As promised, here is the shot of that vignette with the fluorescence gear. It is fun finding things around the house the fluoresce, and I felt this subject really looked good with it.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM with Yellow 12 Filter and unknown extension tubes, 1/30 sec at f/2.8. ISO 100. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode and special fluorescence excitation filter. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

- Bill

Alright, I finally managed to motivate myself to get off my lazy butt and take some photos...

I spent probably 45 minutes working with this subject yesterday - trying different lenses, different lighting, and even the fluorescence stuff (more on that later). I knew I wanted to try converting these shots to B&W ahead of time, so I intentionally went for a shallow depth of field so that I could focus more on the tones of the scene. I'm not sure if I succeeded in getting a shot that converted well to B&W (or at least as well as I had wanted), but I did try a technique for further decreasing the depth of field of an image when your lens just can't achieve that effect.

The theory here is fairly similar to the focus stacking technique we've looked at previously. Basically, you take multiple exposures with different focus settings and then blend them together to achieve the look you're looking for. In this case, I simply used two images - one with the face of the main skeleton in focus, and a second with everything blurred. Obviously, because I wanted a shallow depth of field, I was using my lens' widest aperture for both shots - f/2.8 in this case.

I think processed both shots in ACR identically (actually, if you open both images in ACR, you can make your changes to one and then have it synchronize the changes to all other images opened at the same time). I then opened the sharp photo in Photoshop, converted the background to a normal layer, then created a blank layer. I then opened the blurred shot separately, converted its background layer to a normal layer, selected everything and copy/pasted it into the blank layer in the sharp image. This results in the blurred layer covering the sharp layer. Simply select the eraser tool, set your size and in this case I selected a medium hardness (so the edges of the eraser tool as I painted it would be a soft line instead of a hard sharp line - this helps to blend your edges)... then simply erase away the blurred layer to reveal the sharp layer underneath... I just did this to the main skeleton's face, hat, and microphone.

Here are the results with the two images used to make this composite - mouseover each to see how they work together to produce the final image (when you point the mouse away from the thumbnails, it will revert back to the composite)...

Sharp Image
Blurred Image
Original Edit

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/40 sec at f/2.8. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw, B&W and stacking processing in PS:CS5.

What do you think? Does that help or hurt the image?

- Bill

EDIT: I've decided to try another edit where I unblurred the singer's head and torso... I was beginning to feel that the original edit made the head feel disembodied.

Well, our little screech owl has been coming and going with somewhat regularity (some days he stays with us, and other days he does not). This evening, I decided to try and get some more photos and perhaps some video...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at approx 300mm, 1/30 sec at f/5.6. OS Mode Off. ISO 12800.

Because it was getting dark, I had to bump up the ISO which makes the video a bit noisy, but it is still a fun little video.

- Bill

Ok - nothing spectacular here, but I managed to find two spiders yesterday and bring them home for a quick photoshoot (the second one I actually carried in my hand because I didn't have containers). I have just been thinking that I haven't been using the camera much recently, so I am excited to start finding spiders again!

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/8. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

That second guy is at 5x magnification, so he was pretty darn tiny.

- Bill

Ok - well, apparently after hitting my blogaversary, I kind of just ran out of inspiration for a while. Luckily, some moved in recently... quite literally.

Back in 2011, I bought Anya an owl box for Christmas. Shortly thereafter, we hung it in one of the trees in our backyard. Except for some starlings using it for a few weeks during their breeding season, it sat empty the whole time.

Until yesterday morning, when Anya went to let the dogs out, she was startled to see the owl sitting on the pole system for her bird feeders. After a little bit, it flew directly up and into the owl box. She was so excited that she called me right away to tell me the news.

Last evening, with the unseasonably warm weather, we decided to grill some burgers, and sure enough while I was doing that, the owl came out of the box and flew off. I checked in the morning and didn't see him, so was worried he had just been staying the one night, but when Anya checked when she again was going to let the dogs out, he was back again!

So now I have a new photographic subject to work with...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter.

All of these shots were taken with the big Sigma lens plus the 2x teleconverter to get as close as possible. Unfortunately it also meant that there was less available light in already dim conditions, so this was quite the challenge. I don't want to disturb him too much, but eventually I think I will have to try using some flash to make this process a little easier.

So after some research, it looks like this is the time of year when these owls (Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio)) start nesting. The male will locate a suitable nest site and if he can find a mate, they will lay eggs around March, and the owlets will fledge in May. So hopefully I'll have plenty of opportunities to get good (ie: better) shots of this cool little bird... and maybe even some babies too!!!

Definitely stay tuned!

- Bill

PS: Oh, I almost forgot to mention... As you can see, this little fella has a rusty color to him. That is the rufous or red morph which is supposed to be much more uncommon around here than the grey morph. So it looks like we're doubly lucky with this beautiful bird.

Well - here we are. Three years and four hundred posts on my blog. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

So looking back through my photos, trying to figure out what I should share for this post, I really had a hard time thinking of what would really work well. There's no doubt that the photo below is one of my all-time favorite photos (so much so, that I have no qualms with sharing it again here)....

I also recently read an article about how underwater photographers have a love/hate relationship with anemone fish or clownfish. They're so cute (most species - I personally find some of them look downright angry all the time), their behaviors with their host anemone, their bright colors... it call comes together to make for a fantastic photo subject. Then there's the fact that they absolutely never hold still, and will take one of two courses of action when you approach - they will either hide or be a bit aggressive and will actually come out of their anemone to nip at you. So while they are great fun to photograph, they're also impossibly uncooperative.

With that in mind, here are some of the anemone fish shots that just get overshadowed, because (to be perfectly honest) I got lucky enough to nail the one above!

Well, there you have it. Three years worth of posts. Here's to three more (though I think a redesign is in order before that milestone).

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, left comments, and above all complimented my photography!

- Bill

PS: Yay that hockey is back!

Just like yesterday's nudibranch assortment, what would a restrospective of this blog be without some spider photos. However, we'll take a little twist with it and look at a couple that got away and aren't as good as I would like.

This first one is another fairly early shot, and despite being a rather classic photo is one I don't have many of (in fast, this might be the only set of photos that includes some). Even this one isn't as good as I would like (there's a bit of motion blur involved), so this will serve as a reminder to seek this kind of shot out in the future and try it again.

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro1:2 at 300m, 1/60 sec at f/5, ISO 400. No post production.

Here's another that I wish I could retake. This little guy was jumping around all over the place on this little nature walk Anya and I took not too too long ago, and so I only managed a couple shots of him before he disappeared back into the underbrush. I like this shot enough to keep it, but I missed the focus point just a tad and the spider is a little blurry. He came into this positioning a couple times while on this dead stem, but after I took this shot, he didn't do it again, so I missed my shot to get the pose that I wanted.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/30 sec at f/5. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Oddly enough, I saw a spider on my walk home the other day... in temperatures in the 30s no less! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch him to bring it home to take photos of. I'll have to remember to always carry my containers with me no matter what temperature it is!

Regardless, I'm sure there will be plenty more spider photos here in the future!

- Bill

What would a retrospective of my blog be without an assortment of one of my favorite underwater critters... nudibranchs. These shots are from Wakatobi, Turks and Caicos, and our trip to Saba/St. Maarten/St. Kitts.

OK - I have to admit, I'm not even sure if that last one is actually a nudibranch. It was absolutely tiny, and I could not magnify it any larger. It sure moved like a nudi, and those bright colors make me think it might be one, but I can't find anything in any of my ID books that looks similar. But until I'm proven differently, I'll tell myself it is a new species of nudibranch that hasn't been identified yet. Perhaps I should name it... ;)

- Bill

Ok - as promised, we're digging deep into the archive with today's post. These date back to the days of my (well, technically it was Anya's) first DSLR, and when I was still shooting in the automatic program modes... It seemed like things were more based in luck back then, but it did help to have an eye for nice shots. These days, I sometimes think I'm a bit overly critical and possibly even over think things.

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 49mm, 42mm, and 22mm respectively, 1/130 sec at f/9, 1/400 sec at f/16, and 1/500 sec at f/16, ISO 100, 400, and 400. No post production.

I think it might be time for a trip back to Hatteras sometime soon.

- Bill

Alright, today's trip into the archive doesn't go very deep as both of these are from my most recent visit to Phipps, but I've overlooked them for posting, and figured it was worth sharing them now.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/160 sec at f/4.5. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode and bounced through an ExpoImaging Rogue Flashbender. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/500 sec at f/3.5. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Tune in tomorrow... we'll go a little deeper into the archives.

- Bill