365 Project - Day 169

Day 169

Rounding out the fruit & veggie week with a round breakfast fruit. When I started setting up this shoot, I was using a light stand for the flash and umbrella but I eventually removed the umbrella from the stand and set it on the floor to the left of the grapefruit. Then I also set the flash on the floor and aimed it up into the umbrella to bounce the light back on the fruit. Later I ate the grapefruit...not the best idea before going to bed because now my mouth has a tart taste. Everyday is a new lesson.

 Large version (& strobist info) on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 168

Day 168

As promised I used backing lighting for the Jalapenos tonight. I've started using a diffuser to shot the flash through to soften the light hitting the subject, it's part of a 6-in-1 44" reflector kit I have. This really works well in-combination with a second reflector, a sun gold reflector to bounce some light onto the front of the jalapenos, as the foil cards did not give me enough light. Next I have to figure out how to get the peppers to stand up, they kept falling down since I didn't really have anything to prop them up.

Large version on flickr (w/ Strobist info).

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 167

Day 167

Potato time! The hardest part of this shoot was getting the potato balanced long enough to take the shot I wanted. I used the same side lighting through a reflector and a black paper card to subtract some light from the bottom left of the image. My focus on lighting this week really helped me to see light and manipulate it with simple foil & black cards. The next image I'm going to move the light source to the front or back sides of the subject to see what kind of effects I can create.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 166

Day 166

Today was a theme Thursday with the theme of 'numbers'. I wanted to keep up with the fruit and veggie subjects but incorporate numbers into the image. Sitting here looking at this plum trying to figure out how to incorporate the number, but just couldn't figure out how I was going to do it...then I noticed the store code sticker on the plum...4040, My Gramzie* would say 'You better play those numbers.' So 4040 is getting play on the blog today.


*Note: When my siblings and I were kids our parents had us call one grandmother 'Grandma' and the other 'Gramzie' (pronounced Gram-zee) to avoid confusion between the two.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 165

Day 165

Day three of fruit and veggie images, today is an image of a Tomatillo. This fruit, yes it's a fruit, I was surprised as well, has a husk like cover that you peel off and it looks like a tomato. But it makes an awesome Salsa if you blend it (cook for a few minutes [whole] in a pan) with a little water, peppers, and then add cilantro & onions. This shot was lite with 1 flash theough a reflector, and used foil cards on the left and front of the Tomatillo to fill in light.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 164

Day 164

Decided to give the pepper another try  to get some different shading and lights. Of course, this time I used a bell pepper and light cards with one off camera flash fired through a reflector. The light cards were just cardboard from a diaper box covered in foil, used to reflect light around the pepper. Which worked nicely to give an illusion of a second light for the rim on the camera right. I used the black card to subtract some light from the front left of the pepper, and the second foil card to light the inner front right edge. The only hard part was getting all the cards to stay in place, tomorrow I will look for options for holding the cards at the angles I need without me holding then and the camera remote trigger. I may revisit the bell pepper before moving on to the next veggie!

Large version on flickr.


Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 163

Day 163 

 

Today was more fun with lighting and fruit today. Decided to light a pineapple and shoot it from some different angles. I originally was going for a straight on image but then started change the angles that I was shooting from as well as changing the direction of the lighting as well. The light was bounced off the wall from the upper camera left,  plus a second strobe shot into a reflective umbrella to the camera right.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy,

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 162

Day 162

For the past few weeks I have been meaning to use a two lighting setup for the 365. Tonight I finally got a chance to break them out, unfortunately Sara crashed before I even got started. So day 162 ended up being another self-portrait. As for the two light sources I had an on camera flash pointed into a reflector at the camera left to bounce back on me. At the camera right, I had another flash on the floor pointed up into a shoot-thru umbrella to light the other side of my face. The background was that same old piece of fabric (cotton-velvet) from my smoke images, it's an all around good background I got for $8 for two yards.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 161

Day 161

Just a simple shot of the knob on the dresser drawer what is funny is that I'm already thinking of other ways to shoot this image. But since time is not on my side I will leave it the lay it is for now.


Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 160

Day 160

Some days you just have to let your hair go wild! And what better time to do that than on the weekend! Getting the above image was a lot of fun, as Sara was in a rare mood where everything I asked her to do was fun. Since her hair was let out today, I wanted to get a shot of it against a white wall (flash hitting white walls = gray walls) having her at the bottom of the frame looking up. It was tough to get her to look up and stop jumping but there were a few times were everything synced up and this was the image I came away with. Now it's time for some Ice Cream!

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 159

Day 159





Today is theme Thursday, with the theme being Love. I interpreted the theme for the image to represent something that I love, the Japanese language. So the image is of a name stamper that I got in Japan with my name in Katakana ブライアン (bu-ra-i-a-n = Brian) on it. For the most part, I only used it to sign cards or letters. I can't wait to go back to Japan again, but with the Family - which was going to be my image of the night but someone was too hyper and needed to get to bed. That will have to be an image over the weekend.

large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 158

Day 158

For about 10 minutes we rung that bike bell, laughing and shooting at different angles the whole time. My favorite part of this image is the smile in the background, that tells the whole story.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day157

Day 157

Where do you get your inspiration from? For me, I'm inspired by a lot of visual things like from a sunrise to a row of trees, but lately I've listened to an instrumental by Yonderboi, a Hungarian producer, which has me thinking about making a video and writing some lyrics. Again this is all in my head and I still need to put it on paper. But the synopsis would be a guy either gets in a car accident while driving or running through traffic chasing someone who robbed him (initial thoughts at least). Guy pursuing blackouts wakes up in hell and has to play the Devil for his soul and/or life back in a game of chess. The game pieces on the guys side would represent all the good/honorable things he has done, and on the Devils side would be all the sins he committed. While the game was being the played the pieces would act similar to how Wizards Chess was on the Harry Potter movie, pieces would actually battle each other. That's about all I have on it right now, I need to start writing out the lyrics and then developing the story boards for the videos. Anyway all of this also inspired tonight image of Chess pieces.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 156

Day 156

Today I went back to the abstract shapes around the house. I kept thinking of way to photograph the above object using different lighting scenarios that would give it a different look. In the end, I worked with the curves of the object as they made for an interesting look on the image with the composition and shadows. The toughest part was getting the front to stay elevated, I used the power cable to tie down the back end around a board. Also I placed the iron on a piece of white foam paper so that the foreground would not distract from the overall image.


Large verion on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 155

Day 155

The weekends tend to go so quick I feel as if I am eating the time up, which was the concept behind today's image. Time to relax and get ready to go back to the work week.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 154

Day 154

Day 2 of the coffee & milk experiments got off to late start as we were out with some good friends today. I used a slightly different setup, setting the black lid with the coffee in it closer to the ground. This worked better as was easier to maintain a sharp image side to side. I like the middle design almost looks like a person flying in from left to right.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 153

Day 153

Today's image is a rendition of one that I saw on a PBS special when I was a kid. There was a guy (I tried to look up his name but to no avail) who took amazing pictures of space but via a cup of coffee, cream drops, and a macro lens. I will continue to scour the internet to find this photographer, but for the next few days I will experiment with lighting shooting coffee and cream. My plan is to use different types of creams, coffee, and maybe even tea for better results. As well as figuring ways to get the cream in the coffee without disturbing the liquid surface too much. The above image was instant coffee in a short black rice bowl lid, the milk was dropped in using a straw, that seemed to work fairly well.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 152

Day 152

Theme Thursday! for today's theme is shadows. With the new movie Wolfman debuting tomorrow in theaters I thought this would be a good day to put the gold fangs in and do a tribute. I originally setup with 2 flash units, one snooted with a straw grid and the other just snooted, but the grid on the first one was preventing the secondary unit from firing. Instead, I switched to one flash and used the white wall as a reflector to bounce a little light back at me. For the image, I played around with different angles and expressions, I like the above image a lot because of how it fades into the shadows with the profile.

**And on a side note my daughter is not a fan of the fronts, had to take them out to tell her good night or she ran away.

And one more...

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 151

Day 151

For today's image I'm sticking to the abstract objects, although this one is pretty obvious. I really was interested in the lines leading the eye down the image to the object at the bottom. I also like the fade from dark to light, almost as if there is a heavier vignette at the top than the bottom. If you haven't guessed, it's the door and door knob to Sara's room.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 150

Day 150

Today I took a break from the normal subjects you have seen here and stepped into the abstract imagery world for a moment. I've actually spent the past few days looking at several objects, wanting to capture them in a perspective that would be different from the usual way I to see it. Household items with a slight twist. Above you have a lamp and the corner that it faces, in camera cropping and a low angle to position it against the corner and ceiling.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 149

Day 149

 

At some point this morning it was foggy, but also the temperature was freezing. This combination caused the trees to get froze over with a snow coating on them. I shot my images for the day this morning because I knew that the trees would not look as stunning by midday. The trees looked so good I had to post two images for today. I'm so glad that I keep the camera on my at all times now or I might have missed this opportunity.

 

Both large versions on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 148

Day 148

With all the good snow out there I had to go out and photograph some of it. I came across this scene at the Goodyear Metro park in Akron. Next time I need to bring better snow trekking clothing. By the time I got into position and was ready to shoot I had snow all down my waterproof boots. While the boots do an excellent job keeping water out, they are doubly efficient at keeping water or snow in! Originally, I wanted to convert this to black & white at the time of shooting, but I don't think B&W does the sky justice. Oh and the wastebasket adds a nice balance to the overall image.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day147

Day 147

Today I was listening to a lot of music from the mid to late 90's, just taking it back while I brainstormed on a few projects coming up. I decided to photograph one of my Mini Disc [MD] player for day 147 because I still have so much music on MD. I remember seeing Mini Disc in the States for about 6 - 8 months in the mid-90's and then they disappeared. But when I was in Japan, MD's were everywhere! There were machines that you could download songs to a disc in the store for ¥300 [Itunes should do this!], and the players were incredibly small. Although the one pictured above is a Sony, I also have one made by Sharp that is hardly bigger than an individual MD cartridge. The music I listen to is from many genres such as Hip-Hop, Classical, Jazz, Merengue, Soca, Reggae, Rock, Indie, R&B, JR&B, and plenty of instrumentals.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 146

Day 146

Today there was no venturing out to the lakes, just could not fit it into my schedule. But late this afternoon the sky opened up and dumped a good 5+ inches of snow over the ground, poor Washington D.C. had report of 2 feet [Yikes!]. Once I got home, I knew the image I wanted to take. The hardest part was keeping the snow off the lens as I was shooting outside with a long exposure. You just can beat fresh fallen snow and a bare tree, it's a recipe for awesome.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.
Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 145

Day 145

More ice fishing today. I ran out to the lake again hoping to catch a fisherman before he got too far out on the ice...because I'm still not 100% sure that I would venture very far yet. Since I had a goal going into today's shoot, finding a fisherman was very easy, I only needed to get an OK to photograph them. I found the above fisher at the third lake parking section that I went to. Now without ant further adieu, meet JD, he has been ice fishing since he was a kid growing up in Michigan. My first question, after introducing myself, was how do you know if the ice is thick enough to fish on? JD casually pointed to the snowmobile tracks on the lake and said 'If they can ride on it then you can fish on it.' When he gets to a spot that he likes he used a sonar device to see if there are any fish in the area, as JD said, "there is no sense fishing blindly and through ice...you'd be asking for a headache." Once the fish are found, JD must drill a hole by hand in the ice and start fishing. Simple stuff. Since JD ventured out on the ice with the sled I decided to do the same to get a few different angles. For my second time out I was a little more courageous but then I heard a crack that made me quickly get back on to the ground. It ended up being a thin piece of ice near that edge of a small piece of land that was protruding through the surface. I'm really enjoying learning about ice fishing, and am thankful that through the course of this project I've been able to somewhat experience an activity that I have overlooked for 30 some years.

Large version on Flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian.

365 Project - Day 144

Day 144

Ice Fishing, yeah, I didn't get going out on ice, drilling a hole [on the same ice!], and sitting there waiting for fish in the cold. Some people even had lantern and little hut-type-tents they pulled over themselves to stay out of the elements. The guy I talked to today, Sam, said he only eats the fish he catches when they're from under the ice, they taste better. He talked about how he comes out in the summer with his kids to fish, but they don't keep any of it, just fish for fun. For Sam, ice fishing is very relaxing and he get to catch up with some of his buddies that he only sees out on the ice. I did finally venture about 5 feet out on the ice, and it was solid to my surprise. For me, the coolest part about this project is re-learning about my surroundings and appreciating the art in my own backyard.

Large version on Flickr.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 Project - Day 143

Day 143

Ok, so one more wide angle shot. I have to learn to not make predictions I can't keep in my post. Today, I was driving around until I found this fields and loved how it went from semi-snow covered to the brown colored hill at the top. To get the shot, I left the car on the road (non-busy road) jumped out took a few images and then returned to the car. Also today, I talked with an ice fisher, if he wasn't in a rush I would have asked him to be my image of the day. I still can't believe that I never knew about ice fishing locally. On to the next day...

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian

365 project - Day 142

Day 142

Today I revisited the frozen lake I stumbled upon yesterday. I decided to shoot one more wide shot before getting up close and personal with this new found location. Even with the lake froze I still don't trust the fact that the lake is completely froze. Next time I go out, I will at least attempt to step out on the ice...but not for too long just so I don't fall and drop my gear. Anyway, wanted to use the branch frozen in the ice as a leading line into the scene to the trees across the lake.

Large version on flickr.

Enjoy.

Ja mata,
Brian