20091008-3095 - Perfect Red Pepper? Not really. Picked a bunch of peppers last week. (not enough for a peck and they were not pickled, sorry) I planned to do some red/green groups but this tiny red one just jumped out at me. It may have something to do with the worm hole in the back side, hmmm, I didn't notice that when I picked it. Anyway, I figured I'd shoot it solo before adding it to the compost pile. Just one flash and a few reflectors, very similar to the previous two images. Since a few have asked about how I lit the other two, I took a setup shot of this one and added a few notes. The setup shot can be seen here. - James Hill Photography - Efland, NC

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James Hill > 20100130-4383

Not exactly a great photo but it happens to be the closest shot I have of this type of bird and I haven't been able to ID the thing. Any of you birders know what it is? The true color is flat gray with a white underside. It's being lit by an incandescent spotlight from behind the window, hence the apparent warmness. They usually gather in groups of 6-10 around the feeder but almost always feed on the ground instead of on the feeder itself.

Edit: Jon, on facebook, quickly provided an ID. I just don't trust my hunches. This is a dark-eyed junco, slate colored variety.

James Hill > 20100130-4341

Eye to eye with a curious and very persistent little tufted titmouse. This cross-observation took place through a slightly fogged, and more than slightly dirty window in my living room. A steaming bowl of homemade chili and warm radiant-heated comfort on my side of the glass, while outside the weather was powder-fine blowing snow with temps in the 20-something degree range. There were several of these little guys fluttering around on the porch, insisting rather vocally that more sunflower seed be added to the abundance of mixed seed already on the windowsill feeder. Picky eaters, those titmice.

To be fair, in addition to feeding them and providing temporary shelter from the storm, I did spend about half the day out on the porch with the birds. However, it was much too cold and windy to handle the camera with much finesse, especially given how I was bundled up as if I were making a summit attempt on Everest. Yesterdays sparrow was shot the following day, when the sun reappeared and made being outside rather pleasant (except for the shoveling snow part.)

More birds on the way...

James Hill > 20091020-3835

Oops, I thought I added this to my daily gallery a while back with my other shell shots. Seems it never made it out of hiding. I really liked the way the patterns mimicked the overall shape of this shell.

Been doing more reading/viewing/experimenting than posting or commenting lately, still researching a strategy to improve my flash/lighting work with the limited equipment I have. Thanks to you all who've popped in recently and left some encouraging comments. I will get back to regular activity sooner or later. : )

James Hill > 20091019-3757

Continuing the shell game with a little different look from yesterdays shot. I tried the same lighting as the previous shot and it didn't work for this particular shell. The wrap around cross-lighting killed all the surface detail and made this one seem rather flat. So, instead of using soft light, I hit this one with hard light from above and slightly behind to accentuate all the protrusions and tiny surface ridges. A snoot placed on the flash gave me a nice small oval of light similar to a spotlight.

James Hill > 20091018-3716

Furthering my lighting studies with a weathered and worn shell I picked up from Mom's today. She has plenty of them, and I've been looking for a long-term project, so you'll likely see more.

James Hill > 20091017-3513 - Three of a kind beats two pairs...

and trying to claim three pairs could lead to trouble, or at least that's what I've been told. I don't know for sure because I don't play cards, much less poker. All I know is I had three pears, two reflectors, and one flash. This is what I came up with.

Thanks for all the kind feedback on the deer shot yesterday and the previous edibles. I hope to spend some time viewing and commenting soon. I've been working my way through a really good lighting book, 'Light - Science and Magic', and about the only time I've put it down is to pick up the camera and try an exercise.

James Hill > 20091016-3368 - Face off

Seems the deer are more regular than I am with this daily thing. : )
These two showed up to feed in the yard at the same time last night. They've been spending most of their time alone for the last few weeks and generally appear after it's too dark for photos. When I saw both walk into the yard last night I grabbed my camera and hoped for a little interaction. Of course they insisted on just milling around and eating for a good half hour while the light was continually fading, ugh. Finally they approached one another, and as luck would have it, they met up directly behind the only tree in the yard which would block my view.

They did eventually dance their way across the yard, with antlers gnashing, and I was able to capture a couple dozen shots of the scrimmage. It was a rather low-key event, really more of a friendly shoving match, with both appearing to gain the upper hoof at various times. No blood was drawn and , I suspect, no dominance was established in this little tussle. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a rematch over the next few weeks.

As always, there are more shots in My Daily Visitors gallery. Shot at ISO 1600 and from behind a window, so the quality is rather bleak, but it was fun.

James Hill > 20091008-3095 - Perfect Red Pepper? Not really.

Picked a bunch of peppers last week. (not enough for a peck and they were not pickled, sorry) I planned to do some red/green groups but this tiny red one just jumped out at me. It may have something to do with the worm hole in the back side, hmmm, I didn't notice that when I picked it. Anyway, I figured I'd shoot it solo before adding it to the compost pile.

Just one flash and a few reflectors, very similar to the previous two images. Since a few have asked about how I lit the other two, I took a setup shot of this one and added a few notes. The setup shot can be seen here.

James Hill > 20091006-2995 - Some kind of squash (not a pumpkin.)

Thanks for all the feedback on the pears. (btw, the pears haven't completely dried yet, so they're still a little squishy) This shot is basically the same lighting setup - Flash stuffed into a homemade diffuser, just out of frame on camera left, and a white shirt-box reflector off camera right.

James Hill > 20091005-2827 Dried Pears

I've had these pears drying on my window sill for quite a while, waiting, shrinking, accumulating strange growths; essentially begging to be a photo. Little did I know that this project would end up consuming the better part of an evening, and even then I still didn't get exactly what I had planned. That's what I get for thinking a one light setup should be easy. Maybe what I really needed was a third pear standing in the rear, deep in the shadows and barely visible.

There is a lot of cool texture in the skins, unfortunately all my macros were either out of focus or underexposed too much to make a decent image. I'll play with them some more I'm sure.

Strobist info:
Flash set on 1/64 power, shoved into a large white plastic bowl with diffusion material over it, (which became like a giant softbox for these little guys) held just out of frame top left. Used a white shirt-box as a fill reflector, just out of frame camera right.

James Hill > 20090922-0046

So I'm a little behind on my dailies (monthlies??)... at least I'm not uploading another deer shot for a daily photo. Instead, I put those in with my other deer gallery. : )

James Hill > Well I didn't plan on following up the fawn with another deer photo but since there were close to a dozen in the yard again tonight, what the heck. My pear tree is dropping a lot of fruit and has become a popular gathering point, so I took the liberty of throwing several of the pears around the yard, in hopes of getting the deer to disperse a little, and it worked. This guy came right up to the front porch and ate a couple pears while I snapped photos. He was interrupted briefly by a younger buck still in velvet, but quickly put him in his place with a quick spar. The tussle only lasted a few seconds but I was able to catch a (slightly OOF) shot of the deciding blow.

James Hill > 20090909-9813_Fawn_vertical_reflection

I've not picked up my camera for a month and although I was really starting to miss the dailies, almost everything outside has been pretty drab looking with all the insect damage and old brown growth of late summer. I've been itching to take some photos but just couldn't find anything inspiring to shoot. Then, almost like clockwork, this little guy came walking up while I was eating dinner tonight and paused long enough for me to get a few shots out the front door. So Kris (K Dunlap) this one is for you. It only took me 3 months more than expected, but I finally managed a few pictures of spots. : )

The original crop was a horizontal, and not all that interesting, so I added the faux reflection using software. I've fiddled with it too long now to make a honest judgment about how convincing it is, so feel free to let me know if it doesn't work.

(btw, thanks to all of you who've sent little pokes and emails. I'll get caught up with all of you eventually.)

James Hill > 20090810 - Touch of gold for Tuesday.

Day three of the household abstracts. This one is a cheat. I got sidetracked yesterday and didn't get to shoot what I had planned, so this is another view of the same item from Monday.

I've added a wider view to reveal the items seen in these last two shots, and I'll add some more a little later.

20091008-3095 - Perfect Red Pepper? Not really.

Picked a bunch of peppers last week. (not enough for a peck and they were not pickled, sorry) I planned to do some red/green groups but this tiny red one just jumped out at me. It may have something to do with the worm hole in the back side, hmmm, I didn't notice that when I picked it. Anyway, I figured I'd shoot it solo before adding it to the compost pile.

Just one flash and a few reflectors, very similar to the previous two images. Since a few have asked about how I lit the other two, I took a setup shot of this one and added a few notes. The setup shot can be seen here.

Camera: Canon (Canon Eos 10d) |

more details: exif |

original size: 3068px x 3068px |

Current: 450px x 450px |

Other sizes: S • Medium • L |

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Keywords: 3095 20091008

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