Balancing

If this bird can survive in San Francisco with only one leg, what are we all doing with our two legs?

Sunstar

I went out walking because I wanted to capture some of the wonderful slanty San Francisco afternoon light. It's like butttah, people. Yellow, directional, not too bright. It's gorgeous. And because I live in the heart of the downtown, this light goes away at about 4 pm. The tall buildings around me simply swallow it up.

Now, I didn't know what I wanted to shoot, but I knew this light was the key. And I knew I wanted it as a backlight. I saw it in the park, behind these trees, and I stopped down to f/16 to get those rays of light nice and defined (did you know that's how you do that? You won't see the rays of light at a small aperture number), and took the shot just as the man was between those two trees.

And I love that shot. Love it. I love the light, where the man is, the green, the nice halo the trees are getting, everything!

But I knew I had to try to make a sunstar. It was perfect light for sunstars, and I've been not so satisfied with my efforts to date.
Quick and dirty recipe for sunstars:

Step 1: Find some slanty morning or afternoon light. You need the sun pretty low in the sky. Winter is perfect for this, the farther north you live, the better. (Part of why sunstars were difficult in Thailand - but no excuses here!)

Step 2: Point your camera toward the light. You need the sun in the frame. It's that simple. No sunstar without the sun.

Step 3: Stop down like you mean it. At least f/22. I tried this at f/16, and no dice. (I'm talking about aperture, folks. Bring that aperture number up. Make the hole your camera gets light through as small as possible. This has some downsides, but that's a subject for a different post.) If you're using a point and shoot, the highest aperture your camera has, maybe f/8 or f/11. Set your shutter speed and ISO so that you get a proper exposure, and can hand hold the camera if that's what you're doing.

Step 4: Partially obscure the sun. This is the important step. It's not going to work if you don't do this. Use a building (or a tree, like I did), and get rid of most of the orb of the sun. Why? Don't ask me. That's a topic for a different post as well. Maybe written by someone else.

Step 5: Take a picture! You know how to do that, right? Mash your finger down on the big button on top of your camera.

Step 6: Go have a beer. You've worked hard, you deserve it. (Note: this step is not essential, but it makes the whole process a lot more fun!)

If you have any great sunstar images, please link to them in the comments. And let me know, which of the above images do you like better? I think I'm leaning toward the first one, even though the sun isn't in the frame.

Jason D. Moore Guest Post

I'm guest posting over at Jason D. Moore's blog today.

Here's the link, come see what's cooking.

And you might want to stay a while and look around. He's got a pretty great blog, chock full of photography and Photoshop info, and some contests you can enter.

Guest Photographer at World's Best Photography Blog

I'm over at World's Best Photography Blog today (don't worry, the name is a bit tongue in cheek). Come check me out!

Grass

Take some time, lie down on the grass today. Literally, if you can, or figuratively if you have no grass available. Spend ten minutes where all you do is look up at the sky and find the shapes in clouds. Or let your thoughts wander.

It's Sunday, you deserve a break.

Coot, and a Few Links

(Shot in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. There are a lot of coots there, not all of them birds.)

Tabbed browsing (where you can have more than one page open in one browser window) is both a blessing and a curse. I love the freedom of opening a page in a new tab: I can go back and look at it later, and it doesn't interrupt what I'm looking at now.

But.

Then I'm left with 800 tabs that I have opened and therefore have to get through. Some of them are links I'd like to share with you, so I keep them open until I write a post. It can get a bit hairy.

So, in the spirit of getting rid of some of those tabs, here are some links for you, stuff that I found interesting. Feel free to click on them all or ignore them all. Free choice. No one's forcing you to click on anything.

In the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, whether you made any or not, Mostly Lisa has created a list of Ten New Years Resolutions Every Photographer Should Make. I think they are great ideas, no matter what time of the year it is. If you're looking for bigger projects (and longer lists) Christina Dickson over at Digital Photography School has written down 30 Photographic Goals for 2010. Now, I won't get to all 30, but there are certainly some great ideas in there.

For some powerful black and white animal photography, I recommend taking a look at Dark Zoo over at Photography Served. I especially like the ones of the giraffes.

A beautiful example of what can be done with stop motion video, Notte Sento was shot in Rome, and is composed of over 4500 photographs. It's beautiful. You should go watch it.

And, last but not least, need some help with those resolutions? (Assuming you made any.) Check out Zen To Done.

That's it for today, see you tomorrow! Hope you're enjoying your Saturday.