Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 800, f/1.7, 1/50 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Speak to me…as in little green men from outer space ;-) This image makes me think of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Taken in the bar at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas. The Centrifuge bar (as it is known) is designed around a central cylinderical tower covered in tiny color changing LED or fiber optic lights. I was sitting about 12-15′ away from the bar when I took this relaxing from 3 days of walking the show floor at PMA. I simply manually set the focus on my 50mm lens (at f/1.7) to around 3′ and let the camera do the rest. Shooting bokeh is really one of the easiest things to do once you understand the technique. The hard part becomes making an actual composition out of the bokeh. In this case the arrangeent of the lights themselves was all I needed. Tomorrow I’ll have another example shot in the same place.

Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 1000, f/1.7, 1/25 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Lots of rain here tonight. Good thing my Pentax K10D is weather sealed ;-) Nice video to set the mood: Rain Song

UPDATE: Apparently this photo was just the beginning. This morning the Auburn area was hit by a series of tornadoes. Fortunately, we escaped without damage as two tornadoes passed just to the north and south of us. There was some damage to houses and businesses but so far we are hearing that there have been no injuries. There was lots of lighting and wind and a crazy amount of rain. Our entire back patio and yard was flooded and the alley turned into a white water river. I took a second to venture out of our bathroom closet to take this picture during the height of the storm:

Here’s the view out front. What the heck are these folks thinking?

Now they are forcasting snow tonight after this front moves through. Got to love Alabama weather!

Pentax K10D, Pentax-A SMC 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 640 (auto), f/1.7, 1/100 sec, +/-0 EV, IS: ON (converted to b/w and toned in Adobe Lightroom)

Snapped on my way back from Milwaukee Friday. I’m going to start posting more of my Flickr photos here in an effort to make it easier for those of you who follow my blog to follow my pictures as well. I’m planning on posting the large version of my photos but would appreciate feedback on that decision. Please feel free to post any questions about my photos in the comments here or on Flickr (photo links back to Flickr page).

I’ve already blogged here once about taking sunset photos but after taking this blue hour shot tonight I just had to share how easy this is.

I had to run downtown around 6pm to pick up some fresh oysters from the Fish Market. On the way out the door I grabbed my Pentax K10D, 16-50 f/2.8 DA* (borrowed) and tripod. I made a bee line down 21st Street South (past the Fish Market) to the viaduct that goes over the railroad tracks into downtown. From this elevated vantage point over the tracks I knew I would have a decent view west with enough streetlights for some killer starburst action.

Here’s the set-up for this shot:

• camera mode: MANUAL (you can’t do this in AUTO!)
• aperture: f/22
• shutter speed: 30 seconds
• ISO: 100*
• white balance: AUTO
• flash: OFF (!!)
• IS: OFF
• auto focus: OFF (manually set focus to ∞)
• self timer: ON (2 second delay)
• focal length: widest setting (here: 16mm)
• battery: fully charged (!)

*Nikon users with ISO 200 as the lowest setting may have to back off the shutter to 15-20 seconds.

That’s it. Mount the camera on a tripod, compose the shot, trip the shutter (using the self timer prevents camera shake), step back, and wait. If you time the light right that’s all you’ll ever have to do. The small aperture ensures everything is in focus and creates dazzling starbursts. The long exposure pulls in all kinds of light and colors and the low ISO keeps things s-m-o-o-t-h. I did shoot this photo in RAW but all I did in Lightroom to this shot is apply my standard import settings and touch up a little sensor dust.

Truthfully, I rarely look at the exposure meeter for these shots. I usually just take a 30 second f/22 shot at ISO 100 and check the LCD. If it’s too dark I’ve probably missed the magic blue hour and it’s either time to pack it up or break out the DIY bulb switch (though I usually try a few in vain at f/16 and f/8 just to be sure). If the shot is too bright I’ll just back off the shutter to 15 seconds and try again. If that doesn’t work I just wait a bit until the light drops off some more. The only real hard part is getting the timing right (most people are packing up to leave about the time I’m setting up for my best shots) and being patient (30 second exposures can seem like an eternity sometimes).

It’s really one of the few never-fail shots if you use these settings. Trick is you pretty much have to use all of these settings to get decent results. Break out the tripod and give it a try tomorrow night!

Here are a few more examples on my Flickr stream if you’re interested.