03-04-14 Sleeping On the Job →

I'm not sleeping now and I'm not really sleeping in the photo, either. I was at Lake Area Technical Institute working on a project for Office Peeps, a local office solutions retailer, and decided it might be a good time to get a self portrait. Also, I was using Camranger to remotely control my camera so it was convenient to get myself in a photo. (If you look closely at the iPad on the floor, you will see the same photo you see here because I can get a live view on my IOS device with Camranger.)

For those who are regular readers of my blog, you might see the humor in the title, given that my last post for "A Photo A Day" was on the 17th of February. Have I been sleeping too much? No. Have I been traveling? No. Did my wireless connection quit? No. Do I have a good excuse. Maybe.

I have been working on projects and, significantly, I have been working on a new web site, which you are apparently looking at right now. Thanks for visiting. (How about subscribing to new posts on both my "Learn" and "A Photo A Day" pages here at Scott Shephard Photography? Just fill in the little box on the right.)

Will "A Photo A Day" as you know it disappear? No doubt. When? There is much doubt.

And, yes, four external links is way too much for the average viewer. But you're better than average, aren't you? Check out some of the LATI Office Peeps project photos here.

01-28-14 Dreaming of Mexico (HDR)

I wish I were in this picture, lounging on the pool-side chair. But it occurs to me that I am in every photo I take. You just have to look hard to see me sometimes. . . .

Dreaming of Mexico by Scott Shephard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

01-09-14 Altered States (HDR)

This photo is demonstrably "unreal." As I've said before, humans don't see out of focus light as soft, overlapping balls. And we certainly don't see the world upside down, as it is shown here in a crystal ball I inherited from my grandma Ida.

But wait a minute. . . Our eyes are lenses somewhat similar to a crystal ball. And, in fact, all that we see is upside down, too. But our brains, for some reason, turn it "right side up." So do I dare ask, "What is reality?"

Canon 5DIII f/5.0 ISO320 100mm

11-14-13 The Festival of Trees Metal Print Is Here!

Each year I donate a photo to the Lake Area Technical Institute Foundation to be auctioned at their annual Festival of Trees, which is quickly approaching. The photo usually has a winter theme and this year's picture is called "Spring Melt" and was photographed along Iron Creek last April.

Being a perfectionist, I rarely like my photos in print form but I have to say that this one, printed on metal, is pretty special. Of course it helps to have such great scenery. :-)

11-05-13 The Golden Hour

The "golden hour" is generally defined as the hour of sunlight just before sunset. It is particularly conducive to natural light portraiture, though other things, including landscapes and cityscapes, look better in this light, too.

I also think that there is a golden hour in the morning. But to catch it on a summer morning in South Dakota means being out sometime around 4:30 am, which is not exactly "golden" for most portrait subjects. But I will say that Lonesome Lake, where I took this photo, is flattered by this light. Even my 59 year old face might have been improved by the soft cloud and fog filtered light present on this morning. :-)

Canon 5DIII f/16.0 ISO100 85mm

11-03-13 State House (HDR)

I won't say much about this photo though I will suggest that this is an example of HDR (high dynamic range) photography doing what it is supposed to do: allow the camera to render the complete tonality of a scene that varies from very dark to very bright.

Like yesterday's post, I have a colored version of this but I prefer the black and white version, in part because the other Utah capitol photo I have posted is black and white, too.

Canon 5DIII 1/400s f/6.3 ISO400 24mm