Jason Connell - Enjoying the Ride

Photography Lighting

January 9, 2012

In recent weeks, I've become interested in going to the next level of photography. Not to say that I've mastered any previous part, but going to the next level will help me better understand the previous levels, and therefore I'll be half decent at any part. Lighting is the next level, I've determined.

In researching "The Holy Grail of Photography", henceforth, "lighting", I came across some blogs of old pros, namely the "Strobist". There, I read and read and read until I fell asleep. I bought a few Kindle prints of Joe McNally's books. I read and read and read, then did some practicing.

This is all in anticipation of the baby coming in April. I will blind that kid :P

Aside from books, here's what I've purchased:

Nikon SB-700 flash
CowboyStudios wireless flash trigger
CowboyStudios light stand with mounting bracket and umbrella
LumiQuest mini-softbox

I haven't been uploading sample shots with every piece of equipment yet, but the pictures up right now (as of 1/9/2012) include sample shots taken with the flash and the mini-softbox. I have shots with the wireless flash trigger that aren't up on flickr yet, and I just received the stand and umbrella today, and I haven't gone home yet.

I've been getting up to date on all of the terminology used. I know what effects the aperture has vs. shutter speed when flash comes into play. With flash and without flash, actually. And ISO plays a big part in that as well.

I shoot in manual mode on my camera without a flash, and so I've brought that over to flash photography as well. My method now as always is shoot and review to see if I'm getting enough light. If not, bump the flash power or open/close the aperture, etc. Or refocus, since I also shoot in manual focus mode. With practice, I'm getting quicker at it..

Most photogs suggest shooting in aperture priority mode, since aperture is what effects flash the most. If you want to darken the flash, close the aperture, and vice versa. In non-flash photography, it also makes sense, because you can limit the depth of field (make the background blurry) or go infinite on that mother, and the camera will choose the proper shutter speed. I have opted to really learn everything before I go that way. The side effect is I take about 1 good photo for every 5 times my shutter opens :)

A good side effect of all of this photography, is I'm becoming a photo snob! If I look at a bad photo, either blurry or not enough light, or too much light, I get an ill feeling down in my bowels and have to just close my eyes or look away. It's good to have.

Lots of photos to come, especially when there's a baby AND a pug in the house :D

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50mm f/1.8 Lens

December 27, 2011

For Christmas, I got a new lens! As well as some other awesome stuff, but the lens is the focal point of this post.

I'm generally a beginner photographer, but over the past few weeks I've been taking hundreds of pictures, I got a new flash (the SB-700) and have been playing with that. I want to try getting the flash off the camera, and there's tons of little accessories I don't own yet that will help.

Here is a sample picture of what I've been able to do with the f/1.8 lens. It's pretty awesome so far! That's my nephews, with Ethan in the foreground and Caden in the background, both playing their new Nintendo 3DS's that they got for Christmas :)

My other favorite photo with the new lens, Amanda and Beaker, enjoying the Snoogle that I got for Amanda for Christmas!

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Photographer's Blessing

December 21, 2011

May your aperture be filled with light, but not too much!

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Another Baby Appointment

December 20, 2011

Amanda and I had to go back to the hospital for more ultrasound pictures, since the baby wasn't cooperating when we tried to get pictures of the heart! So we saw another light show, and the baby headbanging. It's got some Nirvana or something in there. Rock on baby.

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Baby

December 13, 2011

The baby is growing!

Baby at 20 Weeks

The baby is 10 oz and about the length of a banana! We aren't finding out the sex so I don't want to say "He/She" so I'll just refer to the baby as "the baby".

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Friday is just around the corner

November 17, 2011

I made this.

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Humility

November 15, 2011

The ability to lie about how awesome I am.

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Another Example of my SyncArray

November 2, 2011

I refer you to my original post with my SyncArray code

function getSubdirs = function(path, callback){
	fs.readdir(path, function(err, files){
		var sync = new SyncArray(files);
		var subdirs = [];
		sync.forEach(function(file, index, array, finishedOne){
			fs.stat(file, function(err, stats){
				if (stats.isDirectory()){
					subdirs.push(file);
				}
				finishedOne();
			});
		}, function(){
			callback(subdirs);
		});
	});
}

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Messing Around in JS Object - Prevent Extensions

October 25, 2011

Lately I've been messing around with Javascript Object in Javascript 1.8.5 or greater. It's interesting but I've come across some peculiarities.

Object.preventExtensions tests

function d(){
	this._test = 5;
}
//Object.preventExtensions(d.prototype);

if (Object.isExtensible(d.prototype)){
	Object.defineProperty(d.prototype, "test", 
		{ 
			get: 
				function(){ console.log("get called"); return this._test; }, 
			enumerable: false, 
			configurable: true 
		}
	);
}
var s = new d();
Object.preventExtensions(s);

s.test = 6;
console.log(s.test);

s.jason = "jason";
console.log(s.jason);

Calling preventExtensions on d.prototype, the "test" property is never defined with the getter, so console.log(s.test) won't also log "get called". Object.preventExtensions(d.prototype) does not prevent extensions on instances of d. This one was weird to me, but they are two separate objects, so creating the property "jason" on "s" works unless I prevent extensions on "s". When preventExtensions is called on "s", console.log(s.test) prints 5 and console.log(s.jason) does not error out although it raises an error if I try to extend the prototype when it is not extensible.

Just some observations... This is the first in a series of posts on Object and its new methods in 1.8.5, I feel I need to know everything about it

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I missed something

October 24, 2011

When rebuilding my site in Node.js, I forgot to include the Google Analytics code, and wondered why I was getting no visitors, felt bad about myself, etc. I've resolved the issue as of last week.

2100% increase in visitors over the past 4-5 days

Amazingly, a hit registered last week at some point, before resolving it. I have no idea how.

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Object.preventExtensions tests

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