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.

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

In what could be my final photo outing with my loved D60, I didn’t take many pictures but I enjoyed seeing some old vehicles

On a side note, I ordered a D5000 to take my next step up and learn more as well as hopefully produce better pictures. It’ll be here on Wednesday!

I was actually at a birthday party and I got this fun shot of the hostess by her fireplace.

My buddy Sam gave me a few lens filters he had that didn’t fit any of his lenses currently. They all fit my f1.8 35mm lens and I’m getting a chance to start playing with them. Now as a novice, I’m learning a lot about what is available let alone about how to properly use it. One of the lenses I received was something I’d not heard of before but got pretty excited about the possibilities it presented.

Tiffen 6Point 2mm Star Lens Filter (52mm diameter) – Some shots I took just playing around…

I love that the look of a lot of these are almost futuristic. I get two different feelings when I look at these:
1.) Futuristic-like pictures from everyday lights
and 2.) The stars, if controlled properly can add a really cool element of class to a good photo.

I’ll post up more as I keep playing.

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.