Photography by Bob Shull RSS Feed: Blog

Funny video about Canon 7D vs 5D MarkII

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:38:50 -0700

OK, this has to be the funniest spoof video I've seen in a looooong time.

New Photos Published

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:09:07 -0700

Red Barn Publishing recently contacted me about photographing two Arkansas families for articles in two of their Fall 09 agriculture magazines.

I was really excited about the opportunity. I had six photos published in the Fall 2009 issue of Massey Ferguson Farm Life Magazine and another two photos published in the Fall 2009 issue of AGCO Advantage Magazine.

I had a great time doing these shoots, and hope to have the opportunity to work with Red Barn Publishing again soon.

Click here to see a PDF copy of the article from Massey Ferguson Farm Life Magazine.

Photos from Massey Ferguson Farm Life:

Photos from AGCO Advantage Magazine:

It's Raining Cats and "Frogs"?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:27:08 -0700

We've had a huge amount of rain today here in Northwest Arkansas. I've always heard the old expression "It's raining cats and dogs" But I've never really understood what that meant. Regardless tonight it was all about the frogs.

I've always noticed frogs hopping about on the highways during rainstorms, but tonight on the way home we noticed some really HUGE ones.

At one point I stopped the car and braved the strong rain to try and chase one down. Needles to say I only ended up cold, wet and empty-handed. Though the wife and kids thought is was pretty funny seeing me chasing a frog around in the rain.

Not to be out witted by the slimy green turds, I dropped off the family and headed back out with a small box and high hopes to catch a big frog. Why you ask?? Well I suppose I'm just strange like that, plus I could always use one as a prop or photo subject itself.

After about 30 minutes I managed to return home with around 6 frogs, two of which are pretty huge.

I'm "hopping" to use a couple of these in some children's photos. I'm seeing rolled up jeans, mud puddles and a big slimy frog. Now that sounds like a fun shoot. Anyone got a little one up for it? Let me know quickly. I'll probably keep em just a few days before releasing them back to the wild.

Pictured below is Haylee and the largest frog of the group, I'm calling him Elvis, :-).

13 Candles

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:01:41 -0700

My baby turned 13 today...
This was huge day for her, and she is so eager to start this new chapter in her life.

For me, I finally have to face the fact and accept she's growing up. This is not going to be easy.

As I reminisce through my memories of her childhood remembering the so many precious moments, I can't help but be saddened that she has grown up so fast.

It also saddens me that it takes an event like the celebration of a birth or the passing of a life to make one realize how precious what little time we have with the ones we love truly is.

I've never been one to be overly sentimental , and I don't always wear my feeling on the outside . But I wanted to say that I am truly thankful for the wonderful family and friends I have been so blessed to share this life with.

Happy Birthday Haylee, may you always be daddy's girl!

Buffalo River Star Trails

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:31:21 -0700

I spent a great weekend out in the wilderness a couple weeks back; a guy’s weekend, a weekend away from the computer, away from Internet, the iPhone, and even the shower (yikes). It was a great weekend!

The elk rut was heating up and I ended up with some nice shots of a wide array of wildlife, insects and other creatures.

One thing I've wanted to try for a while now is Star-trails. I've seen some great examples of star trail photography and I really wanted to get my feet wet and give it a go.

My First Attempt
Our first night at camp I set up a 10 minute exposure and ended up with a wonderful photo of pure black nothingness… in other words it was a flop.

I would love share the shutter speed settings with you but in my haste and disappointment, I committed a cardinal sin and deleted the photo off my card without first reviewing it on my computer… I know I know, but there was really no saving this jewel, it was very clearly a dead fish.

My Second Attempt
Night two… So, since I didn't take the time to plan ahead and research star trail photography techniques before hand I was pretty much playing a game of trial and error.

This time I doubled my shutter speed to 20 minutes; set my aperture to f/11 and bumped my ISO to 200. There was a bright moon out that lit up the bluffs and riverbed nicely. I also used my flashlight and attempted to paint the bluffs in. But after looking at the photo I’m not sure it was powerful enough to even show up. I didn’t notice any areas in the photo that looked painted, so again I’m just guessing here. I used my standard equipment, my Canon 5D and my 24-70mm f/2.8L.

The Verdict

Ok, so my first impression... the raw file out of the camera was not even close to the results I was hoping for. What I got was a really grainy and fairly underexposed shot. Not too bad I suppose for my first attempts. But if I had been prepared and done a little research before hand, I may have when home with a great shot and not one I had to spend time cleaning up in Photoshop.

I was able to reduce a lot of the noise in Lightroom. I also dropped the White Balance temperature, which really improved the overall mood from blah to a nice blue. Shooting in RAW allowed me to bump up the exposure and fill light with very little increase in noise. While I would have loved to get all of this right in the camera, I was at least able to go home with, in my opinion a pretty nice star trail photo.

Lessons Learned and Advice Offered
1. There is ZERO cell phone service in the Ponca area, which also means zero Internet on my phone… So…do your homework and plan ahead, research several techniques, print them off and bring them with you.

2. I think maybe ISO 200 was probably a bit high for this long of an exposure and probably the reason for the great deal of noise on my photo. Next time I plan to drop to ISO 50 and open up my lens more.

While I’m not sure any of this information will actually be of use to anyone other than pure amusement. I hope this at least gives you some insight to how I got the shot and serves as a reminder that planning is a very important part of the process.

I'm hoping to get out and try this again really soon, so expect a Part II to this blog posting. Wish me luck.

Getting it all untangled…

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:27:57 -0700

As I look back through my blog, reading the few short ramblings I've managed to accumulate, I’m really disappointed that I’ve not done a better job keeping a current posting.

As a computer programmer, most of my "life" is consumed and absorbed through the small 15-inch screen of my MacBook Pro.

Finding time to write usually ends up pushed to the side thinking “oh I'll get to it later”. And of course later is “always” a day away.

I usually find myself lying awake with thoughts and ideas agitating actively; keeping me in a lucid state of half wake slumber. If only there were a device that could somehow capture these thoughts and ideas and put them on paper for us to review the next day. Wouldn't that be great?

But then again, I may not want to remember the maze of amorphous thoughts that untangle inside my head at the end of my day…

Benton County Fair Photo Contest

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:49:12 -0700

I was ecstatic to see my son Bryan pick up two first place finishes for his photos in the Nature and Animal categories.

Pictured below with his award winning photos. Congrats Bryan!!!

Things that make you go hmmmm

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:28:58 -0700

Every now and then something will catch your eye and you take a second, sometimes a third look. In my case I had to take a photo. I think it was his unique character that caught my eye and attention... Well maybe it was the top hat and sunglasses :-) Sort of reminds me of the Monopoly character... Regardless I thought this guy was really cool and had to share.

Chris & Dana Baran

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:21:29 -0700

Today I had the great pleasure of photographing a beautiful wedding for friend and co-worker Chris Baran. The ceremony was beautiful and Chris and Dana were overflowing with happiness. I took about 800 photos during the pre-shoot, ceremony and reception. Below are a few of my favorites.

Denver Colorado

Thu, 07 May 2009 23:05:17 -0700

I'm goin' out to to Denver to see if I can't find that lovin' Colorado girl of mine - Townes Van Zandt

Click the image for a larger view

I'm currently in Denver this week for a four day iPhone development workshop. While here I have been taking advantage of my evenings off and exploring this beautiful city. I fly back to Arkansas tomorrow night.

Earlier this week I set out to get a skyline photo of Denver. However with me on foot and not knowing the area at all, I quickly ran out of good light. You think someone would research these things beforehand, go figure...

This evening I knew pretty much where I wanted to be. I spent a good 4+ hours walking around the downtown area, taking around 80+ shots. I figured I could sleep when I get back home, it's not everyday you get to be in such a great city.

I managed to find a good vantage point for a skyline photo, but I was not 100% happy with my results. For one I was competing with high-line wires. I had to get really creative and almost into the river to get a shot without them in my way. Why would someone hang these things in my view???

As I prepare for my last day of training I am a little disappointed that I was not able to make it out to Red Rocks Park. Ok, so I'm a lot dissapointed... I will for sure be planing a vacation sometime soon to come back.

Below are a few of my favorite photos from this trip.