Day 324 of 365

Day 324 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Day 323 of 365

Day 323 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

So I ran across my first problem with using my new flash. See that white reflection? That is my flash umbrella and I can see parts of the tripod legs as well. My task now is to try and figure out how to use this setup with reflective surfaces without it becoming part of the image. I'm sure there is an easy fix but I couldn't come up with one this evening.

One thing I did discover that will be useful is my new flash has a very fast recycle time. Like fast enough to keep up with my shutter release on burst. I did not expect that as my only experience with flashes in my attempts at film photography has been a good 2 or 3 seconds recycle time. I see some water drop and other movement type shots here in the very near future.

Day 322 of 365

Day 322 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

More fun with my new strobist kit. I put a piece of black fabric down on the floor and some pears we got in our CSA box today and photographed them at a few different angles. What would have taken 20 minutes of tinkering with my work lights to get the light and camera settings right took me 2 minutes with this new setup. Not to mention being able to photograph in my living room instead of the cold garage because of being wireless and battery operated now.

I also posted a few other versions and a black and white as I thought it looked more like a classic still life.

Day 321 of 365

Day 321 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Today I received my strobist kit so I practiced small to get comfortable with shooting off camera. I got the Strobist Starving Student (not really) SC1 Lighting Kit from Midwest Photo Exchange (http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,12314.html).

It comes with a Cactus Radio Slave set for shooting wireless and lots of other accessories. It was cheap and I figured it would work for getting my feet wet with flash photography. First off I discovered the Cactus Radio Slave kit is cheap for a reason as it doesn't fire 100% of the time...more like 50-60% of the time. At least out in my garage this was true. I've posted my setup shot as well. I put a small piece of cardboard with reflective tape on the opposite side of the little mannequin for some light bounce.

My camera settings were 50mm, ISO 100, 1/60 sec, f/5.6 with the flash at 1/8 power through umbrella.

Day 320 of 365

Day 320 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

This may be my last time using my crappy jury rigged lighting setup I've been using since the start of this project. I finally bought a flash and accessories like an umbrella and stand and a remote flash trigger. It isn't a top of the line expensive setup but it's a step up from $8 shop lights from Home Depot. Should have the new toys this week....time to learn something new.

Day 319 of 365

Day 319 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I went out this evening for the sole purpose of photographing the sunset. I decided to head down to Asilomar beach in Pacific Grove as it has the best unobstructed view locally. One of these weekends I need to head down the Big Sur coast and try for a sunset but this was more of a, "let me get the settings down" event.

This shot was about 30 minutes after the sun set and I was pretty happy that I was able to get the blue streaks to show in my photograph. Maybe I don't watch enough sunsets because I hadn't seen that before.

While I like the colors I'm really getting irritated with the softness of my photos, the level of noise (banding) and my dirty sensor. The sensor is my own fault because I just haven't taken it in to get cleaned or bought a kit to clean it myself. Most of the time I don't notice it but I sure do when doing landscapes. The softness and noise is most likely from cheap lenses. That I'll just have to live with until I can save up for a good lens or two. I just need to decide what I want, that will get used regularly. I'm not one of those that needs to buy one of everything and never use them all. He/she with the most toys doesn't make them a better photographer in my opinion.

If you enjoy landscape and/or sunset photos I'd recommend checking out these two photographers.

Fort Photo on Flickr - Michael has helped me tremendously along my photography journey by giving advice and encouragement along the way. His wildlife, nightscapes and landscapes are up there with the big named pros in my opinion.

John Barbs on Flickr - This young man from Guam has a bright future ahead of him. His seascapes inspired me to give them a try. I have a long ways to go compared to him.

Day 318 of 365

Day 318 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Day 317 of 365

Day 317 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I've been meaning to incorporate this glass wall into a shot for sometime now but wasn't exactly sure how to do it creatively. I've walked by it everyday on my way into my office since June and everyday look at it telling myself I need to photograph it somehow. It's not unusual in any sense other than it's a glass tile wall built in three levels in a wave pattern. So if you looked at it from straight down it would look like kind of like a S. Since I typically only pass by it while entering the building and leave by a back door that is locked from the outside I decided to see what it would look like with the sunset in the background. It's not particularly interesting but I can now say I incorporated the glass wall into a shot and check it off my list.

Day 316 of 365

Day 316 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Day 315 of 365

Day 315 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

The clouds over the bay were really interesting so I went out near sunset to photograph them. To get the tones I wanted I used a circular polarizer and ND filter stacked.

I also want to take this time to salute my fellow brothers and sisters of the military. I served 8 years in the US Army as a 19D - Cavalry Scout and have been out of the service for over 15 years. There isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't think of my old friends at least once. That is how strong the bond is even all these years later.