Loving Photography
HDR self portrait, Mark Miner
I like taking photographs much more than I like being the subject. I never quite relax when I get my picture taken. Once in a while there is a picture that I like of myself. This is one of them.
Taking a picture in low light with no flash makes for a very real picture. The trade-off is a very shallow depth-of-field. (note, my eye is in focus yet the word Nikon on the camera is not.) Also, low light photography almost always has a slow shutter speed. With a slower shutter speed, both the camera and the subject have to be extraordinarily still.
This picture was taken on Greg and Lana’s sailboat at night with just a small background light. The iso is 1100 and the shutter speed is 1/100. The aperture is 1.4 which is as wide open as this lens gets. (this is what causes the shallow depth of field.)
The photo has obviously been post processed. The software is topaz adjust.
-Mark-
Pictures from the trip!
George, Hurricane Hole, Key West, Florida!
I finally got through the pictures from the trip. There are pictures from Wichita Falls TX, New Orleans LA, Key West FL, South Beach FL, Washington D.C., Cleveland OH, Chicago IL, and Des Moines IA! Enjoy!
Couchsurfing Chicago Style
Amy IS salsa!
First of all, let me say. I think they really got something right with this couchsurfing….
Recently I had the chance to visit Chicago CS style. I packed up some road food, (tortillas, peanut butter, honey and chips) loaded up my audio book and set out for Chicago from Des Moines. First stop was the wonderful condo very near downtown of Daryl, a 30yr old OR nurse who has been with couchsurfing since 2007. He showed me his place, gave me a set of keys to the very secure building and then he left for work. The place was great, had a spare bedroom and bathroom, and was in a wonderful location. I made a tortilla with PB and honey and headed out to Chicago on the EL train. Ten minutes later I was downtown. Over the next two days a fellow couchsurfer, Zac arrived and we hit a number of museums. (I have a membership to the Sci center of Des Moines, this got us into the field museum, The Chicago science center and the Adler planetarium all at NO charge.) Daryl had to work days so he caught up with us nights and showed us around Chicago including the best place to take a skyline picture!
We were having a wonderful time in Chicago and no place yet to stay on Friday. (Daryl had other surfers coming in) We went to the Chicago couchsurfing event on Thursday night. I met a bunch of cool couchsurfers including Amy and Greg. Greg said we could crash wherever he was crashing on Friday night. Amy was having a salsa party fundraiser on Friday night and she invited Zac and I to go. When we arrived we could hear the salsa music from a block away. It was great fun, there were many interesting people there. We met Amy’s roomates and all of us went out for drinks afterward. Everybody was very nice. We ended up staying at Amy’s place which was just a short walk from the bar. She had a great place, a comfy couch and a great shower! I left for home on Saturday morning. Viva la couchsurfing!!!
Mark
Real Art
This is very well done and is what I would call real art. Stop motion photography is my next project. I would love to make something like this.
There is a stupid youtube ad that comes up. Click the tiny x on the ad and you will not see it the rest of the video!