Benjamin's Photoblog

Been A While...

2010-08-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

So its been a while since my last post on here. I have not been doing a whole lot of photography lately, I have gotten caught up with work and shows. However I do have one photo that I wanted to share with you. It is a photograph of my friends old barn, taken in Richmond UT. Check it out.

Nikon D80, f/8.0, ISO 400, HDR blended with Photomatix Pro.

Heading out on our voyage to New York.

2009-05-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

Course has been set, new Jib is up, lines are good and we are ready to head out. Leaving Tortola tonight heading to New York city on this 49 foot sail boat. We will be out at sea for about 9 days, maybe 8, possibly more. For the past several days I have been doing nothing except partying and prepping the boat for its voyage. It has been good, sadly though I have no photos to put up just yet, I have some taken but none on the computer to put up. I will hopefully be able to put them up while I am in New York for a week. I will post back here when we sail into NYC!

Trip to the British Virgin Islands

2009-05-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

So I am leaving for the British Virgin Islands in less than 4 hours. I am meeting up with my cousin who I have never met, and my Uncle. We are gonna be sailing my Uncles boat up to New York. The plan is to get in tonight and get to the boat, where my cousin and I will start prepping it to go on its 10 day voyage. We will probably island hop for a week or so, then head out to sea and eventually make it to New York. I will have my D80 and will be taking plenty of photos and hopefully be able to post some before we leave the virgin islands so keep following and see what comes up!

Past couple of weeks.

2009-03-07T10:31:00.001-08:00

So I really haven't been able to shoot a whole lot these past couple of weeks but here are some that I had been able to get.

So about two weeks ago my friend Kylie and I went for a drive with our DSLR's just looking around for something to shoot. We ended up finding an abandoned bus on the side of the road, it was pretty torn up, which made it even more interesting. However we were only there for a couple of minutes because we were not sure if it was on someones property and really didn't feel like getting the cops called on us. But this is what I was able to get.

Nikon D80, 1/320 sec, f/3.5, 18 mm, ISO 100, Flash Fired

Nikon D80, 1/200 sec, f/7.1, 200 mm, ISO 100, Flash Fired

Nikon D80, 1/200 sec, f/8.0, 18 mm, ISO 100, Flash Fired

Then a couple of weeks ago I was up late one night and decided to go out and take some night shots, it was like 3 in the morning and I was sitting there in the middle of the road take random photos. It was a very interesting experience. This is what I got out of it.

Nikon D80, 13 sec, f/13.0, 70 mm, ISO 100

Nikon D80, 15 sec, f/13.0, 135 mm, ISO 100

Nikon D80, 33.7 sec, f/18.0, 135 mm, ISO 200

Nikon D80, 30 sec, f/18.0, 135 mm, ISO 200

Best of 2008.

2009-01-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

So the other day I saw a post from a fellow photographer of his best photos of 2008. So I decided to try the same thing. Then I realized that I have only had my D80 since April of 2008, not even a year! So I have gone through my photos from these past 8 months or so and this is what I came up with. Hope you like.

Favorite Portrait of '08

Nikon D80, 1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 500

So I think that this is my best portrait of '08, taking the day I got my new SB-600 flash and a big thanks to my now ex-girlfriend for putting up with me wanting to take some good photos of her.

Favorite Photowalking Image of '08

Nikon D80, 1/25 sec, f/4, ISO 250

Taking at my one and only photowalk of the year this photo really grew on me. I got really into colorization a while ago and I found that colorizing the red ring around the wheel added a lot of character to the shot.

Favorite HDR of '08

Nikon D80, f/8, ISO 100, HDR Blended with Photomatix Pro.

This shot, which was taking on a trip to California right before Christmas, soon became my favorite HDR of '08, now there is a runner up to this which was a very very first HDR which I still love.

Runner up to Favorite HDR

DPS Photo Contest.

2008-10-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I just added one of my portrait photos into the DPS photo contest on photo trade. Now I don't normally do this but if you would be so kinda as to vote for it please just click on the side and vote for it. Thanks!!!

Tour of Kenneth Linges' Studio and a photowalk in Provo.

2008-09-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to my first photowalk. We all met at Kenneth Linges' studio in Orem, where he gave us a tour and talked to us about different lighting techniques. Afterward we all met up again in front of the Courthouse of Provo. Kenneth came along with us but did not bring his camera, instead he would set up a model and teach us how to light and shoot it. It was very informative and I had a blast.
Even though we kinda stayed in the same place and did more talking than walking I learned a lot. Here are some of the shots from yesterday.

Before everyone showed up I was able to get this shot of the Courthouse.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Kenneth taught us how to use reflectors correctly and how to stand in the middle of the road stopping traffic.
I am not sure what the models name is.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/4.2
Focal Length: 31 mm
ISO Speed: 200

The other side of that shot.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200

We then went over to another street and took some shots with a model, some random photowalker, on a bike, which belonged to some other photowalker.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 250

I then got this shot of the bike, I really liked the red circles around the wheels so I colorized the shot.
And as David Terry pointed out it looks like a Canon "L" Series "Tire".

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 22 mm
ISO Speed: 250

Then I went back and got this last shot of the model and the bike.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 250

With most of these shots Kenneth would light up the model with a heavy duty flash light, like the ones you can buy from Home Depot, and a diffuser made from a see through binder. I think that I am gonna go and get me some. I really enjoyed this photowalk and can't wait for the next one.

Night Shots.

2008-09-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I bought a Nikon MC-DC1 remote shutter release cable. I wanted to try out some really slow shutter speeds and this thing helped me do the trick. These photos were all taken with very slow shutter speeds, so slow that the shake from touching the shutter release button was too much, hence the need for the remote shutter release cable. All the lighting was all the natural light there was around midnight. I set up my Nikon D80 on a tripod and connected the MC-DC1 to the camera and started shooting away. Here is what I came up with.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 1.6 sec (8/5)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 62 mm

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 3 sec (3)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 100

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 5 sec (5)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Air Show in Twin Falls Idaho

2008-07-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I drove up to Logan to meet and friend, we ended up driving up to Idaho to see an air show. We got to see the United States Navy Blue Angels. Here are some pictures that I was able to take. All I used was my Nikon D80 and my 18 - 135 mm lens. Take a look.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 1/800
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 400

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 1/800
Aperture: f/10
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 400

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 1/800
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 112 mm
ISO Speed: 400

HDR

2008-07-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

HDR, or high dynamic range, photography is becoming sort of a fad in the photography world. Some people say that it is not true art, due to the high amount of post processing that has to be done to get the HDR effect you want. HDR photos allows the viewers to see all the colors in a picture, colors that even the human eyes can not. The trouble with HDR photos is that the sensor in the camera can not get all the colors at once, the photographer needs to take several different photos of the same thing in order to get the HDR effect. I started out by setting my D80 into bracket mode, where it takes three different shots at three different exposures, one just normally exposed one overexposed and one underexposed. Every different exposure shows different colors in the photo, for instance in the underexposed you can get the deep blue of the sky yet no color in grass, and in an overexposed photo you can get the vibrant green of the grass. Once you have taken your shots you need to post process it by uploading the photos into a tonemapping program. I ended up using Photomatix and it worked perfectly for what I needed. Once uploading and tonemapped you have your HDR shot, go and give it a try.

Here are some of my shots in HDR.

New Nikon Speedlight SB-600

2008-07-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

So earlier this week I bought a Nikon Speedlight SB-600 and I love it. So my girlfriend decided to let me test it out on her. So we went to park nearby and just started shooting. This is what we came up with.

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 80 mm
ISO Speed: 500

EXIF
Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 1/160
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 32 mm
ISO Speed: 500

State Capital

2008-06-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago there was a photowalk put together by a group on flickr. Their plan was to go to a couple of different parks around downtown Salt Lake City and the State Capital. Sadly enough I could not attend, so last weekend I decided to take a walk around the Capital building. Here are some of the shots I took.

Candle Light Photography

2008-06-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

So the other week there was a post on DPS about taking candle light photos, so I decided to give it a try. I was able to get my girlfriend Sterling and my two step sisters to pose for me. Due to the fact that the only light in the room was coming from the two candles I needed a really slow shutter speed in order to capture the necessary amount of light. The shutter speed was so low that even the shake from pressing the shutter release was too much for the pictures to come out clear. So I ended up tethering my D80 to my MacBook and using Aperture's remote shutter release to take the shots. Tell me what you think.

Bear Lake

2008-05-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots taken on a random trip that we took up to Bear Lake. What do you think?
Sorry for the lateness of this post, I have been dealing with moving back down from school

Colorization

2008-04-21T22:25:00.001-07:00

So I recently got into the idea of colorization. Where you add isolated color to a black and white photograph. These were taken over several periods of time, but I edited the three of them in photoshop to only show a specific things color while the rest of the photo is black ad white. I thought that the outcome was pretty awesome. What do you think?

The Park, and a photo for this weeks assignment on DPS

2008-04-20T21:25:00.001-07:00

This was the picture that I entered for DPS's weekly assignment; Circles.

EXIF

Camera: Nikon D80

Exposer: 1/200

Aperture: f/7.1

Focal Length: 135.0 mm

ISO Speed: 100

EXIF

Camera: Nikon D80

Exposer: 1/320

Aperture: f/6.3

Focal Length: 120.0 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Credit: My girlfriend Sterling Winn

EXIF

Camera: Nikon D80

Exposer: 1/320

Aperture: f/6.3

Focal Length: 75.0 mm

ISO Speed: 100

Credit: My girlfriend Sterling Winn

These were shots taken at a park near my fathers house. My girlfriend, two of my step siblings and I headed over there to attempt to fly a kite. We ended up playing around on the jungle gym where I found a perfect shot for this weeks assignment on DPS.

My Trip to Downtown Salt Lake.

2008-04-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

These are photos that were taking on a little trip that my girlfriend, another friend and I all took to downtown Salt Lake. Again all of these photos were put into Photoshop CS3 for some minor post processing. Tell me what ya think.

Some of my work.

2008-04-15T21:30:00.001-07:00

Both of these shots were taking on a random hike up Bell Canyon where there used to be this great little pond, but seeing as how it is just the beginning of Spring it was all dried up. You are more than welcome to comment on what you think of them.

EXIF

Camera: Nikon D80

Exposer: 1/200

Aperture: f/6.3

ISO Speed: 400

Focal Length: 18.0 mm

EXIF

Camera: Nikon D80

Exposer: 1/160

Aperture: f/5.6

ISO Speed: 400

Focal Length: 80.0 mm

I try to take all of my photos in Manual mode so that I can get the best shot, both of these photos were uploaded into Photo Shop CS3 for some Level editing but mainly put on there to edit in my name. I hope you like.

Beginning of a Photo Blog

2008-04-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hello there my name is Benjamin Bielefeld, currently I am a student at Utah State University in Logan Utah. Recently I purchased a Nikon D80 DSLR after years of thinking about going somewhat big into photography. Before I bought this amazing camera I was just taking photos with a little point and shoot Canon Powershot SD750, even before that one christmas long long ago I got an old Pentax ME-Super, which really got me into photography. But seeing as how film got to be somewhat costly to get developed and all I figured that I needed something else.

This blog is purely meant to help me along the way, whether it be constructive criticism are just some small pointers, anything helps. It is also a place to visualize my progress into this wonderful world of photography. With all of the photos I post I will also put in the EXIF data plus where and when I took the shot, and other tools that I used to take the shot with. I will be trying to post new photos on here at least once a week and I hope that you all enjoy!