Links

I have posted a few links I thought you might enjoy.
Rangefinder, Shoot Smarter, and Strobist are all informational with a lot of different resources. DP Review and Ken Rockwell have overviews of camera equipment, B&H is a great place to shop, PLUS has some information on equipment, Joe McNally, Scott Kelby, and Lois Greenfield are all working photographers with some inspiring ( to me) content on their sites.
Have fun!
P

A belated hello

I am so excited to be a part of shutter soup. I wanted to say hi and post two pictures of things I am grateful for. One being travel (I spent my holiday in Seattle) the other being excessive amounts of Christmas lights. I am really looking forward to shooting for fun but also with a purpose.

Blair

Winter - plus and minus

I am posting a few things I am grateful for this week...finally.

The first is the door handle to the outside of my studio area...as you can see, I am grateful for an artic entry...and heat on my side of the door!!!

While out there, I noticed iced up windows, and the second image is that. I love how winter makes such whimsical beautiful patterns. Not to mention the feeling you get all snuggled up in a blanket against the cold, when it is snowing outside.
Look what you are missing Tony!!!
The rest of us get it in spades.
 
The last pic is of my daughter in law and my three grandkids. I AM grateful for them, but mostly I am posting this because I love Max's hand placement.

reCONNECTED!!!!

Ask me how fun it is to be without internet. Uh. Not so much.
Made me downright cranky for a few days, as a matter of fact.
But I am back on task, and hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Tony, do they even bother with that in Australia?
I guess we can be grateful no matter where on the planet we live.
I will get with the program here, and am looking forward to seeing the rest of the things you are grateful for!
P

Coffee anyone?

Soooooooo grateful for my first potent cup of coffee each morning....

1 of 5 and me thinks the alternating weeks versus every week assignment just got trumped with having to get to 5 of 5, best get on with it then.... will need a few more cups of coffee to get me going.

Nikon D90

1/60s at f/9 ISO200

105mm

 

 

 

 

Nikon D90 1/400s at f/10 ISO 400 12mm

I am also grateful for my beloved Melbourne, its reasonably artistic graffiti (note also the lady taking a return photo top right corner), the "summer" festive season (sorry, no snow), and our 3 lovely kids (older lot) and their 2 (younger) cousins....

Nikon D90 1/30s at f/10 ISO 1100 13mm                                                   Nikon D90 1/1000s at f/4 ISO 720 12mm

Nikon D90 1/60s at f/4 ISO 800 105mm

 

Thankful 1 of 5

I am VERY thankful that I am not part of the Black Friday spectacle that goes on every year at this time in our country. These shoppers had been camped out in front of Best Buy for two days, waiting for the store to open at midnight tonight (Thanksgiving Day). Actually, this is a photo of the people out back...the line goes all the way around the store. I asked one of them what made him camp out in the cold instead of being with his family on a holiday. Answer: a $200 TV. Maybe he can watch a real family on TV for Christmas. I would have taken my photo at Walmart (the heart of commercial darkness) but I didn't want to get any on me...

Canon EOS Digital Rebel

17-40mm

| ISO 100 | 17mm | f/4 | 1/2 |

To these we give thanks......

I went outside to do some chores in the brisk -11 degrees Fahrenheit nature provided for me today. After some time, nature had another gift for me. As I went back into the house and into my room, I realized how truly thankful I am for this marvel.

This is #1 of 5.

Welcome Blair

Hey, I am glad you are joining us. Our challenge this week was a self portrait. We are looking forward to seeing yours!

Also. I was thinking for this next assignment, that we could shoot things we are grateful for. Objects, people, places...post say...5 shots from each of us.
When Craig and I were talking about doing this, we thought an assignment every other week would be good. Enough to keep us interested, but not so it gets to be a grind...any thoughts from the rest of you?
Blair, you Tony and Craig should be thinking about what theme you want to give the rest of us in the coming weeks.

The test

This a test, this is only a test. If this was a book to help you take tests it would be called "Test Ease"

Remodel

     Well, we knew it was just a matter of time. I have already moved the furniture, and we have only been at this a couple of days.
     Those pages were pretty darn black, so I made some adjustments.
I think that the white background with the black border will help enhance our photo viewing...AND when we post anything black and white, it gives us something to measure against. Determining whether our image whites are white, and our blacks are black.
     I have created tabs for each of you, and hopefully you will be able to post some of your photos that speak to you, other than our assignments.  Photos, music, slideshows, quotes...whatever you are passionate about.
I was hoping you would post a little something about yourselves on your page, and what you are wanting to focus ( I couldn't resist) on, and get out of our blog.
     If you have favorite blogs or informational sites you would like to share, that would be great too. I am hoping this will be a forum for an exchange of information and learning, and just plain fun. 
     I created an "assignments" page, so feel free to list any ideas you have about what you would like to shoot. This is a start, and I am excited to see what we all come up with...
P

Tony

Hi Paula and everyone, thanks for the invite and I look forward to having some fun with new friends. It took me a while but I finally figured out what to do to get this far.... learning how to blog as well - I should have asked the kids!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 105mm f/2.8

ISO-200

1/60 sec with flash (indoors & 12.30am downunder...)

Whew. THAT one is behind us.

I was feeling like a slacker, so I shot with a strobe...would that be a flash, Erik?! Sorry, will try for real tomorrow in younger light.

 

 

 

 

Details:

Nikon D700/ 24-70mm

ISO 200  1/160 @ F9

56mm  flash

blue sweater/white shirt/blue jeans

sweet and sour chicken for dinner

10°, clear with chance of snow tomorrow

 

 

e.r. johnson -------iterum

Here is another attempt. You will have to forgive me as when I get home from work the only natural light to be found is from the moon. I will admit to "some" post work. As in "there is some water in the ocean".

I am reminded of a song I heard on a childhood television program while growing up. It went: "one of these kids is not like the others". Paula?

Technical details:

Nikon D3100

NIKKOR18-55mm

ISO 800 | 36mm | f/5 | 1/10

I thought these might be fun to do:

shadows/light ~ textures ~ connections ~ B&W ~ emotion ~ abstract ~ smoke ~ macro ~
rim light ~ pets ~ environmental portrait ~ action ~ landscape ~ silly ~ bokeh ~ depth of field ~ water
~ sunrise/sunset

gosh. give me a noun, we can make it an assignment.

Tell me what YOU would like to shoot

Craig + inner spirit

I thought it only fitting to include my inner spirit in this self-portrait. I will do a self-portrait nevermore.

Technical details:

Canon EOS Digital Rebel

Canon EF 17-40mm

ISO 100 | 36mm | 0 EV | f/4 | 1/13

e.r. johnson

Here I am. I could have cleaned myself up and tried to make a glam shot but two things stopped me. 1. Ability. 2 Looks.

Beginnings

The beginnings of shared photos.
The beginnings of shared information.
The beginnings of better friendships.
Let's have fun!

3 thoughts:

length of time we have for our "assignment" ~  weekly/biweekly
ideas or themes
number of posts per theme

The idea behind this blog is to encourage us to do what we love, and just shoot for ourselves.
Share images, tips, links, and information.

I am not sure if you want to just share images, or if you would like the opportunity to have them critiqued by each other...totally up to you. As for me, I would appreciate any feedback that would encourage me to be a better photographer. 

Lets get started!