A day in the life

[Paul Shields]

You know, some people go for extended expeditions to somewhere like the Serengeti - laden with all that you need to capture the essence of the land they're visiting. Others go for that inner place inside your head and can craft a whole world in a 24 hour period. I'm more inclined toward the latter than the former - think James Joyce and Ulysses rather than Rudyard Kipling or Luminous Landscape.

Why am I waffling thus? Well, I thought it would be fun to do a study that involved one camera, one lens, and most importantly one hour (in reality, about 30 minutes). So I chose somewhere that didn't involve much travel - my back garden .

Camera: Canon 5D
Lens: Tamron manual focus 90mm f/2.5 Macro (OM mount)

Step 1. Circumvent the guards at the entrance. Unfortunately, impossible due to parental responsibilities (you never know if the "Parent Police" are watching).




Step 2. Express an interest in ball games - makes for an easy route into the primary target.




Step 3. Notice that the dandelions have gone to seed and construct a metaphor about how that is so like life...




Step 4. Use the 'old age' metaphor and twist it to show that in fact seeds are a sign of rebirth, and take expected photo of child attempting to scatter them to the high winds.




Step 5. Grab quick shots of interesting vegetation while progeny are hunting for more dandelion ashes to scatter.




Step 6. Assert authority by showing resident wildfowl who is boss by applying an eviction order.

[easypickings]

Great adventure tale of the backyard and beyond. Loved it and the photos that went along with it.

[dc2]

Great series and worth a karma

[Blinky]

Very nice concept and superb narration... too bad we can't hear your voice in that narration.

So, I assume the afore mentioned progeny got Daddy's brains and Mom's good looks, eh?

Chip

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by B

Very nice concept and superb narration... too bad we can't hear your voice in that narration.

So, I assume the afore mentioned progeny got Daddy's brains and Mom's good looks, eh?

Chip

I hope not. Mom is a class A academic genius, and Dad is a 'ne'er do well' (but handsome with it ).

[JDArt]

Oh, boy. Good shots.

When are you sending that 5D back?

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by JDArt

Oh, boy. Good shots.

When are you sending that 5D back?

I think I'll keep it this time Jay.

In fact, I have to say I love it, despite it's many faults. I find I'm also attracted to similar attributes in women (lovely detail, but with a propensity for dirt in certain places). Let's hope 'she who must be obeyed' hasn't discovered this site yet .

[JDArt]

You're getting some great skin tones from that thing. I assume you're not doing much post-processing?

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by JDArt

You're getting some great skin tones from that thing. I assume you're not doing much post-processing?

I'm using the 'Olympus skin tones' plugin...

...and a touch of post processing, but generally just levels. I shoot in 'neutral' mode, sigh every time that ACR saturates and over-exposes the hell out of the RAW files (is there a fix for this?), and readjust accordingly.

[Blinky]

Originally Posted by Paul

I hope not. Mom is a class A academic genius, and Dad is a 'ne'er do well' (but handsome with it ).

Damn then, we're exactly the same! You must be my left-handed, Macintosh driving alter-ego.... the Anti-Chip! : ...or am I the Anti-Paul?

Yep, the mother of my children is a professor specializing in neuroscience (no joke!)... and I'm the good looking high school drop-out. :P

Chip