digital:eloquence.photography

I had the pleasure of accompanying my brother and sister-in-law to a courthouse in St. Paul today to watch the adoption of their newest child, Isabella, become finalized. I took a few pictures. I ran into a bit of trouble as the setting was extremely warm (lots of red and yellow hued furniture, walls, wood trimming, etc.) fortunately, Apple’s Aperture allows for some editing of hues and various other settings without severely altering the photo…

After the wait, we were finally admitted into the courtroom and were met by a very friendly, fun judge. He was almost too goofy but we decided it was probably because something like an adoption would be a highlight to his day rather than other juvenile problems he encounters. I had to stick behind the courtroom divider until the very end when the judge allowed me to come in a shoot some group pictures.

Here’s Isabella’s big bro, Seth…

After the adoption was finalized, we hit Khourey’s for breakfast. I enjoyed a Chicken Fried steak and Seth was hilarious with his Mac and Cheese. You’ll also notice the restaurant had much cooler lighting and the pictures weren’t quite so yellow and red.

Christmas pictures with the “in-laws”. I had a hard time breaking away from my 1.8 lens with a lower light setting. I didn’t want to use my flash and opted to go with a touch higher ISO at 400-800 depending on the picture. I did use my other lenses and got great pictures as well but as always, my prime lens impressed me.

Shot with my f/1.8 35mm lens:

Shot with my Promaster f/4-5.6 70mm-300mm lens:

One of the best benefits of the Holiday Season is all of the wonderful food that family makes. My sister-in-law made this awesome Lemon Meringue pie. I can’t say it lasted very long (no longer than 24 hours to be exact), but between myself, my wife, my sister-in-law and my friend Matt, it was short lived!

All I have left is this lowly, yet tantalizing picture shot with my f/1.8lens that I seem to be infatuated with…

Christmas is just around the corner… we put our tree up recently, had it almost fall down, and then re-anchored it in the base. I’m a stickler for trees that look mostly uniform. I’m not big on those “family style” trees… that may all change, of course, with a new little one on the way. I’ve always enjoyed the look of trees in department stores. Now I’m just a guy… I don’t really have the artsy flair for things like that… but I know what appeals to my eyes.

Here’s some tree pics….

My first DSLR is my current (and only) photography poison. I own (and shoot often) a Nikon D60 camera that I purchased in a kit. I’ve since replaced the kit lenses (18-55mm and 55-200mm) with a set of three that I use religiously.

My newest lens and my current favorite is my new Nikon f/1.8 35mm lens which was a very affordable way to enjoy a fast lens. At $200 I feel as if I got a steal! This is a great low-light lens and I love the photos I get when Focusing on an object up close at 1.8.

For any beginner, I recommend using a prime lens. As a beginning photographer myself, I’ve been amazed at how much I’ve learned about framing, proper focus, and general photography being stuck at a single focal distance. Yes zooming lenses provide a lot more versatility, however you tend to rely too much on that zoom and not enough on your own photography instinct. For focusing, I love the M/MA settings my f/1.8 lens has. I can go fully manual, or I can set it to MA and let the camera auto-focus first and then adjust it to perfection. With a lens providing a set focal distance, it’s really helpful in giving me the control I need but setting it to the camera’s recommendation of the get-go.

More to come!

Dan

I know there are a lot of professionals out there that will give complex answers as to why they are into photography. For me it’s simple. I just really enjoy it. Nothing is more exciting to me than capturing a moment in that perfect way that immortalizes it. Some photographers take hours to get that perfect picture… for me, I take many pictures in that same amount of time and typically get quite a few I am proud of and hang on to the rest to learn from.

Not having the time required to put into this… but I will. If you even know where this site is, consider yourself among the lucky few!

Dan