digital:eloquence.photography

As I mentioned in the previous post, my buddy Tim came to visit a couple weeks back from Arizona. We did enjoy a great “beer tour” but also had some fun with our cameras. Since I was working and he was at a seminar in Seattle, we only got time to play at night. But boy, did we play! I’ll save some of them for specific posts later but thought I’d put up some random ones now for fun.

This is another picture from Dick’s Alehouse in Snohomish. I wasn’t feeling much photography inspiration that day but I have to say that the tap house sure presented a fun photo opportunity. This picture shows me so many “missed” good photos I could have taken yet it has plenty of character on it’s own.

Tim with his D90. The D90 is basically a slightly nicer version of my D5000. They contain much of the same features and hardware but his adds a slightly larger body, a couple more features, and the ability to drive non-motorized lenses.

Tom’s daughter, Stacey was asking Tim a bunch of questions about his camera. At the same time, we were comparing features and settings. I will add, the pizza place across from the Everett Events Center is not worth going to. The forgot about our order and then when I asked if it was coming, they gave me a small cannoli (which was dumb since I wanted dinner not dessert). Anyhow… we’ll not go there.

Tim’s gone. Bye Tim! See ya next time!

My buddy Tim came up from Arizona a couple weeks back. We joined up with another friend and went around to a few different breweries and tap houses. Tim brought his Nikon D90 along and we took a ton of pictures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling inspired (and the inspiration went downhill with each drink… haha).

We started off at Dick’s Alehouse in Snohomish. They served different tap beers in different glasses. I’m not a fan of the organic fish tale beers and this was actually another beer. It was Tim’s beer and I forget what he had but it was pretty decent as I had tried a sip.

Tom got the same beer as Tim but also in a fun glass.

I had a Totem Ale from Black Raven Brewery. It was my favorite of the day. Of course in fairness, I wasn’t playing it safe but instead was trying a lot of new beers.

Scuttlebutt brewing. I have to say, my least favorite by far… but still decent. Their beers just really lack flavor which is what makes them so popular. They are sort of the Starbucks or McDonalds of the beer world. Consistantly bland… which is better than nasty (well, as a coffee guy, I’d argue Starbucks is nasty… but that’s another conversation).

A Nitro Red (my first Nitro beer… well I had had Guiness but I didn’t know what I was drinking.

After a few beers, it was time for some water

Tim’s D90 posed next to his drink sampler from Diamond Knot in Mukilteo, Everett

The taps at Diamond Knot

The ESB from Diamond Knot. A good beer for what it is. I’m not an ESB drinker but enjoyed this.

The Industrial IPA. Yes, this was the best beer I had the whole time but I’ve had it so much that it didn’t “stand out” as a great beer. It was just expected to be great!

(on a side note: I’m a big fan of Diamond Knot’s beers)

A Nitro Espresso Porter from McMenamins in Mill Creek.

This post isn’t going to have anything in the way of pictures, really… however it will hopefully lead to much better pictures in the future!

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I’ve recently found a cool podcast called “DTOWN TV” that is put on by Scott Kelby (a pretty well known Nikon photographer). The first 30ish episodes are Nikon specific. Afterward, they start to open up to all DSLR cameras and equipment. It’s been a big eye opener for me yet many of the things they cover are basic.

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A couple new things I’ve learned just from watching DTOWN TV episodes:

1. Enabling the Grid Display in the Viewfinder – One of my bigger issues in photography is lining my shots up and balancing the image properly. Specifically, I tend to take slightly crooked pictures because I don’t think about composition alignment very well. One of the biggest things to master in photography that will give the best photos is composition (or so I’ve read). I’m hoping this will help me.
2. Time Lapse Photography - I always knew it was able to be done, I just never thought through it. It’s quite simple. Nikon camera’s also provide a way to assemble a stop motion video. I’ve found mine to do a low-resolution stop motion but I haven’t played with the settings.
3. RAW photo editing in Capture NX2 - The big thing here is that you have to be using Nikon’s Capture NX2 software. There are some REALLY sweet tips on how to develop RAW images to their full potential using Capture NX2. Now I’m a fan of lesser edited photography. I want to take amazing images without it touching a computer. I do, however, understand that sometimes a few computer things are necessary to fix up the aspects a photographer may have JUST missed.
4. Lense Reviews - Well, I really like my lenses. That said, I’ve learned a lot about lens lust. They have a 5 part series dealing with different lenses and different scenarios in which you would use certain lenses. Needless to say, my next 5 lenses are pre-mapped out for me. Now if only I could convince my wife!

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There are many more things I’ve learned that didn’t feel so monumental yet will improve my photography with time (hopefully). Well, I’ve learned a bunch and shared some with you. I highly recommend the podcast (look it up in itunes). Great for basics and some advanced stuff as well!

Just a few photos I’ve taken of things around the house….

An Iced Latte I took at work with my D60.

Piano Music sitting on the Piano (my wife plays the piano incredibly well!)

RootBeer

Nah nah nah nah nah… Always Coca-Cola.
(not that big of a soda drinker… the above photo and below photo were taken on the same night… I actually drank water!)

And of course, my iphone… showing off the new case I just got.

My wife, my sister-in-law, and myself went to Babies R Us today. We registered for a bunch of stuff (and will probably change a lot of it). It was fun for me to add the joy of finding things for our unborn child to my love of taking photos. Here are some of the results I had.

It’s been a bit since my last post. This is mostly because I’m still in the “honeymoon” stage with my new camera. It’s similar in a lot of ways to my D60 but the ability to do better low-light shooting as well as many other small enhancements have given me a lot to work with. Due to work and weather, I’ve not gotten out to do many daylight shots. This was ok though, as I got a lot of practice with darker shots. Here are some of my favorites… be gentle, I’m learning still…

This one seemed to have a lot of character when transitioned to black and white…

And I played some more with my star filter…

After my evening shots, I decided it was time to stop in and make myself a coffee.

And finally, here are a few higher-light shots I was able to take lately.

Mostly just continuing to play with my new camera and settings and trying to get used to them all…

And a couple shots of the sunrise the other day…

Wow, I really wish I didn’t have to work once my camera arrived! It’s so much fun to get a new toy, but a new camera is all the more exciting. I had researched this camera quite a bit and found the features/quality to price-point compelling! After purchasing the camera, I found this link…

D5000 vs. D300s Raw Image Quality Comparison

This camera has many new strengths that I hope to highlight in upcoming posts. The first of which (and one of the things that strongly compelled me to purchase it) is the ISO.

The following pictures is taken at a 1250 ISO. You’ll note very little noise for a non full-frame camera:

Compare this image (1250 ISO on my new D5000) to these images from my old D60 – starting at 800 ISO (picture of Matt) and ending with an evening shot of Will at ISO 800 as well. Of course, in all fairness, the evening shot does bring out the pixelation a bit more:

Finally, for the ISO comparison, check out this rather unexciting picture into a darker corner. The first image is at 1600 ISO and the second at 3200 ISO.

These next pictures were just me playing around… one includes the box (hey, I was excited, what can I say??) 200 ISO