Fun Photos!

Today I finally got to try out the 'fisheye' adapter.  It's not an actual lens, just a thing that screws on the front of the lens.  The whole purpose of this adapter (for me) is fun; I wanted to get silly photos of the girls.  And I succeeded.  Silly photos!

Because Abby's snooter doesn't look big enough with a regular lens!

"Hey Mom... You look kinda funny!"

"This involves me getting treats, right?"

I was amused, and the girls were patient with me, so I anticipate more silly photos in the future!

Day 59/365

Happy, Snowy Dogs

We FINALLY got some snow today. Very wet, heavy snow, and the girls were very happy to go out and play in the snow.  Because of the weather, I used the P520 (less chance of snow getting into the body when the lens is sealed on the body), and I am yet again reminded why I like this camera so much - fun, easy, intuitive menus, and great shots.

Happy, happy snow doggies!

After having used the D90 for most of the last week, the P520 is fairly idiot-proof, which is not always a bad thing!  And I've discovered a few more things about adjusting the white balance that, as far as I can tell, will work on the D90 as well (thank you, bridge camera!).

Subject tracking!

Day 58/365.

Sophistication (or Possibly Silliness)

There's a meme (an idea that goes from blog to blog or Facebook post to Facebook post - it's a 'viral' thing, and for me, always in fun) going around crazy dog people circles in which I travel to that is trying to encourage people to post photos of happy healthy animals, and people are given a word upon which to base their photo.

Our word was SOPHISTICATION.  If you know me, 'sophistication' is not the first word that comes to mind when you think of me.  It's probably not even in the top 10.  So I'm not sure if Fi and Abby achieved sophistication or just silliness, but we had fun.  And I'm amazed that Abby  let me put glasses on her!

Day 57/365.

More of Why I Love the Nifty Fifty.

Yep.  I still love it.  Did I mention that it gets sharp photos?  That it is fun?  Well, let me reiterate.  It gets sharp action photos, and it's fun.

Add a dog or two and some snowballs, and it's even more fun.  Yes, I know I did that yesterday.  But I could take photos of dogs catching snowballs every day of the year, because it's always new and different.

Oh, and did I mention that this lens gets very sharp low-light photos?

"Got anything good to read, Mom?"

Yep.  Good times!

Day 56/365.

Snowballs!

Okay, it's official.  I am in love with the 'Nifty Fifty' (the 50mm f/1.8) lens.  Such sharp photos.  Such fun.

Add a couple of dogs and wet snow, and you've got a wonderful afternoon!

Fi's mouth reminds me of the 'Doomsday Machine' in the original Star Trek series.  (Don't worry if the reference means nothing to you; you have to be a serious geek to get it...)

Caught it!

"Nice throw, Mom!:

Arrrgh!

It 'sploded!  Heh!  That face just KILLS me!

Another perfect throw/catch/capture!

Yep.  I seriously love that lens!

Day 55/365.

Irreproducible Results?

In the academic/scientific world there is a 'Journal of Irreproducible Results' which has been a tounge-in-cheek source of amusement and entertainment for decades.

The reason this comes up today is because of my photo of the day.

It's really cool, if I say so myself.  The only 'problem' I have with this photo (other than that Abby is squinting, but when you pay your models in cheese bits and dried lamb lung treats, you don't always get high-dollar fashion model results - of course, there is significantly less drama with my models, too) is that I'm not entirely sure how I got those rays in the photo (other than to lighten Abby's face, this photo has not been enhanced).  I don't know if those rays are because of the position of the sun (in part, certainly), the shutter speed (1/4000 of a second), the aperture (small) or some combination thereof.

So, while the photo IS really cool, I'm not entirely sure if I can reproduce it.  But that won't stop me from trying!

Day 54/365.

Another Attempt at Action Photos

Being bound and determined to get decent action photos with the kit lens on the D90 after yesterday's over-exposed blurry messes, I pulled out the 'Mastering the D90' book to see what I could learn.

Well.... Theoretically the '3-D' autofocus mode is what I should be using for action photos.  Well, that's what I HAD been using and I wasn't having wild success.  When I was taking the girls' 'Olympic medals' photo, I used the auto setting, because I couldn't get any of the other settings to focus on two dogs, neither of whom was in the center of the picture, and it worked really well.

So, I thought I'd try the auto setting for the action photos; the worst case scenario is that I'd have yet more pictures of blurry dogs and tack-sharp snow in the background.

But I still had the over-exposure issue.  I had a couple of options; up the shutter speed (which I did, and it seemed to work fairly well), but I also wanted to see if I could find a way to manually adjust the exposure.  The book spoke rather disparagingly of the 'easy exposure compensation' button; the author didn't see the point of Nikon having this on the camera, given all the amazing ways you could handle over/under exposure issues.  Yeah, well, all the amazing ways to adjust the exposure are a bit above my head at the moment, so I was very happy to use the easy button.

Not every picture came out perfectly, but frankly, I got a lot more decent shots today than I did yesterday.

A little bright, that could be adjusted with shutter speed (or the exposure slider in Lightroom).

Action dog in focus!

Action dog in focus and not over-exposed!

Yet another picture where the moving dog is in focus and not over-exposed.  I'm on a roll!

Fi-sters the Fabulous, in action and in focus!

Maybe I'm 'cheating' by using the auto focus setting and the 'easy' exposure compensation button, but until I can figure out other ways to get similar results, I'm happy with the easy settings.  However, I still have no idea why the regular 'auto' focus setting worked better than the 3-D setting (which, theoretically, tracks the moving subject and keeps it in focus as it moves - but hasn't seemed to have worked for me.  It's a tad frustrating, as the similar subject tracking mode in the P520 works amazingly well; I think this is a case of the more complex options of the D90 allowing for clueless people like me to make the wrong set-up choices).

Day 53/365.

White Balance (or Imbalance as the Case May Be)

I didn't have the white balance set properly when I was taking pictures today (it was overcast, so I thought I'd be okay, but apparently not...).  Also, I was using the 28-80mm lens again today, and I still wasn't happy with the action shots (back to read more of the manual, as I'm not sure if it is the lens or the settings I have - I tend to think it is the settings, but maybe the 50mm spoiled me with its sharpness...), so, more portraits.

Because the white balance was a little funky, I did a lot of 'processing' in Lightroom, and while the processing is a bit over the top, I had fun.

And I LOVE this picture of Fi.  She's usually so serious, so when I can catch her being a goofball, I count myself lucky!

Purposely over-processed, but I like it.  It's not great art, but it's fun.

 

I like the softness in this one.  Again, not great art, but fun!

Black and white, because, well, I can!

Another 'soft' picture of Abby.  Gorgeous eyes!

Day 52/365.

Dog Face IS a Compliment!

Today, February 20th, is Love Your Pet Day.  Needless to say, Fi and Abby don't suffer from a lack of love (or treats, or companionship, or toys, or physical activity, or, well anything!).  So today really wasn't any different than any other day for them; walkies, treats, multiple frisbee sessions, Kongs and bully sticks later tonight.  Oh, and the other thing that wasn't any different from any other day was me taking a bunch of pictures of them!

After playing around with the 50mm lens for a while, I thought I'd go back to the 28-80mm 'kit lens' that came with the old D70.    I thought I was getting great action shots until I pulled them off the camera and discovered that the autofocus setting was set to 'dynamic focus'.  Which, I have now learned, does not get action photos like the 'subject tracking' mode because it doesn't do well with moving objects like dogs leaping for frisbees.  Okay, lesson learned.  But alas, no spectacular action photos.

However, I got some 'portraits' that I was really pleased with.

Fiona Regina - because she looks so regal!

Abby with her head in the clouds.  As usual!

Pretty girl!

Unexpected bokeh!  What a bonus!

Yep.  Around here, 'dog face' is most definitely a compliment!

Day 51/365.

Bubble Wrap

I've got a long day at work, so today is one of those days where I look for something around the office to photograph.  My co-worker just got in a bunch of supplies wrapped in green bubble wrap, and I thought it would be interesting to see what it looks like up-close.

From this distance, it looks like something that the CDC should be studying!

Day 50/365.

Snow asteroids!

Just a fun shoot with the girls and some snowballs!

Another day with the D90 and the Nifty Fifty!

Day 49/365.

Some Misses and a Hit

While I could take all 365 days of photos of the girls, the whole point is to stretch my knowledge and skill.  So I tried a few photos today that didn't really work out. 

First I tried to get a photo of the flag flapping in the breeze, with a low shutter speed, to get the flapping.  It kind of worked, but it wasn't really what I was aiming for.

1/4, f/22, 50mm, ISO 200

In all honesty, I wasn't 100% certain what I was hoping for with the flag picture, so I'm not sure how to make it better.  But it was an interesting experiment.

Since I was shooting with my 'fast' lens, I thought I'd try some low-light photos.  These are a little grainy (high ISO), but I really like the effect, so I think I'm going to play around with this a little more see if I can get some better quality low-light photos.
 

1/500, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 1600

I really like this picture of Fi - I just have to figure out how to clean it up - but the concept was what I was going for.

1/500, f/1.8. 50mm, ISO 1600

This one of Abby is a little muddier, but again, I like the idea, so I'll definitely be playing around with this some more.

Since I couldn't just have a bunch of 'bad' photos (okay, they aren't painfully terrible, but not in the 'Oh wow' category), I got some good shots of the girls.  (It's very nice having subjects who will work for turkey treats!)  

Day 48/365.

Back to the P520

Snowy and windy and wet today, so rather than playing around more with the D90, I went back to the P520 and its Subject Tracking mode.  Which meant I had to get my subjects moving.  (Which is not so tough with two action dogs, frisbees and snow.)

Goofy puppy!

Goofy puppy again.

Fi loves catching snowballs!

 

Got it!

The subject tracking mode is pretty slick.  I think I've found the equivalent on the D90, so I'll have to try it out.

On a mostly unrelated set of pictures, I am fascinated by the ephemeral nature of paw prints (well, paw prints made in snow and with wet feet; I am certain muddy paw prints will be discovered by archaeologists in 10,000 years).

I'm not sure whose footprint is whose...

Day 47/365.