More Leaf Art

Probably my last chance to get some leaf art pictures this fall, especially now that it's winter.

Hunger Games

I just rented the Hunger Games last night. (I know I'm late to the party.) I loved the makeup and costumes, so today I tried to imitate it in the studio with stuff I already owned. Yes, I already had all that stuff. It's why people love to come and play in the studio.

Here's my take on Effie Trinket.

I did the hair and makeup myself so it's less than perfect. I think I stuck eyeliner in my eye several times. And getting the false lashes to stay on was a trick. The white makeup was really blue tinted, but that's fine when you have Photoshop. It took me 1.5 hours to do the makeup and another 1.5 hours to get the shot. Usually, I can shoot a set in 20 minutes, but there is a lot of walking back and forth to see what the images look like.

UPDATE: I edited the shot a bit more. I don't usually play with liquify, but I thought the lips could benefit from a little more heart shape. And while I was there I removed the shadow on the left because it made it look like uneven blush. And well, the uneven mascara was all my fault so I edited that as well. I also lightened the neck a bit. It seems that you can play with images forever.

And since I was there, I thought I would do a mugshot in that getup. 

My Sister's Pets

Another great thing about the Fuji x100s is that you can get right in a pet's face and they are not afraid. And it's quiet, so they don't jump or run away.

My sister has three pets.

Louie

Porsche

And Ginger

US Capitol Christmas Light Trails

I'm so happy that my brain is going to explode. I was able to get light trails (my new favorite thing) at the US Capitol with the Christmas tree lit up in 70 degree weather. Plus, all the other photographers (and there were hundreds) were lined up at the reflecting pool. Since I wanted the light trails, I was almost all alone on this road. It was fantastic.

I thought I would hate a warm Christmas. I definitely do not.

Looking for Christmas

I went on a Christmas walk tonight. Nothing like warm weather to get you outside more!

Old Town has lots of trees in windows and you can get right next to them since the houses are right next to the sidewalks.

Here are a few:

And here's a lady walking by the shops:

And St. Mary's Door:

And my new favorite thing, blurry christmas lights. The first one is the tree outside my office window and the second one is a little christmas tree decorated in led lights.

Merry Christmas.

Red Stripe

This week's contest was called red stripe.

While this picture isn't ground breaking, it is clearly within the subject range.

Why I Love My Canon 5D Mark II

I've written a lot about the Fuji x100s and while I really like the camera, this image shows why I will never give up my DSLR.

This is taken with the Canon 5D Mark II with the 100mm macro lens plus an extension tube. I love the super close macro. I just love taking them and it's something the x100s just can't give me.

I must say that every time I pick up my Canon it feels like a lead weight. But it does take some pretty pictures.

Alexandria Parade of Lights

I totally took the wrong camera for this event. It's a night time parade of boats decorated for Christmas. It's a very cool show that, for some reason, I've never heard of. And my DSLR would have been a better bet for this event, but I didn't feel like hauling it down there. So I went with my trusty Fuji x100s. They would have been hard shots with the DSLR as well. Way too dark, and too much movement on the boat.

Eileen invited a bunch of people to watch the show on her boat at the Alexandria docks. Great place to see the parade. It was 35 degrees outside and after an hour, I lost the feeling in my toes. I'm not made for cold weather.

Anyway, all my pictures are horrible, but I did manage to get one of Eileen's boat after the parade.

The lights at the top right are a plane flying by. We are right on the flight path to National.

Mormon Temple DC with Light Trails

Since I love light trails, I wanted to find places that were a bit different. Scott recommended shooting the Mormon Temple. It's easily visible from 495 and there's an overpass very close to it.

Well, I found out that the overpass doesn't have a full sidewalk on the side facing the temple. It's about 12 inches wide and cars use that overpass regularly. Surprisingly there are no holes in the fence. None. I often find cut holes in the fences on overpasses, especially the ones that don't have space for camera lenses to fit in. So for this picture, I had my camera on the tripod and had to lean the tripod against the fence and fit the lens in the hole. Not ideal at all. Every car passing by shakes the fence. Every large truck passing on the highway shakes the fence. And I shake the leaning tripod because it's cold. The cold weather added the nice pink stripe in the sky, so I can only complain so much.

I don't think I have one totally in focus image. But this is the one that was the closest.

Retro Style

I don't shoot in the studio near as much as I would like. Part of me doesn't enjoy it any more (the part that has to deal with pushy people and no-shows), but part of me loves it. That's the part that gets to play with lights and props and the part that creates something beautiful.

Outside My Window

Here are the two things I see outside of my window all the time.

This is from the window at work.

Rosslyn

I was able to get to Rosslyn at 5pm for some light trails.

And then while I was walking back to the car, I tried some black and white shots. This walkway is by the metro, it's huge and I love that about it. I might try it during the day. In this shot, I love that you can see the shadow but not the person.

While I'm not a fan of the blurry shot, I kinda liked this one.

And here's why I was off early - my dentist is making the crown for this implant. I'll have a new tooth to replace that old baby tooth in two weeks. (We started back in July.)

Cup of Warmth

I like to participate in photography sites' weekly contests. Most of the the time, the subject matter is out of my comfort range, so it's really quite a challenge.

This week, 500px.com had Cup of Warmth as their contest. I knew everybody would do coffee or hot chocolate, so I wanted to do something different. I figured I try some fire in a cup.

I went to Goodwill for a little tea cup. Got out my newspaper and lighter and went outside. It's been rather overcast and yukky, so I had to make do with what I had.

I tried in the leaves that I had in my backyard.

Not bad, but a little dead looking. So I walked down the block and picked up some super red leaves. Came back to my yard and sat in the wet leaves and tried again.

Here's what it looks like from inside the cup.

And just in case you think this is easy. One newspaper section burned up, wet dirty pants, and 450 pictures later, I have a picture that I'm mostly happy with.

30 Days with the Fuji x100s: Day 30

More Fall

Today may be the last warm day of the season. 61 degrees and sunny. So everybody went out for a walk. Me, I went to the Teddy Roosevelt Island and I tried to get some alternative fall shots, which mostly consisted of me shooting leaves in water.

Then, on the way out, I saw these two pouring over a cell phone in the sunshine.

30 Days with the Fuji x100s: Day 29

Rainy Day at the Diner

First, the rain. Who doesn't take this shot at least once in their life?

Second, the diner.
I've always wanted to eat at the Waffle Shop but it's a little scary. Today, I went with Scott. Woohoo!

This place is really tiny and I could take out the x100s and nobody looked twice.

I like how reflective the counter is.

30 Days with the Fuji x100s: Day 28

Fall

I tried to capture some fall shots since it was such a beautiful fall day.

And fall has some beautiful sunsets. Lots of oranges and pinks.

30 Days with the Fuji x100s: Day 27

Fayette Street Light Trails

Today's light trail comes right out of my office window. I think it will look better when the lights on the trees are lit up for the holidays. That should be any day now.

My advice of this camera: Always carry an extra battery. I do it with any camera, but with this one, you really need it. I actually put the camera in my purse (which has an extra battery in it) and a weekend camera bag (which has an extra battery in it). More times that not, I am changing the battery outside somewhere. Also, the batteries can go in backwards. Annoying for sure. I've learned to not do it any more, but the first week when I changed the battery, I thought I brought an uncharged battery by mistake. I missed some pictures that day and learned my lesson.

30 Days with the Fuji x100s: Day 26

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday for a gift I received an 7-hour art class. It was a fun way to spend time with my sister. But it did not leave much time for taking pictures.

Here's one from the class of my sister's art supplies.

I can't stress enough how light this camera is. I really can take it anywhere and pull it out without people getting all stressed or goofy. It's great in that regard.

30 Days with the Fuji x100s: Day 25

Lincoln Monument Light Trails

Another night chasing light trails. Thanks to the rain that came in right at dusk we had an interesting sky to work with.

Here's the Lincoln (with the Washington right behind it).

Then when you turn around you see Rosslyn. Very interesting sky looking that way.

And if you walk about, there are some tunnels.

And just for a change of pace, I took a picture of my bird cage when I noticed that the shadows were super cool. The screen door must have caused the lines to appear in the shadows. It was only like that for about 20 minutes. Enough time to move all the stuff around it, take the picture and fall off a chair.