Through My Lens

The “Electric Woodshed” playing at the Blue 5 in Roanoke, VA.  This guitarist is my long-time friend Craig Counts.  Since the Shed plays classic rock, I wanted to give this image a “classic” appearance, so in post-editing I used filter that mimics an older photo processing style referred to as cross-processing. 

Photo details: Nikon D80, Nikon 50mm prime lens, f/1.8, 1/60 sec., 100 ISO.  Flash fired with SB-600 speedlight.  Used “Cross-process” filter in post-processing. 

Photography Tip: I learned this effect from my friend Mark Peacock.  It is simply a shot of my Christmas tree taken out of focus.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Photo details: Nikon D80, Nikon 50mm prime lens, f/1.8, 1/40 sec., 400 ISO.   Set focus on manual and adjust out of focus.

Photography Tip: To get the pure white background on these ornaments I used a homemade Light Box (also called a White Box).  I constructed it entirely from inexpensive materials around the house.  Here’s how to do it:

1. Find a cardboard box (preferably no less than 12″x12″x12″, and cut off two of the opening flaps leaving the other two “doors”.
2. Now cut out three sides of the box, only leaving a couple of inches of cardboard frame.  See photo.

   

3. Next find some tissue wrapping paper and duct tape, and tape the tissue over the three sides you just cut out.  I used two layers of tissue.
4. For the lights I used studio strobes, but plain ole shop lights or desk lamps would do the trick,  Simply move them in closer or farther away to get your desired lighting levels.  You’ll also probably need to use the flash on your camera.
5. Now cut out a piece of white poster board to fit, and bend it into the back and bottom of the box to create a seamless background.  If you want to get creative with colors, you can use different colored poster board or even different colored tissue.
6. That’s it!  Your done.

Photo details: Nikon D80, Nikon 505mm prime lens, f/9.0, 1/100 sec., 100 ISO.  Shot in light box with 3 strobes and built-in camera flash.

The Mullins Family in studio.

Photo details: Nikon D80, Nikon 18-200mmVR lens @28mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec. shutter, 100 ISO.  Shot in studio with four lights (softbox main, fill umbrella reflector, head light, and SB600 to highlight the background.

This quilt square painting is found on a barn in Unicoi, TN.  It is one of many paintings dipicting tradional quilt designs on beautiful, historic barns throughout east Tennessee.  Click Here to learn more about the “Quilt Trail”.

Photo details: Nikon D80, Nikon 18-200mmVR lens @27mm, f/3.5, 1/640 sec. shutter, 100 ISO.  I wanted to show the barn in b/w, but leave the color of the quilt painting, so in post-processing I selected out the borders of the painting and inverted the selection.  I then converted the photo to black and white, leaving the painted quilt with it’s original color.

This spinning wheel lady was a historical reenactor at the Watauga Fort in Sycamore Shoals State Park (Elizabethton, TN).

Photo details:  Nikon D80, Nikon 18-200mmVR lens @40mm, f/4.5, 1/20 sec. shutter, 100 ISO.  I cropped out some distractions and applied “film noir” VP filter.  I also added some slight depth of field in post processing.

Near Niagara Dam on the Blue Ridge Parkway (mile marker 114.9) in Roanoke, Virginia.

Photo Details: Nikon D80, Nikon 18-200VR lens @ 20mm, f/20, 1.0 sec. shutter, 100 ISO, Shutter Priority Mode

I couldn’t think of a better way to start my new blog than with my new little nephew Courtland.

Photo details:  Nikon D80, 50mm prime, f/1.8, 1/60 shutter, 100 ISO, SB600 flash w/Omni-bounce @ 45 degrees, Courtland on a black background, conversion to b/w in post-processing with “Dramatic”  VP filter.