Just because I like to start out with an image and I love this new wide angle lens, this is another test shot from my new Nikon D3.
ISO 1600. 1/250s at f/4.5. 14-24 mm lens. Focal length: 14 mm.CONTEST DETAILS
I will begin posting my holiday card designs tomorrow, Jan. 1, 2008.
The three designs that receive the most comments will be entered into a finalist round. The grand prize winner — the family featured on the one card that receives the most unique comments — will receive a $150 credit to be used toward prints or print products from their session or toward a new session in 2008!
AND, the owner of the e-mail address that sends in the most comments relating to card designs will receive a FREE family session in 2008. Comments must be legitimate and unique. I reserve the right to delete any comments that seem repetitive, copied or insincere. One comment per e-mail address per day will be counted. If you comment on one card design, feel free to leave a response comment, but only one of your posts will be counted for each design.
Let the comments begin!
NOTE: In the “name” field, rather than put in your full name, you may put your initials, or just your first name, or a nickname. I will know who you are by your e-mail address.
Don’t leave your comment here though. Be sure to go back to the specific card design that you meant to comment on! (Click “back” on your browser.)
Bookmark the blog and THANKS for visiting!
Happy New Year!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 4:31 pm
We were looking at the files from the test shots we took tonight with my new Nikon D3. As for me, I’m in awe! But Bradley is the one who put it just right when he said, “You can attach it to your face and call it your eyes.” He’s so right!
The thing that’s so fantastic about this camera is that you can shoot at previously unimaginable HIGH ISO levels and still get usable pictures. And the thing is, they’re not only USABLE, they’re FANTASTIC!
The picture above was taken on the ramp to the New Jersey Turnpike, going probably 30 mph. (I was driving, Mike took the picture.) The only light was my car’s headlights. One of the amazing things about this camera is the sensor. The fact that the camera would even FOCUS at that speed and in pitch dark amazes me!
ISO 6400. 1/200s at f/2.8. 14-24 mm lens. Focal length: 24 mm.
Below, more test shots from yesterday and today…
I took this picture of Bradley in the living room. With my previous camera, a Nikon d200, I would have had to spend at least several minutes removing digital artifacts (noise) from the picture, and that would have made it soft. But I wouldn’t have bothered with that because it’s so dark in my living room this time of year that the camera never would have even taken the picture, having not been able to find a focus point! New Nikon D3 camera: no problem. Snaps away like lighting, and the picture’s as smooth as butter!
ISO 3200. 1/200s at f/2. 135 mm lens.
This is Kaptain Karl after I got home yesterday morning around 3 a.m. He is laying on the living room floor, facing away from the only light source — the Christmas tree — which is about 20 feet away. Again, I found it amazing that the camera would even take the picture! True, this one is noisy, but honestly, the room is almost completely dark, so noise would be expected here. (Going to sneak upstairs and take pictures of the kids sleeping one day soon!)
ISO 8000. 1/30s at f/2. 135 mm lens.
I took the camera to work with me last night. This is my buddy Baden. He’s a Nikon man too. He currently has a d80, and he has his eyes on the new D300, also an excellent new Nikon entry, though not quite as efficient at low-light noiseless pictures as the D3 is.
ISO 1600. 1/250s at f/2.2. 135 mm lens.
Our red metallic Christmas tree at work compliments the huge red wall, no?
ISO 1600. 1/320s at f/2.2. 135 mm lens.
Fast forward to early this afternoon. I thought I’d try some standard indoor shots. I always had a hard time shooting Karl in his cat tower when he was facing away from the window and also moving. I’ve never really been able to get a natural light picture of him yawning, for example, because the camera wouldn’t focus fast enough in the low light and Karl yawns like he’s afraid something’s going to jump in there. You need a quick camera and quick reflexes to snap this kitty’s teeth!
ISO 1600. 1/200s at f/2.8. 135 mm lens.
Next I thought I’d go for a walk, see how the camera does on some standard shots at standard ISO levels. Above, man I love this 135 mm lens. The new camera is a full frame camera, meaning its frame is as large as the frame on a 35 mm film camera. This lens is great for taking portraits with blurry backgrounds. On my old camera, my favorite lens for portraits was the 85 mm, but move aside 85, the 135 has replaced you! I also like the dynamic range of this camera. That means that I can take higher ISO pictures (letting in more light) and still have a nice range of colors. Previously, the higher the ISO, the less range of colors and so I always tried my best to keep my ISO down as much as possible. Not anymore, baby!
ISO 500. 1/200s at f/3.2. 135 mm lens.
He’s a tall boy.
ISO 500. 1/320s at f/2.0. 135 mm lens.
Nice blue sky in the background. I’m happy to see how easy it is to control exposure so my sky doesn’t blow out. The buttons and menu controls are intuitive, at least they are for this Nikon girl.
ISO 500. 1/200s at f/2.8. 135 mm lens.
This one I purposefully underexposed, then brought the exposure up on the computer. I shoot everything in RAW format so that I can adjust exposure levels and white balance if I need to. The original, straight-out-of-camera, shot was quite dark, but the photo adjusted nicely. The added noise from bringing the exposure up is not a problem at all. My noise reduction software was not needed.
ISO 400. 1/250s at f/2.5. 135 mm lens.
That’s a keeper!
ISO 500. 1/500s at f/2.8. 135 mm lens.
Just an old fallen tree in the woods. I have to say, I really enjoyed my walk with Bradley in what we call “The Small Circle Woods.” Gregory was getting a hair cut. Don’t worry, Mamarazzi will be coming along to Gregory’s basketball game next week so I’ll be sure to post some action shots from that.
ISO 400. 1/250s at f/2.5. 135 mm lens.
This old tree gets lots of resident spiders in the summer. When Bradley was 4, we used to walk by this tree and he used to be SO SCARED of it! Not any more. He’s gotten so big.
ISO 1600. 1/250s at f/5. 135 mm lens.
It’s weird to look up to him now. But in a way, not so weird. We always knew he’d be tall.
ISO 400. 1/250s at f/2.5. 135 mm lens.
He’s an explorer by nature, likes to investigate things closely, like this bubble of sap.
ISO 400. 1/250s at f/2.5. 135 mm lens.
He was wondering if it would smell sweet, like maple sugar. (It didn’t.) A look up at the branches revealed an alternate branching pattern, and a look at the ground revealed no sugar maple leaves. Sugar maple trees have opposite branches, so it clearly wasn’t a sugar maple tree, though we’re not sure what it was or what caused the sap bubble. I love the light in these pictures. It’s the light of a winter setting sun, softened by the gentle shade of bare forest trees. I’m grateful for the opportunity to test my camera, and be outdoors on a winter day appreciating the details of nature.
ISO 400. 1/250s at f/2.5. 135 mm lens.
Later, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Do we look hungry or what? Thanks, Lauren, for the gift card! We throughly enjoyed our salad and breadsticks, and oh yeah, the entree too.
ISO 6400. 1/100s at f/2.8. 14-24 mm lens, focal length: 24 mm.
There’s Gregory with the new haircut! So cool to be able to get these shots with no flash inside a relatively dark restaurant!
ISO 6400. 1/200s at f/2.8. 14-24 mm lens. Focal length: 24 mm
They don’t call me “mamarazzi” for nothing. By the way, that little Lego guy that I’m focusing on in this picture is Indiana Jones. He joined us for dinner on his way to chase bad guys or something.
ISO 6400. 1/200s at f/2.8. 14-24 mm lens. Focal length: 24 mm
That’s it for the testing today. Stay tuned for more fun shots while I figure out all the new buttons on my fancy new eyes, as Bradley would say.
NOTE: All the pictures (except where noted) above are straight out of the camera, aside from saving the raw files as jpgs in low resolution format for web display. Some of the indoor shots have a slight white balance tweak, but other than that, I didn’t do any Photoshop work on these. One tidbit: this camera and these lenses are HEAVY. I’m going to need a new neck pretty soon.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 10:55 am
As you can probably tell, I had a great time designing holiday cards this year!
If you received a card, I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts! So stay tuned to this space. I’ll be posting the designs one-by-one starting next week.
The three designs that receive the MOST comments will be entered in a blog poll where blog readers can vote for their favorite design.
The family with the design that gets the most comments will win a big prize (yet to be determined, but trust me, when I say “big” I mean BIG, though do keep in mind I’m no Oprah) so, keep your eye on the blog! And if you’re one of my card clients, ASK YOUR FRIENDS to bookmark my blog and leave a comment! Your prize just might end up being THEIR prize too!
That’s a hint.
Oh, and one more thing: I finally ordered my own family’s cards yesterday, so if you usually get a card from us, and haven’t gotten yours yet, it’s on the way! If you’d like to be added to my mailing list, e-mail me your snail mail address and I’d love to send you a card! Happy New Year everyone!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 1:06 pm
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:56 pm
This is Roger. If you know Roger or her human family, and you would like to see a beautiful and touching slide show, just send an e-mail to that human family, or to me, and I’ll give you the link.
Merry Christmas Elisa and Sean! I love you!
(P.S. Yes, Roger is a girl.)
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:36 pm
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for the slide show from Dean’s baptism.
When the slide show is finished it will jump back here where you can answer a tree-related question and win a free 8×10 for Dean’s family and lots of blog praise for yourself!
Above, Donna and Dean before the ceremony started way back in early November. I didn’t know if I’d be able to make it to the service, and since it was a last-minute plan for me to be there, I waited to edit their pictures after I’d finished editing all my Christmas shoots and designed all the Christmas cards. Sent the last one to the printer early Saturday morning (deadlines. ugh.) and so I finally had some time! Yay!
I love this one. The ceremony was held in a large chapel. The light was perfect to capture this image engraved in the window. I was lucky, too, that the trees were still changing then, providing a beautiful backdrop.
I think there were 13 children being christened that day.
I love this one. There really weren’t any restrictions on photography, but I didn’t use my flash during the ceremony simply because I feel that the ceremony should be about the moment of worship and nothing should distract worshippers from focusing on the moment. So, my ceremony pictures are grainy and maybe a little bit blurry, but I rather like the drama of how they look.
I especially like this one. I like how the shot focuses on just the father and son in this over-crowded room.
Dean wore the same hat that his brother, Dylan, wore at his christening. It is fondly referred to as the “dough boy hat.”
I love this one. That’s Dean Sr. coming up the street in shadow.
I got lots of nice pictures at the reception. Donna was very smart to bring lots of things for the children to do!
I can’t help it. I am drawn to photograph children. They have a way of staring into the camera sometimes that just makes me wonder if they can’t see through it and into my eyes.
This was taken inside the restaurant. In reality, she is standing in front of a gaggle of adults, but I took all the distractions out in Photoshop. She is so beautiful and I love her dress, so I just wanted the picture to be all about her.
Lots of sweet shots of Donna and her family and friends.
You may remember Donna from her maternity shoot, or from Dean’s newborn shoot. She is a beautiful person inside and out and I love her family dearly now!
TODAY’S CONTEST QUESTION
Which tree in my yard was the first one that Mike and I planted?
Have fun and Merry Christmas everybody!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:45 am
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for the slide show from Jack’s “day in the life” session.
When the slide show is finished it will jump back here where you can answer a question and win print credits for Jack’s family!
Above, Jack is a 6-month-old man of many hats. Isn’t this the FUNNIEST picture? I LOVE it!
Here’s another hat. Cute smile too!
Hat number 3.
Four.
Five. I LOVE this one! SO classy!
But rest assured that there’s nothing weird hiding under all those hats!
The man-of-many-hats also has fantastic eyes. Here, we are showing what it’s like in Jack’s day when he eats. Eating (or feeding, can you see the spoon?) is just one element of a “day in the life” session — the other elements being…
…bathtime…
…playtime…
…naptime.
(I LOVE that picture!)
We also plan, as part of our “day in the life” session, an outing. The other stuff — feeding, bathtime, playtime, naptime — is routine. So the outing can be anything. It could be a trip to the grocery store, or a walk to the duck pond. It could be a drive to the shore or lunch at a sweet cafe. It could be an exploration at the Discovery Museum or a swim with the sharks at the Aquarium. Point is: it should be something unique to you and your family, or some place you regularly go, that you would like to document with beautiful pictures.
In Jack’s case, our outing was the trip to pick out the Christmas tree. I LOVE IT! It’s something ordinary, and yet, it’s a beautiful memory that many of us share as being a sweet time of family togetherness.
This is what I love about family lifestyle photography — capturing those moments that you might not ever even think of capturing, or can’t simply because it’s frankly hard to carry a 7-foot Christmas tree, pay for it, load it atop the van, hold a baby and take family pictures all at the same time!
HERE’S TODAY’S CONTEST!
Jack’s family will win a $30 print credit thanks to the first commentor to answer the question correctly.
QUESTION
From where was the Christmas Tree purchased?
SIDENOTE: For those of you in Jack’s extended family that might be reading this, if you haven’t yet gotten them a present, one thing I KNOW they would love is gift credits for my store! Mom wants prints — lots of them, maybe even a big canvas, and maybe even the chance to upgrade Jack’s First Year book to include more pages from
his newborn shoot, his baptism, Halloween, and the shoots we’ll be doing next spring and around his first birthday. So if you’re stuck for ideas, I have a (not-so-secret) list!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 5:02 pm
I haven’t been posting to the blog this week because I’ve been designing Christmas cards like crazy and having a blast! But, don’t want to spoil the surprise, so I won’t post any of the designs until after Christmas. Meanwhile, I still have a few shoots to edit before the end of the year, and here’s one of them. We did this shoot just after Thanksgiving, when the kids were home from college.
Above, I LOVE that brother/sister shot! (Since I know my brothers read my blog, this slide show makes me miss you so much!)
I love this one too. Her brother’s back was hurting, so she did what I suppose she used to always do when before they went away to college. And of course the dog had to get in on this!
What a cute cat! The kitty bears a striking resemblance to the famous Kaptain Karl (although you could probably fit four of these little kitties in one Karl).
I love the walking shots!
Especially this one.
And this one.
And this one! Happy anniversary, Kimberley and Wes! It’s some really big number. Help me out, Kimberley cuz I can’t remember.
They’re so cute together
Man, that off-camera light is SO COOL! I love this one. By the way, it’s totally unposed. Sometimes I just get lucky. (If it were posed, I would have moved the paper towel roll.)
These next three make up my favorite sequence of all. It took me a while to get him to warm up to the whole “family photo session” idea.
But a little egging by the rest of the family goes a LONG way!
See? I LOVE IT!!!
Their slide show is private, but if you know them, you’ll LOVE it so be sure to shoot them an e-mail, turn up the sound and go hug your kids before they move out!
Kimberley, this one totally makes me cry. I’m such a mush.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 5:08 pm
Click the picture
— or click here —
for the slide show from Andi’s family session.
(By the way, my 13-year-old son, Bradley, picked out the music for this one. It’s perfect! Thanks for your help, Bradley!)
There’s a really great tree-related contest question in this one. Answer it and win the family an 8×10 print. Have fun! Above, for a bonus print credit for Andi, what kind of tree is that in the background? I love that picture!
Forget the tree! Aren’t they cute together!
She’s adorable.
Everybody loves the jump shots.
(I love that sequence in the slide show.)
She has beautiful eyes.
Believe it or not, this one and the one above were taken underneath the Metuchen train bridge downtown. It’s a great place to shoot because of the cool rocks in the background, and the overhead shade, and the great big softbox effect created by the underpass opening. Very dramatic.
Pretty light in her hair from the quickening sunset of approaching winter. I love this time of year! Great clothes, great light. It’s perfect.
TODAY’S CONTEST QUESTION
To win this family an 8×10 print and to win enormous helpings of blog praise for yourself, what kind of tree makes this gigundo leaf?
Thanks Andi! I love your slide show!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 4:49 pm
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:26 am
