Take a bite out of… a chocolate chip cookie?

CarltonautCanon 60D, Canon Speedlite 430EX II, chocolate chip, cookie, delicious, dessert, food, kitchen, macro, off-camera flash, pepperidge farm, Pepperidge Farms, photo, photo challenge, photograph, photographer, photography, plate, snack Leave a comment

One week ago I put a photo challenge out to a photo group on Facebook as follows:

PHOTO CHALLENGE: You’ve just been contacted by a cookie company relocating to Utah. They’re looking for a freelance photographer to capture their cookies and plan to use the photos in all their advertisements. Capture a photo of any cookie(s) that you feel would convince them to hire you. Deadline is Sunday (3/10) at midnight. Happy shooting – and enjoy eating the samples.

In response to that challenge, I am submitting my own photo of a Pepperidge Farm cookie that was delicious. Trust me!

I guess if the photo makes you crave a cookie, I have taken a good photo. But not sure if this photo would convince the cookie company to hire me. I’ve got more practicing to do. Bring. It. On.

~signed, Carltonaut

February 25, 2013Just for fun

A different kind of photo challenge: The Morning Snooze

Carltonautalarm, alarm clock, assignment, button, camera, canon, capture, creative, creativity, home, iPhone, morning, Nikon, photo, photo challenge, photographer, photography, point of view, snooze, Sony, test Leave a comment

There are many people or groups that throw photo challenges out there. I am the leader of one group and try to put out creative photo challenges that will push us to try something different or see something in a new light. The rules of this photo challenge take some explaining, so I figured a blog post about it would work best – then I will share the link with the CTE Salt Lake City Photography Meetup group. Others are welcome, of course, to take on the challenge, too.

This challenge is for Friday morning, March 1. Before you go to bed on Thursday night, place your camera (any camera) next to your alarm clock. When your alarm goes off, hit the snooze button. Your task is to take a photo of something before the snooze timeframe ends and your alarm sounds again. Depending on how you have it set, that will range from 3 to 10 minutes. Either way, act fast.

One additional rule – don’t set up your shot the night before. Maybe you’ll end up capturing the iron sitting on the ironing board. Maybe it’s the wicker hamper full of dirty clothes. Or even an electrical socket. Either way, capture something and try looking at it from a different view point. Be fast – the snooze won’t last all day!

If you’ve opted to take part in this photo challenge, share a link to your photo in the comments below, and provide a little description about it that will lead people into clicking on the link to see your photo. I look forward to seeing what people capture.

If Friday morning just isn’t an option for you, then take advantage of the challenge on a morning that will work for you. But remember, no prepping the shot – only setting the camera in the room so you don’t have to waste precious time grabbing your camera. Good luck.

~ signed, Carltonaut

February 20, 2013Black & White

Just another bright idea in photography

Carltonaut50mm lens, background, black and white, bright, canon, idea, light, light bulb, photo, photo challenge, photographer, photography, Portfolio, postaday, postaweek, silhouette, speedlight 430EX II Leave a comment

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.

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

February 4, 2013Macro, WordPress Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Carltonaut100mm, art, canon, Canon 60D, color, Crayola, crayola crayons, crayon, iso 400, macro, photo, photo challenge, photograph, photography, postaday, postaweek, uniform, unique, WordPress Leave a comment

I bought a 24-pack of Crayola crayons a while back with the intent of taking a photo set up something like the photo below. But life tends to get away from me often and I don’t have time to really setup as many shots as I have planned. So when I saw the Daily Post at WordPress.com’s Weekly Photo Challenge, I figured I could alter my initial idea to make something… unique.

Canon 60D | 100mm Macro | 1/40 | f/5.0 | ISO 400 | RAW

I felt that keeping one crayon away from the crowd would be more unique than the uniformity of a circle. But I captured a photo of the circle, too, if you want to check it out.

The colors of Crayola, combined with the colors Canon can capture made for a great photo. Your thoughts?

~signed, Carltonaut

January 31, 2013WordPress Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Love (Wedding Band)

Carltonautcanon, Canon 60D, heart, husband, LED, lighting, love, macro, photo challenge, photograph, photography, postaday, postaweek, religion, ring, scripture, Valentine's Day, wedding, wife Leave a comment

With Valentines Day just around the corner, it was pretty fitting for The Daily Post at WordPress.com to make the Weekly Photo Challenge topic Love. I would have enjoyed capturing some photos of my wife and I together for love, but she’s gonna be in Houston for a few more weeks so that wasn’t an option.

As a Pinner, I have seen a few variations on this photo and thought I could capture it using my wedding band and one of my favorite scriptures about love.

Ephesians 5: 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

My biggest challenge in taking the photo was fighting with the light glare off of the page. There was no angle that would offer me the heart shadow the way I wanted it without making a bad glare that was pretty distracting in the photo.

My wife will probably never read this, but I couldn’t end without saying that she is the love of my life, and I hope this photo conveys the love I have for her.

~signed, Carltonaut

January 23, 2013People, Travel, WordPress Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beyond (the lollipop)

Carltonautaquarium, beyond, candid, canon, Canon 60D, child, eyes, family, Houston, kid, lollipop, photo challenge, photograph, photography, postaday, postaweek, snack, Texas, Travel, treat 4 Comments

I learned about this week’s The Daily Post at WordPress.com’s Weekly Photo Challenge before I packed my kids and I up for a trip to Houston, Texas. So as we spent the weekend with my wife checking out parts of Houston, I was looking for a fun capture for BEYOND.

The moment came when my daughter was enthralled with the size of her lollipop. I think it’s every kids dream to get a lollipop this big – and it makes it difficult to look BEYOND the lollipop to see what else is going on around you.

Canon 60D | 18-135mm lens | 1/640 | f/16 | ISO 2000

(NOTE: I am not sure why my camera was set at ISO 2000. I guess that explains some of the graininess I’m seeing in the photo.)

After some fun checking out the Downtown Aquarium in Houston (including two rides on the Shark Voyage Train), we took a breather to grab a snack. This was her snack. I wish I would have been that excited about the large pretzel my wife and I got to share.

~signed, Carltonaut

January 16, 2013Just for fun, People

Self conscious about self portrait

Carltonaut50mm lens, backdrop, Canon 60D, Canon Speedlite 430EX II, compilation, daylight, LED Flashmate, model, photo challenge, photograph, photography, portrait, posing app, RAW, self portrait, setup, studio, wireless shutter release Leave a comment

My wife is gorgeous. Regardless of how many magazines tout the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, the Hottest Woman or the Sexiest Woman, my wife takes 1st prize. But no matter how often I tell her that, she refuses to let me photograph her in a studio setting.

My make-shift studio really came together thanks to Jolly Old St. Nicholas. I received a white roll of a studio backdrop, two light stands, and a very sturdy Manfrotto tripod. I already had the off-camera Speedlite 430EX II flash, the LED Flashmate, the 50mm lens, a wireless shutter release, and of course, the Canon 60D.

When a photo challenge was issued for a self portrait, I volunteered myself (obviously, since it was a self portrait) to step in front of the camera for some shots. Since I am far from an experience model (or model in general), I used the Posing App I had recently downloaded onto my iPhone so I knew how to stand and where to put my hands so it didn’t look any more awkward than it already was. To make it more interesting, I had a couple of clothes options nearby and switched it up. Here’s my compilation of the “Best Of” captures.

Canon 60D | 50mm lens | Slow, but varied | f/10 | ISO 100 | RAW

I did end up having some fun taking the photos and being the subject, but I have no plans of quitting my day job. As for the self conscious part, it took me a few days after I shot the photos to take the leap and share the photo compilation on the Facebook photography group. Now I guess I am doing more than taking a leap, I am jumping off a cliff.

I also thought I would share a photo of the setup I was using, in case someone else wanted to play the victim with whatever equipment they had.

In short, I had my LED Flashmate right behind me to illuminate the white backdrop. I had the basement window on my left and my Speedlite on my right at a 45-degree angle. It did end up leaving a shadow on the backdrop, but I was able to patch it out using Photoshop.

To return to how I started this post, I would love to put my wife in the studio and snap some photos of her so I can get that perfect photo of the perfect woman and place it on the wall in my office. But I don’t know if that will ever happen. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

~signed, Carltonaut

September 2, 2012GoPro, WordPress Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Free Spirit

Carltonautdive housing, family, GoPro, kayak, Labor Day, nature, outdoors, paddle, photo challenge, photography, postaday, postaweek, summer, Travel, trip, vacation, water, weather, white clouds 5 Comments

I must confess that the idea for this photo came from my wife. When I read the challenge on Friday, I wasn’t sure what I could do and thought I would end up spending a lot of time thinking, or even over-thinking, the challenge. But when I mentioned it to my lovely wife, she pointed out that we were going kayaking the next day, which could be a great representation of the Free Spirit photo challenge.

Although I would have loved to take my Canon 60D out on the kayak with me, my nightmare of losing the camera into the water got the better of me. But, I had my GoPro, dive housing and a 16 GB SD card, so I headed out on the lake.

After getting out into the water, I took a few shots from under the water – but worried that the green, murky water didn’t bode well for a great photo, so I took some shots from the surface, capturing the kayak on the water, with the stark contrast of the white clouds and blue sky above. I wish I had a floating contraption that would have allowed me to not stretch out my arm and have it be that awkward part of the photo, but I made do with what I had.

Once I got home and surveyed the photos, I found the one above and brought it into Photoshop. I made some minor adjustments to the levels, and thought I would also make some adjustments to the saturation – just to give it a slightly different look. I thought a lens flare would look good on the photo, but then my purist thoughts got the better of me. I didn’t want to doctor the photo and add elements I hadn’t captured in the shot.

As for the free spirit part of the photo… I love kayaking. I love paddling my way out onto a lake, setting the paddle across the cockpit and floating there on the water. It is a great way to escape from the hussle and bussle of life and simply enjoy nature. Regardless of how rough the lake water is, I enjoy getting away from shore.

With Labor Day marking the unofficial end of summer, I am not sure how many more kayaing trips my family and I will be able to get in before things start to get a little chilly and eventually ice over, but for a Labor Day weekend, it was a great end to the summer vacations!

~signed, Carltonaut

August 12, 2012WordPress Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wrong

Carltonautauto, Canon 60D, car, county fair, crash, demolition derby, entertainment, fairgrounds, photo, photo challenge, photographer, photography, picture, postaday, postaweek, salt lake county, Salt Lake County Fair, Salt Lake Equestrian Park, smash, tire, transmission, transportation, vehicle, wreck, wrong 5 Comments

It’s been far to long since I’ve contributed to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, which is wrong in and of itself. So with this week’s photo challenge theme, I tried to find something that was wrong. Instead, I found an event that, if something went wrong, you were out for the count.

As you can tell from the photos I shared, it was a demolition derby with the Salt Lake County Fair. Here are four photos from the event, and each one has something wrong with the car. Can you tell what it is without looking at the answers at the end of this post?

ANSWERS: 1) Stuck in the mid; 2) Lost the transmission; 3) No rear tire (among other things); and 4) A really messed up front tire.

It was fun shooting the demolition derby, but it would have been really cool to have been the one flying a GoPro attached to a remote control helicopter right over the arena. However, I would have been worried about getting too low, falling into the arena and getting it demolished.

What have you photographed from your county or state fair?

~signed, Carltonaut

July 9, 2012GoPro, WordPress Photo Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Movement

CarltonautBear Lake, biff, boat, boating, GoPro, kayak, lake, life jackets, movement, outdoors, outtakes, photo, photo challenge, photography, photography adventure, postaday, postaweek, splash, Travel, trip, tubing, vacation, water, waterproof, waterproof case 12 Comments

I was vacationing with my family in Bear Lake when I saw the email on my iPhone about this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge. I went through my camera bag to survey my equipment and made a game plan for Saturday to capture movement.

GoPro? Check. Waterproof case? Check. Boat? Check. Tube? Check.

Let the photography adventure begin.

Once we got the troubled boat out of the harbor (long story), we loaded it up with life jackets and family (ages 3 to 65) and headed out on the water. When it was my turn to get into the tube, I grabbed my GoPro and jumped in. My sister got in the other tube and off we went.

I originally set my GoPro on video, but once my sister fell off, I switched over to a photo every 0.5 seconds and the boat floored it. My goal, as weird as it sounds, was to get a cool “biffing” shot, and so I was pretty excited when I went through my photos at the end of the day and found this photo mixed amidst a ton of other ones only half as cool.

I found some other outtakes from the day’s events and shared them on my Facebook page. Check em out!

~signed, Carltonaut

Carltonaut

Photos of (and out of) this world

Tag Archives: photo challenge

A different kind of photo challenge: The Morning Snooze

Just another bright idea in photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Weekly Photo Challenge: Love (Wedding Band)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beyond (the lollipop)

Self conscious about self portrait

Weekly Photo Challenge: Free Spirit

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wrong

Weekly Photo Challenge: Movement

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