Incessant Expressions » photography

A blaze in the Southern Sky – Photo of the Day #78

James Westfall — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:23:31 +0000

Today, an RV randomly caught fire a few hundred yards from my apartment. It was odd because it had been sitting there for nearly an hour before it caught fire according to my girlfriend. I don’t think anyone was in it but it did burn for quite some time, it was nearly out when I shot this photo.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-108G DX f/3.5-5.6 @ f/16 @ 105mm (158mm equiv)
ISO200 @ 1/100s
Matrix metering
Sunny WB

Copyright © 2008
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:
4ba031b1ff4983f333be74f398d2ba74 (38.107.179.227) )Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 James Westfall

It’s just so pretty – Photo of the Day #77

James Westfall — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:40:51 +0000

This is the Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G ED that I’m shooting with tonight. It’s beautiful and HEAVY. It’s currently mounted on a spare D90 body. It just looks so nice.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 @ f/9
ISO800 @ 0.6s
Matrix metering
Auto WB

Am I being obtuse? – Photo of the Day #76

James Westfall — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:24:03 +0000

A fantasic outside shot of the southside of the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center in Miami, FL. We went there last night to a Johnnie Walker Tasting Experience to sampe their fine line of blended scotches. It was a great mixer and a fun time while enjoying some fine scotch, definitely looking forward to this again.

I love the juxtaposition of the very angled architecture of the Arsht Center with a typical Miami business skyscraper behind it. The stark white color offset by a backgrounded neon white/blue gives this fantastic feel of opulent versus spartan.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 @ f/4.5
ISO800 @ 1/20s
Matrix metering
UniWB

One fine night – Photo of the Day #75

James Westfall — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:59:07 +0000

This is my first successful capture of the moon that I’ve ever gotten with my D90. It’s also the first picture I’ve ever really had to post process. I changed the tone curve to help bring out more of the shadows naturally apparent on the Moon but were still a bit blown out by the light from the Sun. I’m so pleased I finally got one of these, I’ve been trying for months but the Moon was extra bright tonight with helped suppress light pollution.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED DX @ 200mm f/11
ISO200 @ 1/100s
Spot metering
UniWB

A broken hope – Photo of the Day #74

James Westfall — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:18:05 +0000

I was walking around the golf course tonight when I stumbled upon this shattered glass. I have no idea what it was, didn’t look like a bottle. But the first thing I thought was “Hm, how am I going to light this properly?” Since I had my SB-600 and lightstand with me, I just threw on a 1/1 CTB gel and started shooting. This was my favorite shot of the broken glass. Since I was using UniWB, the generated JPG was a little pinkish but the NEF had just that right touch of blue.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/5.6
ISO800 @ 1/30s
Matrix metering
UniWB

Strobist:
SB-600 approximately 4ft from glass, aimed at 0deg, umbrella head pointing down slightly
1/8 power
Rosco 1/1 “Full Blue” CTB gel

This is why I love Florida – Photo of the Day #73

James Westfall — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:28:33 +0000

This was one of my final pictures today and it was a gorgeous sunset. Although you can’t tell, I’m barrelling down the road at 65MPH on my motorcycle. This and the picture I took after it were absolutely lucky snaps. When I took this, camera settings were absolutely irrelevant.

And I freaking love them. This is why I love Florida.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/11
ISO200 @ 1/1250s
Matrix metering
Auto WB A2

Three’s company – Photo of the Day #72

James Westfall — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 05:20:45 +0000

A nice little collection of palm and another tree that I can’t name. Took this right by our apartment while on a walk-about last night. The way the tress were both backlit from the apartment complex behind them and frontlit by the street light was just amazing looking. This picture was the result of probably 20 or 25 different exposures, all with different settings and positions. It was hard to hand hold this because it kept coming out blurry OR the white light on the left was causing a lens flare, neither of which I wanted obviously. But I’m very pleased with how this turned out.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/2.8
ISO800 @ 1.6s -0.3 EV
Center weighted metering
Tungsten WB A1

I see a face in the trees – Photo of the Day #71

James Westfall — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:08:01 +0000

This looked a lot more artsy in my head and could have probably turned out that way with a tripod. That is, until I looked at it full screen and saw the white light in the bottom right making what looks like the side of a face, so I thought that was pretty dang neat.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/2.8
ISO800 @ 1/40s
Matrix metering
Tungsten WB

Thar be danger – Photo of the Day #70

James Westfall — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:04:56 +0000

This is a table one of our neighbors gave us earlier this week and I absolutely love it. It’s got this nice bubbled texture and a pretty wicked green background, DANGER in bold red text and that giant offset skull. Since it was glass, I knew it’d make a nice shoot-thru so I gelled my SB-600 to 1/1 CTB and this is how it turned out. I like it a lot.

NOTE: The right side is not warped due to distortion or bent, it’s how the light looked since I wasn’t exactly centered.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/11
ISO640 @ 1/100s
Spot metering
Flash WB B1

Strobist:
Nikon SB-600 @ 1/64 approx 1.5 feet from glass top, 0deg
Rosco 1/1 “Full Blue” CTB gel

Sucker punched – Photo of the Day #69

James Westfall — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:52:48 +0000

This was a test shot from earlier today. We had set up a pop-up canopy for an upcoming shoot and I was working out lighting when along came our friends Kelly and Chris. Instantly becoming my models, they were hamming it up big time. Until Kelly totally sucker punched Chris. This was one of about 300 hits he took today, just because she could…and it because it makes for a lot of hilarious pictures. Don’t worry, he’s okay but he got her back eventually.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX @ f/8
ISO400 @ 1/15s
Matrix metering
Flash WB A1

Strobist
2 LumoPro LP604 stands, one camera left and the other camera right
2 Nikon Sb-600s at 1/8 power, angled 30deg towards ground
2 Westcott 43" satin white umbrellas