Share your website or photo site

[T.J. Shuflin]

Hi all you RUNtographers! (not sure that's an appropriate thing to call ourselves...?)

Let's share our links to our websites and/or places we store our images, and tell a little about ourselves. Below are two links to my web site, and my photo storage/purchasing site. I am retired from over 31 years as a forensic chemist, and now doing photography as a "hobbiness" (hobby and business). I'm using Nikon equipment, and take photographs for people and whatever ---- everything but weddings.

My web site: http://www.tjshuflinphotography.com
My Smugmug site: http://tjshuflin.smugmug.com

T.J.
(aka "T-Paw" to an unschooled granddaughter, age 7)

[Stormmie]

Hi T.J.
I'm a stay at home mom of a 9yr old unschooled son. I just take pics for fun. Mostly wildlife + scenic pics. I was using a Canon Power Shot but just started learning with my hubby's slr camera.

I looked at your sites + your pics are beautiful.

My pics are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormmieone/
or
http://stormmie.multiply.com

Nice to meet you.
Kim

[Valerie]

TJ - thanks for starting this discussion! Runtographer - hunh! Like it. Do you think I could edit the group and change the name?

ANYWAY, I do not have a website. But I'll clean up my flickr storage so that the best images are there. Right now, it's ALL the images. And as we all know, that means the throwaways with the keepers.

I LOVE your pics on your namesake website. I have a couple of questions if you are willing to entertain them.
1) What were your settings for the portrait of the young lady (brown hair, blue eyes, brick wall). Depth of field was great. You used a zoom lens of some sort?
2) My FAVE is the spectacular shot of the guitarist in abandoned, rusty vehicle, with beautiful blue sky (polarizing filter?). That was a wide angle lens, I assume?
3) How do you capture such fabulous images in low-light? That's my biggest struggle.

Thanks, Valerie
(aka "Queen of the World" to kids when they feel like cracking up people around us.)

What is your walk-around lens and what do you reach for first various other shots?

[Maya H]

Hi all,

I'm a WAHM and my daughter is almost 3. I don't get out to take photos as much as I would like, but I do what I can. I got my Nikon D80 in 2007 and have learned everything I know from practice and the internet. ;)

I have two lenses, but I almost always use my 50mm, f/1.4.

I post a lot of photos on my blog: http://springtreeroad.typepad.com/ and you can get to my flickr stream from there. :)

Maya

[T.J. Shuflin]

Hi Valerie,
It's fine with me if you like "RUNtographer" that much... it just kinda came to me as I started typing. Thanks for the compliments! Always appreciated. Honest and constructive critiqueing welcomed too! Will try to answer your questions as best I can.
1) Portrait of young lady: Nikon d300, 18-70mm @ 70mm, f/4.5, 1/60sec., ISO=200, center-weighted metering. She was in shadow, no fill flash. Focused/metered on the eye.
2) That is a "FAV" of mine, and many others. It's an old abandoned railroad car. Yes, wide angle. Don't have file on this computer to check meta-data, but likely a Tokina 12-24mm. No filter. I do extensive editing in Photoshop CS3. This is a technique that is a poor but valiant attempt at a "Dave Hill look". (http://www.davehillphoto.com/). Too detailed to give here. Could email you technique if you use PS CS3 and work in ACR.
3) Low light - assuming you are referring to the stage & theater photos? These are shot during live performances, no flash. I am shooting on tripod, D300, and what is my favorite lens - an 80-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor. I don't know if it's made anymore. Excellent glass, and heavy, but oh so sharp. For stage/theater, I shoot on full manual, from rear of the venue, varying shutter speed depending on the speed of movement on stage. Almost always shooting from about f/2.8 to maybe f/4 if I am lucky. The Nikon D300 is excellent on auto-ISO, and I let it adjust, usually up to ISO 1600. Decent photos at ISO 3200, if the image is properly exposed. Underexposure of low light is where noise starts showing up. The key to low-light IMHO, is a 'fast' lens of f/2.8 or faster, tripod, camera with low noise at higher ISO, and getting the exposure correct. Also, I shoot in RAW, and edit in PS CS3. That lets me set the WB as needed for every shot.

Hope this helped, and wasn't too long or boring. May not see or be able to reply in the next couple of days. Must get some photos edited. We (5 of us - wife, dd, s-n-l, and dgd are going to Houston for the weekend, for the So You Think You Can Dance performance on Sat. night. Going to Natural Science museum. Evyn (age 7) wants to see the real human bodies, and there's an adopt a butterfly day there too, so she has to do that!

T.J.

[Maya H]

not boring to me! :)

[T.J. Shuflin]

Forgot to reply about favorite walk-around lens. That's a tough one. I have probably too many lenses (about 11, I think). I usually know what type of environment I'll be in, and tailor lens to that. But I do have the 18-200 VR Nikkor, and it is just great for an extremely flexible, wide range of focal lengths. But it is a variable f/stop, with lowest at f/3.5 (I think) and I really prefer my lenses that go to f/2.8 (like the 80-200mm Nikkor, 50-150mm Sigma, or the 150mm Sigma macro) that I have. And for indoor, small room situations, you can't beat the 50mm f/1.8, and it is only about $120 new from B&H. (Not the new one that just came out. It is AF-S, and is like $450)

TJ.

[Valerie]

Fabulous reply! Thanks. Definitely NOT boring, as noted by Maya H. We're all here because we love the art, fun and beauty of photography. And, I'll venture that we want to know whatever it takes to capture those images that makes people inhale when they see it - or mom's cry when they first see the photo we took of their child.

I see what you mean about Dave Hill. His images seem extremely worked in photoshop; they often look more like illustrations than photos. He also is really hitting highlights hard, where for years (in graphic design) we were muting the highlights on images. Contrast in his images is startling and unique.

I haven't spent much time in manual. I'm dinking around with aperture priority vs shutter priority and when I get comfortable with that, I suspect I'll be able to put the two together and shoot with manual.

I get what you're saying about low-light. I probably need to invest in a lens that will allow that. The Canon 20D I have does beautifully if exposed enough. Problem is, I love shooting movement, so in low-light I either get a blur or lots of noise.

It would be great if you'd post one of your images from Houston when you get back.

[Valerie]

Lovely photos on your blog. I especially enjoy having context for the images. I got a kick out of the photo of the wedding cake, because with the lengths of the dresses behind it, it looked as if it could have been from the 1950s. In fact if you lower the skirt on the one to he left and grade the color or even go B&W, it would definitely be just like it.

I am humbled to see everyones photos and will make a point of not showing any of mine. LOL. I'll work up something to share. It would be great to have other photographers look at them at offer their critiques.

[Maya H]

valerie - it was a great wedding! it was very relaxed - most everything was done by friends or friends of friends and it came together beautifully. and it definitely had that 50s feel.

it sounds like you're doing what i did - i spent a good 6 months or more in aperture priority. but eventually i realized how often my camera would blow out the whites/brights in A priority, so i started fiddling with manual. i walked around for days saying "higher shutter speed lets in less light, lower shutter speed gives me more light." now i shoot most every thing in manual, unless i just don't have the time to make adjustments to the shutter speed. i like to shoot pictures of old houses/buildings out my car window and i use A priority for that.

i still have a ton to learn. i know nothing about using flash. i would like to take a class or have a mentor, but who has the time? my hubby's work current schedule doesn't allow me to take an evening class. but that should change sometime in the next year, we hope.

let us see some pictures, valerie!

[T.J. Shuflin]

Hi everyone!
Trying to reply to things I read above... Kim & Maya, I enjoyed looking over some of your photos. Haven't looked at all... not enough time. I see some really great composition, and creativity! Wish I could do better on that...

We just got settled into our rooms, and have a little while before going to the concert. Evyn adopted & released a Sara Longwing butterfly at the Houston Natural Science Museum. Then we saw "plasticized" human bodies. She (and all of us) were fascinated. If you ever get a chance to see this type of exhibit, don't miss it!

I won't be taking photos at the concert tonight - not allowed. I did get some before/after photos of Evyn losing a major front upper tooth today. And some butterfly release shots! Will be next week before I'll get to them on the computer.

There is NOTHING wrong with shooting in either Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority. I shoot in AP - ALL the time when I'm shooting sports, if it's a bright sunny day. You're thinking - WAIT... I need high shutter speeds for stopping the action on the field. You are right, but read on... Look at Sports Illustrated. See how the player is super sharp, and the background blurs out, to make him/her almost "jump" off the page. That's because there was a shallow DOF (depth of field). And you can only get that with a "wide open" aperture, like f/2.8 to maybe f/4. So, if I am shooting on a sunny day, I shoot in AP, set my aperture at about f/3.2 or as wide open as the lens allows. The camera then AUTOMATICALLY gives me a really high shutter speed, because it is trying to get a proper exposure. SO - I get the best of both worlds... a shallow DOF, so my subject stands out, and a fast shutter speed. Remember though, it needs to be bright enough to give you the fast shutter speed. Look at sports images on my Smugmug site.

To keep from blowing out the highlights, you may need to lower the EV compensation, maybe -.3 or -.7. And experiment with the metering system choices. On Nikons you have Matrix (meters the whole scene); Spot (meters only on a specific focus point area); and Center Weighted (meters about 70% on the focus point, and 30% from the surrounding areas). Probably using the overall (matrix) setting is the safest, but you may get some shadow areas. Try Center weighted also.

Gosh...shouldn't have gotten so long winded! Time to stop and get ready for the concert.

T.J.

[Joni Zander]

Maya, I love your blog - and am enjoying your music so much I had to open another window to come back here!

I, too, love the wedding photo. You have a great eye for backgrounds - which is what makes this photo so mesmerizing.

[Joni Zander]

Thanks for the discussion, TJ. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't really done anything since our session at the pool at L&L! And I don't have a photo website, either. But I'm feeling inspired to quit being such a lazy blogger and add some good photography to my blog.

I was just in the bathroom and noticed that the light was shining on the sink just so. Of course, by the time I got the camera it wasn't cris-crossing like it was when I first noticed it.

So - a bit underexposed? How would I correct that? I shot it in A priority - exposure time 1/320 seconds, focal length 38mm, f 5.3, speed 125 (it only sounds like I know what all this means - or maybe not!).