Grapes of Wrath

I decided to take a three week break from shooting models after my hectic six models in two weeks shoot-a-thon. A friend, and previous co-worker chose to retire and decided to open a deli in Petaluma, California. We were invited to her Retirement Party and also to take some shots of her deli, or more likely I was invited to take pictures. Awhile back they bought a home on five acres of land, which is covered with vineyards, and as part of the deal, the vineyards on their property is maintained by a winery with a portion of the harvest bottled under a private label.

As many of you know, I rarely shoot flora or fauna, but I really wanted to do some strobist stuff in the vineyards. I brought my D700 and an SB-900 along to see how creative I could get with only one flash. This first shot was taken around 3:00 PM with the sun camera left. I set the camera to f/3.5, ISO 100 and Focal and Aperture Priority Mode,nice picture, but with so much ambient light the right side of the grapes were black and the background clipped. So I removed my flash from the hot shoe and turned it on. I set the Flash E/V to -3.0 and fired a shot. Wow!!! Blown out!!! so I set the Camera E/V to -2.0 and BANG!!! It was an awkward shot. I held my camera with my right hand and pressed it against my left collarbone for steadiness and used my left hand to hold the flash and point it towards the grapes at almost a 90 degree angle. It was definitely a keeper.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who liked the picture, after posting it on FLICKR, the picture made it as high as #23 on Explore. I believe there are some 5,000 pictures posted on FLICKR every minutes and to make it on Explore there is some algorithm used to calculate your photo's status ir interestingness (a term they coined, not me). I believe it is based on who comments (i.e. where they live), the TAGS you use, the number of favorites and some other intangibles. The irony is that only two of my model pics back in March made it on Explore, two of which I didn't really like. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

This next shot was taken the following day along the Petaluma River using my 50mm Prime Lens. My childhood friend, Mark lives in Petaluma and we decided to have breakfast and catch up. He was the Best Man at my wedding, and I was the Best Man at his wedding. We've known each other since 1969 and shared many experiences together. As we were walking along the river there was a section fenced off, apparently wood rot has made a section dangerous for foot traffic. So I reached over the fence and set my camera on it's side and pressed the shutter. I didn't do to much processing to the picture, it was a cloudy morning so I boosted the contrast. This is not an HDR image, just a Tonal Contrast filter from NIK Software.

BTW, Here's a picture of my buddy Mark.

What did I learn?
1) I can still take a decent non-model photo
2) One off-camera flash and the sun is all you need to qualify as a Strobist. Hahaha
3) Take a break from stuff you are comfortable with shooting

If you read this entire post, then you truly are a follower and a friend, so a big Thank You

That's a Wrap!!!