Pedro the Little Dog - Enjoying the Sun

Pedro the Little Dog - Enjoying the Sun, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Carl and his beard

Carl and his beard, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

This is a photo I setup the lighting for Sabbath morning and had Becky direct me in a few poses from the other side of the camera. This is an example of short lighting with the lighted side of the face away from the camera. Some reflective fill on the other side with a bit of side/hair light as well.

Taken with a Nikon D80.
* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/5.6 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 400 [+]

Strobist info: SB-800 into shoot through white satin 43" umbrella at Manual 1/2 at camera right. 3'x7' white sytrofoam reflector at camera left for some fill. SB-600 at M 1/16 on a telescoping tripod. This was positioned out of sight of the camera behind the 7' tall sytrofoam board but so that it could hit the side of my neck and hair for a bit of light. Both triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS.

I chose to stop down a bit aperture wise for this photo. I have been shooting a lot of portrait at larger apertures - f/1.4 ( www.flickr.com/photos/christensen_carl/tags/f14/ ), f/2.8 ( www.flickr.com/photos/christensen_carl/tags/f28/ ) with a few at f/4.0 ( www.flickr.com/photos/christensen_carl/tags/f4/ ). I decided to shoot at f/5.6 for a bit greater depth of field of focus.

After having my tonsillectomy, I hadn't shaved for a couple of weeks. Becky gave me a hair cut Friday evening. So I trimmed by beard just a bit to match my side burns and it matched well with my shirt for church!

Storm Clouds are Coming

Storm Clouds are Coming, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.
* Aperture: f/9 [+]
* Focal Length: 20 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 250 [+]

We have been receiving some rain off an on. I looked out this evening and saw this creeping up and over the shed. By the time I got my camera all set up, it had reached this position. The cloud cover is stretching over us! More rain ahead would be my guess.

Danielle and Emily

Danielle and Emily, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Danielle's new birthday gift - An American Girl doll named Emily

Candles

Candles, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Danielle blowing out the candles for her cake on the morning of her birthday

Brent Flying a Kite

Brent Flying a Kite, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500) [+]
* Aperture: f/9 [+]
* Focal Length: 18 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 400 [+]

SB-800 on camera with CTO gel for a bit of fill. Circular Polarizer used as well.

I bought new kites for the kids. About a week or so ago we went out to fly them when we had a good wind.

New Glasses

New Glasses, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/4 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 320 [+]

Strobist: SB-800 M 1/2 into white satin umbrella camera left. SB-600 into wall at M 1/16. Both triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS. Fan for blowing hair!

Natalie's old glasses were too strong for her so she got a new pair with her prescription being now +1.75

Another view of the new hair cut

Another view of the new hair cut, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/2.8 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 125 [+]


* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/2.8 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 125 [+]

Strobist info: Clamshell lighting - 43" Umbrella above and slightly camera right. SB-800 into umbrella at M 1/2 triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS. 2x3' white poster board below umbrella with a gap for me to shoot through. 3x7' white Styrofoam reflector camera left for side fill to the face. SB-600 at M 1/16 on tripod at 3 o'clock location (camera right) pointed at hair for hair light. Triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS.

Enough Photos?

Enough Photos?, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Danielle had amazing wide eyes for this photo. Maybe she was just done with the pictures?

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/4 [+]
* Focal Length: 50 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 250 [+]

Strobist: SB-800 into white satin 43" shoot through umbrella above camera and a bit to right. 2x3' white posterboard underneath for reflector fill up. 3x7' white sytrofoam refelctor standing at left for reflector fill. SB-600 shot bare for hair light.

Ta-Ta Tonsils!

Ta-Ta Tonsils!, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/8 [+]
* Focal Length: 170 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 250 [+]

Strobist: SB-800 and SB-600 Strapped to the lens with the lens extended to the 200mm setting. Attached with ball bungees with each flash on opposite side. This created a pseudo ring light appearance. Since I had Becky take the photo, I set the flashes to TTL. Triggered via pop up flash via Nikon CLS/AWS. Shutter speed set to 1/320 to eliminate any reflection directly from pop up flash. f/8 chosen for greater depth of field. ISO was left at 250.

For some time I had worsening halitosis (bad breath), pocket of my tonsils, food accumulation, snoring, and calcifications. I saw the ENT surgeon, Dr. McDonald at the Mayo Clinic a couple of months ago. We decided to proceed with tonsillectomy. My patient schedule was filled out for 2 months so I blocked my schedule and on 4/23/08 I underwent tonsillectomy.

After not eating or drinking after midnight, I showed up around 8 am to the hospital. I was escorted to an outpatient room and changed into hospital attire (Snaps in the back!). A young female IV tech came in and after a few seconds of prodding with a needle, my IV was in. The nursing staff was excellent and friendly. They hung an IV and took vitals. The scale they weighed me on-- IT LIES! :-)

I was then taken to the pre-anesthesia room. Assessed multiple times (spell your full name and what is your birthday) and confirmed what surgery I was having, things were a go. The anesthesiologist and a CRNA came and saw me and the CRNA rolled me to the OR. I was transferred to the OR table. Dr. McDonald came over to say hi. They hooked up my IV. I remember having the thought of "I wonder if I can see the propofol flowing down the IV into my arm". That was my last thought and I started coming awake in the PACU (recovery room). I had been intubated and extubated while I was asleep (hallelujah!). I consciously tried to breathe deeply and wiggle my hands and legs to try and recover as fast as possible from anesthesia. I kept on catching myself wanting to close my eyes and go back to sleep, but I forced myself to stay awake with the goal of recovering and going home. I needed a shot of pain medication in the recovery room (fentanyl). They switched my nose cannula of oxygen to a face mask of oxygen and moisture. I believe the Lord blessed me with a quick recovery, a successful surgery and blessed Dr. McDonald in performing the operation.

I was rolled back up to the semi-private outpatient room (2 person room). After being assessed by the nursing staff, my IV was removed. I quickly changed out of my hospital clothes into some loose fitting basketball pants. Becky waited in the room for me while I got ready. We went down to pickup my medications (narcotic - oxycodone in liquid form, antibiotic - amoxicllin) which it took the pharmacy an HOUR to fill. I fell asleep in the wheelchair. Becky pushed me in the wheelchair to the parking ramp and I climbed in the car. We picked the kids up 1/2 hour early from school and headed home. I proceeded to vomit once from being nauseous, took my first dose of oxycodone, and then went to be bed for an hour nap. I got up and took some tylenol. Drank some water and had a bit of jello. I promptly threw that up too with water coming out my nose! Ugh!

I drank lots of water and managed to keep down some jello. I ate a jello cup with mandarin oranges in it. That was a mistake--they burned the back of my throat! After that and for the rest of the night, I felt nauseous. After going to bed at 10, I got up at 12 and again at 2. I got clammy and cold and threw water up. I got up at 3 and couldn't sleep, so I read for 45 minutes. I went back to sleep and got up at 5:55. I drank some water and promptly threw it up along with the mandarin oranges from last night. After that, I haven't thrown up since--must have been those that didn't set well with me. It hurts to swallow more than a couple of times in a row. Consequently, I find myself not swallowing much. I've had a ton of water, some Lipton diet citrus green tea and bits of jello (Becky blended some bananas with some different varieties of jello for me) and yogurt. I will lose weight yet! :-)

I took a nap in the morning and a nap this evening as well. I thought I'd share this photo of the back of my throat to show you what things looked like. Carl.

Becky's New Haircut

Becky's New Haircut, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/2.8 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 125 [+]

Strobist info: Clamshell lighting - 43" Umbrella above and slightly camera right. SB-800 into umbrella at M 1/2 triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS. 2x3' white poster board below umbrella with a gap for me to shoot through. 3x7' white Styrofoam reflector camera left for side fill to the face. SB-600 at M 1/16 on tripod at 3 o'clock location (camera right) pointed at hair for hair light. Triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS.

Becky's hair was the longest it had been in the last 12 years of our marriage. She decided to have it cut. She had it layered and thinned. It looks cute on her. Of course, her hair is naturally curly so she has to use a straight iron to have this look. We tried various poses: full on, 2/3 view, 3/4 view, headshot only, glance over the shoulder etc. This view is one I decided upload first. She has a nice smile.

First step of editing in Adobe Lightroom. Then edited with Portrait Proffessional. Reimported into Lightroom and then edited in Adobe Photoshop for a Gaussian blur layer. Reimport into Adobe Lightroom and Vignette applied.

Danielle

Danielle, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

this is just a different processing of the previous photo.

Danielle Before Spring Program

Danielle Before Spring Program, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Before we went to their spring program/production I photographed her in my studio room.

Taken with a Nikon D80.
* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/4 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 100 [+]

Strobist Info: SB-800 and SB-600 at Manual 1/2 through 43" white satin umbrella camera right. Triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS. About 2' from Danielle.

I set shutter speed of 1/320 to eliminate any hint of the onboard flash in her eyes. I chose ISO 100 and f/4.0 to eliminate ambient and achieve a depth of focus to include both eyes. I had on a bank of fluorescents camera right that lit her face enough for autofocus to function however these did not contribute to the overall exposure. First shot taken led me to want a bit of fill from left. I then moved over my 7' tall white v-card and placed camera left to provide some fill.

Post production: Adobe Lightroom for cropping. Adobe photoshop for layers, surface blur etc.

Karen and Elizabeth

Karen and Elizabeth, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

The Teachers pose following their successful spring program with the children. The spring program included singing, acting and readings. We had some treats afterwards. For this photo, I used both my SB-600 and SB-800 Flashes shooting through a white satin umbrella. Flashes triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS. Flash output of Manual 1/2 for both. Umbrella camera left and above. I was standing on a chair for a higher vantage point.

Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 112 mm
ISO Speed: 250

Natalie and her Dog

Natalie and her Dog, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Natalie took Angel out for a walk while she went to empty some garbage. Angel was as usual, loving the attention. It was cloudy and overcast which acted like a gian softbox for lighting. I used a bit of flash for fill with my SB-800. I applied a 1/4 CTO Gel for a slight warming of the colors and used white balance setting in camera of clouds. It really wasn't that bright out, but Natalie could barely open her eyes and was squinting for all the photos I took.

Brent with Black Eye

Brent with Black Eye, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

In a clash between Natalie's Accidental Elbow and Brent's eye, guess which one wins? It was bleeding profusely. I didn't have any Steri-strips to pull it together, nor did I want to go to the ER for this. I found some Breathe-Right Nasal strips, cut one to size and used it to pull the gash together! Worked just fine.

Single Broccoli Sprout

Single Broccoli Sprout, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/11 [+]
* Focal Length: 200 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 400 [+]

Strobist Info: 43" White satin shoot-through umbrella camera right. SB-800 at M 1/1 and SB-600 at M 1/2. Both strobes triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS. Umbrella approximately 10-12 inches from cup. 7' white posterboard/styrofoam reflector camera left approximately 16" away.

Technical choices: I chose my Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens for the telephoto ability and shot at 200mm. I stopped down to f/11 to try and achieve as much acceptable depth of field as possible. Higher than that would start to get soft (lens itself and due to circle of confusion) with this lens otherwise I would have went up to even f/16. I had all the lights off except for a fluorescent bank camera right to allow focusing. At 1/320, f/11 and ISO 400 a test shot left the frame entirely black and the fluorescents did not contribute to overall exposure.

Processing: Adobe Lightroom 1.3.1 - Cropping, exposure, recovery, fill light, black point, Clarity, and sharpening all performed.

Real info: Even though there are still bits of snow on the ground, the temperature has been rising quickly. I brought in three buckets of dirt from the garden. I have filled several planting trays and planted broccoli, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and papas. Additionally we have some raspberry bushes sitting in a 5-gallon bucket of water in front of the patio doors. They are just starting to sprout. In this and the other photo I have uploaded you can see my broccoli just starting to sprout. In this image you see a single broccoli sprout that I lifted out of the tray and placed in this cup. The tray is too crowded. You can just see in this photo some of its hair like root filaments. In the tray photo, you can see them much better.

Broccoli Sprouts in Black Tray

Broccoli Sprouts in Black Tray, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) [+]
* Aperture: f/11 [+]
* Focal Length: 200 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 400 [+]

Strobist Info: 43" White satin shoot-through umbrella camera right. SB-800 at M 1/1 and SB-600 at M 1/2. Both strobes triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS. Umbrella approximately 10-12 inches from cup. 7' white posterboard/styrofoam reflector camera left approximately 16" away.

Technical choices: I chose my Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens for the telephoto ability and shot at 200mm. I stopped down to f/11 to try and achieve as much acceptable depth of field as possible. Higher than that would start to get soft (lens itself and due to circle of confusion) with this lens otherwise I would have went up to even f/16. I had all the lights off except for a fluorescent bank camera right to allow focusing. At 1/320, f/11 and ISO 400 a test shot left the frame entirely black and the fluorescents did not contribute to overall exposure.

Processing: Adobe Lightroom 1.3.1 - Cropping, exposure, recovery, fill light, black point, Clarity, and sharpening all performed.

Real info: Even though there are still bits of snow on the ground, the temperature has been rising quickly. I brought in three buckets of dirt from the garden. I have filled several planting trays and planted broccoli, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and papas. Additionally we have some raspberry bushes sitting in a 5-gallon bucket of water in front of the patio doors. They are just starting to sprout. In this and the other photo I have uploaded you can see my broccoli just starting to sprout. In this image you see the multiple sprouts in each container. I will have to thin them out. They are now 3 days old from the day that I placed them dry on the soil. I didn't cover them up, I just seeded them on top. It was easiest that way. The fine root filaments are fascinating to me! One guess which direction the sun is?

Danielle

Danielle, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

In the midst of her homework, I had her sit down for a photo and then we finished her homework.

Summer Garden

Summer Garden, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

A reminder of my garden in the summer of 2007

Brent at Caitlyn's Birthday Party

Brent at Caitlyn's Birthday Party, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Car Troubles

We are GLAD to get home safe and sound. Thank the Lord for his care this trip! For this past week, the children had spring break. We therefore traveled back to our parents in Centerville/Numa, Iowa. Spring melt was in full swing. The roads were muddy ruts and would cause your vehicle to lurch one way or the other. On the way to church on Sabbath, our minivan lurched to the side, out of the rut and into the ditch. This left us with the passenger side tires in the ditch and the undercarriage resting on grass.

Becky called her dad who brought his truck to pull us out. In the midst of the soppy muddy muck, I spread hay from the back end of his truck on the ground. I then put my Carhart coat on top of it. I--in my suit--then knelt down and wrapped the chain around my left front tire. In the process of trying to pull out the first time, the chain came undone, slipped off and hooked and broke my brake line. When I knelt done to hook it up again, I noticed a line dripping brake fluid in the mud! Uh oh!

On Monday, I had a local place order the part, which came in on Tuesday. Tony put my van on his lift and changed the brake line for me. Thanks Tony!

On Wednesday morning, I went out to start our truck that we had brought with us. It wouldn't start and come to find out, the alternator had went out. Jason and Keith helped take it off. I ordered a new one which came in Thursday morning and Jason installed it. It worked! Thanks Jason!

On the way home, the trailer that we were using to transport the 4-wheeler blew out on the edge of interstate. So I took the tire off. Fortunately, the Lord provided a place to put on a new tire just a few miles away. Then we were off!

As we pulled into Rochester, I noticed my pickup was overheating. By the time I got home and pulled into the garage, it had boiled over... I think a thermostat or radiator may now be in my future. As I said at the beginning, I'm just happy to be back home and done traveling for a bit!

The lesson that I taught Natalie though was one of optimism. I believe the Lord allowed these things to happen in the most convenient locations. What if we had been on the interstate when my alternator went out? At the beginning of our trip we asked him to give us a safe trip and He did. No photos for this long winded post!

Thomasson Sisters 2008

Thomasson Sisters 2008, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.
* Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200) [+]
* Aperture: f/8 [+]
* Focal Length: 50 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 200 [+]
Strobist info: SB-800 (M 1/2) through a shoot through 43" white satin umbrella at camera left. SB-600 (M 1/8) Camera right reflected off ceiling for small amount of fill. Flashes triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS.

I had taken the week of for the kids spring break. We stayed with Tony and Krista Andersen. One day when we were all at Keith and Debbi Thomasson's place, Debbi asked me to photograph all her daughters. It was a good opportunity since it can be hard to get everyone together at once.

I ran back to Tony's place to get my umbrella and flash setup. We positioned in the TV room. A quilt was hung up behind them. I took off my 85mm f/1.4 lens and put on my 50mm f/1.8 lens so I could get everyone in the frame. I set my exposure first for f/8 to try and achieve a deep depth of field focus. I then set my shutter speed to maximum flash synch speed of 1/200 sec. I turned my ISO down to 200 so that the end result was a completely black frame so that ambient light did not contribute to the photo. I then added the flashes to the photo and adjust power output to my desired level.

After a few photos, we decided on this closer crop view. Some manipulation in Photoshop was needed for levels. I also edited out the background quilt and did some small facial retouching. Color balancing as well was carried out.

For a spur of the moment photo, I like the result. I haven't asked any of the sisters yet what they think ... hopefully they will like it too!

Pictured are: (Back Row) Krista Andersen, Julie Abrahamson, Brenda Sleeth. (Front Row) Becky Christensen, Terri Erickson.

Natalie with hair cut

Natalie with hair cut, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400) [+]
* Aperture: f/1.4 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 100 [+]

Taken just moments before leaving for church. I had her step in front of the window, and I set up my umbrella on camera left for fill light. Becky had fixed her hair this morning.

Natalie tasting hot cocoa

Natalie tasting hot cocoa, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Blue Evening Sunset

Blue Evening Sunset, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Tonight the Sun was dancing in and out from behind the clouds. Occasional sprinkles of rain came down. I stepped out for a few minutes and photographed a variety of views including this one. Ugh, I think I mildly burned my right eye from looking through the view finder when taking the pictures. My eye is hurting and aching a bit now... just so you know if you see me walking around with a patch over my eye.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1600) [+]
* Aperture: f/10 [+]
* Focal Length: 18 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 200 [+]

Maxine and the great-grandkids

Maxine and the great-grandkids, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

When we went to Atlantic, Ia for my Grandma Cora Kaiser's funeral, we stopped by Grandma Maxine's house for the evening. Here the kids sit on the couch for a photo.

My photogenic wife - Becky

My photogenic wife - Becky, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400) [+]
* Aperture: f/2.8 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 160 [+]

Strobist info: SB-800 into 43' umbrella camera right in shoot-through mode. About 1 1/2 feet away from her face. SB-600 on tripod zoomed at 75mm setting camera left even with her. This is providing the hair/shoulder light.

I like the soft wrap around light from the umbrella in shoot through mode. We spent about an hour taking photographs. This was the one that we both liked the most. I've spent some time using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS3 for editing. I think I'll have 12x18" print made.

Danielle's New Haircut

Danielle's New Haircut, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Becky took Danielle to have her hair cut this week. Here she displays her new 'do'.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250) [+]
* Aperture: f/2.8 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 100 [+]

Strobist info: SB-800 at M 1/1 into 43' wescott umbrella with black backing removed and used as shoot-through. Umbrella positioned camera right at around 4:30 location. Danielle is faced into the umbrella, pointed at its edge closet the camera. SB-600 on tripod camera left and parallel with her. Pointed away and against white wall with wide angle clip down (14mm setting) shot at M 1/2 into wall to reflect back and light hair. Both SB units triggered via Nikon CLS/AWS via popup commander mode.

Processing. Initial levels, cropping and contrast in Adobe Lightroom. Then I made two versions. One with hair exposed correctly, one with it not. I processed both in Adobe Photoshop CS3 with the dark one as a layer on top. I layer masked and erased the dark hair to show the lighter version underneath. Skin corrections, black point correction, some overall levels, and other editing done in Photoshop.

Carl - me - myself - I - self portrait

Carl - me - moi - self portrait, originally uploaded by carlcmc.

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250) [+]
* Aperture: f/3.5 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 200 [+]

Strobist: SB-800 at M 1/2 into 43" umbrella camera right triggered via Nikon CLS. SB-600 at M 1/8 on tripod behind Carl for rim light triggered via Nikon CLS. Fluorescent strip lights camera left and right adding minimally to exposure but helped for autofocus in a dark room. 3x4' Silver reflective cloth hanging camera left for some fill.

Before I went to work I setup this photo and played around with things for a bit. My wife's - Becky's- suggestion is that I smile more for my self-portraits. I personally prefer less smiling in photos. I'll have to try her suggestion. The rim light was really hot/overexposed I think. I will have to play with that some more. Taken on 2/15/08. Editing in Adobe Photoshop CS3 with cropping in Adobe Lightroom after.