Lunar Eclipse

 

Last week during the lunar eclipse that a large majority of the East Coast of the United States experienced I forced myself out of bed at 2:30AM to try and get a few good pictures of the moon.  I hadn't really done any research on how to photograph eclipses but figured that with my tripod and a few different attempts I'd be able to figure it out.  The biggest problem I had was the weather.  It was very frigid and very windy which made my hands frozen and my patience tested.  I would have taken more time photographing had it not been so very cold.

It was initially a difficult task because I had trouble with the technical aspects of shooting a dark moon against a dark sky in my parking lots with bright lights.  My best attempt is shown above. I bumped up my ISO to 1600, made the shutter speed shorter (About 1/30 I believe), and had the aperture very low.  This image above is slightly blurry, I think because I had the aperture so low.  In the future I'll increase my depth of field and hopefully will have better results.  This was also shot with my 135mm and not my 300mm which I'll surely change next time as well. 

Nikon 50mm F 1.8

I just took the plunge and purchased my first prime lens.  Hopefully will have unboxing and test pictures soon as well as maybe some portraits.

Definition: Aperture

Since I decided to put Aperture in the title of my blog, I thought it might be a good idea to really give it a solid definition.  The dictionary definition is: "In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. ...".  In more normal terms, when you look at a lens it has a whole where light enters.  The aperture of the opening describes the width the the diameter.  When speaking about aperture, new photographers will often gets confused because the higher the F-Stop number means that the opening gets smaller.  A really good description can be found here.

An example of using a wide aperture to get a shallow depth of field.  The ladybug is in focus, flowers going out, and background is totally blurred.

I often find myself shooting in aperture mode because it allows me to easily use the auto features in the camera, with only a minimal number of options to tweak.  I am hopefully going to get a Nikon F/1.8 50mm lens soon so I can really start trying out small depth of field photos and getting shots in low light.  The aperture setting is one that is often misunderstood but once you can understand how it affects exposure, you can really use it to your advantage.

Lights on the Bay: Christmas at Sandy Point State Park

On this cold/brisk weekend my girlfriend, roommate, and myself went to AAMC Lights on the Bay at Sandy Point State Park.   The light show was sponsored by the Anne Arundel Medical Center as well as numerous car dealerships.

Driving through the show was fantastic.  They had tons of displays, some with motion, and apparently they offered 3D as well although we didn't choose that option. 

Shooting in these conditions were difficult because all automatic settings weren't giving me the results I wanted.  Autofocus also wasn't doing its thing well because of the low light situations so I had to switch to old school, all manual.  I used mostly ISO 1600, shutter speed at 40, and aperture at 5.6.  Overall I liked the results, although I should have played more attention to focus on a few of the shots.

Blackwater Wildlife Nature Reserve

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is a short 90 minute trip from Annapolis so I thought that it would be a great trip for a Saturday.  The refuge is more than 27,000 acres of swamps, marshes, inlets, and tidal areas with mixed amounts of salt, fresh, and brackish waters.  My girlfriend and I were able to see multiple birds including hawks, vultures, and a bald eagle.  They have a wildlife drive set up for cars, bikes, and pedestrian traffic as well as multiple wooded trails for hikers.  While our hikes were very peaceful and quiet (the kind of quiet you can only get in the outdoors!), we saw sparse wildlife.  I will come back again in different seasons, possibly during a specific bird migration period, to see what other types of wildlife and species of birds we can spot. 

For photographers they have at least one bird blind that looks out over a marsh like area, although on my trip we were unable to see any birds in that location.  The entire wildlife drive has multiple points to pull over and get out of your car where you can easily spot birds on the water and in the forest.  These vultures we spotted were along the side of the road, approximately 6 to 10.  They were very large and imposing creatures.

I had a great time getting outdoors, traveling somewhere new, and getting some good birding pictures.  I got the idea for this trip from an article in Outdoor Photographer where it was a highly recommended location to visit in Maryland. 

What Blogs Do I Frequent?

Well before I started this venture into blogging I was reading blogs daily.  I mostly use the Google Reader application to keep track of the RSS feeds and blogs that I read.  I have them divided up into a few categories, only one of which I'm going to talk about now: Photography Blogs

Photography Blogs: 

• Digital Photography School has daily updates which include tips, techniques, how-to articles, technology reviews, and post-production information.  Its a very blog to start with because it is broad and updates often.  A few of the posts I've been reading recently from them are: You're only 50mm away from being a better photographer and 13 Most Popular Tips

•  PhotoJoJo updates about 2 or 3 times a week.  It has some tips and articles but more often I read it because they sell interesting photo gadgets and merchandise.  Its a good place to go to see new types of accessories and interesting gifts.  My most recent favorite was the: Camera Lens Mug (Nikon of course)

• Photofocus  is updated frequently with more profession tips and news.  They do cover news, tips, and equipment but also cover the niche of professional photographers and ways to become a professional (make $$).  The main write is Scott Bourne who is a large figure in the community.  A recent article I enjoyed was: Five Questions Every Serious Photographer Should Ask Themselves

•  Digital Shot seems to be a little off and on again.  Sometimes they'll do posts a few times a week and then not again for a month.  That being said, I do like they primarily cover tutorials.  Even if I feel like I have a good feel for a type of shooting, reading a tutorial often reminds me to examine the basics and take my time.  They recently had a post on Landscapes which was interesting.

• Photo Radar  posts daily with tips and images.  I usually check out their image of the day which is generally very good and can provide some daily inspiration and show you what others are doing.  They also have a section on techniques which tends to have very quick, basic, 10 step tips that you can glance over before you go out shooting.

•  Photo Critic is another broad tips and news website that covers all things photography.  Their tagline is: "Doing cool things with Photography" and it sums up what they are trying to accomplish with their posts. This post on Must Read Books is very informative and inspirational.

• Digital Photography Review  is a site that bases itself right in the depths of photography hardware.  Its always the first place I look to check out specs, prices, or comparisons and reviews.  They also post firmware updates on their feed which saves me time from checking myself.

• http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/  has good photojournalism stuff and pictures

• Places to buy photo things:
• Amazon
• CraigsList
• B&H
• Adorama

Cathedral of Learning - Nationality Rooms for Christmas

Christmas Tree at the PPG Ice Rink in Pittsburgh

At the end of November I was able to take a trip with my mother and my girlfriend to the nationality rooms at the University of Pitt.  The rooms were adorned with their respective holiday decorations from around the globe.  The lighting wasn't ideal but I was able to capture a few good shots of the art that was put into each and every room.  I enjoyed the details that went into every room, from the type of wood used in the floor to the glass used in the windows, it was authentic to the culture being represented in that room.

I think these dog/wolf chair toppers in the Ireland room are awesome!  They are very intricately carved and add a nice touch to the otherwise already cool chairs.  The detailing on the roof of the room for China is also amazing.  The room itself was very ornate, with the dragon above the main table being the centerpiece of the area.  Its quite large and imposing, with the dragon staring down towards those in the room.

 

Artwork on the ceiling of the China room and an excellent globe against stained glass in another.  I would love to have that type of globe for my house, it had multiple spheres of information encompassing the map.