Weekend Getaway

123mm @ ISO 200, f/8.0 & 1/800s

So after I got back home life was pretty hectic and I have been pretty busy ever since (hence the lack of updates) but my parents and sister came out for Labor Day weekend to see me and we had a nice relaxing time.  I brought my camera with me while I was hanging out with them and even though I didn't take many pictures while I was with them, I took my camera out while we were lounging by the pool and I got this great picture of my sister.  I used my telephoto 55-250mm lens so that I could frame her face properly and set the camera to Av (aperture priority) and dialed in f/8.0 so all of her features would be in focus and the background was just the pool so I didn't need a lower aperture to blur the background.  I had it on ISO 200 and, in hindsight, I probably could have had it on 100 but it is what it is and the picture still came out great without noise.  A little bit of adjustment in Lightroom and Photoshop resulted in the great portrait above.  Hope you like it!

Home

96mm @ ISO 100, f/8.0 & 10s

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last post but I was quite busy getting settled in the States once again. Now that I am back in Phoenix and settling down, I'm hoping to get many more good pictures for you all. Anyway, this picture was taken during a beautiful lightning storm this evening. I was going up the mountain this was shot from to get some sunset pictures, but the ones I did get seemed really flat and the beautiful sun was nearly gone by the time I got set up. This turned into shooting the night scene of Phoenix and luckily some lightning was on the horizon. So lucky! I had my camera on the tripod and used the "Bulb" setting to control how long the exposure would be and dialed the aperture to f/8.0 and shot as many shots as I could get. After a bunch of misses, I got this shot above with a couple strikes together and the clarity was "shocking." Hope you like the Snap!

Kayamandi Man

53mm @ ISO 100, f/8.0 & 1/100s

The above shot was taken from the car whilst driving though Kayamandi. This man and his walking stick were walking by us and I loved the quick shot I got. Due to some very bright and gray skies, I cropped down the shot to level out the shot and since it was mid-day, the colors were very washed out so I thought a B&W would be best suited for this shot. I reduced noise (though there was almost none due to ISO 100) with Noiseware and sharpened with PS's "Unsharp Mask" then converted to B&W with Silver Efex. With some curve tweaking and a 1-stop Gradient added I finally felt like the shot was complete. It is a bit harsh, but I think it fits with the time of day and the feeling I wanted to convey. Let me know what you think though.

Cheers!

Winter?

214mm @ ISO 400, f/8.0 & 1/1000s

To start off the new direction of the blog, I used the above shot. I admit this isn't from today but yesterday but I loved it just the same. The shot was taken with my telephoto (Canon 55-250mm IS, if anyone forgot) and since its "macro" range is minimum 3.6 feet, I had to get pretty far away from the subject. This tree by our house was completely bare, due to it (supposedly) being winter, but a few confused flower petals burst forth the last couple days and I thought the juxtaposition was gorgeous. I got very low to the ground, and was basically under the subject so that the Sun could properly light the subject and used the Aperture Priority Mode dialed to f/8.0. Unfortunately, my ISO was set to 400 where 200 would have been easily sufficient so I had to remove some noise post-shot. Overall I think the image turned out stunning and I hope you do too. Check back soon for more and comment if you have any advice or criticism. Also, you may notice a Facebook "Like" box below. Use it to pass on my blog to your friends! Alternatively, you can follow my blog by email by adding your email address to the box on the right.

Cheers!

P.S. I think I am going to keep the Sunday Fun Snap, so look out for that every Sunday!

New Directions

So it has come to my attention that my blog has unintentionally taken a direction that was not originally the scope of the blog. That scope, which was my original intention, was to post a good, professional, photo each day along with the specs of the shot and what I did to get that shot. Criticism and helpful tips could be posted about the shot to help me become a better photographer. As of late, my blog had become, in essence, somewhere for me to post a photo of something that happened in my life that day and the body of the post basically outlined that day. This was not my vision and from this post onward, the initial plan will be upheld. I also think I am going to get rid of the Sunday Fun Snap segment of the blog, at least for now (though I would like input as to whether you, viewers, agree). I want to thank everyone who has been following this blog so far and I hope that you all enjoy the new (and initially proposed) direction.

Expect a photo-post (I'll still refer to them as Snaps) tonight and hopefully I will get a good, professional-looking, shot everyday. Until my photographic "spidey-sense" develops (excuse the pun), I may only post a Snap every other day or so. I will post an update on Facebook and Google+ when a new post is available and hopefully, eventually they will come everyday. Thank you for a moment of your time and a few synapses of your brain.

Now to go take some real photos.

-Billy Gardiner-

Sunday Fun Snap 2: Only in Glass Houses...

55mm @ ISO 200, f/8.0 & 1/1000s

...And you happen to be stuck in that Glass House and provided that you have a stone with you. I really liked this sign at the Cape Point Lighthouse and though it may seem obvious not to do this, the sign still exists. This could definitely also be classified into one of Megan's Signs of Africa pics. If you've seen Demitri Martin, you would also get a giggle out of this sign as well. Hope everyone had a wonderful week and a great Monday to come tomorrow.

P.S. Remember to follow the site if you are enjoying it!

Cheers!

Beautiful Table Mountain

27mm @ ISO 200, f/8.0 & 1/500s

I love this shot of Table Mountain and I made it into an HDR. Had a wonderful time this weekend and even though this shot was technically from today, I thought they would make a great photo for Saturday's Snap. Going to be posting the Sunday Fun Snap here in a moment.

Forgetful

171mm @ ISO 200, f/8.0 & 1/200s

Because I am lame and didn't take any photos on Friday, I am going to post two photos for Saturday. Also, we went to Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point on Saturday for our "Staycation" in Cape Town last night, so I have some great photos from the trip. The photo above is of my lovely wife, hanging out and looking out over Cape Point. I hope you enjoy it. Following the two Snaps will be this week's Sunday Fun Snap, so get ready for that in a short while.

Macro Success!

50mm @ ISO 400, f/2.8 & 1/15s

In the wake of the library's success, I wanted to do a more artsy picture. I, once again, put on the 50mm prime and used that low aperture to my advantage. Since flowers are easy to find around here and we had some from the opening of the library, I thought they would make a fantastic subject. We are going to be going to The Cape of Good Hope and Robben Island this weekend, so I would expect a landscape shot for Saturday. And don't forget about the Sunday Fun Snap! I've got a good one for this week. As I said earlier, today's Snap will come later tonight. Thanks for following!

The Doors Are Open

18mm @ ISO 1600, f/5.0 & 1/50s

As promised, here is the picture from Wednesday. The library seems to be a huge success and we are quite pleased in how much we believe it will be utilized. Thursday's photo incoming...

Busy and Late

43mm @ ISO 800, f/7.1 & 1/50s with Flash

I want to say sorry to everyone for not posting that last three days. Things have been super busy with the opening of the Library on Tuesday and being there to run it on Wednesday and Thursday. The picture above is from the opening ceremony for Tuesday's post and I will post a second and third picture for Wednesday and Thursday shortly. Today's Snap will come later on tonight. Updates will become more regular now that things have settled down.

The Corruption

55mm @ ISO 800, f/4.5 & 1/50s

That's where it can be found! This is a bit of an inside joke but I also liked the picture so I thought I would use it today. Hope everyone's Monday was wonderful!

Sunday Fun Snap 1: Eez Mucho Fun!

18mm @ ISO 3200, f/3.5 & 1/15s

So I am going to start doing a photo on Sunday that is either fun or silly or just a photo that I really liked from the week. This photo is from a restaurant that we passed by in Cape Town and I thought it was hilarious and had to take a photo. Why we passed by it and didn't eat here, I don't know but I'm sure that the food here would be bueno. Hope everyone is doing well and have a great week.

Waiting for the Caretaker

194mm @ ISO 200, f/8.0 & 1/80s

Hello everyone! I am quite sorry that this post is so late but we have been really busy lately trying to get the library finished. Yay for opening it on Tuesday though! Anyway, we were waiting for the school to get opened on Saturday morning and I decided to play with my camera. I threw on my telephoto and loved this shot of Megan pondering life and its many nuances. Sunday's (today's) post will be coming in a little bit and I'm thinking of something special, so watch out soon for that post!

(Nearly) Completed Library

18mm @ ISO 400, f/3.5 & 1/25s

Here is the almost completely filled bookshelves of the nearly opened library. We were so elated to have all of the books actually at the school and getting most of them on the shelves and I thought I would take some shots of the shelves and room. If you would like more information on the Kayamandi High School Library Project, see Here. Hope you like the shot.

HDRainy Day

44mm @ ISO 400, f/7.1 & 1/50s with EV -2, 0, +2

Today's picture comes in the form of an HDR. For those of you that don't know what that is, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and it is most simply a collaboration of three photos set at different exposures to try and capture an image the way our eyes would see it. Today was rainy but the sun just peeked its head out for a moment and came rushing into the window of the library and I thought it was quite pretty. I hope you like it.

Busy Day

50mm @ ISO 100, f/5.6 & 1/50s with Flash

Today's picture is a little boring but we had a very busy day getting the library partially set up so I took a few snaps of a beautiful Protea flower in the bunch that we bought Megan for her birthday! Enjoy.

The Bookery

28mm @ ISO 400, f/4.0 & 1/30s

I want to give a big shout out to our friends at The Bookery in Cape Town. Today might have been my last day there and I want them to know how much we appreciate their help in giving Kayamandi High School a proper library. The picture above is from The Bookery. See you tomorrow!

Arachnophobia!

55mm @ ISO 100, f/11 & 1/125s with Flash

Today's picture came from the soon-to-be Kayamandi High School Library! Found this mammoth spider in the corner and noticed something small and white in its mouth. After taking the image and zooming in, I saw this...

Pretty scary! I didn't know which one I liked more to publish so I thought I would include both! Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying my blog and will check in regularly. Have a nice night!

Hello all! (and some coffee too!)

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog. This is a blog dedicated to posting one picture each day to force myself to take more pictures and to see the "picturesque" side of life. I want to take the step to becoming a more professional photographer and, in my opinion, the best way to do that is just take more pictures! So that's what I am going to do...

So here's the deal. Most posts will just consist of a picture followed by a VERY short description and the specs of the shot. If you have any feedback, I would be quite happy to hear it. Enjoy!

50mm @ ISO 200, f/2.5 & 1/80s

So we visited a coffee roaster today to do a coffee tasting and I decided to play with my Canon 50mm 1.8 II and got this shot.