Saturday, January 30, 2010

A Sunny July Morning in Minnesota

A Sunny July Morning in Minnesota.

While it is the end of January when I'm posting this, my thoughts are on days like this. The morning likely was still somewhat crisp and cool at 7:30 am when I took this. The day would get warmer into the high 70s or low 80s.

This is a single image made facing west with the sun to my back. Tonemapped for HDR effect and then massaged in Photoshop.

Remembering My Garden


Remembering My Garden, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Remembering my garden. In the midst of winter, when there is snow on the ground, it sure is nice ... to remember my crisp green garden from last summer. taken 6/18/09.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Natalie with new braces and new contacts.

Natlie in the space of 2 days got braces and contacts! Here is the new Natalie! She curled her hair this morning with the help of Becky.

Strobist info: SB-900 into 60" reflected Impact umbrella camera left and above. SB-800 into 45" shoot through umbrella to the left and behind and above for hair light. SB-600 into 43" shoot through umbrella to the right and behind and above for hair light. Two 4 foot fluorescent light banks - one left one right - with 2 40 watt 5000k light bulbs for slight rim light and focusing aid (these contributed just enough to show light spots on her hair and cheeks in a photo without the flashes). Shot tethed into Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 with Adobe Lightroom auto importing. Displayed on the laptop so Natalie could see the photos as we went along.

Brent holding a pan of Cinnamon Rolls

Brent holding a pan of Becky's brown sugar cinnamon rolls ready to be baked. They were fantastic. We had powdered sugar/brown sugar frosting on top of them. We sat in the living room eating them in front of the fire as the sun set casting a purple/pink hue over the snow outside.

Cinnamon Rolls - Large Depth of Field

Becky's brown sugar cinnamon rolls ready to be baked. They were fantastic. We had powdered sugar/brown sugar frosting on top of them. We sat in the living room eating them in front of the fire as the sun set casting a purple/pink hue over the snow outside.

Shot at f/8 for a large depth of field. Compare to the other one I posted shot at f/1.4 for a shallow depth of field.

Cinnamon Rolls - Shallow Depth of Field

Cinnamon Rolls - Shallow Depth of Field.

Here are Becky's brown sugar cinnamon rolls ready to be baked. Shot with an aperture of f/1.4 for shallow depth of field. See my other photo shot at f/8 for a larger depth of field.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A Snowy Stream Meandering Through Minnesota

A Snowy Stream Meandering Through Minnesota.

While visiting my parents over in Albert Lea, I noticed these exceptionally tall drifts encasing this little stream. A great opportunity to capture that range of exposure with HDR! It was bright and sunny and since I don't have ND filters, I used an aperture of f/32 and ISO to try and achieve a slow enough shutter speed to get some smoothing of the water movements. Exposures of 1/15s, 1/4s, and 1 second used at f/32.

My wife thinks I took the processing too far (when I asked her if I had or not). I promptly replied that that was what I had intended! :-)

The Frosty Tip Tops


The Frosty Tip Tops, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

This is one of the tallest oak trees around Dad and Mom's place.

The heavy mist of night settled in on the trees and when the sky cleared in the morning there was a wonderful photo opportunity. Too bad I didn't have more time to take advantage of it!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Frosty Trees with Snowbank

This one has more foreground interest than the one I posted yesterday. What do you think?

The heavy mist of night settled in on the trees and when the sky cleared in the morning there was a wonderful photo opportunity. Too bad I didn't have more time to take advantage of it!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Snow and Sun kissed Tree Tops

Heavy frost settled in on the trees over night. There was a dense fog that the sun burned through. This left a deep vibrant blue sky with the sun lighting the tree tops.

Family photo in the snow

We went for a walk under pitch blue skies, with vibrant white snow on Sabbath afternoon to look at a piece of land not far from Dad and Mom's. Dad, Brent, Mom, Carrie, Becky, Danielle and Natalie are pictured.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

A snowy view to the Southwest.

A Snowy view to the Southwest. We've had quite the cold winter with multiple snows. The most recent snow added several more inches.

A Snowy view to the north

A Snowy view to the north. We've had quite the cold winter with multiple snows. The most recent snow added several more inches.

A Snowy View to the South.

A Snowy View to the South. We've had quite the cold winter with multiple snows. The most recent snow added several more inches.

A Snowy View to the East with Natalie petting Angel.

A Snowy View to the East with Natalie petting Angel.

We've had quite the cold winter with multiple snows. The most recent snow added several more inches.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Natalie with Curls


Natalie with Curls, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Natalie got a new curling iron and Becky curled her hair before church. While they were finishing curling her hair, I set up my lights for a portrait. Mom and Dad and Ben had come for New Year's Day and stayed over night. For New Year's Day lunch we cooked a turkey and a bunch of other food. Becky made pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. I cooked the turkey, made potatoes with Becky along with realy turkey gravy. Saturday morning I got up about 5:15 and adjusted the fire. It was -16 over night and the house had got a bit cold. I made pancakes, tater rounds in the oven and a big bown of peaches with rasperries from the freezer. Mom cleaned up and did dishes. Thanks Mom for doing dishes on your birthday! We went over to Carrie and Jon's place after church and had a meal there, took a tour of the house Jon built and was just finishing on being sold and then went home.

Strobist info: SB-900 into 45" Impact reflected umbrella camera left up close to her. SB-800 into 43" white satin Wescott shoot through umbrella camera right and behind and up high for hair light. SB-600 into pringles snoot camera left and behind left of her up high for a bit of extra hair light. 4' Fluorescent light box on either side for slight edge/fill light (each with 2 bulbs 40 watts at 5000k). Triggered with pop up flash with IR pass through filter infront. Power levels set in commander menu on D80. 7' tall white styrofoam reflector camera right and in front of camera providing some extra fill on that side.