Flash+Fisheye+Full Frame = Fun

Playing with this combination for a recent CSLR challenge and got some cool results. Going full frame was like getting a whole new bag of lenses! Never realized how wide 17mm was and now my fisheye properly covers 180 degrees!
Never thought of using a fisheye for a portrait but I figured since I was shooting a picture of me, I might as well make it as distorted as possible to distract from subject :)
Stopping down the 15mm fisheye really creates some extreme DOF - from my toes which are just inches from the lens to the clouds behind me - cool.

CSLR Challenge 139: Making of a Creative Self Portrait

2008 was a great year for my photography, I learned alot off the web and really tried to be consistent in getting out and shooting and doing the CSLR challenges - Even won a few. But starting a new job at the end of the year really put my camera back in the bag - Even a new 5Dmkii wasn't enough to get me going - man work sucks!
After a long hiatus, I finally get my first CSLR entry of 2009 with a composite black and white image, which, after finishing and posting it, I admit seems to rip off of the Debeer's Commercial. Oh well, it was fun getting back into the creative process. And just in case anyone is curious as how this shot is done...

First Video

First Video
Originally uploaded by photogeek21

New toy in the house. Yep my 5d mkII came this week and I've been too busy to really put it to the test (what? how could I possibly be too busy to play with a new toy?)
Anyway, I am totally blown away with its low light performance and the amazing detail a 21megapixel image can contain. So far, none of the issues of the black spots that's all over the message boards have been seen. Then again, I'm not going to go looking for either.
Can't wait to get shooting with this thing.

A couple of Changes at 10framesasecond.com

Well, a blown out motherboard on my main box shutdown any work on the website for a couple weeks. But now, after many a box from Newegg.com, I'm rockin a killer Intel dual with 8G of ram (my first ever Intel build - but that's another story)
To celebrate the new box's power I'm tinkering with putting some video on the site. Alma usually films each game from the stands and this week the camcorder's battery was dead so I gave her my G9 and showed her how to take video with it - you know what? That G9 blew away our camcorder in terms of video quality and ease of getting out of the cam and into the box - think the Camcorder's going to start gathering dust. (Good, cause before this the G9 was gathering dust - but that's also another story)
Video was converted to .FLV using the Flash encoder in the CS3 suite and it was surprisingly snappy. Uploaded to my site, used the Shadowbox plugin to do the fancy video rolls in my Wordpress blog. - May just take off the wrapper and embed the JW FLV player which works pretty good.

Don't know where I'll take this right now, Thinking I may host the latest week's game. maybe market a DVD for a couple bucks with photo orders or wrap the whole thing up with some stills and make some flash based slideshow/screensavers for download...

Pulled the 'pre' trigger

I've been wanting to go full frame for a long time but couldn't bear to spring for the cash for the 5D when a new one was right around the corner. So when my .rss feeds started to light up with all the 5d mkii announcements I read all the early reports, got all pumped up and went right over to Amazon and pre-ordered the body. Can't wait, This time November I should be rockin' 21Megapixels, gonna have to buy a couple 1TB HDs to go with it!

CSLR Challenge 128 - A knock out!

My entry 'Lights Outs' got the top vote in CSLR Challenge 128. I was very surprised since it was up against some very good entries. Now normally this image would have been part of my effort in getting the TaW series back up since it took a quite a bit to get my flabby, boney 40year old body to look like a boxer but I'm afraid the 'before' pictures are just too embarasing! So just know there was liberal use of the Liquify tool....

A Pleasant Surprise...

Seems like my shot from the Phoenix Photowalk wasn't that bad after all. I entered it in the CSLR challenge #127:Arcs and it was voted into the top spot! Now, excuse me I need to think of the next challenge topic....