Week 30 (July 23rd - July 29th) | Picture 45

I am officially in a photography rut. I don't think about taking pictures for days at a time, and when I do, it's just to try to capture my son doing something cute. (Which inevitably stops happening as soon as he sees the camera.)

I'm going to try to find something fun to photograph this upcoming week.

In the meantime, I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy. I have two parenting books to read, and lots of crocheting to do. And since it takes me forever to finish my crochet projects, I figure that if I start working on a blanket for my son now when it's 105 degrees outside, that it might be done in time for Winter. We shall see.

But I also have this skein of beautiful merino wool I bought a few months ago. I loved it and it was a slightly impulsive purchase. I want to make something for myself, but I don't know what. I have a million hats. I don't know that one skein is enough for a scarf (although for the right pattern, I'm not opposed to buying a few more skeins). I just can't figure out what to do with it . . .



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/8
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO: 1600 (because I am an idiot and forgot to lower it)
Flash: SB-800 off camera, manual, 1/8th power
Exposure: manual

Week 29 (July 15th - July 22nd) | Picture 44

I'm having a hard time finding a photography groove in the last couple weeks - so I'm just going to post this week's image and settings. I need to get out of the funk . . .



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/11
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 200
Flash: SB-800 off camera, manual, 1/64th power
Exposure: manual

Week 28 (July 9th - July 15th) | Picture 43

Oops! I missed a week. I'm actually surprised it took me over a half a year. The good news is that I didn't skip out on taking pictures, just posting them. Last weekend I had a chance to go to the Air and Space Museum. Really cool place and fun to take pictures. Interestingly, my favorite isn't of any of the aircraft.



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 10-20mm f/4-5.6 (@ 10mm)
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1250
ISO: 200
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

Week 27 (July 2nd - July 8th) | Picture 42

I felt like going out tonight after one of our storms to try to get some raindrop pictures. Nothing special and kinda reminds me of this ice macro from back in January.



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/3.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 200
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

I hope the weather around here clears up - I want to try some night photography and the clouds and storms are annoying.

Week 27 (June 2nd - July 8th) | Picture 41

This picture pretty much speaks for itself. Cool stuff! I reserve the right to come back later this summer and post more of these - because I am really fascinated with storms!



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 10-20mm f/4-5.6 (@ 10mm)
Aperture: f/22.0
Shutter Speed: 30 seconds
ISO: 100
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

Week 26 (June 24th - July 1st) | Picture 40

Did you know that Costco sells fireworks? Just what everyone needs - explosives in bulk quantity. I couldn't resist, and for $8 I bought some sparklers. 240 sparklers to be exact. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them all . . .

Taking a picture of a sparkler isn't anything too difficult or dramatic, which is good because I need to get back on track with taking my pictures earlier in the week. That gives me the rest of the week to come up with ideas for the following week, then a couple days to actually find the time to do it. This Friday night business has got me all messed up and rushed.

So here it is. Just a sparkler and a 50mm lens.



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 50mm f/1.4
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/20
ISO: 1600
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

I probably should have saved this project for next week, but no harm in celebrating early! I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!

Week 25 (June 18th - June 24th) | Picture 39

There is no way I could follow up last week with anything that I was so excited about, and if you look at the timestamp on this post you'll notice that I almost missed this week entirely. (It was a busy, tiring week.)

I started out pretty unhappy with my project tonight, but it was either this or nothing, so when I was in LR I decided to crop it to something I was happy with. And I'm kinda liking the result:



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 200
Flash: SB-800 off camera, manual, 1/64th power
Exposure: manual

The part of the image I didn't like was the glass at the bottom (so this is a pretty substantial crop). The wine was splattering and just looking messy.

No setup image this week, but the speedlight was sitting directly next to the wine glass pointed back at the white background. I could get away with such low flash power because the speedlight, subject, and background were all so close together. Pretty simple.

And now, I'm going to enjoy this sloppily poured glass of red wine and head to bed. :)