79. Sphere - December 14-20, 2014
Byron-
I shot my photo earlier in the week. I was all smug knowing that I was done so early. Then I talked to Kevin in the middle of the week. He had a suggestion for me. I hadn't thought of that subject. After shooting the second subject of the week and picking out the best one, I couldn't decide which one to submit. Even at this moment I'm not sure. Thanks, Kevin! OK, I've decided. I will include both. The dimpled spheroid is my subject for this week. Partly because of it's stark simplicity. Also the golf ball has been a big part of my friendship with Kevin and Paul. Miniature golf is always a go-to activity. It's interesting that none of the three of us dominates. When we play you never know who will win. The pinball photo shows more action as the ball is speeding up the table to be swatted farther up by the flipper. It has a rough life.
I shot my photo earlier in the week. I was all smug knowing that I was done so early. Then I talked to Kevin in the middle of the week. He had a suggestion for me. I hadn't thought of that subject. After shooting the second subject of the week and picking out the best one, I couldn't decide which one to submit. Even at this moment I'm not sure. Thanks, Kevin! OK, I've decided. I will include both. The dimpled spheroid is my subject for this week. Partly because of it's stark simplicity. Also the golf ball has been a big part of my friendship with Kevin and Paul. Miniature golf is always a go-to activity. It's interesting that none of the three of us dominates. When we play you never know who will win. The pinball photo shows more action as the ball is speeding up the table to be swatted farther up by the flipper. It has a rough life.
Deron-
This is a Southern California Christmas tree ornament. This may not have been the best representative of a pristine orange or the best looking orange I photographed this morning, but he's got character! Also, I do like how the blue sky made its presence known and how the sun worked with the green leaves and the dimples of the fruit. Anyway, chicks dig scars, so this is obviously the most popular orange on the tree!
This is a Southern California Christmas tree ornament. This may not have been the best representative of a pristine orange or the best looking orange I photographed this morning, but he's got character! Also, I do like how the blue sky made its presence known and how the sun worked with the green leaves and the dimples of the fruit. Anyway, chicks dig scars, so this is obviously the most popular orange on the tree!
Paul-
I’d never accuse Byron of employing circular reasoning, but considering the theme this week I have to make an exception.
It’s really not like me to too get too involved with the merriment (or depending on your point of view, legalized looting) of the season. But with the holiday tchotchkes my wife likes to place around the living room, the idea of this picture was too tempting to pass up. So, I grabbed some wrapping paper that has been in the basement for 15 years, tore off a piece and backlit it with a ring light. I moved the snow globe far enough out from the backdrop in ensure I’d get a decent enough fall-off at f5. I also lit the globe from the side (with smoldering paper towels over the light source) and used a small piece of foam core on the right to help fill things out a bit. Not a pretty set-up, but I was curious to see what the convex nature of the sphere would do to the background. All in all, I like the result.
Our story so far…
Visions of sugar plums battled for the feckless photographer’s attention as he ruminated over how he would factor in the volume of three snowman with the standard 4 · π · r2. Shaking his head and gathering his wits about him, he focused on setting his Olympus E-500 (fitted with a 14mm-45mm lens set at 33mm) to ISO 500, and a shutter speed of 1/50 sec. at f5. He further purged both sugary flavor and rote formula from his mind by bracketing his shots.
I’d never accuse Byron of employing circular reasoning, but considering the theme this week I have to make an exception.
It’s really not like me to too get too involved with the merriment (or depending on your point of view, legalized looting) of the season. But with the holiday tchotchkes my wife likes to place around the living room, the idea of this picture was too tempting to pass up. So, I grabbed some wrapping paper that has been in the basement for 15 years, tore off a piece and backlit it with a ring light. I moved the snow globe far enough out from the backdrop in ensure I’d get a decent enough fall-off at f5. I also lit the globe from the side (with smoldering paper towels over the light source) and used a small piece of foam core on the right to help fill things out a bit. Not a pretty set-up, but I was curious to see what the convex nature of the sphere would do to the background. All in all, I like the result.
Our story so far…
Visions of sugar plums battled for the feckless photographer’s attention as he ruminated over how he would factor in the volume of three snowman with the standard 4 · π · r2. Shaking his head and gathering his wits about him, he focused on setting his Olympus E-500 (fitted with a 14mm-45mm lens set at 33mm) to ISO 500, and a shutter speed of 1/50 sec. at f5. He further purged both sugary flavor and rote formula from his mind by bracketing his shots.
Jerry-
Here is one of those paperweights that a doctor gave to me a few years back, now I finally could do something with it. My first shot was with it at the end of shotgun barrel (like a golf ball on a tee) but this one is my favorite.
D5200 on a tripod with 105 micro at f22, 1/4 second, iso 400. Lowel v-light.
Here is one of those paperweights that a doctor gave to me a few years back, now I finally could do something with it. My first shot was with it at the end of shotgun barrel (like a golf ball on a tee) but this one is my favorite.
D5200 on a tripod with 105 micro at f22, 1/4 second, iso 400. Lowel v-light.
Kevin-
When Byron announce that the theme this week was Sphere I spent about two minutes thinking about the 1998 Barry Levinson film (based on the 1987 Michael Crichton novel) titled Sphere about an alien spaceship found at the bottom of the ocean. I quickly decided that since I lacked both an alien spaceship and a submarine it was time to move to other, easier to execute ideas.
Knowing that balls are spheres I began to consider photographing various balls, specifically balls in motion. But in Minnesota it’s really not the season for capturing a baseball being released from the hand of a pitcher, or a golf ball a moment after a driver hits it. So I started thinking about indoor activities with balls in motion, and quickly realized a billiard table could provide a great opportunity.
Some Nikon flash units have the ability to operate in “repeat" mode, where you set the number of flashes, and the rate of the flashes per second. I tried to play with this, not very successfully, during WPOTM Week 74 - Curves and gave up. But this time I feel that I pulled off what I was trying to do, combining those rapid flashes with the tungsten lights above the table. You can see that as the cue ball struck the rack it caused, blur, movement, sharpness, time and action.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. 85mm f1.4 Nikkor lens. ISO 100, f/10, 1.6 seconds. Nikon SB-910 flash set to repeat mode, 16 flashes at 10Hz.
When Byron announce that the theme this week was Sphere I spent about two minutes thinking about the 1998 Barry Levinson film (based on the 1987 Michael Crichton novel) titled Sphere about an alien spaceship found at the bottom of the ocean. I quickly decided that since I lacked both an alien spaceship and a submarine it was time to move to other, easier to execute ideas.
Knowing that balls are spheres I began to consider photographing various balls, specifically balls in motion. But in Minnesota it’s really not the season for capturing a baseball being released from the hand of a pitcher, or a golf ball a moment after a driver hits it. So I started thinking about indoor activities with balls in motion, and quickly realized a billiard table could provide a great opportunity.
Some Nikon flash units have the ability to operate in “repeat" mode, where you set the number of flashes, and the rate of the flashes per second. I tried to play with this, not very successfully, during WPOTM Week 74 - Curves and gave up. But this time I feel that I pulled off what I was trying to do, combining those rapid flashes with the tungsten lights above the table. You can see that as the cue ball struck the rack it caused, blur, movement, sharpness, time and action.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. 85mm f1.4 Nikkor lens. ISO 100, f/10, 1.6 seconds. Nikon SB-910 flash set to repeat mode, 16 flashes at 10Hz.