Merry Christmas and Happy Light Painting!

So...

You can set one of these up in a couple of hours:

Our family Christmas Tree - set up time: couple of hours

Or...you can go with the following, which will take you less than 5 minutes with a little practice:

Light-painted Christmas tree - set up time: 252 seconds

Wire Wool Spinning!!! Part I

I've been reading about wire wool spinning for a while now and even bought the necessary materials to give it a try some time ago, but...then the weather took a turn for the worst and...it's just not fun to be at the water in weather like we've been having lately. Finally it let up just for a couple of days and it was time!

Trash The Dress!!!

Tina

Due to the seasonal cold I realize that in many places - certainly in Toronto - now is perhaps really not a good time to jump into a wedding dress and head for the beach, but...it makes a good continuation of last week's post and...I've only just recently gotten around to editing these pictures....

Wedding Photography: An Occasion of Firsts

Water Drop Photography

And so in the name of experimentation and learning, I set out to try and get some of my own water drop shots. I learned a lot in the process and realized there is a lot more to it that I would (/will) do next time. So...read this first and your first attempt will be even better!

Speedlights, Radio Triggers and other cool stuff - Now we're talkin....

The astonishingly beautiful and charismatic Cristy! 
Click image for larger view

So...you now know how to balance your exposure triangle and you have a good understanding of aperture, shutter speed control & ISO. Regrettably...you're not done and not a photographer just yet....

Matrix Restrung - Tutorial

Matrix Restrung on deviantART

Update: Article also available here.

For those who have asked for it - here are the basics, which can be applied to a hundred million different situations. Now...let's see if I can get the basic idea out without drawing too much attention to the flaws....

On your mark, get set....

Last Christmas I woke up to find a Canon T1i DSLR under the tree. I used to develop b/w film eons ago using mom's 35mm, which I loved but...I'd never had a digital outside of my holiday point & click cameras, which...will only take you so far in case you haven't already noticed for yourself....

Since then, I've been reading like crazy, experimenting and taking in everyone else's work I come across. It can be a little daunting sometimes when it comes to things like lighting techniques, post processing and output for print - just try and find any two reliable articles out there that agree the type of sharpening and amount you'll need to create your perfect image! I think you'll find many of them slag the other guy for doing it all totally wrong.