Manual lenses on my D7000

It appears I am treading on new grounds. I was given an old Nikon FE from my way too generous uncle, and he had a couple of lenses with it. Being a child of the digital era, it has been very difficult for me to dive into that complicated way of photography....

WHERE'S THE MEMORY CARD GO?! 

WHERE IS THE DELETE BUTTON?!?!

YOU MEAN I HAVE TO BUY MORE FILM????????????

     Yeah, I went through 2 rolls of film........ I never got around to developing them though.
So when the day came that I'd finally got my first DSLR, Nikons D7000. I used that hefty price tag as encouragement to learn more than how to turn it on. I got used to how easy it was to snap a shot and be satisfied. The image is so stunning, that you almost have to TRY to take a bad picture. ESPECIALLY with this SB-600 Flash. EVERY SHOT looks so incredible! I LOVE IT.
     I do have to admit, I don't feel like I am taking the kind of pictures I should be with this type of camera. I take it to birthdays, take casual candids, the occasional artistic photo, but mostly pictures anyone would take. Just with a really nice camera.
     The day I got the D7000 I was excited to try those old lenses out on a camera that was DIGITAL.
I can't help it! We're a new, even more spoiled generation... 
     Blame YOUR generation for making it too easy.

     Anyways, I threw on a lens and popped off a few shots. They were so dark I couldn't see a thing!
I went up to Wolf camera, and discussed it with a salesman. He told me that some cameras aren't compatible with older lenses. I had the lenses with me and I showed him them and asked how much I could get for them so I could get a new lens. He told me I could probably get 20-30 bucks a piece.
     I was very very doubtful of that. So I kept them to research used value on the amazing world wide web. Of course the internet may be an amazing tool, but things don't post themselves on Ebay!

     Thankfully, my laziness paid off today. Since then, I have become much more familiar with my camera, and camera speak/definitions/function/and so fourth. I busted out the old lenses, fixed my mistake from times past by letting that light shine on in a little brighter!!! and BAM!

<----This is as far as I got on Day 1 
        with the D7000.

NO way! I can see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ACTUALLY THINK I'M GETTING 
THE HANG OF THIS!!!!!!!!






I've done it. I can ACTUALLY do it now. These lenses have been deprived of light, or very little light for extensive amounts of time... :D for too long!!!!

I've been using only this 18-105 mm versatile little monster included with the D7000, but now I've got him some help so he doesn't have to try and do it all himself.
I've got a 55mm Micro, a 135mm, a 24mm, and a 50mm to start putting to use!!!


I will try to be more consistent with my blogging!!!

A sunny Sunday at Texas Motorplex

Today is my 22nd birthday! Man 22 feels SO MUCH different than 21 lemme tell ya...... hah.
 
     I celebrated by going to the NHRA Fall nationals yesterday at Texas Motorplex. A day full of insane amounts of speed, the wonderful smell of fumes and burnt rubber, and too much money spent on expensive drinks!!! ($4 for a bottle of water!)

They allowed anyone who was tired of sitting on those hard metal benches to walk the track. This enabled them to experience the sticky wonder of VHT.

Here is a brief description:

VHT, is a custom formulated resin, typically black in color, used in drag racing to either increase the traction of a car's tires or as a sealer for newly ground and/or resurfaced race tracks. It stays sticky for weeks, has fire-retardant properties and is hydrophobic.

--------------------------------------
Quite a few people actually had their shoes stay on the track, as they took a step.
                    
         
  STICKY STUFF!

 Being a Sunday, the races ended around 4-5 PM. Which didn't allow me to get the amazing night shots I got last year with my Nikon P90. This trip with my D7000 would have been nice to be there at night, but there's always NEXT YEAR!!!

 THIS SHOT is pretty intense. Those back tires are beyond distorted. I can't wrap my brain around how so much can be going on during a fraction of those <4 seconds of race time.
        Less than 4 seconds and these monstrous machines reach speeds nearing 330 MPH!

 Our $10 Margarita.....OUCH

Amazing trailers. Dragster is lifted up to the top level while the bottom remains a fully loaded shop!

     
    

Night life photography

Ah, night life.

Something new to me, in life and photography. This candid style photography is very cool to me. I am very much into the "in-the-moment" pictures of people just doing their thing. It's not easy to go into a dark room full of drunkards, and pop off that big flash. I'm still trying to get over feeling like someone is going to get pissed off about my bright flash. I've just got to get in there, down something strong, and be social! If you think about it too much, you're going to convince yourself that nobody wants you (some random dude with a camera) to take their picture, but if you ease up the nerves a bit and just get out there and even ASK people to get their picture taken, they all are out for a good time and that makes them feel good! I'm just getting into it, but I hope it becomes an enjoyable new world of my photography!

 

 

Really cool view of Bass Hall from the top of the parking garage.

 Looking down Calhoun st.

 8.0 in Downtown Fort Worth.

 They had a band covering 80s hits, did a nice job of Twisted Sisters "We're not gonna take it"

 

               

 When the 80s cover band on the patio finished up their set, the bar got crowded, FAST. 

Glad I was already in, and already had my drink! Disaronno on the rocks.

 When the party was over, this bike was right outside the door. 

Practically begging for me to take it's picture.

 These guys were fun (DRUNK). The conversation all started when the guy on the left commented on my "Metallica" shirt, which was ACTUALLY a Black Dahlia Murder shirt (as correctly pointed out by the guy on the right.) We then talked music, and the upcoming TBDM concert... 

 The conversation ended with me taking this picture... for the documentary I was apparently making.

All you've got to do is carry around a big camera and every picture you take is FOR something.

LITERALLY within 2 minutes, we walked past a group of 3 girls and a guy, and one of the girls said,

"Metallica! Hell yeah!!!"

I have no idea what about that shirt is so damn relevant to Metallica.....

Strangest part is, earlier that day, I went from my actual Metallica shirt TO my Black Dahlia shirt. 

?

 

 

As I stated above, carry around a big camera and everyone will think you are taking pictures FOR something. A documentary, even Twitter. (Which is what my friend Justin told these Drunkies.)

As we waited for the "Don't walk" to become "walk", they said "Hey, take our picture!" 

So I popped off a few shots, and THEN they asked, "So, what is this for?" 

and that's when they got the answer: Twitter, and we got the response: Twitter?!... Twitter sucks!

SB-600!!! My new hot shoe flash

A while back, I got Nikons SB-600 Speedlight. 

A whole new door opens up in photography with an external flash. 

Here is a quick comparison:

This is what you could expect this guitar to look like if you were to use the pop-up flash 

on your camera. (pop-up flash)

 This one was bounced off the ceiling at a 45 deg. angle. So, you can see that nice shadowing inside of the sound hole. I still don't like the white out on the bottom left corner of the instrument, but we're making progress!  (speedlight 45 deg. angle)

This one was bounced off the ceiling. You can clearly see how much more natural the colors are. No white out or reflecting light. That's what we're looking for! (speedlight 90 deg angle)

Now, ultimately I would have wanted to get that shadow in the sound box, to get that extra depth. Though, there are many factors that you have to take into consideration. Maybe we couldn't achieve this because of the height of these ceilings?

I LOVE the drastic change of my photos after this flash, and now YOU can see
how big of a difference it makes!

HDR

Well, I didn't venture too far for my HDR play day... I did take a few shots in the backyard though!

A new field of interest

I recently did some research on HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography. I see pictures like this all the time, and have never known the name for the technique. This method of photography and post-processing really is why I desire to become a skilled photographer. HDR has the same powerful look of long exposure night photography (my initial interest). The art of using a long exposure is something that I have taken a great interest in.

Since my first point and shoot <$100 camera I got for a door prize at my high school prom after party/lock in (which we soon walked out of....) I found out that: "Whoa! If I change my exposure levels really high at night, the camera has to take a picture for a really long time to compensate, and the picture looks really cool!"  I was taking the best pictures I could possibly take with that little beast.

Example:

It was a very much appreciated prize to win. If I hadn't gone to that teenage milestone they call, prom (Something I hadn't much of an interest in doing), would I be the same aspiring photographer I am today?

Since my days with the prize Kodak, I moved up to a Nikon P90. This camera was the best possible camera I could have stepped up to. Not too much to learn, not to little to get bored. This thing has some serious zoom to it. It did an awesome job in long exposure, and the tilt screen was just icing on the cake! PERFECT for being in a crowded area, just a 45 degree tilt down, hold above your head, and you can get awesome shots without any blind aiming! It also tilted straight up, so you could have the camera sitting on the ground and you could look straight down on the screen! Got many good shots of my sleeping puppy that way.

Now that I have stepped into the realm of the DSLR, my options and abilities have exponentially grown. long exposure? I have the ability to use the stars to know which direction the earth is spinning.

STAR TRAILS!

I haven't personally accomplished this just yet, but here is my motivation:

 This stuff will blow your mind. GOOGLE IT!


Anyways enough camera history, back to HDR.

What is HDR?
(You're on the internet, a place of infinite knowledge, everything is a Google search away...but I'll go ahead and post a definition for you!)

"HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a set of techniques that allows the opportunity for a greater dynamic range of exposures through digital imaging techniques. It captures the full range of luminosity between light and dark in a single scene. What this means in terms of photography is that the processing of HDR captures everything from dark shadows to bright highlights and combines it into a single image."

HDR really allows you to bring back the emotion you felt while seeing your subject in reality before shooting. Don't you hate it when you get back from a trip and think you got some amazing pictures, and when you show them to friends and family, they just don't seem to "pop" as much as you remembered? HDR really allows you to get your pictures looking that much closer to how it actually looked through your eyes.

I don't think any photograhy can ever compare to seeing something grand in person. There are many things that are embedded into your memories. You can take a billion HDR shots of the beach, but if you show them all to someone who has never been seen the ocean in person, they won't know what it is like to have the sand between their toes, or that amazing smell of seasalt in the air.

Though digital images, and what you see with your own eyes aren't the same, HDR photography really bridges the gap of the two.

Here is a before and after image of HDR:

Before:

After:

*this guys name is Trey Ratcliff, he has VERY inspiring work.
Check him out HERE

So after being in sheer awe of this magical method of photography, I tried it out for the very first time.

This is just a picture of my house, about 9:20 AM. This is my very first attempt at HDR photography, and I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out for being my literal FIRST attempt.

Just for reference, here is one of the frames before HDR was applied:

I am about ready to throw on my headphones, and go get some more interesting subjects to frame.

SNOW DAY!

Well, it seems Burleson, Tx has come across yet another day  of snow! The past 3 days have been a nightmare of icy roads, but today has added a nice 4-5" of snow atop the ice.

I got some shots of Floyd, my siberian husky having an arctic blast in his kind of weather!

Ready to go play in the snow!

"What is this stuff?!"

 

He really seemed to enjoy the 

snow we got. He kept shoving his 

nose into it, and running at full 

speed all over the yard! It was so 

cool to hear his little husky paws 

trot on the snow. I think he knew 

it is what he is built for.