Today's Photographing the Photographer (PTP) shoot involved product photography.   Though I did assist in placement and set up I was eager to grab the camera for a few pics of Tim working.  I think he may have given in to the idea of me taking his picture as he didn't make any faces at me.  He may have also been just that focused (pun intended) on what he was doing.  The 5D isn't so great in low light and I had the iso set at 1600.  The light sources were mixed so I went with b&w for the final edit. 

I am finally starting to get a decent grasp on using the 5D and have been having way to much fun taking pictures of pretty much everything I can.  I think even the cats are getting tired of having the camera pointed at them.  I noticed one person in particular that really hates having the camera pointed at him and that would be Tim.  What's up with that???  I mean come on!  He is a good look'in guy!  For my next little project I am going to shoot behind the scenes and photograph the Photographer.  I am quite sure I will get busted simpl because I am just not that subtle.  I may even have to pull out the guilt trip and will go so far as to rub under his nose the fact that I have been his test subject fo rthe past 15 years.  Now, this isn't technically a working shot but he as rock'in the "power pose" and actually held still without making a face. ;)

Tim teaches a macro class for Understand Photography so I figured it was time to see what I could get. He has stopped setting the camera up for me and now just tells me what I need.  I took the 5D with the  70-200 Canon L lens and extension tube.  He gave me a brief tutorial and then sent me on my way to explore.  First thing I noticed was the weight! lol So I grabbed the monopod, which did help.  I also noticed that I tend to sway. :P I will have to work on that one.  I got what I would consider your standard flower pictures but also played around with some macro shots of the cars.  Those didn't seem so popular on facebook but I think they are cool. ;)  After taking some macro shots I took a dinner break then hung out on the breezeway to catch the sunset.  The sunset wasn't as brilliant as I had hoped but there were some great colors in the clouds to the South.  I then switched the camera setting to B (bulb) and played around with leaving the shutter open.  I managed to get an S but couldn't spell out the name Sam. lol The heart shape was pretty easy to catch.  I think it would be a bit more fun if the subject was the one moving and not me!

Here are some pictures taken with the G12 set on a macro setting.  I think the difference between the two is pretty obvious!  Though you do get a pretty flower pic with the G12 it certainly doesn't give you the bokeh that the 5D set up does.  The depth of field is  greater with the G12 which I would rather NOT have when taking these pictures.  Well, I guess a bit more DOF with the 5D would be ok since it was so shallow that I couldn't get the whole hibiscus flower in.  

Now for some of the car pictures taken with the 5D, 70-200, extension tube set up.  The sunset and bulb pis were done with out the extension tube. I did a bit of editing on the cloud and the S picture  using shadow and highlight in PS2.  As for the rest of the images I used levels to make slight adjustments.

I will say it again, I NEED a camera! lol Tim usually takes both of his when he goes out on a shoot so I am left with the G12.  I guess in a way this is making me work on my creativity.  It does have the ability to shoot in M which is helpful as I can just play around with the settings to see what happens.  We had finally gotten some rain so I took advantage of the overcast skies which offered a beautiful even light.  I set the G12 to macro and took a few flower pictures.  Tim does have extension tubes for the bigger cameras but we just haven't gotten to the point to playing around with those yet.

My Mom and Dad, Robert and Margie of Lone Eagle Studios, made a couple more gorgeous pieces and wanted some photos taken.  The request was that I be the model, which isn't the easiest thing to do when your also the photographer but hey, why not?  Tim was busy and couldn't help me set up lights to I set myself up by the window and used natural light.  From there I used a trigger and tried my best to check my reflection in the lens. lol I had to do some creative editing in CS2 to compensate for the poor lighting.  I don't really mind since I tend to lean towards artistic editing anyway.  The second set I decided to use the dressform.  I got set up with the 5D and the 85, thinking I would just use natural light again.  I took my set of pics but Tim suggested I at least play around with a small softbox and speedlight.  I instantly liked the speedlight pics better.  I took it a step further and used a large piece of white foam board as a reflector, another trick he taught me a while back. ;) 

We have been geocaching on and off for the past 10 years or so.  My husband came up to me one day and said he wanted a GPS unit.  He promised it would be a great thing to have on road trips and that we would never get lost again!  Little did I know he had discovered geocaching.  It didn't take long for me to realize how much fun it really was/is.  We would take day trips focused solely on caching.  When ever we went out of town we would ALWAYS look up what caches where in the area.  Now if you have no idea what I am talking about I will offer this quick explaination and reffer you to geocaching.com.  Basically you get the coordinates for a cache, you put those into your GPS unit, then go in search of the cache.  Oh, did I mention they are hidden, can come in many different shapes and sizes AND you have to keep it all secret so you don't get caught by "muggles"??? 

We haven't been in a while so we decided to head out today to see what we could find.  Since picking up the 5D I find it hard to not take every opportunity to take pictures.  I know Tim wanted a day off but was still very sweet about answering my questions.  For the most part I just hung back and looked through the lens, it still amazes me how different the world looks.  I am at the stage where I will take 20 pictures and only like about half of them.  Now, I am not as quick to take the picture as I once was, I really do try to think about what it is I want from the picture, I don't however want a card full of junk. :P 

A few of these pictures are from cacheing and a few are from a park we played at after.  Just one of the many things I love about Florida, play parks right by the water. ;)

I have finally gotten to the point where I will pick up the 5D and not freak out about dropping it or messing something up.  In fact I am getting to the point where I would really like my own camera.  The 5D and the 5D MKIII are Tim's "working" cameras so I do hesitate and make sure to ask what card is in it.  I just want something that I can shoot with other than the G12.  I am really starting to see the difference in sensor sizes and want something that will give me better quality.  I know, I know I hear it all the time.  A "good" photographer can make a great picture with any camera, HOWEVER, you can see a difference in the quality of a point and shoot and a camera with a bigger sensor.  So can other people.  I post pics to fb and don't always say what I shot it with.  I have noticed that more people comment or give me the thumbs up when I post images from the 5D.  If you agree with me or not doesn't really change the fact that I want my own rig! lol 

I was going to take pictures of the sunset last night and tried to get a few of the boys as well.  Sheesh!  I am finding the hardest thing to photograph is a photographer!!!