Saturday, November 14, 2009

Flickr: Nikon D60 Group Challenge

I recently entered a Challenge occuring in the Nikon D60 User Group over at Flickr. It was my first ever attempt at entering contests since I'm fairly new to the photography scene. My entry placed 3rd and won a bronze. I think I'm pretty satisfied with my progress :)

You can view the other entries by different users.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikond60users/discuss/72157622528957551/

Here is the entry I submitted of my friends Tina Bui & Katelynn Ngo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mb604/4061691026/

DSC_0370

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Project Ghetto Flood Light

While heading to school today, I thought about flood lights, spot lights, etc. I was thinking of how much I'd be willing to spend for a used one but... an idea of making a "home made" flood light occurred to me and it was in my head all day long and I was very anxious to get home and actually try it out. I didn't have access to a lot of materials so my options were very limited.

The first thing I had to look for was a light socket before I could begin anything else. I found an old lamp hidden underneath the crawlspace and figured it was adequate. Dissecting the parts began and about 10-15 minutes later, I had gotten the socket assembly out. I co
uldn't just clean up and call it a day. I needed the light to be spread out instead of being focused on one spot.

The next thing I did was make a "dome" assembly. Unfortunately, the first thing I saw was a box of unused boxes. Yes, I made the "dome" out of that and that took about 20-25 minutes to complete. I didn't pay attention to detail AT ALL so I didn't give a damn if the cuts I made were straight. After the dome was finally taped up with a million pieces of electrical tape, I proceeded to put tin foil in the inside to increase the lighting power. Of course, I took some pictures!


It's pretty obvious that it doesn't look pretty at all. It's outfitted with black electric tape all over the place, generic brown box and it probably makes it the ugliest flood light out there. I didn't care, it did it's job (sort of) and that was my main goal.


Bike with garage lighting


Bike with flash & garage lighting


Bike with garage lighting, no flash & flood lamp


It looks so beautiful.. kinda. You can instantly tell the differenc
e and I got the result I expected when I started this "project" out.



Goalie mask with flash & garage lighting


Goalie mask with garage lighting, no flash & flood light


Overall, I'm pretty happy with my accomplishment. Sure it's not the most effective lighting solution out there and isn't on par with the ones (flood light) you buy at the camera store, it cost me $0 and it did the job. It's not a permanent solution to my lighting woes but it'll prevent me from getting annoyed with shitty illumination until I can afford a proper flood light.

As an easy out solution, I could have just taken a clamp on reading spot lamp that was in my brothers room. It delivered the same illumination and took about 10 seconds to set up. That wasn't possible because my brother started to rage quit. He doesn't even use it, I don't get why he got so mad about it.

None of the shots were "creative", I just wanted to show what I had accomplished. If you want to know how my creativness with the pictures failed, I shot in auto. That didn't work out too well so I had to settle with Program Mode (semi-auto)

Sunday, October 4, 2009

A new weapon in my arsenal

It was my birthday on Saturday (Oct. 3 - Happy Birthday Me!) and I got a wonderful birthday present from my uncle who also happens to be into photography.



Yeah that's right, I got a new lens (yes that's an air hockey table)! It's a Sigma 55-200MM f/4-5.6 DC lens, it has auto focusing capabilities but too bad my Nikon D60 won't let auto focus possible with non-Nikon branded lenses. How shitty is that? Who cares anyways, I've only used auto focus on my 18-55MM lens once or twice since I got it about a month ago. Next to appear - a SB-600 maybe? Haha.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

"Holy Smokes! That's cheap!" No it's not!

$24.95USD for Flickr "Pro" is not cheap! If it was around $10USD (per year of course), I would have gotten it already. $24.95USD for that, no thanks. I'd use it for something else - like donate it to the typhoon victims in Manila, Philippines. A few people that I know on the personal side (relatives, family friends) have been affected one way or another. I can live with the upload limit they put in place. The photo stats and all that good stuff is cool though. Just not worth $24.95.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Current Equipment + Future Wishes

Current Equipment:

Nikon D60
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 18-55MM VR f/3.5-5.6G
Hoya UV Filter
Argus Tripod
Lowerpro Slingshot 100AW



Future Equipment Wish List:

Nikon Nikkor AF-S 55-200MM VR f/3.5-5.6G
Tokina 10-17MM Fisheye (lol i wish, hella expensive!)
Hoya Polarizing Filter
Nikon Speedlight SB-600
Cameron Photo Flood UT-75 Light Kit
Opus OPL-UMB
3RD Party Battery Grip (Stupid Nikon decided not to make a battery grip for D40/D40x/D50/D60/D70!)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Any Flickr Updates? NONE!

So uh I can't really upload anything on Flickr right now. I absentmindedly uploaded pictures that were left at their original resolution (5MP) which can easily reach the 100MB limit Flickr put in place. A few photos are waiting to be uploaded right now, damn gotta wait till October 1st. Stupid upload limit.



Thursday, September 10, 2009

Flickr

I have finally set up my Flickr account. I've uploaded some of the shots that I'm satisfied with and more to come as I increase my skill & experienece!



Click the image to go to my Flickr photostream.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Portfolio

I go by the name Miguel and I reside in the Greater Vancouver area. I've taken up photography recently so my shots are still not the professional kind you'd find from other experienced photographers. My current equipment consists of a Nikon D60 body, Nikon Nikkor 18-55MM f/3.5-5.6G lens, Argus tripod, Lowerpro Slingshot 100AW, Hoya 52MM UV Filter and a Canon Speedlight 200E (still haven't tested if it works). Purchasing a 55-200MM lens soon (Nikon Nikkor 55-200MM to be exact) soon and hopefully move onto sports photography.