Youth Football Photo Session

Just finished editing and printing photos from a youth fooball photo shoot on Saturday.  It’s the third year photographing them as a team and the second year offering individual portraits. I included here the memory mate I designed as well as an individual and action shot.  To see many many more pics from the shoot, visit  http://crystalpiersonphotography.smugmug.com/Sports/Arapaho-Redskins-Football-2009

Birds, Birds, Birds

A delicate Egret Foot

Heron at sunset

Pelican, cruising for his dinner

Here are some of my most recent bird shots. It takes a lot of practice, learning the camera’s autofocus system, and just plain tons of shutter clicks to get sharp birds in flight. I can’t tell you how many pelicans I shot recently (ooh- that just sounds bad) to get this one. I am happy with it EXCEPT- getting the wings also sharp (requiring very fast shutter speeds) is my next goal. I just love bird photos. Need to improve on my bird identification. There are so many interesting Birds in Florida! see my flickr – crstlp for more bird shots- don’t miss the resting flamingo. What would photos of Florida birds be without flamingos?!

Progression into Photography

This is a continuation of my first post last week where I described the progression of my interest in photography.  I got “the bug”. Over at Nikonaians, they call it NAS- Nikon Acquisition Syndrome.  I’ve got it and I’ve got it bad…

Part II—I continued to read, watch and learn everything that was at my level of learning.  Photoshop and Lightroom were my main photo editing tools (and pretty much still are, although Capture Nx2, Corel Paint Shop Pro and some HDR programs have been added). 14 months ago, I dove into the world of Digital SLR’s, researching cameras and reviews for months before buying.  I purchased a Nikon D80.  That set me on the path of continuing to look for and devour information as well as to shoot in RAW, which I very much wanted to do.   I bought inexpensive Nikon and Vivitar lenses from Ebay.  The AI manual focus lenses don’t meteron the D80 so I was in manual mode all the time.  I don’t think that dial has ever seen the auto setting.  During the past year or so, I began on the film camera buying spree and got (all Nikon) an EM, FE, N90s and F4.  I just adore the F4 with a dial for every setting- no LCD menus.  It is very intuitive and built like a tank.  I began adding film shooting to my lineup and also got an Epson V500 photo scanner to scan my negatives.  I get prints made just to preview them and went ahead and scanned in my favorites for photo editing.  The bicycle photo is one of my first images with the F4.  I am now on the verge of shooting with and developing my own black and white film and scanning it rather than printing.  Will keep you posted on that first attempt. A few more autofocus lenses have been acquired- all bargains on ebay.  I have yet to purchase a retail lens, other than the kit lens (18-135mm) that came with my D80.  I fear I have become a compulsive camera and lens shopper.  Of course, I also needed the battery grips for all of the cameras I bought, cable releases, etc.  For my tripod and ballhead, I went with Bogen-Manfrotto.  Also got a monopod and tilt head (also Bogen) for that.  Ok- enough of the equipment.  I set out to get to know my camera(s) and lenses and began in my backyard.  I found many really interesting things out there. Since I live in Florida, there are lots of bugs and butterflies year round.  I have been soaking up this stuff like a sponge.  I find that the more I shoot the better I get- both getting it right in the camera and with creative post processing.  Above are some of my backyard images that are favorites.

My first Post

Ok- Here I go.  Just set up wordpress and this blog and am really flying by the seat of my pants.  This seems to be some confusing stuff and I have a lot yet to learn.  I will be patient and take it one step at a time.  My plan is to continue to post, share and customize this site to give myself a record of my journey in the world of photography and hopefully take a few others along with me.  I would love to share interesting things that I find along the way and would love others to share with me.  This post has gotten pretty long and I promise that others will be way shorter.  Here’s a bit about me and the development of my interest in photography…This post got so long, i decided to break it up into 2 parts so here goes part I

 

Part I—How it began–I have been seriously photographing and soaking up photography related information like a sponge for about 2 years now.  I know, for some of you that have been at it a long time, I am a newbie for sure.  I have always thought of myself as a creative person and have enjoyed sewing. painting and woodworking in the past.  I have always owned a camera but I really was one of those people with a drawer full of undeveloped film  that I just never got around to.  By the time it was developed, I had no idea what was on those rolls and what I was going to get back.  Not good. When photography began to go digital, I was intrigued.  I started out with digital point and shoot cameras like so many others.  I became more and more interested in the images I was capturing.  Finally, I ventured out into the superzoom world and got a Canon S3IS.  (This camera is for sale)  Had that camera for a year or so and began to get “the itch” for more control, wanted to control depth of field, etc.  I devoured photography books that I got from the library and purchased some too.  My favorites were and still are those by Bryan Peterson.  I have Understanding Exposure and Learning to See Creatively.  I was continually reminded of the limitations of my point and shoot. During that time, I was asked to photograph a wedding for my boyfriend’s daughter, 2,000 miles away who was trying to keep the budget low.   I was pretty nervous about being able to capture what needed to be documented for this wedding and was pretty worried about anything and everything that could go wrong.  I didn’t even have a back up camera or memory card.  Through some miracle, the wedding photography, in my opinion and theirs, was really quite good.  You can see many of those images on my regular webpage in the weddings gallery  www.crystalpiersonphotography.com

Stay tuned for part II next Thursday 7/2/09 when I will discuss my frenzied acquisition of film cameras and lenses, lenses,lenses…follow me on twitter @cp_photo