Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a day full of JESUS!?!?!?

Darn right. My wife and I had quite the discussion on Christmas Eve morning about the true meaning of Christmas and how, despite giving up buying gifts for family and friends on this holiday, the true meaning was sorely lacking from our lives. So we're here to set the record straight about the true meaning. No gifts, or presents, but Jesus, and the gift of presence with family, friends, and loved ones.

And, of course, to keep it photo related, here's a self portrait I snapped yesterday morning. Sharpened, border added, B&W, and that's it. Just simply PP.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Enjoy this time with good people, and remember the reason for the season.

New website!

So, I finally got off my butt, spent a few bucks on something simple (SmugMug and GoDaddy) and got myself an inexpensive website. I know I'm going to obsess now about getting it to look all professional, but seeing as I'm not trying to make any money on this right now, I think I'll just leave it plain and ordinary for now. Regardless, the website... SHE LIVES!

www.mbB-Photo.com

Playing around and Christmas cards

So, the wife wanted me to do a few shots of her Christmas cards that she made but she wanted to use our D300. Well, she's a little lost with all of those buttons, so I offered to help her. Umbrella, camera right, SB-600, and bounced my other SB-600 off the left wall for these shots of her. I think they're cute. :-)


As for these shots of her Christmas cards, I'm pleased with these. Only took about 3 test shots to get the lighting about where I wanted it, which is impressive because I usually chimp about a dozen (if not more) times to simply get my lighting right. Just used the SB-600 into my umbrella, camera right, on this one. Got some "group" shots of multiple cards, and then did some individual ones. Personally, I think the cards are fantastic, 100% homemade, and my wife is super talented and awesome. And my less than creative photos of her AMAZINGLY creative cards are okay, too. She's considering selling these, which I think she should.

Riding again...

Took some photos of my buddy Paul today at one of the local trails. Nothing to add to this other than I love using dual flash for stuff like this!

Enjoy!

First official single person portrait shoot

Definitely odd. I didn't have a good background, so I used the neutral color of our dining room wall. I had to chimp about 30 times before I found a few settings that weren't horrible. Then I had to adjust lighting a little bit post shoot. But still, I'm happy with my results considering it was both my first time shooting a single individual as a portrait shoot, as well as my first time using multiple strobes.

Fun fun fun!

Thanks to my buddy Louie for letting me eat up an hour of his time in trade for a few photos to use on his graduation announcements

SB-600 Acquired...

A new SB-600 has been added to my growing arsenal. I wouldn't exactly call two SB-600's an "arsenal" perse. In fact, I'd sooner call one SB-800 or SB-900 an arsenal before calling two SB-600's, but I digress. I'm a happy camper, and the SB-900 is a gal' dang HUGE flash! I prefer my only slightly smaller flashes for the moment.

First portrait shoot is tonight, so we'll see how it goes. Shooting my sister's friend's boyfriend, Louie, for his college graduation photos. Lightstand, umbrella, and flashes... prepare yourself for some serious use.

Today...

...is one of those days where I wish I was out taking photos and NOT sitting here at work reading and researching about taking photos.

On a side note, got a few gift cards for Christmas (early) and I'm debating between the 85mm f/1.8, the 50mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.8 and pocketing the extra for a rainy day, or another SB-600 strobe.

Decisions, decisions...

Update: I went home and took some photos of the dogs. Natural light in a dark living meant ISO 1600 or 3200, so the photos are noisy and I'm not going to post them - but I like them.

Riding in the mountains...

As always, I try to keep trail location hush-hush, so we'll just call these photos "Riding in the mountains". Maybe it's in the moutains in Chile'... or maybe somewhere in S. Africa or China. But most likely some people will recognize these. In anycase, Kudos to Nash for hitting the big 20-footer, Courtney for nailing the goal post, Brently for blowing up his headset, and Tyler for hitting all the big stuff on a 6" bike.

Anything shot with a flash was my SB-600 wirelessly tied to my D300 (Commander mode) set at 1/1 power. The new Manfrotto Tripod really paid off as getting the flash low to the ground and in weird locations really helps. The non-strobed photos were the good ol' 35mm f/1.8 prime that I love so much.

I should have taken some portraits while out there, too, but I was so focused on playing with settings on the D300 I totally forgot.

This is my favorite though, and I don't even know who this is. I wish I did, because I'd love to get this shot to him.

A few old and a few new...

White balance, white balance, white balance! You make or break me! The hardships of figuring out WB! They keep me up at night. Despite that...

Last night I went out with my buddy Rob and we did some downtown night photography. After getting the boot from the Adobe building... errr... the boot from standing on the sidewalk in front of the Adobe building... we wandered around Downtown San Jose's Christmas in the Park. Amazing photos. I just wish that I had more time!!!And here's a random one that Jehn actually took a few months back with our old D40.