Move on over to 31ish

Thanks for following us through our first challenge!  Jeff and I have moved over to the site 31ish to continue to the fun.  We are slowing bringing in other photographers to join us on monthly challenges, each with a different theme.

Join us over there!  Maybe you’re interested in joining us in a challenge?  Drop us a message here : contact31ish@gmail.com

See you soon.

November Low Tech Wrap-Up

11/30/2009

Jeff	Sara
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Today it was all about abstract.  A couple of weeks ago, I rearranged my office and moved my desk.  Today, I happened to lean back in my chair to stretch and looked up at the ceiling behind me sort of upside down.  And I immediately knew what I would be shooting for my final shot of our project.  Hope you enjoyed it.  We’ve got more in store.	This is it, the end!  As we head further into winter, our sunsets have been getting more and more spectacular.  It helps that the sun sets before I leave work, so I always get to see it (and I leave work at 5pm!).  Check out the separate post for information on our new adventure.

11/29/2009

Jeff	Sara
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So I was going to play with close-up shots of water, but then I decided that this little bathroom device would be fun to warp perspective.  I almost made a self-portrait with this idea too, but then decided against it.  But if you look closely, you can see my magnifying glass technique in action.  Now here’s a question, if a magnifying glass is made of plastic, what do you call it?	I have an incredible view of Patterson Peak (and it’s buddies) from my desk at home.  This evening, working on a new about-to-be-announced project, I glanced up from my screen and saw the moonrise in purple and blues over Patterson Peak.  I think I’m pretty lucky to be able to walk four steps across my living room and grab this shot through the window.  More about the new project tomorrow!

11/28/2009

Jeff	Sara
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Unlike my cheater friend Sara, I’m determined to post images from my crappy iPhone camera until the end of this 30-day project – no matter how painful it is.  Hahahaha!  So here is another where I’m playing with the magnifying glass to get depth of field.	So do you remember yesterday when I said I loved snow?  It’s really, really true.  Today I headed to the Harriman Trail, which is being groomed for both classic and skate skiing.  The snow was as early snow usually is around here – very dry, with big crystals.  I took this shot on the side of the groomed track, facing into a snowfield.  You can see images from today here (note: the images at this link were taken with one of my DSLR’s, not the point-and-shoot).

11/27/2009

Jeff	Sara
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I’ve walked through the Boston Public Garden a fair number of times.  But I’ve never really paid a whole lot of attention to the statues.  Tonight, I was heading over to help out at the Arlington Street Church and saw the lights on this statue of Washington.  By the time I got out it had started to rain.  So I decided to play with positioning the iPhone to catch the rain in the spotlight (which is just out of sight below the lower edge of the frame).	It’s no secret that I have a love affair with snow. Now that Thanksgiving has passed and winter is well on it’s way, I can revel in the absolute beauty of snow. I was reminded of this this evening when, glancing out my bedroom window, I saw the snow stunningly illuminated by a bright moon.  Could I capture that?  I gave it a good try with my point and shoot.  Normally noise bothers me, but in this image, I actually like the soft dappled effect that it creates.  Can you believe there is only three more days left to the challenge?  More on the future of challenges in the upcoming days…

11/26/2009

Jeff	Sara
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After Thanksgiving dinner each year a group of folks go out for a walk.  This year the group was mostly kids and only a few of us adults.  As some of our group walked ahead, they passed under one of the few street lights in the neighborhood.  I really liked the light so I pulled out the iPhone and snapped off a few shots.  Then I quickly remembered how bad it is in low light!  Ha!  I’m so spoiled by my dSLR in low light.  Ah well.  Even this took a fair amount editing in post.  But I still like it because I have the memory of being there.	In the middle of the night, completely shoved full of absolutely delicious food, I awoke with a start.  I forgot to do a Thanksgiving day image and blog post!  D’oh!  What’s a woman in a challenge supposed to do in such a circumstance?  Clearly, it’s to get up, take a picture of something Thanksgiving-y, write a blog post, and get it online.  So, Happy Thanksgiving, and with that, goodnight!

11/25/2009

Jeff	Sara
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So if you want to really mess with a crappy camera phone just shoot curved, ridged glass through a cheap plastic magnifying glass.  What I like about this shot is that if I hadn’t told you what it was, you’d have no idea.  It looks to me like something moving really fast.  But I assure it was quite cooperative sitting still for me.	A couple days ago I wrote a post about how I had not yet used the camera to really stop action.  The reason for this is because the camera’s flash turns everything ghostly.  A really bright, brilliant white kind of ghost.  Needless to say, it isn’t flattering.I attempted to play with motion today.  The idea was to photograph my dog play fetch (with me being on the receiving, not throwing, end).  As the fetching dog was getting his act together, I was playing with delayed timer flash.  This flash function says it illuminates both the foreground and background.  I quickly learned that it accomplishes this by firing two flashes a second or two apart – while keeping the shutter open the entire time.  Interesting effect.  I tried this flash on the non-fetching dog, Franconia.  You can see the two flashes because it blurred her tail and ears…both of which moved inbetween flashes. After playing with the flash on Franconia, my camera batteries died.  Sweet.  So no fetch today, but instead some ghostly tail wagging.

11/24/2009

Jeff	Sara
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Today’s photo is brought to you by the letter “U”.	This image actually took quite a bit of creativity and attention to detail to make happen with my little point and shoot.  (view large) I have been playing with this vase a bit lately (you can actually see it in the 11/19/2009 post).  Here’s the steps I took to capture this image. I first placed the vase on my black dresser to ensure that the reflections would only appear black. Grabbing a bunch of big hardcovers from my bookshelf, I played with height so I could get the whole vase with an emphasis on the bottom.  (At this point I took a couple, failed, test shots). Playing with the shutter time and hand-lighting from my pen light, I settled on 2 seconds at f/3.6, fluttering the pen light above the lamp (and out of shooting range) for the entire time the shutter was open. In order to get the bottom of the vase in focus (my camera does not have manual, or even adjustable, focus) I tipped the camera down to focus on the bottom while having the bedroom light on.  I then kept my finger compressed on the shutter button halfway, while carefully placing the camera down and shutting off the light via the light switch.  After the light was off, I fully compressed the shutter on a two second delay, and quickly transitioned to manipulating the pen light. Repeated steps 1-4 after realizing that I should really have washed the vase first so all the fingerprints on it weren’t drastically noticeable. My post-processing included a slight adjustment of both contrast and brightness, as well as the cloning out of dust particles that were illuminated accidentally.

11/23/2009

Jeff	Sara
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I’m fighting a cold.  So I can’t say I spent as much time as I’d have liked on today’s photo.  But I still had fun with it.  I’m still playing with the magnifying glass to get photos.  Sigh… it might be a while before I tire of this.	The pictures don’t always show themselves in the most opportune spots. The sunset tonight was beautiful, but it was almost over by the time I got out of work at 5. I was able to capture this fleeting shot near the automatic opening door of our local grocery store.P/S – Dinner was delicious!