Capturing The Light

The first thing I need to capture is my glasses.  Our 100 year old Frank is sitting in the front - middle, not on the left.  That's me, far far left.  I'd rather not be in the picture, which is one of the reasons they say people get into photography ... so you can be behind the camera and not in front.  They are right.

Photography is all about capturing the light.  Snapping that photo when the light is just perfect.  The truth is, that rarely happens, so the great photographers have dozens of lights to help them out.  I tried that route.  It was a pain in the patootie to set them all up, test the lights, change batteries constantly and transporting all that gear was even worse.  Landscape and outdoor photographers make it easier by depending on the sun for their light, but will add flash for that extra ummph.

Enter the small speed light with remote control and ONE rechargeable battery.  

The truth is, all that light is manipulated with the camera settings.  Now to find something to take a photograph OF.  Sadly, there was nothing spectacular to point my camera at, so I just walked around the yard.  It's actually broad daylight when I took this.  

Changing the settings to capture even LESS light, makes it look like it's completely dark outside.  This is how you get those dramatic shots of dancers or the lights of San Francisco.

Truth be told, I found nothing interesting to photograph in my back yard.  How about a fake orchid?  I even put the flash under the bed ... that's my boogey man side coming out ... but alas, all that showed was the dust balls accumulated there.  I'll vacuum underneath next time.

With no one to model for those great portrait shots, poor Cooper became the point of interest.  You can tell he wasn't too happy being blinded by the light.  Revved up like a deuce .... I love that song.  

Obviously not a happy camper, he refused to look at the camera again, just like a two-year old, in spite of less light being thrown his way.  I even tried bribing him with beggin' strips.  It was no deal.

Like any good mother, I just waited until he fell asleep before taking another 25 shots.  By this time I had placed a filter (a white plastic cover) over the flash to lessen the amount of light the camera was capturing.  Puppies are like children ... so cute when they are asleep!!

Again, it was bright daylight when I took that image.  So even though I added MORE light to the scene, I could make it look like nighttime.  It was fun to play around with, so I hope to be able to use it soon at some more interesting location than my living room couch.

Unfortunately, I don't see that happening for a week or so.  The weather guessers have predicted 107 temps for the next seven days.  Gosh, won't THAT be fun!!  Maybe those dust balls will make the cut after all.