362/365 - Jim - Jeans

( f/11 28mm 1/125 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

I have been wanting to take a photo like this for a while, but just never set up it up until now. Carol held him which was no easy task. He kept bouncing and staring at his feet, so it was difficult to get him looking at the camera. I would have liked to have the background totally white, but I would have needed a lot more space and probably another flash. That is something I can perfect once my studio is finished.

349/365 - Carol - Nolan

( f/5.6 50mm 1/500 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

We took a walk around the block today and put the kids in the Radio Flyer wagon. Halfway through the walk, we switched and I pulled the wagon. Carol carried my camera and I told her to take some pictures. I figured she would say no, but she actually took some photos. I set it up so all she had to do was hit the shutter. When I loaded the pictures on the computer, I was surprised to find this one. She framed this one nicely and I'm not sure she really meant to. See Carol, maybe you could get into photography...

321/365 - Jim - Presque Isle

( f/8 56mm 1/1000 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

We went to Presque Isle today for the kids to play at the beach. I'm not a beach person, so I was there for photos. Jameson had a great time going in the water and playing in the sand. Nolan wasn't able to do much, but did enjoy jumping in the water. With it being nearly 90 degrees, I was ready to get back into air conditioning immediately, so I took the trip out with my dad to get pizza for our dinner. We had it so cool in the car that when I grabbed the pizza to take to the picnic table, I thought we chilled it. It turned out alright though and was a nice day.

318/365 - Jim - Many Faces of Carol

( f/4.5 56mm 1/80 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

My uncle Tim suggested that I take a photo of someone and mirror each side of their face. He said the results looked like totally different people. Carol was kind enough to let me try this out. Instead of taking the whole image down the middle and mirroring it, I just grabbed her facial features so it wouldn't look really weird. I should have had the lights exactly the same way on each side because one side is more shadowed than the other which made it difficult for me. On the left is Carol's right side of her face mirrored. The middle photo is the original. The right photo is of Carol's left side mirrored. I don't think she looks like different people, but I can definitely see differences. The right photo is my favorite Carol :)

223/365 - Jim - Mother's Day

( f/8 40mm 1/125 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Here are the boys with their mother. I brought one of my studio flashes upstairs to the living room and staged the shot. This was actually the first shot of almost 50 that I took. After that first shot, it became much more difficult to get them all looking my general direction, so I wish I would have known I didn't have to keep bribing Jameson to sit nicely. Happy Mother's Day!

124/365 - Jim - A Mother's Kiss

( f/11 60mm 1/125 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Theme is kiss. I originally wanted to have a photo of my son Jameson kissing Nolan on the head, but he was sick all day. This was the best photo of the group. Nolan kept crying when my wife held him out to give him a kiss. I used a flash with softbox to the left and behind to get the nice highlights around the left edges. I also had a flash with softbox to the right just in front of the camera as a main light.

111/365 - Jim - Here We Go Steelers

( f/11 24mm 1/125 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Today we show our Steeler spirit in preparation for the big game against Baltimore. Courtney will be at the game cheering for us all. I will be at home on that couch to he right staying warm, but I would love to be there. Go Steelers!

096/365 - Jim - Polaroid Infinity

( f/6.3 70mm 1/160 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Theme is Polaroid. This is an old Time-Zero OneStep Polaroid Land Camera that my grandfather gave me. I don't have any film for it and I believe they will be stopping production of film soon. I used a feature in Picasa 3 to turn my photo into a Polaroid look and then used that in Paint Shop Pro to make it look like it is coming out of the camera. My wife was kind enough to go out onto the cold deck so I could have a nice background. The sun was lighting the background nicely and the house blocked the sun from Carol, so I used my SB-800 flash with the Lightsphere as a fill and to prevent the background from being too bright.