Sunday, December 07, 2008

DSC00266: Christmas Tree 1.1


DSC00266: Christmas Tree 1.1, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This was just a fun photo to take. I set the ISO to 3200 and took the photo. It only took a 6 second exposure to get this look by using such a high ISO speed. To me, this combination of settings gives the photo a very old look.

Exposure: 6 sec (6)
Aperture: f/32
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 3200

Friday, December 05, 2008

DSC00303: Christmas Tree 1.7


DSC00303: Christmas Tree 1.7, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Taken with the Kit lens 18-70mm on a tripod in BULB Mode.

I love how in the B/W photo you can see all of the shadows and light patterns that are on the wall behind the tree. I looks to me like an old photo where the wall has been discolored by the passage of time. The lights on the tree look like little lightening bugs that are living in the tree.

Exposure: 1 sec (1)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 40 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Caught in a Web!

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer

Gas Stove.

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer

Thursday, December 04, 2008

DSC00234: Christmas Tree 1.4


DSC00234: Christmas Tree 1.4, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Another in the set taken with the Quantaray 70-300mm lens. I let the photo over-expose to give it a very bright, blurry look.

I took this photo to look like a memory, not clear but blurry like a Christmas memory form many years past. You can remember the tree as a young child and the colors but not the clarity as with new memories.

Exposure: 9 sec (9)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 120 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

DSC00297: Christmas Tree 1.0


DSC00297: Christmas Tree 1.0, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This was the first photo that i posted to Flickr from the Christmas Tree set that i did last night. I was exploring the various effects that different settings of the camera had on the different photos. This is just one of many that i took. IT just happened to make to Flickr where others did not. I love the light "pop" that this photo has. The brightness and sharpness that the Quantaray 70-300mm Tele-Macro has.

Exposure: 12 sec (12)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Monday, December 01, 2008

DSC00213: Christmas Tree 1.15


DSC00213: Christmas Tree 1.15, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Using the 18-70mm Lens, BULB Mode, Optika Wireless Remote, Tripod and my time to get different exposures and f/stops!!

I think that this was a fun experiment in dealing with the wall color, the light setting in the room (non existent) and the Camera Settings. I got some really neat photos depending upon what lens was used and camera setting i used as well. I think that this is a really neat way to learn more about the camera and equipment that i have in my possession.

Exposure: 3 sec (3)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200

More snow photos.

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer

Our First Snow!

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Mack: Encountering the Third World

Thanks to Mac for letting me post this to my Blog. 

My two cents: Christmas is way to force fed to us as a society.    I hate to hear

Christmas music and see Christmas stuff next to Halloween stuff in late September

And early October every year. A pumpkin and Santa Clause sitting next to a Witch…

Makes Me SICK.

 

Encountering The Third World

 

The week of Thanksgiving was one of horror, with televised images of terrorism, horror, panic, murder, and blood.  And that was just the first few days of Christmas shopping in America. 

 

Like The Religion of Peace-That-May-Not-be-Named, America is beginning to mark its holy days with body counts: one employee trampled to death (though not eaten) by shoppers in a big-box store in Long Island, New York, two dead by gunfire in a toy store in Palm Desert, California, and miscellaneous robberies in parking lots during the start of this festive season.

 

When the Long Island police closed the big-box store briefly to establish a crime scene for investigation, the murderers were angered that their shopping was interrupted.  After a few hours the Arkansas-based chain, in their compassion for an employee murdered while on the job, reopened the store because, after all, this is The Christmas Season.

 

Perhaps a foreign newspaper will write something like this about us:  The really frightening thing is that America, populated by such backward, irresponsible inhabitants, is a nuclear nation.  Spain, France, England, Japan, and China have in turn tried to colonize America, but with little residual effect.  Americans remain a simple people, easily amused by gifts of shiny but worthless trifles.  They delight in adorning themselves as perpetual children; even among the elderly grown-up clothing is as little known as thrift and self-restraint.  If such child-like primitives cannot be trusted not to kill each other over made-in-China baubles, how much danger might they be to civilized nations?  One fears that the nuclear trigger is in reach of a text-messaging forty-something Yank wearing head-phones, sneakers, knee-pants, and a tee-shirt bearing the iconic message of America in the 21st century: "Whasssssssssssssssss-Upppppppppppppppp?"

 

President Bush has offered help to India because of the latest mass murders committed by what some are pleased to call youths, but perhaps India could help us first because of murders committed by Christmas shoppers.  We point a patronizing finger at other dysfunctional cultures only at the risk of having an equally disapproving finger pointed back at our own.

 

Every year one reads how commercialized Christmas has become, but Christmas has not become commercialized at all: we have.  And commercialization is fine in its place; the buying and selling of goods mean jobs and prosperity.  Commerce is good, up until the point where shopping becomes not simply foolishness, like the silly woman who camps out in front of a store for days before a sale, but an act of terrorism.

 

We can do better.

 

-30-

 




Picture 446 crop


Picture 446 crop, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This was taken in its original form on my first trip to St Louis. I did a crop of the photo getting rid of the building that was located in the bottom of the photo, just leaving the reflection of the courthouse and a few other buildings. Here is a link to the original photo titled "Random Artistic Shots..."

Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

I found this on a website called Shamboni.

http://www.shamboni.com/pictures/06242008154717Exalted.jpg

What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

DSC09980: Butterfly on Leaf


DSC09980: Butterfly on Leaf, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This was another photo taken at the St Louis Zoo on Tuesday with my family visiting from Texas. I was using my Minolta 35-105mm lens during this trip as it is a good walk-around lens. I think that the "negative space" to the left really lets you center in on the butterfly set apart by landing on the very green leaves.

Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Saturday, November 29, 2008

DSC09513: Night Sky 1.2


DSC09513: Night Sky 1.2, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

You can see a little star trail in this photo. It was really cold this night being about 29 degrees at the time of this photo. I love the thin layer of clouds that can be seen in thsi photo.

Exposure: 96 sec (96)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200

DSC09508: Night Sky 1.1


DSC09508: Night Sky 1.1, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

I focused the camera on Orion's Belt and then did a long timed exposure. It was about 29 degrees during the photo and i was ready to go back into the house. I love the clouds that can be seen in this photo.

Exposure: 72 sec (72)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Thursday, November 27, 2008

DSC09842: Hawk


DSC09842: Hawk, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

We were walking into the St Louis Zoo on Tuesday when we looked up in a tree that was near the front of the sliding doors. We saw this hawk. He was about 10 feet above us and just sitting on the limb. He was not really scared of us so i got out my camera and started taking some great photos of him.

I could not believe that he was in the middle of the city, although, the zoo is located in Forest Park. I wondered if he had escaped from a zoo exhibit or something like that.

I had my Minolta 35-105mm lens on the camera and just shot away. I wanted to change to my 70-300mm lens but was scared that he might take flight. He flew away after about 7-8 photos.

Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 100 mm
ISO Speed: 200

DSC00042: Portrait


DSC00042: Portrait, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

This is a photo of my mother. I took it today using my 70-300mm lens as a portrait lens. I noticed during several photos that it has very nice Bokeh even at Telephoto ranges using a shallow Depth Of Field. This is an area that i am trying to get into using my camera. Please let me know what you think of this photo.

Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Hot Oil!

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer