Ad Water and Stir

I noticed some of the leaves on our large dogwood were beginning to turn this morning. Some of them were really pretty with the sun coming through them. I got a camera and started shooting. The sun really lights that tree up in the morning, and it is so easy to shoot the leaves against a dark background.

By the time I got through shooting, I noticed a lot of stuff in the garden was needing water, so I turned on the sprinkler. After I got it set up, I noticed the water on the leaves, and decided I should do some more photos.

I began shooting at around 1/250 second, and decided to slow it down a bit. The top photo was before the water was on, the second one was shot at 1/40 second, and although the water drops make a long line, you can see separate drops.

The bottom picture was at 1/25 second, and the droplets make a solid line. I didn't use a tripod, so I was braced on the back of a chair to keep the camera steady.

A Little Motion, Please

It is not too often I shoot images with a definite blur of motion. Sometimes it happens in the course of a shoot, and if it adds to the image, cool. Last week I did two different shoots a a slow shutter speed just to have movement in the images.

The top photo was the second shoot, Friday night at the Perry-Rutland game. I was shooting the Rutland band at halftime, and decided that a shot of the flags spinning would be cool with a bit of blur. I had been shooting at ISO 3200 during the game to stop the action. I needed a slow shutter speed to get the movement, ended up shooting 1/25 second. By the way, these were shot in the manual exposure mode where I chose the shutter speed and the aperture. To get the slow shutter speed and not overexpose, I dropped the ISO down to 500.

The image below was from the Hispanic Heritage program at Hunt Elementary in Fort Valley Thursday morning. The dancers are students from Peach County High. Their twirling dresses just begged to blur.

When you are shooting motion like this, you need to have part of the image in sharp focus. If people are the subject, their faces need to be relatively sharp. I shot a bunch in both cases to have the blur with some degree of  sharpness in the main subject's face.

The dancers were done at 1/30 second. This is a fun thing to try. You can also use a slow shutter speed and pop some flash into the image. The slow shutter will give some blur, while the very short flash duration will freeze a part of the photo.

Go play with your camera.

Some Pictures From Mossy Creek

Deborah and I went to Mossy Creek Barnyard Festival yesterday. We met Tracy, Ann and Sue. Spent the day listening to some cool music, watched some neat artisians at work, and took a few pictures. My favorite pctures of the day were of Lisa Lynne and George Tortorelli. She plays Irish Harp, he plays flute. Wonderful music.

Shooting pictures at a place like Mossy Creek can be a pain. You are under trees with patches of really dark shade and really hot spots of bright sunlight. If you shoot from the sunny side, the shadows can really mess you up. Just about everything I shot yesterday was backlite.  That way, you didn't have to worry about the

difference in the light.

 

The backlight was a great help with the photos of Lisa Lynne playing the harp. The strings really jump out, and the light seperates George from the background. I did shoot this in the manual exposure mode. No way the meter could balance this one.

A Fallen Hero Comes Home

Marine Cpl. Stephen Sackalosky came home last Thursday.  He died serving his country in Afghanistan.

I rode to Warner Robins Thursday morning to stand on the side of the road with hundreds of other folks to pay my respects.  He was traveling home to Cordele.

People were gathered along the roadway from US Highway 41 all the way to the base. I rode the length of the route trying to decide where to stand.  By the time I reached Houston Road, I had such a huge lump in my throat, my eyes filled with tears. It was an emotional time. Carried me back to memories of 1968, loosing my first really good friend to war. Also made me think again about all the folks serving our country now, putting themselves in harm's way, protecting our freedom. Not only those serving in the military, but their families who have to wait at home, praying for their safe return.

It was awesome to see so many people coming out to honor someone they didn't know. Had no idea there were so many American Flags in Houston County.

Too many of us take this life and country of ours for granted. Don't think too often about our people serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places far away from home. The moms and dads, wives and husbands waiting at home. We owe them all a huge THANK YOU.

Take a few minutes sometimes to say a prayer for them all, and the next time you see someone in uniform, shake their hand and tell them thanks for what they do.

A Bit Of History

I went to Byron Elementary last FRiday to photograph some Civil War reenactors who were at the school.

I have always loved history, especially American History, so I knew I would have fun with the assignment.

I was not the only one having fun. The 5th graders who were around the campfire were having a lot of fun as well. Not only were they learning by seeing the gear and hearing the stories of Billy,Beverly, Steve and Steven Smith, but they were seeing pieces of history as well.  They had the chance to wear the uniforms, and even taste the bacon and hardtack Steve Smith cooked over the campfire.

The Smith's have a passion for this slice of history, and who better to share and teach it. More folks should take the time to share their talents and knowledge in our public schools. What a wonderful gift to give.

A Weekend of Photography

This was a full weekend of  photography for me. Friday I had three shoots, the last being the FPD homecoming game against Our Lady of Mercy. The game produced som e decent art. FPD still lays down a fog with fire extinguishers when their taem takes the field. I had to get a shot of the team tearing through both the sign and the fog.

Saturday I spent the day helping judge the Beginners Photography competition at the Georgia National Fair. Volunteers from the Middle Georgia Camera Club MGCC.ws and the Digital Imaging Photography Guild from Warner Robins DIPG.ws do an excellent job with the competition. I have judged this competition numerous times, and each time is a wonderful experience.
My fellow judges were Keaton Wynn, Assistant Professor of Art at Georgia Southwestern University and Nancy Floyd, a Profesor of Photography at Georgia State University. They were great to judge with.

Make a point to getting to the fair to see the entries. Therer were over 1500 photo entries this year, and some very good work. Take a walk through the Miller, Murphy, Howard Building and check them out.