Category Archives: Black & White

Black & White, Just for fun

A lost Ansel Adams photo? Nope.

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Earlier this week I asked my son to lay down on the living room floor so I could take a photo of his nose. Why? Because a photo challenge theme was bad habits and my two sons have a bad habit when it comes to noses. While I don’t want to delve too much into the specifics around the habit, I thought it would make for a good photo challenge photo.

After snapping the photo, I opened the RAW image in Photoshop, and decided to desaturate it – thus making it black and white. I was really pleased with the shadows and how the whole look of the photo turned out. I was really glad the photo didn’t show too far up his nose, cause that could have been rather unappealing.

Nose Bad Habit

Canon 60D | 100mm Macro Lens | 1/50 | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | RAW

The reason I brought Ansel Adams into the discussion is because after posting the photo to the group, some commented in jest, “it almost looks like a lost and undiscovered Ansel Adams.” Alas, it is not. But I do like the look of the photo and the black and white on it really helped give it the look I was hoping to achieve.

So, if you know a nose picker, share this photo with them and remind them that even nose pickers can get their noses photographed. :-)

~signed, Carltonaut

Black & White

Just another bright idea in photography

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I was trying to come up with a photo challenge for a photo group last Friday and it wasn’t coming very easy. After much thought, and with the idea of the looming President’s Day holiday, I thought it would be fun to go old school. Not quite back to film, because not everyone in the group would have a film camera.

Instead, the challenge was to share a black and white photograph, and capture it with your camera in manual mode. I invite anyone to take on the challenge and share their finished product. But in the meantime, here is my capture to share for the challenge.

Bright idea in Photography

Canon 60D | 50mm lens | 1/250 | f/22 | ISO 100 | Canon Speedlite 430EX II

Check out some of the other takes on this photo via Flickr.

The biggest challenge in capturing this photo was to keep the light glare off of the glass bulb. It took me a while to get it just right (which is why I was glad I had a digital camera – I would have never known about the glare until I paid to develop the film and I would have had to start again). The final setup was to to hook my Speedlite up to the extender cord and hold it by hand behind the light bulb to illuminate the background – but eliminate the reflections.

~signed, Carltonaut

Black & White, Macro

Capturing Ice and Fire in Photographs

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My kids looked at me like I was crazy when I poured nearly boiling water into an ice cube tray, gently placed 10 candle wicks into the water and ever so carefully placed the tray into the freezer.

I think I got more funny looks from them when I placed the cubes on a black foam sheet, grabbed a lighter and started running the flame around the cube. The flame helped shine up the cube to make it more transparent, and it also allowed me to shape the cube and create a puddle around it to offer an additional visual element.

My Canon Speedlite 430EXII flash with a blue gel across it was set on the left, with my LED Flashmate set to maximum on the right. My 100mm 2.8 macro lens was mounted to my Canon 60D and focused in on the cube. Once I had the shot arranged and fired off a few test shots, I lit the wick and started snapping.

Captured Ice and FIre

Canon 60D | 100mm 2.8 macro lens | 1/50 | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | Addtl. Lighting | RAW

In total, I lit six ice cubes and snapped more than 100 photos. It took a bit to check all of them out, but I am very pleased with the final outcome. And even though I shot the photos with the intent of showing them in color, I de-saturated some of the RAW photos to make them black and white, adjusted the temperature and eventually the levels to get the look that I thought best represented ice and fire.

Check out more of the photos I captured, including the ones that are in color, on my Flickr page.

I’m gonna give this setup another go, hoping to achieve a more transparent cube. I will try bringing the water to an actual boil, as I’ve heard that helps get some of the air bubbles out. I’m also going to try freezing the wicks before I insert them into the water to see if that will help make the cube clearer. In short, I am not ready to give up on this concept – it just might take me a bit to get everything reset and have the time to give it that other go.

~signed, Carltonaut

Black & White, Just for fun, People

Photographing daughter in mommy’s wedding gown

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If I admit that I got this idea off of Pinterest, does that mean I lose my “Man Card”? But as a dad, I couldn’t resist the opportunity of capturing my young daughter in my wife’s wedding dress, with the idea of displaying it at her wedding when she turns 30 (Hey, a dad can hope, right?) :-)

After rummaging through our closet to dig out my wife’s gorgeous wedding dress, I maneuvered my 6-year-old daughter into the dress. Obviously it was a little big for her, and the gown has a lot of fluff in the skirt, so I didn’t want my daughter to get lost in the poofyness.

She was a good sport, though she kept complaining about the dress being pretty itchy. I tried a couple of cutesie ones, then tried my hand at a few artistic ones. Here is my favorite photo from the whole shoot.

Daughter in mommy's wedding dress

Canon 60D | 18-135mm lens | 1/60 | f/4.0 | ISO 200 | Canon Speedlite 430 EXII

You are welcome to check out the Bridezilla shot I captured, or some of the other ones from the shoot.

As for lighting for this shoot, I turned out all the lights in the house, allowing the daylight in from the windows to serve as the natural light. I used a Flashmate LED video light from GiSTEQ placed behind my daughter to serve as a fill light, the the Canon Speedlight 430 EXII mounted to the camera to provide the front lighting source. I am still a novice when it comes to figuring out lighting, but I learn by playing.

I invite others to try this same concept, and since you’ve seen it on a blog and not on Pinterest, you hopefully won’t lose your Man Card like I just did.

~signed, Carltonaut

Black & White, HDR, WordPress Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Green

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Moments after learning about this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge, I was in my car heading to a meeting in downtown Salt Lake City. As usual, I had my camera bag in the back seat, so once my meeting concluded, I took a short walk around Temple Square, shooting things that were green.

My initial idea was to get a great shot of a traffic light sporting some green, but I saw so many other cool shots of green, that I ended up with more than just traffic lights.

111812 WPC-Green

During my quick excursion, I had my 55-200mm lens hooked up so I could get close enough to objects without standing in the middle of the road. I put my camera on AV (aperture priority) so I could have better say in the depth of field.

For a couple of the shots, I tried bracketing a series of three photos so I could merge them together using Photomatix and capture a better dynamic range. Of the four photos above, can you guess which two are HDR? The traffic light, along with the white snow melting in patches to reveal the green grass below.

For the traffic light photo, I converted the three bracketed photos to a single HDR photo, converted it to Black and White using photo shop, then imported the photo in color and used that to make the green light green. I felt that offered more contrast to help the green light pop out a little better.

Green lent itself to so many options, and I still have another idea up my sleeve, which I will probably photograph later today and share tomorrow. Stay tuned for that one.

~signed, Carltonaut

Black & White, People, Travel

Decisions: Black and white OR color

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My last blog post shared a photo of my daughter running along the beach with the low-setting sun. Another photo I shot at that same San Franciscan beach was of my son collecting a few of the bazillion sand dollars that littered the beach. I love the innocence of this photo, too, along with the reflection of my son in the water retreating from the beach.

I am thinking of printing the photo on canvas and hanging it in our home. But I am torn between the black and white version of the photo, or the color version. I really like his blue jacket, but I’m not a fan of the orange color of his face. The black and white kills both of those elements, but still makes it a great photo.

If you were printing this for your home, would you go black and white OR color?

Gabe-Beach-5x7
Gabe-Beach-5x7BW

~signed, Carltonaut

Black & White, Travel

Remembering September 11, 2001

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There are many photos of American flags circulating around the Internet today in honor of all those who have been affected by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. I remember the day well. It was eerily somber across town. People were huddled around any TV they could find, eyes glued to the repeating images of planes hitting buildings and the chaos that ensued.

It wasn’t until 2004 that I made my first trip to New York City, and I made sure to visit Ground Zero. While there, I was looking for something I could photograph that would capture the somber emotions felt while gazing upon the large hole in the ground. When I spotted the cross of the building’s beams, pulled from the rubble and displayed to mark the spot where so many people lost their lives, I felt it would be the photo I would use to mark my first visit to Ground Zero.

Cross at the WTC in NYC

So I’m sharing this photo as my way of honoring all those impacted by those tragic events, hoping the love and compassion expressed in the wake of such a hateful event can continue in our lives today, with neighbor helping neighbor.

~signed, Carltonaut

Black & White, Night Sky, Tutorials

How to Shoot the Moon – in Honor of Neil Armstrong

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If you can’t tell from the name of my blog, I am enthralled by all things space. I am amazed at the precision with which humans can launch a rocket from Earth and land Man or machine on distant moons or planets. I am humbled by the dedication each astronaut has for their “profession” and proud to know that I have shaken hands with Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Charlie Duke, Gene Cernan, and countless other moonwalkers, astronauts, and mission control personnel.

When I heard of Neil Armstrong’s passing, I was saddended that I never had the chance to meet him. From everything I had heard about him, he was humble, and convinced that he was just doing his job when he took Man’s first steps on the moon. So this post is my way of honoring Neil Armstrong, and I invite others to share their moon photos this week in his honor.

I digress. This blog post isn’t just about my love of space. It’s about my experiences in photographing the moon, and sharing with others the simple things that will hopefully give them the confidence to DIY and shoot [for] the stars… or at least the moon!

Here are the 4 simple steps I used a few moments ago to capture this shot of the moon, with a clarity that even surprised me – though I wish I had a more powerful zoom lens. Or better yet, a Saturn V rocket to take me to the moon to snap a few photos in person!

082812 Honor Neil Armstrong r2

Canon 60D | 55-200mm lens | 1/100 | f/11 | ISO 100 | (Manual Mode)
And a setting that hopefully will make you LOL: Focal Length 238,900 Miles. :-)

STEP 1 – Camera Setup

  • Attach the lens with the longest zoom
  • Put your camera in Manual Mode
  • Start with ISO 100, f/11, and shutter speed of 1/100

STEP 2 – Location Setup

  • Choose a location that works for you. The photo above was shot from my back door. If you can, get away from ambient light.
  • Find the moon (if it’s overcast, go back inside and try for the moon another night).

STEP 3 – Getting Ready to Shoot

  • Use a tripod if you have one handy. If not, set down or lean against something to help keep the lens steady. (I did NOT use a tripod for the photo above)
  • Zoom your lens all the way in to get as close to the moon as you can.
  • You can auto focus on the moon, then switch to manual mode (which is what I did), or you can just refocus on the moon for each shot (which also works).
  • Hold it steady and snap a shot.

STEP 4 – See How It Looks, Adjust Accordingly

  • You can simply look at the LCD screen on your camera to get an initial look at the photo (unless you are using film).
  • If the moon looks dark, adjust one of two things – the aperture or shutter speed.
  • If you’re not using a tripod and the moon looks blurry, try again. You can try holding your breathe as you pust the shutter release button to reduce your movements.
  • Keep adjusting camera settings to snap a few shots. No harm in trying a few different settings to see how it changes the outcome.

Now that you have the photos, take the camera card over to your computer and adjust the exposure, temperature, etc. as you wish. You can even make it a black and white photograph to eliminate any odd colors of the moon (unless you want it to be a rare Blue Moon).

I hope this helps, and I invite you to give it a shot (literally) and then share your photo and camera settings with me in the comments. With the Blue Moon on Friday (Aug 31), it’s a great week to give the moon a shot… literally!

~signed, Carltonaut

Alphabet Photo Challenge, Black & White

CTE Weekly Photo Challenge: N is for Night

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I really wish I could do night photography better. Mostly, I am constrained by life. In order to truly get the star photographs I want, I need to go out into the middle of nowhere and spend a few nights, sleeping during the day. But the other joys of life (i.e., family, work and responsibilities) keep me busy for the time being.

So for now, I settle into my backyard wearing pajamas and flip flops and freeze my little toes off trying new things. Could I have done it better? Probably. Would I have lost my toes to frostbite? Very likely!

Anyhow, here’s the photo. Can you tell which constellation it is?

040612 Name that constellation

Canon 60D | 18-135mm lens | 30″ | f/4.0 | ISO 100 | Manual Mode

It was a full moon out tonight, so that celestial object was enough light pollution to wipe out my vision of the stars through the view finder, meaning I had to guesstimate and take a few  ”alignment” shots. I initially set my camera ISO to 3200, but I didn’t like how washed out it made everything, though I will admit it picked up more stars – but the sky was gray rather than black.

I gradually decreased my ISO to 100 and made shutter speed and aperture changes until I got it generally how I wanted. But the tree looked gross. It was more of a bright orange yellow, which isn’t the actual color of the tree. So, to the chagrin of my neighbors (but they didn’t holler any obscenities over the fence), I grabbed my Canon Speedlite 430EX II flash and held it at many different angles, flashing probably 12-15 times in various spots, ranging from 10 feet to the left of the camera, and 10 feet to the right – all done in the 30-second exposure. During one exposure, I took the flash to the backside of the tree, but the tree turned a deep red (I’m guess that’s because it was in the shadow of the flash) and that is even farther from how I wanted it to look.

In the end, I used the photo with the flashes in the front, then made it black & white, added my signature, and uploaded it to my Flickr page.

I would love to try this again, even if it is from my backyard. But I will need to make sure it’s clear skies, no moon, and everyone in Davis County shuts off their lights so I can get my shot. That’s not too much to ask, right?

Oh, and if you didn’t catch it, the answer is Ursa Major (a.k.a. Big Dipper).

~signed, Carltonaut

Alphabet Photo Challenge, Black & White

CTE Weekly Photo Challenge – M is for Music

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Life is CrAZy! If it wasn’t for the two photo challenges I am following, I wonder if I would have very many photos shared on a more regular basis. Let’s hear it for photo challenges!!

As I thought about shooting a photo for M, I thought about a few options. Mustard on a hotdog was one option, but I didn’t have any hotdog buns to get a better setup. So I thought music could be a good use of M, and what better instrument to use than our upright piano.

033112 CTE - Music BW

Canon 60D | 50mm lens | 1/20 | f/3.5 | ISO 800

One of my favorite things in life is sitting in the living room listening to my wife play the piano. Whether she is playing ragtime or religious, I find it relaxing and I fall in love with my wife all over again.

Back to the photograph – Initially I tried using my Canon Speedlite 430 EXII flash, but it was too bright and washed out the lines between the piano keys. So I turned off the flash and took a few more shots. After I set up the shot the way I wanted it, I switched over to RAW and grabbed another shot.

I opened the RAW file in Photoshop and adjusted the white balance from As Shot to Auto, then opened the image. I converted it to grayscale, increased the contrast to 50 and lowered the brightness to -30 to get the final result.

To wrap up… in the words of Julie Andrews, “These are a few of my favorite things.”

~signed, Carltonaut