Changing your Perspective

Alone in the Clouds

I read an article today on Gizmodo that discussed clever photos taken by changing your perspective (45 Clever Photos).  That made me think about the images that I've taken where I've had to change my perspective in order to get a creative shot. The shot to the left required me to lie under the swings and wait for the perfect moment to take the image of the swing against the background of the sky.  I'm going to try to remember perspective the next time I go out shooting and maybe it'll more quality, creative shots.

Autumn Leaves: Still Life

Yesterday I went for a brief walk to try and take in some of the leaves before the rain hits this week and many of them fall.  I took the picture to the left as a still life of what autumn looks like in my current area. I'm not usually much of a still life fan, I think mostly because I don't have a lot of experience with lighting techniques for still life or macro images.  This shot was just using natural light, diffused through the overcast day.

Got a lot of traffic yesterday from my facebook post, so welcome anyone who is new to reading, please feel free to leave comments.  I'll be up in Baltimore later today so I'm not sure if I'll get any new pictures up for tomorrow but I'll hopefully be able to post something.  Possibly about the types of blogs that I read daily to keep up to date with the news and keep myself inspired.  Cheers!

FOLLOW UP: This photo has been very hot on Flickr at Autumn!  Go comment :)

Bay Fishing Trip

Birds at Dawn

Well I spent my Saturday on a fishing trip on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay.  We got the marina well before sunrise, which is a time of day that I rarely see, but it one of the best times to take photographs.  On the way out I was able to grab a few shots of the gulls flying before dawn.  The sun came up right before we got to our first trolling spot.  The sun rose directly over this small tree covered jetty which was a great subject because the shadows of the trees created a nice silhouette. I took a few shots while the boat was moving, but the image to the right was my favorite.  We were able to catch quite a few perch on the trip and overall it was quite a success. I took all the images in .NEF format, light editing in PhotoShop and Picasa. The entire set can be seen on Flickr at: Bay Fishing Set. 

Hardware wise I used only my D60 with my 18-135mm Nikkor lens.  ISO was mostly set on Auto setting.

Putting the little guys back

Autumn

Fall has again arrived and we're in that magical two week windows when the leaves have changed but not fallen off and the clocks haven't gone backwards yet to take away the nice daylight.  I plan on getting out this weekend and trying to capture some of the unexplored areas around my new city.  I'd like to get up and go early but I doubt if my body will agree with that goal.  Should have some to post early next week.

I've been looking pretty hard at the Nikkor 50mm F/1.8 to add to my collection.  Its relatively inexpensive, great in a low light, and solid for portraits.  My only hesitation is that it won't AF because my D60 doesn't have in-camera focusing.  Nikon doesn't seem to make an autofocusing 50mm F/1.8 so I may have to do all manual.  If that's the case I may throw in for a reversal ring for macro's as well.  I'd like to get some macro shots this weekend, but we'll see what I run into out there.

Well I burnt my fingers yesterday on the stove so typing is painful so I'm out

Style

TA-DA

Well to validate my existence, I've added a picture.

My main areas of photographic inspiration come from nature and the outdoors.  I enjoy taking everything from a bird in flight, to a serene landscape, to macro's of insects.  I usually do a mix of wide angle and zoom, depending on the situation, usually not to exceed 18mm wide or 300mm telephoto.  I've done some other projects with people or still life, but I don't feel as if I'm as experienced in those areas and need to continue work there.  I don't think I'll ever want to do portraiture or large events, that just doesn't seem to strike my interest like capturing the beauty of nature does.

I'm a user of Adobe Photoshop PS4, Color Efex Pro, GIMP, Photomatic 3.0, Picasa, and occasionally online tools to edit and tweak my photos.  Unless I'm doing HDR or can't access my own machine, I mostly stick with PS.  I feel very comfortable navigating through the software and enjoy the ability to adjust levels and curves on the fly. 

TTFN

Starting Line

Well I guess I'd better introduce myself before getting into anything else.  My name is Dan, I'm 23 years old and currently living in Annapolis, MD.  I've been interested in photography for about 5 years.  I took up the hobby during my freshman year at Penn State University where I majored in Information Sciences and Technology & Security and Risk Analysis.  Since then I've been published a few times, once in a local magazine, once in a travel brochure, and I've got a collegiate licensed image selling in downtown State College.

I hope the use this blog to share my experiences in photography as well as to motivate myself to expand my horizons and take more photos.  I hope to post my favorite images to the site as well as link to my Flickr page.