A New Home!!

I pulled the trigger on a domain and a new name for this project!

Follow me here:  http://www.thelifeexposure.com/

More Water & Wide Angles

I'm frustrated that I'm encumbered by my back/shoulder/neck pain - I really want to go on another hike in search of altitude to experiment with my new wide angle lens, but I get too sore after just a few hours of plain vanilla walking.  Fortunately, I have a physical therapy appointment scheduled and I don't even care what kind of sadistic stretches or exercise they may impose, I just want to go back to normal.

In any case, we went to breakfast on the beach and then walked along the tide pools before it got too hot - basically the same easy excursion as this one a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, our efforts at timing to arrive with low tide were foiled by some kind of storm surge that sent waves crashing up to what is normally the high tide line.  My boyfriend had a waterproof point & shoot on hand, but I wasn't willing to risk my DSLR to get much closer to the water than I did.  I am excited that he's totally gotten sucked into my photography hobby and basically going to take my D3100 body off my hands so I can upgrade to a D3300 without feeling too guilty over a purchase I don't need, but would love, given the 5 FPS (frames per second) multi-shot capability (vs. 3 FPS on the D3100) and the panorama mode.

In any case, the shots I took didn't really made me feel like I used the wide angle well - part of that is due to the fact that I shot in kind of bright mid-morning light and corrected in post by tweaking the lighting & saturation, but more experimentation and practice is clearly needed.

The waves from the surge were huge & the low tide only intensified the effect

Crash

Crash II

More Waves

Active Shooting Hours: 1.5 hours

Review Hours: 2 hours

Hours to Date: 165 hours

Compare & Contrast

With more than a year in the books for this project, it's interesting and exciting to do year over year (hilariously abbreviated to "YOY" in the business world) comparisons on big holidays like Independence Day.

Last year, I spent the 4th in Huntington Beach, capturing some of the hilarious antics of celebrants. Even though this year, I was largely less adventurous because of dealing with back/shoulder/neck pain from getting rear-ended, I still managed to get shots of some big booms for comparison and I can tell that both my technical skill and artistic eye have improved with some 140 hours under my belt more than I had this time last year.  I was especially happy to see how sharp the pictures came out this year - I didn't own a tripod this time last year and managed to forget my tripod this year,

Last year:

Overexposed, shaky camera, and pretty terrible composition

This year:

One of the images from this year - reminiscent of a dandelion seed head, but pink!

I didn't get as many shots in and didn't get to take advantage of some of the patriotic subjects out there because of the pain, but I made the best of a bad situation (also not fun: abstaining from yummy drinks on a celebratory holiday since muscle relaxers means no alcohol) and think that as far as the images go, it was still a pretty successful day.  It was especially fun experimenting with long exposures, people, and sparklers to get shapes from light.  Definitely will replicate that experience with glow sticks the next chance I get.

Firework fountain on the street

Long exposure with a sparkler.  Will try glow sticks next to remove the weird hairy effect.

Tail-end of some fireworks or distant galaxies?

This and above tie for my favorite shots of the night.
I love how the fireworks light up behind the trees to form a silhouette.

More Booms

Active Shooting Hours: 1.5

Review Hours: 1

Hours to Date: 161.5

Crossing More Adventures Off the Bucket List

Everyone should have a bucket list and actively plan to experience things on that list.  If you're me, you have multiple bucket lists covering a variety of activities.  This year, I managed to cross off 2 items on the "Interact with Cool Animals" list within the course of 2 months:

• Pet a Penguin: done!!
• Feed some Ungulates

Yes, I used the word "ungulates" - partly because it's a funny sounding word and partly because it sounds way more intelligent and downright cool compared with "rhinos & giraffes."

Originally, my birthday was supposed to entail trekking through Santa Barbara wine country with a new wide angle lens birthday present in tow.  That plan was pretty much obliterated once I was rear-ended the week before my birthday and prescribed muscle relaxants for the ensuing back pain... aka drinking centric activities were going to be a no go.

No matter, I decided I wasn't going to let that ruin my day and decided I wanted to do something so memorable, I would look back years from now and remember the fantastic birthday I had and not have a rear-end collision define this 2014's marking of another revolution around the sun.

That something memorable turned out to be feeding giraffes and rhinoceroses at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park as part of their caravan safari, which basically was a 2 hour drive through the exhibit!!  The guide provided all kinds of facts and explained animal behaviors as they were happening right before our eyes.  I think it could have been better only if Sir David Attenborough himself had been there narrating in his dignified British accent.  Something I took away from the experience is that rhinos are actually rather docile and love apples!!

Not the best time of day for photography and most of these pictures ended up being more snapshot-y than artistic image, but it was still an amazing experience.  And I'm proud of the fact that I have seemingly fixed my under-exposure problem by checking the histogram outputs and not just relying on the internal light meter.

All in all, I can't wait to head back during more favorable lighting to photograph more interesting animals, having a membership is the best!

Rhino smelling & listening to our caravan... apparently, their eyesight isn't great.

Fun fact - rhinos actually wear down & shape their horns to their liking and said horns are made of keratin

Fed a rhino!! Contrary to popular belief, they're actually so docile and sweet... the cows of the savannah!!

Giraffe interested in the acacia leaves we've got

Making the giraffe reach for it!  I love her expression and that purple tongue in this!!

Crossing another one off the "Interact with Cool Animals" bucket list!

Alright, didn't get to play with the tigers, but the new Tiger Trail exhibit was really cool!!  Actually took this photo through glass & managed to minimize the reflection & glare.

More Safari to See!

Active Shooting Hours: 3
Review Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 159

Wide Angle Lens Play

Where does the time go?  It's amazing how when life gets a little hectic, time just slips by.  I got rear-ended a couple of weeks ago and while mostly okay, have been nursing pain in my back, neck, and shoulder, which put a damper on photographic adventures and birthday plans.  Still, I've managed to keep my head up, largely because of taking on the 100 Happy Days Challenge, which is all about finding small happy things every day.

Anyway, I got a wide angle lens for my birthday, which apparently is one of the most difficult lenses to use well.  After the first foray with it, I can see why - it's really hard to get close enough to let it work its magic and make powerful images that pull the viewer straight into the scene.  I definitely need to practice more and in general, get out during optimal lighting times.

I'm still behind in posting (muscle relaxants really knock you out) - more pics from birthday adventures to come.

Peering into a pool

Rocky shore

Finding hearts in the sand

Wide angle of a lake - probably my best use of it yet

Active Shooting Hours: 3
Review Hours: 1
Hours To Date: 155

Correct Exposure: The Struggle is Real, Part II

Read Part I

Underexposed photos have been a unique source of frustration for me lately and since my typical Plan A of "experiment, experiment, experiment" wasn't getting me the results I wanted, it was time to move to my typical Plan B - do some research and read about the process to understand where to troubleshoot.  In the event that Plan B doesn't pan out, I move to Plan C of find an expert who can explain the problem to me.

Fortunately, in this case, Plan B worked out beautifully.  The first source I turned to was Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition by Bryan Peterson.  I purchased this book a few weeks ago to read up on some of the theory and finally cracked it open today to start reading more about the technical side of photography and more precisely troubleshoot problematic exposure.  It's a veritable textbook (but entirely more accessible and full of pictures!) on the subject and focuses on what Peterson calls the "Photographic Triangle" of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO (film speed).  Right away, I knew I'd need to start playing around with setting my own ISO in poor lighting conditions instead of relying purely on the camera to work its automatic magic, as several other photographers have recommended. Since this book will take some time for me to read, absorb, and apply, and the first 27 pages didn't delve into my exact problem, I took to the Interwebs.

My biggest problem was not understanding the discrepancy between my camera's internal light meter, the preview on the LCD screen, and the uploaded image to my "big screen."  The magic of Google came into play when I typed in "discrepancy between DSLR camera preview and final image" and this tutorial from SLR Lounge was among the results.  I'm not going to repeat all of the technical details, which the author explained so well (I especially enjoyed the colloquial term "chimping"), but now I'm clear on the differences and advantages/disadvantages to the different metering options built into the camera.  Additionally, I'm going to look into adding a light meter to my camera bag, or at least learn to use a gray card.  After all, I don't want to get so bogged down in gear that I miss life's moments.  Not to mention, there's such a thing as creative exposure that may not be the "accurate" exposure, but still an artistic choice nevertheless!

And with that, I'm adding a new category of hours: book learning!  Also, celebrating my 151st hour!!

You absolutely wouldn't be able to tell from this photo, but this was a perfectly cooked rare steak I made for dinner.

MUCH better!! Food photography is a whole other challenge entirely and the composition is pretty meh, but at least you can finally see the subject to even be able to make those judgments!!

Active Shooting Hours: 0.5

Review Hours: 0.5

Book Learning: 1

Hours to Date: 151

Correct Exposure: The Struggle is Real

I've been frustrated in the last few sessions with underexposed shots.  As difficult as it is for my ego to post unsatisfying and blatantly failed photographs, it's an important part of the learning process and to this project, so post I shall.

I've been relying primarily on the light meter and the small screen preview, but this just isn't reliable when the lighting conditions are less than ideal: harsh sunlight and incandescent light.  Still, I think being a versatile and expert photographer means managing these conditions since life continues on and doesn't wait for a perfect lighting.

I sat down with my camera tonight and took a bunch of shots of lego mini figures (in addition to the shots from Disneyland yesterday) and probably need to call it a night since I've got an early start tomorrow, but I have picked up a book all about exposure, so I'll crack into that tomorrow and try to diagnose the issues more technically.

Sleeping Beauty Castle. Not magical. f/22 @ 1/200s. Wayyyyy too dark.

Adventureland decor. Half exposed correctly, half underexposed. ND filter may have helped this situation.

Lego mini figs under incandescent light

Slightly better, but still too dark.

Active Shooting Hours: 2
Review Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 149