Photo-a-Day 2011: Week 4, Motion Shots

This week I wanted to experiment with representing motion in a variety of different ways. I think I might do this particular assignment again...I realized while doing it there's a lot to learn about taking a good motion or action shot and it can be pretty challenging! Of course, I can't play with the big boys and actually use a lens built for this type of thing (they are, alas, worth more than my current car), but at least I can figure out the best I can do with my current equipment. :)

Monday: Camera on tripod with a long exposure captures Gwinna scooting across the floor.

Tuesday: Sensei Bernice demonstrates a technique for her Aikido class
Wednesday: Water comes out from a sprayer, lit from a flash from the side
Thursday-Saturday: Yes, I did take pictures these days, but they actually had nothing to do with the assignment. woops! But that ok, because I went to the Wild Animal Park Sunday with my two best friends and my lovely husband and daughter. They all kindly posed for the remainder of the shots for the week. :)

Shot 4: A series of shots taken in burst mode
Shot 5: Fighting Lorikeets
Shot 6: Zoomed the lens out during a delayed exposure as I took the shot, bit of diffused flash from the side to make their faces pop.
Shot 7: I loved the way this shot came out....remote flash

Photo-a-Day 2011: Week 3, 50mm f1.8

I also did this particular project in week 1 for my free choice - it's really good practice for those times when you get in a spot where you don't have very much light and still need to capture the essence of the moment. Using a very wide aperture like f1.8 (or if you can afford the lens...f1.4 or f1.2) can be a challenge because the focal plane is so narrow. You can get some really cool shots by isolating key areas of the image (the eye is drawn to the parts that are in focus), but sometimes to get the cool shot you can also end up with a bunch of really bad shots where the focus ended up in the wrong spot. Practice practice practice!! :)

Monday: Gwinna in the grass

Tuesday: Steve and Gwinna having a great time at the park :)
Wednesday: Flowers Steve bought me for my birthday
Thursday: Baby Olivia Anne

Friday: Gwinna asleep in her crib

Saturday: The cat is kind enough to pose for me. I have taken many pictures of him where he looks noble, handsome, or evil. He has never looked cute.

Sunday: Callum takes a bite of banana. I just love his expression!! :)

First Look: Olivia's Newborn Pics

Photo-a-Day 2011: Week 2 One Light

This week each photo was taken using only one light source.

Monday: Laser pointer on a champagne flute

Tuesday: Steve lit by a flash from the side
Wednesday: Jeremy the dragon attacks Fred the llama, flash from the side

Thursday: Not a lot of time on Thursday, so the cat gets flash in the face!!

Friday: Steve and his brothers lit by the sunset sky

Saturday: Jesse lit from behind by a flash

Sunday: Gwinna lit by a diffused flash (it was underneath a blanket)

Photo-a-Day 2011

Yay! 2011 is here and I've decided to start the photo-a-day project again. The project week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday, so for the first week I stuff in two extra days for the first two days of the year. Just as a bit of a disclaimer, there will probably quite a few number of photos of my daughter mixed in.... :)

This first week was "choose your own assignment week", so I decided to take all the photos at f1.8. I love how the super wide aperture blurs the background so much, though sometimes it's challenging to work with.

Saturday, Jan 1st: Empty Coke bottles from our New Years party

Sunday: Gwinna's teething giraffe in the Christmas tree
Monday: Steve playing with Gwinna
Tuesday: An old persimmon clings to winter branches

Wednesday: High, sweeping clouds
Thursday: The cat enjoys a birdbath full of rainwater
Friday: The moon peaks out from an evening mackrel sky

Saturday: Handcream on a desk

Sunday: Gwinna peaking from behind her blanket.