As we take time out today to remember those who have gone before us to defend Freedom and Democracy, I dedicate this post to all of my Brothers and Sisters in the United States Armed Forces. Let us never forget that Freedom is not free.
To those that have paid for that very Freedom I speak of with their lives, “Thank you.”
We have all had it happen to us… and we never complain about it. The resulting images usually are excellent ones and are worthy of showing off. However, it is a problem when a photographer counts on them ALL THE TIME. It’s a not a position that you want to be in. We should all strive to be consistent, knowledgeable artists who are capable of producing quality images and not “happy accidents”.
The image above was taken by a sailor on my ship who is interested in photography and wanted to shoot a few shots with my camera since I had my lighting set up already to shoot some more portraits. I already had exposure, lighting, and white balance settings dialed in and I was ready to shoot. The shot was snapped at just the right moment and the resulting image was very good. Lots of drama because of the lighting and you will notice that the light is soft because the subject was very close to my light source.
To summarize, do your homework and practice, practice practice! It’s the only way to hone your skills and become a better photographer. My desire to constantly improve and get better is what drives me to shoot as often as I can.
Have a great week and I’ll be back with more great photography gouge this week!
Hey everyone! I wanted to write and let you know that I’m still alive and kicking. I have been absolutely swamped at work and I haven’t had any time to update the blog. I apologize for this as I know there are at least a few of you that look forward to my daily posts, however I have to make some sacrifices and the blog can sometimes be one of those. I am going to spend a little time this weekend putting some stuff together so I can have some posts for you this week.
On another note, I am entering a Navy photography contest. The contest is for all of us in the Navy in which photography isn’t our full-time Navy gig. There are Mass Communications Specialists (MC) that do that. This opportunity is for those of us weekend warriors and enthusiasts to submit our work to be published and displayed around the Navy for the next year. I have a few images that I shot out on our Sea Trials that I feel will be competitive, so I’m going to submit them and see what happens. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Well, that’s it for today. I need to get some much needed family time in as I will be back on the ship tomorrow for more work. (And I don’t even have duty!) I hope you have a great weekend and I’ll see you around this week!
Take care,
Stephen
Here’s what’s happening around the world of photography this week:
) More to follow soon.That’s it for today, I hope you’re having a great week. It’s getting progressively warmer here in Maine and I’m itching to get out and spend some more time shooting! How about you???
Well, I’m absolutely exhausted from my duty day at work Sunday so I’m taking today off from blogging. I got a total of 40 minutes of sleep Sunday night and I’m simply worn out! I’ll see you guys back here tomorrow though!
In the mean time, check out Camera Porn (yes it’s work safe and sadly has nothing to do with nudity).
- Stephen
On Friday I got tasked with a quick shoot and work and for once in my life, I didn’t have my trusty Nikon D40 with me. I had to punt. Our ship has a Canon EOS 30D and that was pretty much my only resort. Our Executive Officer had just gotten his Nikon D300, but I wasn’t going to ask him to use it since I don’t think he has even used it yet (although he told me I could use it any time I needed to). I’m pretty sure that it’s “Man-Law” not to use another man’s toy prior to his first use. Anyway, I got the 30D and headed out. I was simply shooting the shipyard’s installation of a metal shield containing the crest for the DDGRON painted on it.
The 30D felt clunky and awkward in my hands. Probably due to the fact that I haven’t ever been a Canon shooter. I wasn’t familiar at all with any of the controls, but was able to figure them out. The LCD is HORRIBLE! All images on the LCD look bright, overexposed, and washed out. I had to use the histogram to ensure that I was getting images that were close to being properly exposed. The ship uses the camera to shoot in JPEG so I had no worries there. I wouldn’t personally, but since I was using it this one time I wasn’t going to hassle with RAW. I am not the one processing the images anyway, so it was just easier to use JPEG. The shutter was clunky and made me feel like the camera was moving in my hands. I really missed the smooth and soft shutter of my D40. Other than that, I can’t really fairly comment on the camera. Those were just a few things I noticed while snapping off the 20 or so frames I took.
To sum it all up, I won’t be trading my Nikon for a Canon anytime soon. Maybe it’s because I’m comfortable with my Nikon, but I wasn’t attracted to the Canon at all. Sorry Canon, I like my Nikon way too much!
