I now think there can be downsides to efficiency.  I arrived at the airport at my prescribed 75min ahead of my flight time and managed to clear the security checkpoint in a record 10min.  For my six day trip to the Greater San Jose area I’ve been able to pack everything that I need in a single 2200 cu in backpack and a Kata Sensitivity V.  This includes 2 SLR bodies, 2 lenses, extenders/batteries/filters/chargers, 15″ Macbook Pro, portable drives, Gitzo tripod, and ballhead.    When I get a chance I’ll post an image to show my packing method.

I’m improvising my first few days of my trip based on the weather and photo opportunities.  The last couple days will include a day trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Unfortunately I struck out trying to obtain a permit to use a tripod in the aquarium so I’m going to go gorilla, well gorillapod.    I should be able to pick one up before getting to the aquarium so I should be able to use it to increase my odds of getting good shots but stay under the radar.  Check back often for updates or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Last night I helped out with the portraiture class over at CPS.  Nancy gave her lecture and we had a portrait setup using a backdrop and my DIY spyderlight.  We showed the students how to use a reflector and some posing techniques.  A few tips for better portraits:

• Get closer
• Watch  your background, try to eliminate distracting elements
• Be careful to focus on the eyes, particularly the closest one

Here are a few shots I took of students that were posing as models.

Exp: 0.8sec @ f/16.0, ISO 100
Gear: Canon 40D, 70-200F4L @ 149mm, 25 ext. tube
Lighting: DIY spyderlight, softbox

Well it’s been unseasonably warm and rainy the past few days here in NE Ohio so last night I decided to setup the camera and shoot a few shots of the tulips that Kate bought at Lowes.  I played around with the light and shooting from different angles for about 2 hours.  I wasn’t really satisfied with any of the shots I had gotten up until this shot.  The strange thing is I didn’t know what I was looking for just that I hadn’t gotten it yet.  One look through the viewfinder to frame this up and I could see this was it.  I took 2 frames and headed off to bed.  I think my satisfaction with this image comes from how it captures the details of every aspect of the blossom.  The color and the texture of the petals, yellow glow of the base and the smooth transition to the stem.

As a follow up to the Intro to Lightroom presentation that I did for the Cleveland Photographic Society.  There was a question about where I got the retouching presets for the brush tool.  The ones that I showed in the presentation where found on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips.  This website also shows you how to install these.

If I get any other questions I will update this post with the answers.

40D, 17-40@17mm, 1/60s, f/4, ISO 400

Yesterday group of photographers from the Cleveland Photographic Society got together to do some studio shooting. This was a great way to get some shooting in with our winter weather we’ve had. We had a great group of models and make-up artists. This kind of shooting is different from what I’m use to but it gave me some ideas for some other projects that I’d like to try. Well enough of my rambling check let’s check out some shots.

Before the shoot started we got a brief over view of the equipment and how to shoot and pose the models. One thing that we were told was not to use a wide angle lens. I promptly ignored that rule and put my 17-40 on my camera. My favorite shots were taken with that lens. This shot of Naomi was taken @17mm laying on the floor.

Check out some of the other images from the shoot below:

As I find out about some of the other photographer’s shots I’ll post them:

One of Varina’s shots over at her blog http://photographybyvarina.blogspot.com/2009/01/studio-shoot.html

You can also see more shots from other members on the CPS Flickr Group

I’ve added two trip reports to the Pages list on the side bar.  I’ve wanted to do these reports for a while now.  It was nice to reflect back on the experiences.  Here are the two links to take you directly to the trip reports:

Alaska 2008 Trip Report

Yellowstone in Winter 2008

At the end of each report I’ve added a few tips that I think will help anyone considering these locations for a future trip.

Last weekend I attended the photo-shoot part of the environmental portraiture class I’m taking from the Cleveland Photographic Society.  I’ve been looking for something a little different to shoot lately and expand some of my photography.  So this was the first time I’ve shot anyone’s portrait.  Not sure why I haven’t done it before other than fear of not doing the subject justice.  So without further rambling here is my favorite.

Exp: 1/80s @ f/2.2, ISO 100
Gear: Canon 40D, 50F1.8, White Cardboard, Post in Lightroom 2

Kate was very gracious to be my model and I think I was able to do her beauty justice (brownie pts: +2).

Exp: 1/20 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200, 9 exposures combined with Helicon Focus
Gear: Canon 40D, 70-200F4L, 25mm Extension Tube, Live View

I found this spider in the basement tonight so I setup the camera and light.  It’s a Common House Spider, they are a members of the funnel web spider family.  Although they look menacing they are harmless to humans and hardly ever bite. This one only tried to escape a couple times.

I’ve been meaning to try out the Helicon Focus software for some time but haven’t found anything to try it on.  This spider made a good subject.  What this software does is it automatically combines multiple images into one by selecting the part of each image that is in focus.  This allows me work around some of the limitations of the lens…mainly diffraction caused by using really small apertures.  I also used the Live View feature of the 40D to allow me to set the focus where I wanted on the spider.  So I took 9 images focusing on different parts of the spider as I made my way from front to back.  Dropped them into the software and out came the image you see above.  Technology is great when it all works the way it was meant to.

I’ve also setup my Flickr account and started posting some of my images.  You can check it out here http://www.flickr.com/photos/wdsebastian/.  I found a nice plug-in for Lightroom that will export images straight to Flickr.  Anything that saves time is a great addition to an already great program.  If you are interested check it out on Jeffrey Friedl’s site.