Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enjoying a Merry-go-Round
We've continued to visit area playgrounds. The first was a playground in Stow, Ohio, and it's still on my list to post more about the second, an amazing playground in Ravenna. Today's pictures are from the third, a playground in Independence that we visited a few days ago. (We visited a fourth playground today, but I haven't looked at those photos yet.)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
This time I brought my Nikon SB-800 flash, and tried to use it on-camera for some simple fill. I set it on manual mode, and adjusted the power anywhere from full to 1/64th, to try to get an unobtrusive fill that seemed natural.
Of course, I generally failed. I'm no good at flash photography.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/400 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Top of the World
The photo above looks okay, I hope, but it didn't come out of the camera that way. I used Lightroom's “fill flash” feature a bit, which brightens shadows across the entire frame, and on top of that, I used the new local-corrections feature of Lightroom 2 to “paint” in extra brightness just on his face.
It took only a minute or two, but that's time I wouldn't have had to spend had I gotten it right the first time.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Apprehensive
As physical as Anthony likes to play, he's really quite the scaredy-cat when it comes to new things (or new people, for that matter). There were some hanging rings that some other kids were swinging from, and he wanted to try them, but was too scared.
I was not too scared to take a picture of them, but the fill flash was a tad too strong...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Game Time
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Spinning
no, really, he's spinning
Most of our time was on a small merry-go-round. Sadly, almost all of the pictures I took ended up using a fast shutter and so the movement was frozen, leaving bland, static results like that above.
This next picture would have been so much better with a blurred background...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/750 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Making Daddy's Head Spin
Sometimes I actively thought about the shutter speed, and I did get a bit of blur here, but it's too little too late...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/60 sec, f/9, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 18 mm — 1/400 sec, f/5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Warp Speed
( you'll have to use your imagination )
I'm kicking myself for not thinking about the shutter speed more, especially since early on I took a shot of other kids playing on the merry-go-round where I specifically did use a longish exposure to capture the movement:
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/40 sec, f/22, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
With all the playgrounds in the area, I'm sure I'll have a chance to redeem myself soon...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Paul Christensen
of
Midlife Chryslers
My friend Ray invited me out to see Michael Stanley in his latest project, a band called Midlife Chryslers. Back in the 80s, The Michael Stanley Band was huge in the Midwest, and I was a big fan. (The first concert I ever went to was a Michael Stanley Band concert.) Back in the day, they were able to crack the national Top 40 once or twice, but were never able to do much more nationally. In the Midwest, though, it's not possible to overstate their popularity.
Tonight's gig at The Northside (Akron, Ohio) with the Midlife Chryslers was a bit different, playing bluesy rock. Photography was allowed, so I put my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 on my Nikon D200 and give concert photography a whirl. The D200 is not known for its low-light performance (nor am I, for that matter), but I got a few shots that looked okay.
It was challenging. Here's one that came out okay, despite the long 1/20th second exposure at 85mm (with no VR, mind you)...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/20 sec, f/1.6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Marc Lee Shannon
I like how the wall painting in the background fits into this shot, but composition-wise, I was really limited. The limiting factor was mostly my not wanting to block anyone's view, so I didn't spend much time with the camera, and was somewhat hesitant when I did. Mostly, I stayed in one spot that seemed to be okay, so my ability to compose was really restricted.
The lighting and my position conspired to make for really bad shots of Michael Stanley. None of them came out. Here's the least sucky of the batch:
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/45 sec, f/1.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Michael Stanley
The angle/lighting was much better for the sax player, who also presented himself much more photogenicly to begin with. The camera loved him, and he loved the camera back...
Most of the shots were fuzzy due to camera shake, or lack of focus. I tried to salvage one such shot by applying some funky processing, in the same ballpark as the negative clarity “Dave Hill” look I did in my previous post, albeit with maximum positive clarity to keep a gritty edge...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/10 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Marc Lee Shannon
stylized
I'm not sure the result was worth the effort, but there it is.
A real treat was for me to met Michael Gismondi, the base player of The Michael Stanley Band who was apparently just guesting with this evening's performance of Midlife Chryslers. Long ago, I used to work with his sister, Jeannette, who ran the electron microscopy lab at NEOUCOM, and longer before that, his brother-in-law was my high-school chemistry and physics teacher...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/30 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Michael Gismondi
His sister, Jeanette, is also an accomplished photographer, and a lunch with her several years ago was part of the inspiration for me to get my Nikon D200.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pure Fun
( slightly stylized )
Today we visited a most excellent playground in Ravenna, a town four miles north, and among the resulting photos was one of Anthony gleefully enjoying a spin on a suspended tire. I liked the picture, but thought that a more punchy treatment would suit it better. I've occasionally liked the results of a “Dave Hill look” treatment (described here, and another example here), and what you see above is the result.
This time, though, I took advantage of a new feature of Lightroom 2 to soften it up, and take off the edge that the normal Dave Hill result.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pure Fun
in Adobe Lightroom
You can see in the develop settings at right that most settings are totally exaggerated... recovery, fill light, blacks, and contrast. The key here is clarity, and how it was applied. Clarity was first introduced in Lightroom version 1.1 to allow you to enhance local contrast, and with the normal “Dave Hill look” treatment, you push it to its maximum.
Lightroom 2, however, introduces the ability to apply negative clarity, which reduces local contrast. This softens things up, with the marquee use being to smooth the look of skin in a portrait (and as such, negative clarity is normally used with a localized-correction brush, so that you don't reduce the contrast of areas like the eyes).
In this case, I used negative clarity on the entire frame, which softens up the whole thing, bringing the somewhat harsh “Dave Hill look” more in line with the youthful, innocent subject of the shot. I really like the effect.
Here's the “normal” treatment I would have given the original photo, which has some fill light applied to make up for the harsh shadows...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/80 sec, f/13, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not So Interesting
But Still Fun
And for context, here's what he was spinning on...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/400 sec, f/5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
He was actually spinning at a fairly good clip, but a fast shutter speed makes it look like he's just sitting there.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Getting Wet
( and not so sure he likes it )
We had a short rain shower today – standard fare for an Ohio summer – and Anthony wanted to go out in it to play. At first he ran around with childlike abandon, and I snapped some shots with my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4, but for some reason every one was horribly out of focus. I didn't notice anything wrong at the time, but anyway, I wanted to get closer without getting wet, so I switched to my Nikkor 70-200mm.
In the short minute that it took for me to get the lens and switch, Anthony's mood went from arms-swinging-around-dancing-like-a-kid play to, as the photo above shows, somewhat serious and a little concerned.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hmmmm....
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Something Seems Disagreeable
I'm not exactly sure what the issue was, but he soon came in and got some dry clothes. The rain stopped soon after.
In the evening, I was at a restaurant and stepped out to find some spectacular post-sunset colors...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sadly, some of the brighter deep, rich scarlet pinks bumped up against the dynamic-range limit of the camera, and so ended up as oranges and yellows. Sigh. Maybe I should have done HDR or something to save the true colors.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 20 mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/1600 sec, f/5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tandem Play
cousins Josh Kreta and Anthony Friedl
photo by Marci Kreta
While I was busy with Lightroom things the other day, my sister and mom took Anthony and Josh out to a big public playground in Stow...
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 60 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Marci Kreta
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 35 mm — 1/500 sec, f/8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Phyllis Friedl
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 70 mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Marci Kreta
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 45 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Marci Kreta
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Marci Kreta
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 28 mm — 1/400 sec, f/9, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Marci Kreta
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 50 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Marci Kreta
Konika-Minolta Maxxum 7D @ 75 mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heavy Machinery
more fun than a playground
photo by Marci Kreta