Dad on New Year's Eve

I wanted to get a few pictures of my Mom and Dad while they were in town during their California Christmas visit. They were standing in our front lawn when my uncle (my mom's older brother) stopped by to see them. My mom went over to talk to him and, as they chatted at camera right, my dad watched.

I was taking some test shots of my dad. I didn't want him posing or anything like that: I told him I was going to test to make sure my off-camera flash and Pocket Wizards were working together.

This is the first test shot:

 

I really shouldn't have bothered with fill-flash: the picture was really, really bad, and I had to do some post-processing to get a halfway decent picture. Sometimes I think my D600 has an overexposure problem in some situations, but I'm betting it's more operator error than anything else.

And on that note: Happy New Year, everyone. Be safe out there, and have fun. And thanks for stopping by and following my blog over the past year. 

(Shot with the Nikon D600 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens; shutter-priority mode, with shutter set to 1/160 second; camera chose f/3.5 at ISO 200; auto white balance; -2.0 flash compensation; normal JPG.) 

Something new

I ordered a cheap light stand, shoot-through umbrella, and an umbrella adapter to learn how to use off-camera flash. After my order arrived it sat on a chair unopened until this evening (all because one of our cats is using the chair for his naps and I don't want to disturb him). Finally, after getting the umbrella set up in the backyard I took Sadie outside and had her pose for me when I fired off a few shots.

Of the pictures I took, I like this one best:

I cropped the image a bit, made some cosmetic fixes, and added a vignette. I have a lot to learn about how to use an umbrella; it'll be awhile before I feel comfortable enough to use it in a session.

(Shot with the Nikon D300 using the 50mm f/1.8 lens, SB-800 flash, and two Pocket Wizards; program mode; camera set shutter speed at 1/60th second, aperture at f/5, at ISO 200; auto white balance; normal JPG.)