Photography- Helloooo old friend!

So, it’s been nearly 11 months since I have last updated this blog.  over the last year I been blessed with the opportunity to gain some extremely nice camera equipment.  Not only have I been blessed with new gear but I have gained soo much knowledge on the art of photography.  I hope to share what I have learned with you starting with my next post!  oh by-the-way, I now have a portfolio site: matt moose photography Be sure to stop by!

Life- War Zone

So In no way am I comparing my living situation for this summer to anything that our troops all across the world are dealing with but, on a spiritual level it IS a battlefield.  Living in the “Bible-belt” of the United States, Church plays a large part in one’s upbringing.  Both of my roommates grew up in South Carolina so Church is not a foreign concept to them.  Both, I assume have been to enough events at a Church to know that Jesus is, “the truth, the way, and the light.” Yet, it does not seem to matter to either of them that the way they conduct themselves is dis-respectful to God and everything he stands for.  Making the most of their worldly lives and not making much of Christ.  On many occasions as a Christian I have felt my beliefs being threatened by rude or hurtful comments that poke fun at Christianity.  As a Christian, I obviously take offense but, I often do not know how to respond.  As a Christian I don’t want to appear as weak but I also have to remember to respond in a way that is Christian-like.  So, to me, the contradiction is obvious but to those who don’t see what I’m talking about.  I am having a hard time coming up with effective ways, as a Christian, to stand up for my self without lowering myself to their standard.  All while trying to be a good Christian and trying to make them see that what they say and do is wrong.  Pray for me in this last month of “war.”

Life- Technology and Quiet

So after a long hiatus, I am making a non-photo based post. And today I’d like to talk about how much I use technology and have gotten away from enjoying the common daily simplicity of life. For instance, a typical day (during the summer) includes: waking up, listening to my Zune on the way to and from work, get home from work listen to my Ipod Nano while at the gym lifting weights, come back and surf the Internet and look at the news and daily happenings on my desktop computer, find something to take a pictures of with my Nikon D300, watch a television show that I downloaded on my computer, then decide that I actually would like to watch a movie so I go into the living room and watch a movie on a 42 Inch HDTV with surround sound on a Sony PS3, go to bed and repeat. If you were to add up all the money that has been spent on technology in my daily life it would be well over $5,000 of (what I consider) technology that I come in contact on a daily basis. So now that I’ve defined what technology I come in contact with I’d just like to say that while not all technology is bad, some of it is not good. Every piece of technology aforementioned could argue in favor of or against depending on what you believe technology should be used for. For instance, the computer, someone of an older generation who did not grow up with computers could say that they are not needed and purely used for pleasure and entertainment. One counterpoint to this statement is, since the Internet, computers are a means of keeping up with current events, following live breaking news faster than old formats of information gathering like the newspaper or magazines. Computers can also be used to keep in touch with friends and family through communication programs like skype.  But, no mater how much technology you surround yourself with, you wont be able to appreciate how much you can get out of life by just sitting and taking in the world around you.  I think the times I enjoy most is when I go outside and just sit and read.  I remember enjoying those time much more than when I’m sitting in front of a computer or in front of a computer screen.  Something that I have not tried but, soon will, is driving to work without listening to the radio or my Zune.  I think I would enjoy just being able to think clearly without the distraction of music.  

Photography- Charleston Pictures

Here are three pictures I took while I was in Charleston for the Dave Matthews Band Concert on the 4th of July enjoy

Photography- Depth of Field

This week I’m going to talk about Depth of Field.  Depth of Field (DOF)is the portion of an image that is sharp and in-focus.  In photography DOF can be used for many things, particularly in composition.  Before I go into its uses there is some terminology that we should clear up first.  A wide aperture yields a shallow or small depth of field while a small aperture yields a deep or large depth of field.  This seems quite counterintuitive but it has to deal with the part of the lens called the aperture.  The aperture is the part of the lens that regulates the light that is allowed to focus on the sensor in your digital camera.  A lens’ f/stop is directly related to the aperture.  f/1.4 would be considered a low depth of field aperture while an f/stop of f/22 would be considered a high depth of field aperture.  Before I get to much more advanced I would just like to say that generally you want to shoot landscape photos around f/11 and low light situations around f/1.8.  You will often hear the quality if a lens referred to by its speed.  When someone say that the lens is really fast they mean that it has a large aperture/shallow depth of field.  Most zoom lens have a varied maximum aperture of f/5.6-3.5 this means that as you increase the focal plane the maximum aperture will vary.  If you have expensive lenses that value will be fixed, which for optical reasons is why it costs so much.

From a compositional standpoint, sharpness, clarity, and depth of field all play a roll in conveying a theme or message in photography.   With a shallow depth of field (large aperture) you can isolate subject  within the image.  With a large depth of field (small aperture) you can show extreme depth having both, the main subject and background in focus.  Something to also consider is sharpness.  Most lens yield the sharpest results at apertures in the middle of it’s minimum and maximum.  So achieving the effect you want should take into consideration the acceptable zone or range of sharpness the lens is capable of.

Life- Dave Matthews Band and More…

So a week from today is July 4^th and I will be in lovely Charleston, SC at the Charleston Riverdogs’ baseball stadium for what will be my second of two Dave Matthews Band concerts.  The first of my two concert stint will be in Charlotte, NC on July 1^st.  I am really looking forward to getting to hear the band this summer because last year I did not get to go to any of there concerts due to bad exam placement.  I had been to at least one Dave Matthews Band concert every year dating back to 2002 up until 2007.  This next week of shows really has the potential to be really amazing.  Ever since the beginning of the tour they have not been, what DMB groupies would call, playing normal shows.  Tim Reynolds has rejoined the band for the summer and the unofficial “6^th band member” Butch Taylor suddenly quit the band 3 days before the tour started for unknown reasons.  (lead to believe that he left because he did not like being away from his family while touring).  Since Tim has joined the band at the start of the summer he has pushed the band into uncomfortable and unusual territory because they have begun to play a far greater number of covers than in any of the previous 15+ years of touring.  The artists range from Pink Floyd to the Rolling Stones.  I am really hoping that the July 4^th show is really something that I will remember for a while because it’s not often that Dave Matthews and crew play baseball stadiums in South Carolina on a National Holiday!!!

Now I’m off my DMB kick and I’m excited that tonight my oldest and best friend Kirby is coming down to Clemson for the weekend.  He and I have been friends for 16+ years, we went to Pre-school together and really became friends when we both attended Providence Baptist Church.  Fortunately, after my family switched churches we ended up going to the same high school and maintained a really good friendship.  He, like me graduated Providence High School in 2006 and went on to college.  He attends Catawba College where he plays soccer.  If you haven’t noticed I have a pretty busy week and weekend ahead of me!  I may not get to post on the blog until some time after I get back from Charleston, until then…..

Photography- Rule of Thirds

So, since I last updated the photography section, I have purchased and begun to use the Nikon SB-400.  This simple little flash allows you to bounce light off walls and ceilings.  I look forward to making some test shots and showing you what I learn and discover with it at a later date.

This week I want to talk about the, “rule-of-thirds” or “ROT.”  This rule is the foundation of modern composition and is something I think about almost every time I put my eye up to the eyepiece of my camera.  The rule or guideline goes like this:  divide the image frame of your viewfinder into three equally spaced regions vertically and horizontally.  Then, compose the shot making one or all of the areas of interest in the photo to where these vertical and horizontal lines intersect.

Mental Rule of Thirds overlay

It is said that the image will be more appealing visually and mentally if this simple rule is followed.  Another great use of this “grid” is when framing a landscape photo.  Instead of putting the horizon in the dead center of the frame move the camera up, putting the horizon in the lower third of the frame or move the camera down, putting the horizon two thirds up in the image.  You may be wondering which is best having one third as the horizon or two thirds at the horizon.  The truth is if you place the horizon so that only the bottom third is the horizon and the rest is sky, more emphasis is placed in the area where the sky is.  If you decided to flip it meaning two thirds of the image is now below the horizon, emphasis shifts to what is below the horizon.  In other words, if the point of interest is below the horizon move your camera down to the two thirds below the horizon.  If the point of interest is a cloud or sunset place the horizon at the lowest third allowing the sky dominate interest and allow your picture to have the greatest effect.

Now, I’m going to tell you that not all photos follow this rule.  There are many reasons why in some cases, this rule should not be followed.  Just like in everything that has rules, rules are meant to be broken!!  This is just one of many tools in a photographer’s bag-of-tricks used to emphasize a certain message or theme in photography.

Life- Peaceful time

So since posting my last life-oriented post, I realized something while I was driving to work last Monday listening to my mp3 player. The lyrics to one of the songs I was listening to pretty much said that God is with you through the rough times and the peaceful times and that he is always with you. After getting back into the word, I feel like this time that I’m in is one of those peaceful times. And, that I don’t necessarily need to be focused on what I can be doing for others as much as just getting to know him better personally. I think he’s trying to tell me to strengthen our (God and me) relationship before you go and try and further my kingdom. Since getting back into the Bible I have found myself being lead to read Philippians. I look forward to seeing what I will get out of it and what it will teach me.

On a less-spiritual note; today is June 17^th and that means that Coldplay’s new studio album has been released. I am planning of going to pick my copy of it up sometime after work today. I have heard that it is radically different than the stuff they have put out before. Some people have been critical of this change but, as someone who is a Dave Matthews Band fan, I am the first one to say that radical change is not always bad. It allows growth to take place and I assume that this is the best way not to become board or stagnant with your passion; which, is my guess for why the bands felt they needed a change.

Photography- RAW vs. JPEG

RAW

So first off, you may be asking yourself, “what the heck is RAW!!” and to answer your question. RAW is a type of file format similar to JPEG but different (better) in many ways too. RAW is a way of saving an image from your high-end point-and-shoot or Digital SLR. Every major camera manufacturer who sells a Digital SLR generally has their own proprietary RAW equivalent. For Nikon the RAW extension is .NEF. Canon’s extension is .CRW. One is not better than the other it’s just a different way of storing the information. So, what makes RAW different than JPEG? RAW files are exactly what the name implies; the information that is captured on the image sensor in your digital camera is directly recorded onto the memory card, bypassing all of the in-camera processing. This means there is no loss of image quality and no compression is being done. Once the pictures have been sent to the computer this RAW data cannot be used ubiquitously, it must first be compressed into a file format that can be interpreted on the web or in graphics software. This is where the RAW image file shows it’s strength. Before the file is converted the RAW file can be adjusted/edited without any loss in quality. So, this allows editing indestructibly. With RAW the highlights midtones and darks are all stored without compression allowing for the output file to be tweaked without worrying about file degradation or image quality. It will look as if it was exposed properly to begin with, before you edited it. One caveat with RAW files is that they tend to be a 30 to 40 percent larger than JPEG’s and they require special software to view and edit them once on the computer.

JPEG

And now for everyone’s favorite the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) The JPEG is the file format that is most common in cameras today. It’s strengths are it’s wide acceptance as the photographic standard, small file size (relatively) and it’s ability to be placed on the Internet without much trouble. The JPEG differs from the RAW file in that, when your camera goes to capture the light that hits it’s sensor, this light gets processed and compressed in the camera. Compression such as :low, medium, fine, super fine are words that are commonly used when describing the quality of the JPEG. For most people who take photos, the JPEG format is fine. But, if you plan on making large prints of an image or if you plan on doing a lot of editing RAW is the way to go.

If you can’t tell the difference between these two photos take a look at the orange checker patteren in the two photos and see if you can see the difference.  If you still can’t let me tell you there is quite a bit of difference.  The photo on top is the closest thing to RAW without shooting RAW; all of the editing was done as a RAW before it was converted to JPEG (for web puposes, you can’t view RAW on the web).  The photo on the bottom leaves something to be desired.  This photo was edited and saved as a JPEG. One other noticible difference is the color in the photo on the right is not quite the same as the one on the left.

Life- as it is now: Disappointed

As I was sitting in my apartment last night I couldn’t help but to be a little mad and disappointed in how little I accomplished (outside of work) in recent weeks.  Generally, I get off about 4:30 and am back at my apartment by 5.  Then I go to the gym, take a shower and eat dinner.  By the time all that is done with it’s usually around 8pm.  From then on I have the rest of the night to accomplish or do anything I wish.  As of late I haven’t really been putting forth an effort to help further God’s kingdom, instead I’ve played video games, watched fuzzy television (no cable), listened to a lot of music and been lazy.  I would really like to put that time towards something that can be seen as productive and glorifying to His name.  One way I think that might be a step in the right direction is getting back into the word.  Ever since I stopped getting in the word at bedtime, I’ve lacked motivation.  In fact, I’ve missed it! Getting back into God’s word is something I hope by this time next week is no longer an issue.

Ever since I left Charlotte for college freshman year, I’ve felt like I haven’t had the type of fellowship I had when I was in high school.  Sure I regularly attend Downtown Christian Fellowship (DCF) and I’ve been apart of FCA small group for two years but, there just doesn’t seem like there has been that connection with a group like there was when I was in high school.  This is not really something I think I can change over the course of this week but it’s definatly something I’ve been thinking a lot about.

On a more positive note I am planning on going down to Atlanta on Sunday to watch the Braves take on the Phillies!  It should be a lot of fun!!