Christmas Magic

It's that time of year where parents want to take Christmas Pictures for cards to send out to the masses.  This particular one is of the kiddos taking a concept that I saw two years ago and have been wanting to try.   The hope is that the package emits a magical light.  I was more than pleased that our three year old daughter, Braelyn, took some direction :)  I love her expression.  The boys did pretty darn good too.  All in all I am pretty pleased with the final image.

Tech Stuff:

This shot was taken with (4) 580EXII's with two of them back left and back right on softboxes to create the rim light, one 580EXII in the Christmas box with a diffusion globe and CTO gelled to create warm light, and the last was held high camera right, tilted down, a zoomed to only light the packages.  Camera settings were Shutter Speed of 1/5 to capture the ambient glow of the lights in the foreground and at an aperture of f/20 to keep everything that I did not want to light black.

Diagram after the jump.......

Underground Salt Museum - Dark Walk

                          

Hutchinson has one of the Wonders of Kansas exhibits in the Underground Salt Museum - 650' under the earths surface, deeper than the St. Louis Arch is tall, and a really cool place to visit.  Definitely worth the trip.  The pictures I am showing here are things that I found interesting while on a recent "Dark Walk" in the museum where we were given a tour of a newer section of the museum that is not ordinarily part of the regular tour by flashlight.  Regardless, I have been on both tours now and can say I enjoyed them both.   The picture of the truck above was actually taken on the regular tour and is one of my prints that I have been displaying in the Salt City Photography Clubs recent public displays.  I included it in this entry because I like it and it is part of the musuem....oh and its my blog :)   (Dislaimer:  This is not intended on being a representation of what the museum is or is not.  It is simply my journey though the museum as I experienced it while capturing what I found was interesting.  There is so much to see in this wonderful museum that I did not take pictures of including movie memorabilia, artifacts, giant equipment, etc etc).

----more pictures after the jump----

Sports Poster for my Nephew

I have been getting more and more into creating sports posters and luckily have a step-son and nephew who are both easy targets :)  Not only do I really enjoy making these, more than that, I enjoy the smiles I get from these great kiddos.  While these can become quite time consuming I am working on designing templates that make it a little easier to create.  This particular one is part of template that I bought then redesigned to meet my own creative criteria.  Easton is my nephew who is a hell of a running back.  If he keeps on pace he will, no doubt, be playing on Friday nights...and even Saturday's if he wants to continue developing his skills as a football player.  He simply runs around or through defenders often times breaking multiple tackles on his way to the endzone.  Unfortunately he broke his kneecap a couple games after this picture was taken, after running another touchdown, so this was created to hopefully lift his spirits.  

Family Portrait: Colby Family

This is a type of portrait that I have wanted to do for awhile now and finally had the opportunity to try it.  I saw a similar photograph on a forum that I frequent and just thought it looked cool.  It also helps that this family is great in front of a camera.  Wish all small kiddos were as cooperative as these two boys were.

I like the leading lines that the boys posing and the railroad ties lend to this image. 

Burrowing Owls

When I moved back to Hutchinson from Manhattan (ks) I quickly discovered all of the opportunities to capture wildlife right in town. Prairie Dogs, geese, ducks, deer, turkeys....and BURROWING OWLS. I have always been intrigued by owls however wasn't sure I would ever have the opportunity to get a good picture of one outside a zoo due to their normally nocturnal lifestyles. Not so with the Burrowing Owl. These inquisitive and humorous small owls are day hunters. Not only that but they are more tolerable of people than most wildlife subjects.

Bee in Flight (BeeIF)

This is a picture I took in at the Overland Park Botanical Gardens during a break from a mental health conference I was attending. Probably one of my favorites from 2008 and the one that spurred my obsession with Macro.

This type of shot requires a lot of patience for me and is one frame out of probably 20 or 30 I tried.  Bee's just don't follow a photographers direction very well I guess.

Fast shutter speeds and smooth panning is how you get a shot like this off.  Tripods are certainly recommended though I shot this hand held.