Panama City Trip

Panama City Trip (Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 10 seconds, f/16, ISO100)

We took a trip to Panama City, FL for our anniversary. We found a really good hotel and had a very relaxing weekend. While there it was so nice to just sit out on the balcony and watch all the traffic go by. I thought I would take the opportunity to play with some long exposures.

I had to play a while to get the shutter speed where I wanted, but really enjoyed the effects of the headlights as the cars moved down the highway.

I remember the humidity being so high. The temperature was high and the wind wasn't blowing a lot, so it took about 15 minutes before I could keep the lens from fogging up during the long exposure.

Katelyn at the Park

Katelyn at the Park (Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/350 second, f/16, ISO100)

On Saturdays, when nothing else is planned we usually end up at the park. I had just seen a podcast about adding space around the subject of photos and thought I would try using the wide-angle lens to get some shots with space. I decided to use the flash to get a little more fill light to the subjects.

Actually the brightness played into the shot I wanted. With the light level being so high I could use a small aperture and still get a relatively fast shutter speed. This let me keep everything in focus, foreground and background.

Alabaster R/C Club

Alabaster R/C Club (Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/30 second, f/16, ISO200)

Foster is a member of the Alabaster R/C Club in Alabaster, AL. On this particular Saturday, the club sponsored a "fly-in" where all the club members and some guests come to the field to show off and fly their planes. As an invited guest, it was quite a show to see all the model planes and helicopters. It was even more impressive to see the way the members could fly them - loops, rolls, dives and many various and wondrous maneuvers.

I wanted to show all the speed of the airplanes flying so I slowed my shutter speed down to give the motion blur to the background while following the airplanes with the lens. They were moving so fast, it was quite difficult to time everything right and keep it in focus. Since the background was going to blurred by the motion, I bumped closed down the aperture to increase the chances that the plane would stay in focus as it crossed in front of me.

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens (Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/125 second, f/8.0, ISO200)

I found myself with a little time before having to meet my wife, so I took a little side trip over to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. It had rained all day and it was very hot and muggy, but I found myself at the gardens as the sun was breaking through the clouds. As it ended up, I got some great shots.

Dottie's 75th Birthday Party

Dottie's 75th Birthday Party (Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4.0L lens - 1/20 second, f/5.6, ISO 200)

On June 16th, Dottie turned 75. Her kids Sherry and Allen, gave her a birthday party and invited everyone on July 5th, 2009. Sherry and Niki (daughter-in-law), and the kids Kelsey and Ansley, worked to put on quite a party. Everyone had a wonderful time.

I shot these pictures in Aperture-priority mode with -1 stop compensation. I had the Canon EX 580 II flash set normal. I had to do a little post-production work to get a consistent color across all pictures. The combination of flash and florescent lights was playing havoc with my color balance. I tried to stay out from under the lights as much as possible. Also, the light tan colored walls would throw off the meter when I got close to them, causing some of the images to over expose a little. I wasn't anything I couldn't correct though.

Giving Jennifer A Bath

Jennifer's First Bath In Crossville (Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/20 second, f/5.6, ISO 400)

It's a tradition in our family that all the kids take a bath in the sink at least once when they are young. On Saturday, it was Jennifer's turn. She seemed to enjoy it pertty well. Honey made sure to keep her warm the whole time. Even then, when she got out of the water, her little lip started trembling and it was cute.

I was shooting with the camera in Aperture priority mode. I adjusted the background down a stop while keeping the Canon EX 580 II flash normal. That created just a little separation between foreground and background while keeping the whole scene at pretty much the same level.

Katelyn at the Lake

Katelyn at the Lake (Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/180 second, f/8, ISO 50)

After playing around the pool for a while, we decided to make our way down to the lake to see what was going on there. While there were people in the lake, it was mostly deserted and Honey (Julie) and Katelyn decided to get in the water and play for while. They had come up with this game where Katelyn climbs Honey and then jumps off, down to the water. Of course, Honey is helping her on the way, but Katelyn has a lot of fun and laughs the whole time.

For this shot, I set the camera in Aperture-priority mode and adjusted down about a half-stop. I set the Canon EX 580 II flash at normal. I was about 10 yards away and got a good flash. Luckily the water reflection from the overcast sky didn't overpower the scene.