July 7, 2008
This Blog is Moving!
That's right, I am moving this blog to http://www.vault-blog.blogspot.com. Why? Because it should make pictures load faster, because you can subscribe via RSS or Atom, and because the layout is actually quite similar to my current setup.if the experiment doesn't work out, I will move back, but for now head over there to see what's up!
-Matt
July 5, 2008
An issue with this blog has come to my attention. Some of you may have noticed that this blog takes a while to load. Others may not have noticed. I am running a macbook pro 2.2 ghz dual core with 2gb of ram. it loads just fine for me. But on slower computers, or with slower internet connections it likely takes some time to load. I spent some time looking around in Aperture (the program I use to go through, evaluate, and export my pictures), and I discovered an export option that makes my file sizes much smaller. From now on, I will be using that option (conveniently called "email small" as opposed to "fit in 640x640") and the pictures I post from here on should load faster. Unfortunately this will not help much until I archive this set of 25 posts and start a new set, sometime around 10 posts from now.
On an entirely unrelated note, one of my friends who will soon be turning 19 has really gotten into cigars. Much to his dismay there are no cigar shops in the beautiful Boulder, CO that sell the new type of cigar called "nubs." We drove out to Louisville today to a shop that does sell them and he purchased a few. Apart from being very large gauge (55 and up), very short (4 inches), these cigars have extremely strong ash. The picture below was shot approximately 35 minutes into the cigar. We repeated it later but this is the better picture.
Shot on D300, Neutral PC saturation and contrast both -3, ISO 400. F2.8 on
my 28mm manual focus lens.
That's it for today!
-Matt
July 4, 2008
Independence Day!
I find it very interesting, living in a very liberal town, that we celebrate independence day with the traditional fireworks and feasting and partying, but the rich "trustefarian" hippies do not support our government (read: Bush), the war(s) we conduct, or the troops who keep this country safe.
I do not like the way Bush has done things. I do not like the fact that we have military presence in Afghanistan, Iraq, and everywhere else. But i wholeheartedly support "Our Troops," who go out again and again to battle for the U S of A. It took some ass-kicking to get this country out of the hands of the British, and we're still capable of kicking some ass.
Shot on D300 at ISO 6400, vivd PC with saturation and contrast +3 on
manual focus 28mm F2.8
I support our troops (but not the wars they fight)!
-Matt
July 3, 2008
As promised: a self portrait that does my Tattoo some justice :-)
Shot in broad daylight in my backyard. ISO 100, 1/250 sec F6.3 with my SB600 just right of camera 2 feet from my arm, zoomed (all the way) to 85mm. I then brought down the exposure and raised the contrast a bit in Aperture. I could have achieved the same effect by dropping to F8 or so, but moving back and forth from the back of the camera to the front of it gets old pretty fast.
It appears to be tattoo season in Boulder, CO. I spent yesterday evening with a bunch of my friends and several of them had new tattoos, and theirs were not cheap either! Today marks my 2nd week anniversary with my tattoo, which is unimportant except that I am now allowed to go swimming! The forecast for today: a mild 83 degrees with scattered thunderstorms. That does not bode well for swimming. Perhaps I will take more pictures instead :-)
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
July 2, 2008
First off, in my search for something to take pictures of, I chose to do a project using the opposite of my usual camera settings (as low as possible ISO and high contrast and saturation). I also chose to shoot subjects that I do usually shoot (I usually go for people over inanimate objects). The result was an interesting learning experience. I do not think the photos are particularly good, but it was me breaking my own rules. Shooting at ISO 6400 (the highest on D300), with Neutral PC, Contrast and Saturation both -3. I shot around f 11, inside my house with little light. I also underexposed each frame by between 1.3 and 2 stops. It was a fun shoot, and I am getting more comfortable with shooting really high ISO.
The pictures can be found here. I call it the Bad Picture Project, but I may well do several more projects with these settings.
On an entirely non-photo-related note, my tattoo is healing nicely and I will likely see if I can do a good self portrait that shows it off sometime soon :-)
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
July 1, 2008
Shooting Fireworks!
From Scott Kelby's blog, learn to get great pictures of fireworks. Usually I am not one for memorizing certain settings, but this appears to be fairly sound advice! It boils down to:
- Get your camera on a tripid
- Get a cable release
- Set Shutter Speed to 4 seconds
- Set Aperture to f11
Fire away and adjust shutter speed as needed.
Thanks to Scott Kelby for giving it to us straight!
-Matt
July 1, 2008
I am finally back into my groove, and after having a shoot cancelled on me yesterday by the client, I find myself looking for inspiration, or at least something to shoot. There are plenty of resources out there for people who need inspiration. Scott Kelby's blog is full of them, so are David DuChemin's, and Matt Brandon's. I read all those blogs regularly. And Joe McNally's is just plain awesome. So, I think my problem is not my lack of inspiration, rather a lack of interest in a particular subject or topic. When I was in school I was given assignments. I did not have the luxury of choosing what I wanted to shoot, I just shot. Now I have the freedom to pick my subjects and I have no idea what I want to shoot! Frustrating.
I am sure I will find something that interests me, until then I'll just shoot some black and white 35mm film, because I have not gone through a role in ages.
A tribute to the D300 (and D3, D700, and D60)'s Picture Control power.
Shot on the D300, Vivid and Contrast both cranked all the way up, ISO 400
on the 80-200mm F2.8
Thats it for now,
-Matt
June 28, 2008
Yesterday I added the 1993 Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 ED AF lens to my collection.
it is one helluva lens! I bought it used (in absolutely perfect condition) for $350, which is a pretty darn good deal. I will be using it today to shoot a wedding reception for my ex-photo teacher, so we will see if it is all its cracked up to be. I expect that it will be, and i will be very happy with it.
Update: Today's wedding reception served to do one thing for me: remind my why i do not usually shoot weddings! I got a couple barely passable pictures but it was not great. The 80-200 did a fine job with the horrendous lighting that i was given. At ISO 1000 and F2.8 i was able to get shutter speeds around 1/150 sec, which is decent for inside. I just couldn't capture anything worth looking at. I also added a new SanDisk 4gb Extreme III CF card and the MRock 514 Teton Pro SLR toploader to my gear collection. I will be using all my new gear today shooting the wedding, so when I return this evening I will likely blog again to expound on the details.
The new card and the holster performed admirably. I was able to shoot away without worrying about filling up my buffer, (i am a motor-shooter, andi love my 6-8 frames a second) and the camera felt stable and secure in its holster when not in use (damn heavy though!)
Here's a completely random picture for you :-)
Shot on the D300 at ISO 200, Vivid PC boosted to +3, 1/640 sec at F4.
More later!
-Matt
June 26, 2008
As promised, i have worked on my flower/macro photography recently. So far i have not had much success, but when i do succeed i invariably learn something crucial. This weeks lesson: the D300 at Vivid PC, +3 contrast and +3 saturation does NOT work for shooting flowers in daylight! it blew out all the colors and i lost all detail. no fun at all. So i spent half an hour tweaking my PC (picture control) settings to see if i could get colors that would come closer to what the flower actually looks like. finally i came up with something, but naturally I lacked the brainpower to write them down. I am fairly sure i brought the saturation down to +1 or 0, contrast was at +1, and the image is exposed 1.7 stops below what my metering gave me. that surpised me. nearly 2 stops underexposed? I am planning to shoot some more flowers in the near future with my bigger tele-zoom to see if i get anywhere near the same results. Here's the best of those flower pictures :-)
shot on my 50mm at 1/800 sec, F5.6, ISO 800 (in case you were wondering).
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
June 24, 2008
Getting my look back.
Back in October of 2007, my friend Kitt and I submitted a mock-commercial ("Pants don't stand a chance") to the company that makes the kilts that we proudly wear, Utilikilts. The commercial is a stop-motion video of a kilt eating a pair of pants and it is hilarious. The company runs a contest every year called "mock-u-mercial" where computer and video-savvy people put together a TV commercial. The guidelines are simple and leave lots of room for creativity, so Kitt and I spent a couple hours shooting 247 pictures and stitching them together in iDVD. Every group that gets a video into the contest recieves a free Special Edition Utilikilt for their efforts. The top 4 videos in the contest recieve credit at Utilikilts, up to $2,500. I was in the middle of a family photo shoot on Pearl Street in the bitter cold of late November when i recieved a call from the Utilikilts people. Not only had our video been accepted into the contest (1 free kilt), but we had placed third in the contest overall! ($750 in credit at the store). WOW!.
Well, that was November. Kitt and i agreed that i would get the special edition kilt, so using our winnings we bought him 2 kilts and me 1. Now, in June, my special edition FINALLY arrived. it was worth the wait. Less than 50 of these suckers have been made and they just plain rock!
The kilt is a Survival model with black and white denim fabric. i think it looks a little rediculous, but that's how i roll. (interested in Utilikilts? Check them out HERE)
June 23, 2008
Traveling blows.
Just the actual act of traveling though. Why do i say that? Because I was supposed to be home 3 hours ago, and I am still in Chicago. Grrrrr. My first flight (from Cologne to Munich), which goes 600 miles in the WRONG direction, was delayed 1.5 hours due to "technical problems wiz ze aircraft" (i love it when Germans speak English). When we finally boarded our plane, blissfully free of babies, we discovered it to be... cozy. I suppose cozy is ok though. Upon arriving in Munich, I checked in, boarded my plane only a half-hour late (due to crew late-ness) and was settling into a nap when the capitan came on the PA and informed us that he had discovered a hydraulic fluid leak when firing up the port engine. We sat for 25 minutes as the Air Conditioning came on and off randomly, before our fearless commander informed us that we were to deplane. the leak had gotten bigger and there were several parts that needed replacing. the passengers on the port side were relieved to hear that was all that was wrong, as several Munich Airport Firetrucks had pulled up and were hosing down the area below the leaking engine. We waited 3 hours more before boarding the plane and taking off. during those 3 hours we were given drinks as a way of apology, and were quarantined to the gate area. Nobody was allowed to leave to get real food, or make phone calls. Mercifully there were bathrooms in the gate area. A hydraulic pump and a section of hose were replaced. Most people on the plane jumped every time we heard the hydraulics fire up. quite amusing. oh yes.
I arrived in Chicago and spent a full hour running with my fellow passengers from baggage claim to baggage claim because nobody could figure out where our bags were. They finally showed up, i went through customs without any trouble and here I am. I have had a Quiznos, and i am charging my computer while writing, such that I may watch a real movie (300) on the way to Denver. Sidenote: what is with all the crappy movies on planes these days? "Definitely, Maybe" was the only movie worth watching on my 8.5 hour flight. holy cow i was bored. Fortunately my iTouch has really good battery life and i have a decent selection of good plane music.
The traveling part of traveling is the only part that blows. I had an amazing time in Germany and France (not so much in Luxembourg, but it is hardly its own country anyway).
I totalled over 1200 images on the trip, 658 of which are bearable, and 55
of which are actually pretty good. As i write this i am sitting in the
Chicago O'Hare airport. I spent an hour of my 8.5 hour flight from Munich
to Chicago going through the 658 in order to select the 55. i then made a
gallery of the 55 best, which can be found HERE. The
gallery is in a different style than usual which i believe is fitting
because this trip was something rather out of the ordinary for me. Of
course, since i spent most of my time in Germany (Nord-Rhein Westfallen,
Bergheim, to be precise), most of the pictures are from there. The flowers
are from a modest garden that my host-mom takes care of when she manages
to find spare time (which is not often), as both of the host-parents work
full time. My mom works as a nurse and teacher in a hospital in
Duesseldorf. My dad is an engineer who programs software for machines that
build stuff. His work sometimes finds him in the US, so his English is
quite good. My host partner is 17 and just finished his 11th year in the
German equivalent of highschool. Unfortunately for him, they have 13 years
of school, so he has two more to go before taking his huge,
career-deciding test... My Brother is 19 or 20, i never got it straight,
and has Down Syndrome. Trotzdem, he and i got along well, as we spoke
about the same pace, so he was usually fairly easy to understand. The
whole family went way out of their way to make me feel welcome the entire
3 weeks. I found a happy balance of eating a more American breakfast (as
in, something more substantial than bread), and then eating German lunch
and dinner. Oddly enough, the German's big meal of the day is usually
Lunch, but if one is out and about (say, taking a tour of a city),
oftentimes they simply don't eat lunch until 3 or 4. Dinner usually
consisted of bread and some sort of salad (my favorite being tomato and
feta cheese).
They practically begged me to stay another 3 weeks, but I have other
things that need attending to during my summer, one of which is a family
vacation to Indiana that always yields good pictures. I am told that if a
German invites you to come back and visit, they really mean it, as opposed
to Americans, who often say it to be polite.
I would love to go back sometime, but it is soooooo expensive. I spent
nearly half of my graduation money on the trip (a lot of which went
towards my first Tattoo!), so i think i will be waiting until the
Dollar/Euro exchange rate is better.... if that ever happens. They also
invited my family to come out and stay with them, or stay in their house
while they are on vacation. I'm not sure i will tell my mom that, because
she has been wanting to go to europe for the longest time, and i don't
think i can handle another 15 hours of world-traveling anytime in the next
year. the 19 hour roadtrip to Indiana is different. really, it is. People
in airports are obnoxious.
I'm going to go take a more comfortable seat, and maybe get a nap.
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
June 18, 2008
Well, it appears i can only do one thing at a time. Either i can be a good blogger, or i can be a good exchange student. clearly i have chosen the latter and so far it has served me well. :-)
I recently passed 30,000 images on my D300, which i have owned since late December. man, it is quite a camera. 95% of the D3 for less than 1/2 the price is all the camera I need. Of course i would like a D3, but until nikon starts giving them away for free, i am afraid i will have to deal with my current setup. no complaints.
What is most interesting in Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the majority of Europe? buildings. there are a lot of really old, really cool buildings out here, so it has given me a great opportunity to work on my architecture shooting. i have learned a few things about taking pictures of buildings, most importantly is that the camera's meter is wrong. wrong wrong wrong. so along with toying with how to compose pictures of buildings, i have learned how to manually set exposure fairly quickly. Using my handy dandy (3 inch) LCD, i can usually get the exposure i am looking for in the third shot. not bad in my book.
Rather than loading all my photos here, which involves much pain and nashing of teeth, i will point you to my profile on Facebook.com, where I have been loading my pictures for the viewing pleasure of the other exchange students, their parents, and everyone who reads the group blog (LINK). During my plane ride(s) back the the good ol' United States, i will make a gallery of my best pictures from the trip, as well as write a (probably lengthy) blog post, seeing as i have 12 hours of plane-riding to do along with a decent amount of layover time.
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
June 8, 2008
First. Whew, heck of a long couple of days. Being a tourist is not nearly as easy as i had hoped. there is a huge amount of walking involved, especially here in Germany. A couple days ago the whole big group of exchange students went down to see the Cologne Dome. it is B.I.G. and apparently undergoing renovations. I was disappointed to see scaffolding going up one of the towers, and half of the base area was closed off as a construction area. i still managed to take a couple of decent pictures of the place, a feat i am rather proud of, as architecture is not something i usually do. after touring the Dome, we went off and explored the city for a while. Cologne is a pretty big city, but it manages to not feel like a big city, which makes the whole "being a tourist" thing much less stressful. Afterwards we hit up a party at the school called a "Musik Casino," which was fairly boring. There is some real musical talent at the school, but there are also some kids who need to learn before they perform. The casino part was fairly lacking, but thats ok, apparently gambling is not something that happens a lot here.
Second. Yesterday i went with my host down to Bonn. we met up with his
girlfriend and they gave me a short tour, we chilled in a huge field and
watched little kids play soccer, then by the Rhein river watching the
tourist boats navigate around all the tugs and barges. I had a "Doenner"
for lunch, which is basically a big gyro. Food here is pretty cheap, but
everything else is not. (you can get a slice of pizza for 70 cents, but a
bottle opener is 5 euro). Chris (my host) asked me to take a few pictures
of him and his very cute girlfriend, and i obliged and came up with some
pretty good stuff. Here's one:
Shot on the D300 at ISO 400, Standard + 1 contrast and saturation. SB600
flash hand held off camera.
Third. After hanging in Bonn the three of us traveled to... somebody's
house and watched the Switzerland/Czech-Republic soccer game. I was told
to root for Switzerland, but their captain was injured in the first half
and they lost 0-1. ah well. After the game we had some pizza and the Dad
ventured into the living room, saw that I had my camera out, and brought
out 2 lenses. the 17-35mm F2.8 and the 85mm F1.8. I didn't think much of
the 17-35mm, other than it weighs too much, but the 85mm was awesome! I
could definitely see myself using that lens in the real world. I did a
couple pictures with it just having fun, and Chris liked this one:
Shot on the D300 at ISO 1000. Standard PC +1 contrast and saturation.
I don't know how serious of a photographer the dad is, I should have
asked.
Fourth. Here are a couple of my photos from the Dome. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
June 5, 2008
First. Germany is amazing. Today is my fourth day in the country and I am learning a huge amount about the culture, the language and everything else. Of course, getting here was a learning experience of its own. My first time traveling any great distance on my own, and I only got lost once! From Denver to Calgary, Canada was a 2.5 hour flight. Two seats behind me there was a family with a baby that liked to be loud, so there was really no chance of sleep. I sat next to a businessman-father and his daughter who must have been about 14 and we had nearly no conversation which was ok, i listened to music. I then had a three-hour layover in Canada before my flight to Frankfurt. I bought a hamburger from the A and W in the airport, completely forgetting that I was in a different country, i paid with US money and the cashier gave me a weird look, but took it anyway. I watched a good chunk of the movie 300, listened to more music, and generally chilled until the plane showed up. I got a window seat on the Air Canada flight to Frankfurt in the very front of the coach section. seat 3A. Upon boarding I Immediately noticed two things, First class is really really cool, and Air Canada is way better than United Airlines or Frontier. I mean way better. I took my seat and shortly a fat Canadian guy plopped down next to me. He reminded me a lot of the mousy character "benny" from The Mummy. He spent most of the time complaining about one thing or another, while trying to amuse me. Apparently he also works for the richest oil company in the world, so he also spent a lot of time saying how much better first class was. We did have a family with 2 babies sitting right behind us on this flight, but I could not have been happier with the service on Air Canada. Below is a picture of me 4.5 hours into the 9.5 hour flight.
shot on D300 at 18mm ISO 2000 or so
We got lots of food, drinks, and the flight attendants were generally great. When we landed in frankfurt and disembarked onto the tarmac (because they don't have enough gates that connect to a real building) and the heat and humidity hit me, i knew i could handle Germany just fine. I boarded a bus that took me to the baggage claim station. I spent 20 minutes there before decided my luggage must be somewhere else. I asked one of the German baggage-people (who spoke great english, like all the other airport employees) and he told me there was a special place where my luggage could be found over in the long-distance train station. it was a 20 minute walk there, following the signs written in German, English and French. I now had 20 minutes to go through the line, find my luggage, and find my train. It took the train-lady a good 10 minutes to figure out that I actually was booked for this train, and to print my boarding pass. I located my luggage with the help of my fellow GAPPers, who by this time had discovered me wandering around sweating like a maniac looking for my luggage. 5 minutes before my train left, I discovered where it was, and made it on board. I was seated next to a German man in his late 60s and I had my first conversation in German. the topic: American politics. his conclusion: America sucks. my conclusion: my German sucks.
Second. My german is (fortunately) getting much better as time goes on. I am beginning to understand some of the things that go on in the classes, which is a lot of fun. It takes a huge amount of brain power to get anything out of the classes in German, but when I understand the conversations it is really worth it :-)
Third. Today Frau Pingen die Aelter (the Englisch teacher at Bergheim Gymnasium) had all the Americans go in and talk to the German 5th graders who are just finishing their first year of English. I was pleasantly surprised at how much they understood. Their homework the previous night was to think up questions to ask the Americans, and they did it quite well. From "what is your name" to "do you have a girlfriend," they asked questions and wrote down my answers. Of course, we had to speak quite slowly for them to understand, but my group of 3 german kids was quite good at both speaking and understanding English.
Fourth. The weather here has been amazing. i think it has rained every night, and i am loving it. My german family keeps saying how the weather sucks and they are always surprised when I tell them how much I enjoy it. From what I hear from the other Americans, I have the best host-family. I get a variety of good German food, they let me sleep whenever i want, they are always asking if everything is ok, and when I do not understand something in German, the father speaks good enough English to clear up any confusion. More later!
Thanks for reading!
-Matt
June 1, 2008
First.
There is now an archive in the left bar, underneath my contact link. If you're new to the blog, go ahead and check it out. If not, yesterdays post is below this one :-)
Second.
i am spending my morning packing for Germany, but here is a
fun little photoshopped picture for you.
Shot on D300 at Vivid + 3 ISO 100 and photoshopped.
May 31, 2008
First. Starting tomorrow, there will be an archive in the left bar. I will archive every 25 posts so that loading the current blog doesn't take forever.
Second. The second scariest experience of my life: i spent the day with a
bunch of girls. we went to see the new Sex and the City movie. You think
that's scary? After the movie we're all getting out of the car (because
its Boulder and we carpooled to save the environment), and i put my camera
and my water bottle on the back of the car so i can roll up the window
(manual windows? on a Dodge Neon?) i successfully roll up the window and
shut the door. Without waiting a second, she goes driving off! My D300,
battery pack, and 100mm F2.8 are SWINGING off the spoiler (spoiler? on a
Dodge NEON?!). I grabbed on and was forced to let go as she accelerated
down the parking lot. s.h.i.t.
i am whistling and yelling and
screaming as i run after my camera which is getting farther and farther
away, swinging wildly from the spoiler on a dodge neon. there were a
couple things going through my head at this point.
- How can she possibly not hear me?! I have the loudest mouth-only (no hands) whistle in Boulder.
- Can my camera survive a fall from a car at 35 mph?
- is there anyone in downtown Boulder who can NOT see my balls?
- running in a kilt is possible the most freeing experience I have ever had.
Finally, when she stops at a stop sign to turn onto the real road i think i might have her. nope. not. even. close. she zooms out onto the road, makes a sharp left turn and i am in the middle of the median finally getting to my senses. I call my girlfriend (because i do not have the driver's number) and say something to the effect of, "tell her to stop! She has my F***ing $5,000 camera!" she says "oh shit" and calls the driver, who is 3 blocks away and stops. My camera is still in one piece and managed to hold on despite all the crazy driving and swinging. The lesson?:
- Dodge neon's have no reason to even think about having a spoiler, but they can easily outrun an 18 year-old out of shape photographer.
- NEVER put your camera/profession/life on someone's car without getting their phone number
- Wear underwear when running kilted.
- The rubber on the bottom side of your "Nikon" strap has some serious grip to it.
Third. A colorful rain picture for you from the day after I graduated.
Thanks for reading!
-Matt