicular...catch my drift? Shifting lenses have a much wider field of vision than a standard lens of the same focal length. These lenses come with a pretty large price tag- around $1100 and up.

Santa's favorite elves!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Jack

I just tried writing a whole big blog entry on this but I really can't even find the words to say what I want so I'll make it short and sweet.


In January of this year, I found my way to this blog, Multiple Baby Pileup , and it has really has changed my life. It was here that I was introduced to an amazing mom and dad, two beautiful girls Charlotte and Katie...and a brave little guy named Jack. Charlotte, Kate and Jack are triplets (how cool is that?!?!). The girls are so cute and funny! Each has a personality all their own and it's been so great watching them get bigger and bigger.


Charlotte and Katie are very special in that they have an angel watching over them....their brother Jack. On January 2nd, 2008 Jack passed away from complications of Mobius Syndrome- he was just short of 3 months old. The strength that their mom and dad have shown over the last 11 months has blown me away. There have been days where I would sit at my computer and sob over what I was reading and how destroyed mom and dad must be feeling. I began to miss Jack, a little boy that I had never even met. Just reading their story and learning about Jack and his sisters has brought me close to them somehow. I think of Jack often, and I look forward to every post on the blog.


So now to the reason for this blog entry-

A couple people have organized toy drives in Jack's memory- this one has been made super easy for you. All the toys are being donated to the Children's Hospital of New Jersey so that some little child will have a gift to open on Christmas, and so that they know Santa thinks they are special too. Please take a minute to send a toy if you can. I know Jack would love it! And if you have some time please read some more about these three little babies. You might just learn something about yourself through them.

"I'd like to thank all the little people..."

My friend Nemmie tagged me for the Kreative Blogger Award! Thanks girl, I'm flattered and you're thuper thweet! You guys should check out Nemmie's blog. She has the most amazing baked goodies on there that will make your mouth water- no joke. Nemmie could take Martha Stewart in a bake-off easily...with one hand tied behind her back. Love ya, Nems!

And now I shall pass on the award to my other favorite "chefs", Sarah at Chomping the Big Apple and Jules at Julie's Foodie.

Closer...no, closer!

I got a new lens (oh, by the way Todd- I got a new lens :o) ). It's a Sigma 28mm 1.8 and I'm pretty much in love with it. Thanks to Josh Solar for the recommendation!

So last weekend I wanted to see how close I could get to my subjects and have the image be in focus. I started at about a foot away. Everything still in focus. I moved 8 inches closer....still clear. I moved closer- about 4 inches away and it was STILL in focus! Finally I just put the lens right on the subject (not in focus) and moved back until it was in focus. How far back you ask? About 2 inches. I can focus on an object at 2 inches!

In. love.