Friday, September 25, 2009

21 Day Shoot’n Challenge (fall ‘09)

Fall road trip extravaganza is screaming up on the schedule & I want to get familiar with my camera again before that happens so I figure I’ll revisit the 21 day challenge.

The Focus / Rules
1) Shoot each day but I’m going to give myself some wiggle room on the processing. I know it’s going to be tough just to shoot daily never mind process.
2) Key on landscape / wildlife shots as that will be the subject matter of the upcoming trip.
3) Pay attention to in camera crops, exposure, etc (the technical stuff). I’ve been a little sloppy with that lately just taking extra frames quick-quick run-run.
4) I know I can’t force creativity but getting those juices flowing before the trip is what I really want out of this.

***Post to comments if you're going to join in***

Day 01 (Sept 25, 2009) 4:53pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/100 | f 6.3 | iso 200 | 40mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure (bump up) | b/w preset
Backstory: I had literally five minutes between packing for Three Hills & catching my ride. Thought the b/w was a nice save.

Day 02 (Sept 26, 2009)4:46pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/1000 | f 4.0 | iso 200 | 25mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure (bump up) | sepia preset
Backstory: Break between volleyball games in Three Hills. Ironically I was doing this in the spring when we were in Three Hills for basketball. Hard to find subjects on a windy fall day with crap light.

Day 03 (Sept 27, 2009)2:03pm | Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/250 | f 10 | iso 200 | 18mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure (bump up) | crop | preset autumn
Backstory: No excuse not to have a good shot today. Might have punched the color too much in the processing though.

Day 04 (Sept 28, 2009)7:44pm | Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/6 | f 4.0 | iso 200 | 27mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure (reduce) | crop | preset PH city
Backstory: A dog walk shot. I liked what the preset did to the colors. Otherwise I should have gone with a higher ISO (think McFly) & ideally a tripod.

Day 05 (Sept 29, 2009)7:31pm | Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/8 | f 3.5 | iso 200 | 18mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): shit show
Backstory: Headless chicken... slightly better than the 'out the truck window' shot which was the alternative. If I was processing daily I'd at least have bumped up the iso. That said this process is working. If I am not able to shoot I'm at least plotting & scheming about it. Look at this shot as the low point of the process (lets hope so at least)

(Note: Day 01-05 processed before shooting day 06)

Day 06 (Sept 30, 2009)
7:26pm | Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/15 | f 5.6 | iso 200 | 55mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): Crop | Preset "Dramatic Ocean" | Exposure (bump up)
Backstory: About a kilometer north of High River, there wasn't much color in the sky as I was hoping for. I need to revist some tutorials on how to deal with this one better.

Day 07 (Oct 01, 2009)
4:58pm | Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/400 | f 13 | iso 200 | 24mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): preset 'Green Door' | fairly heavy crop
Backstory: Was in the field all day surveying but tight schedule so it came down to another five minute shoot before bolting for volleyball. Shooting into the sun gave this shot an interesting contrast combined with the preset. I like this one.

Day 08 (Oct 02, 2009)
7:25pm | Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 0.6 | f 3.5 | iso 800 | 18mm | flash DNF | Tripod |
Processing (Lightroom): none
Backstory: Clouded over, spitting, and quite dark compared to other days at a similar time. I struggled with making these selections as it works as a b/w too. Wasn't crazy about the dead leaves.

Day 09 (Oct 03, 2009)
9:41am| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/3 | f 16 | iso 200 | 33mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): none
Backstory: Trying to get the soft blurred effect hand held. Tripod would have been good for these shots but also had to keep up with my hiking partners. Branches aren't as sharp as I'd like.

(Note: Day 06-09 processed before shooting day 10)

Day 10 (Oct 04, 2009)
5:38pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/50 | f 5.0 | iso 200 | 28mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure | crop | Preset 'Fort Knox'
Backstory: Snowy rainy schleppy day... a few shots around the garden. Like the color, little else, & not happy that I couldn't at least get the exposure & crop in camera. Sigh...

Day 11 (Oct 05, 2009)
7:05pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/30 | f 3.5 | iso 200 | 21mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure | crop & straighten |
Backstory: One of my favorite 'walk in the woods' type places. Notice the crop & exposure. Yup, I see a trend developing.

Day 12 (Oct 06, 2009)
6:48pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/125 | f 5.0 | iso 200 | 145mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure | dust spot removal (for metal post) |
Backstory: Didn't quite capture the feel of the clouds etc (argueably a little late getting to a suitable spot) & the wind was gusting to 100kmph so shooting from the cab using the door to stabalize the shot... well, it was timed between buffets. Used the dust spot removal tool to kill a metal post that was ruining the shot. It was either that or no cows & I wanted the cows. Without getting out of the truck. Now isn't that more than you really needed to know? Anyway, a nice western theme I thought.

Day 13 (Oct 07, 2009)
5:33pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/250 | f 10.0 | iso 200 | 24mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): crop |
Backstory: On the way to Strathmore (volleyball). To fully appreciate this shot you have to imagine Shannon in the passenger seat screaming at me for a full stop on the hiway with water on either side of the road. Like I'm going to drive into the water...

Day 14 (Oct 8, 2009)
7:06pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/8 | f 3.5 | iso 200 | 24mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): none |
Backstory: Frigging cold snowy day. Looks like old George could use a heavier coat. Got the exposure & crop this time.

Day 15 (Oct 09, 2009)
4:29pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/2000 | f 4.5 | iso 200 | 33mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure |
Backstory: The 'insurance shot' but nothing backed it up since I worked until almost dark. This is the story with most of the fall color this year. It was so warm nothing turned & then got slammed by the cold weather. Some leaves have dropped while still mostly green.

Day 16 (Oct 10, 2009)
11:30am| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/60 | f 5.6 | iso 200 | 39mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): exposure (slight) |
Backstory: Liked the colors & textures in the flash frozen chard. A cold snowy day in the garden freezing my fingers off digging carrots etc out of the half frozen ground, busting into the rainbarrels with a hammer... good times.

Day 17 (Oct 11, 2009)
6:33pm| Canon Rebel EOS 300D | 1/15 | f 3.5 | iso 200 | 18mm | flash DNF | Handheld |
Processing (Lightroom): crop | preset Dramatic Ocean (liked what it did to the colors) |
Backstory: Yet another shot in my garden. Cold & blah.

Day 18 (Oct 12, 2009)
*FAIL*
Backstory: I was out in the morning for at least an hour & half with Tessa (nice and sunny for a change). Saw a coyote, muskrats, ducks, geeze, neat frost formations etc. Lots of shots framed in my head where the exposure & crops were spot on!
(Day 13 -17 processed Day 19)

So that's a bit short of 21 days but I'm setting the brake on this project. By way of a summary it was middling effective in terms of results (mostly due to lack of time & or crappy light) but I think on objective #4 I was successful. I'm ready to go shoot in the sunny south. Especially since there is now a good 4" of snow on the ground!

3 comments:

GoldCanuck said...

First!

Sodbuster said...

That's nice Moe... you joining in?

GoldCanuck said...

Going to try. You'd think with being "retired" that I'd be walking around with camera in hand everywhere. uhhhhhh.....