Decorations – outside 02

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I drove to downtown Merced to get an image of the lid Christmas tree. Despite the fact that it was pitch dark the tree was nit lid. Therefor I had to adapt and I decided to look for reflections. Luckily there was no wind blowing and I could use long exposure times (between 20-30 seconds). In this image you see the reflections of Bob Hart Square at night in beautiful downtown Merced,  CA.

Enjoy and happy photographing!

Decorations -outside 01

All the decorations for the winter holidays create great opportunities for photography. I challenge you to photograph them at different times of the day. This exercise is a great opportunity not just for photography but also about learning about traditions that are an important part of our lives. On more thing: Stick to outside ornaments. The inside ornaments I want to do later.

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I went out this morning to photograph Christmas ornaments. The sun was just up and melted the frost on this one. The street sign created the shadow and I got my image.

Enjoy and as always have fun with this exercise.

The Room 04

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I always take my Kenko extension tubes with me and for this photograph I needed them. This image is a close-up of my nightstand in my hotel room. I had to use a tripod and long exposure time since I had no strobes with me and quite frankly I don’t think I would have gotten this image with a strobe.

Happy thanksgiving and create some great images with your family!

The Room

The idea for this exercise I got while I was stuck in a hotel room. I decided to do something creative with my time and started looking for subjects inside the room. I was surprised how many great images I was able to create. So, pick a room of your choice and photograph it and observe what you can create at any ordinary maybe even boring place. Enjoy!

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The light was coming in just striking  the edge of the lower part of the tv stand.

The Wheel 05

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I photographed this large wheel handheld at ISO 1600. I had to learn that high ISO settings in digital SLR cameras treat noise different that conventional cameras deal with grain. In the beginning I always tried to use the lowest ISO that was possible. Now I am more courageous and try to shoot with higher ISO setting at least once in a while. Since the wheel was moving a longer exposure time would have blurred the image which I did not want in this shot.  

Happy Friday and enjoy your photography with lots of fun and enthusiasm.

The Wheel 03

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This is the wheel on the backside of my camera. I used two strobes to make this image. I shot one strobe into the ceiling of my room and the key strobe at about 1:00 o’clock bundling the light right on the wheel.

Again, be creative with any exercise and always try new things. You might surprise yourself!