Photolog

My random life, infront of the lens.

Gear check.

My gear.

Alright, the number one question I receive is "what do you shoot with". Now normally this is easily answered with "Canon". Lately though I have been getting more serious inquiries as to what gear typically gets used. This is nothing super special and personally I do not have the super high end stuff... Yet... 

Going left to right. The first image is the bag I have recently began to use a little more. I enjoy having a couple lenses with me at all times, and since acquiring my 70-200 it's hard to have that on the camera, this bag allows that. This is an Amazon bag that was found for $10 online and could not be passed up. I have been looking into a camera backpack for a while and this was the winner due to the price. As you can see with the second picture a few things get crammed into there.  Not pictured is my iPhone 5 that literally is a life saver and took the photos you see here. Not the greatest due to the lighting, but did the job. 

Canon 50D with strap; yes i still like the strap, and spare battery and charger. Canon 70-200 F2.8 NON-IS, Canon 28-135 F3.5-5.6 IS, Canon 50 prime F1.8, Sigma 17-35 F2.8-4, Rokinon 8mm Fisheye all manual, Yongnuo YN-468 ii speedlite, Cowboy Studio wireless triggers for the speedlite, spare CF cards, a knock off cable release/intervolometer, GoPro hero2, small cleaning kit with lens pen, Square credit card reader, and shoe strings and zip ties. 

Basically this covers a little bit of everything so I can be ready for almost anything. Of course when going on a shoot I will not be carrying this exact set up, but you never know on a day to day basis what you might see, or need. Yes those are shoe strings, they tend to get used a lot when I need to stick the speedlites in a weird spot or hold branches, or other things out of the way for a little bit. They have saved my shots plenty of times and will always be in close reach. 

the 4th photo is the other stuff  may be used depending on what I need. Lowepro 150 shoulder bag, this thing is my day pack/travel life saver. My iPad fits nicely and I can carry a couple lenses and a speedlite. This is usually what I carry when I know what will be needed or for a daily bag. For traveling it works perfect as well as my personal bag, I DO NOT check my camera, ever. Too many horror stories of gear getting stolen. Included in this shot is my old manual lenses. these were some of my first purchases and helped me learn how to operate my camera and understand the basics. They are both M42 lenses with EOS adapters. 28mm F2.5 Vivitar and a 70-210 F3.5 MACRO Soligor. The Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 is my cheap telephoto that gets used rarely, it also has a MACRO setting that will get used for some off the wall stuff that gets shot. Cokin ND and polarizer filters and adapter ring for landscapes (ND and grad ND filters not pictured). Another Yongnuo speedlite, this is the yn-560 manual. Some shoot through and reflective umbrellas and a couple tripods. 

Finally my daily bag for random other stuff is my Timbuk2 bondage laptop bag. This little bag is an amazing example of efficiency and awesomeness. Macbook Pro mid 2009 for editing and emails/internet/Facebook machine/time waster. Bose MIE2i ear buds, and my iPad. This was included in the photo, but it usually goes everywhere with me. Also included is my back up 500GB hard drive and card reader with cables. Wallet... yes my TGT wallet is included as i have used my ID and some tape to use as a makeshift bounce card for my flash or help as an optical slave with the on camera flash. 

So there you have it, nothing super special or crazy. These tools are what get used to create the images you see, and like on a daily basis. I plan on doing more gear related stuff as i get new toys. If there is something specific you would like me to single out and review or explain, please email me or leave a comment below. 

Jon

scarred land....

burnt tree

this was shot on a short vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota. i took a trip out there with my girlfriend for the 4th of July in 2012. this was out by Jewel Cave.

i shot SO MANY photos out there and i am just now finally getting around to taking a peek at some. pretty sure i over shot. this was back when i was on my HDR kick and everything was bracketed. this is not and HDR shot, just a single exposure.

shot at F22 1/8th of a second ISO 250 using my Sigma 17-35mm lens.

first snowfall... part 4

falls pano

now for my final post on the first snowfall at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD.

the whole shebang.... this is a panorama of the whole park, with our city's skyline in the background.

Jon

@thejonseaton - twitter @jonseaton - instagram

first snowfall... part 3

falls winter 4

this is the waterfall in the background of the previous post. nothing exciting happened during the capture of this image. it was a pretty straight forward shot. i wish i had a good story to go along with the shot, but i don't. it was just pretty.

Jon

@thejonseaton - twitter @jonseaton - instagram

first snowfall... part 2

falls winter 2

here is my second shot from my snow day at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD. this one is a little more mellow. this one is using the same Cokin filter system that i used in the first shot and i had to get a little wet for this one... not by choice.

as i was setting up for this shot i realized a low angle would be the most dramatic, and i would be able to capture the waterfall in the background as well. unfortunately i was in a bit of a hurry, you see it was friggin cold outside! being next to the water falls when it was only about 25 degrees out really made it hard to stay too long. as i was setting up this shot i stood up to move around and get warm and my foot slipped. i almost went butt first into that stream you see rushing by. in the process i managed to bump my tripod and watched in horror as it slid off the rock it was so precariously sitting on. both hands in the water and not being faster than the effects of gravity i watched my camera slide back and land. i was lucky enough to watch it land with the handle of the tripod pointing down and my camera about 2 inches above the rocks and water. so lucky.

i took a few more minuets and set the shot back up and made sure to pay attention to every movement i did. i managed to get a couple decent shots and moved to the next image i wanted to capture.

i have included the non cropped version and one for the Facebook cover photo.if you enjoy the image feel free to use the cover photo provided. please leve comments and share the posts as well if you wish.

falls winter 3

Facebook cover photo:

falls winter 2 cover

Jon

@thejonseaton - twitter @jonseaton - instagram

first snowfall....

falls winter

this week i plan on sharing some photos that were shot on Sunday morning. we were getting our first real snowfall of the season and i decided to take a walk around our famous Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD. i recently purchased a Cokin filter kit, and was extremely impressed with how easy it is to use.

all of these shots are with my Sigma 17-35mm and the Cokin filter kit. i was using the ND filters 8 and 4 to get some long exposure shots of the water. as you can see there is only a light snowfall. it gives a beautiful clean look to the shots.

i will also include a shot that is cropped, and can be used for a Facebook cover photo. if you enjoy the shot you are more than welcome to use the cover photo.

falls winter cover

jon

@thejonseaton - twitter @jonseaton - instagram

34/52...

shutter speed: 30 sec aperture: f2.8 ISO: 6400 focal length: 17mm

decided to revisit an old spot. this spot has been featured on my blog twice. i took my first panorama photo here, and my first star shot. the star shot was the most memorable. i have included the link to both posts below.

i went back because the last time i was here was October of 2011, since then i have gotten a WAY better camera, and have learned a ton of new tricks to composition and editing. thankfully my camera has a bit higher ISO speed, granted its not as nice as i wish but it does the job. this will be a favorite spot of mine for a long time. its in the middle of nowhere and super peaceful.... well except that one night... read Stars to see what i'm talking about.

Stars: http://jonseaton.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/stars/

country evening: http://jonseaton.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/country-evening/

Drive to nowhere....

20120612-091343.jpg

Here is the photo I set out to take, when I also took 24/52... I literally just took off in my car, and drove until I found something beautiful. I knew it would be a sunset photo, and that I would probably try an HDR shot. What I don't know is how many fun shots, and experiences would come of this drive.

The skull on the fence in 24/52... Was what got me to stop, and the field with the beautiful view, and power lines got me to stay. I sat in the ditch takin photos for over 2 hours. In that time I spoke with the owner of the farm, got attacked by some ants, and had a deer jump the fence 15ft from where I was standing.

I watched that deer run through the field for a good half hour. I tried my best to get a photo of him, but I was too slow changing lenses. I got a few shots with him about 100 yards out. I was not prepared for something that far away, but couldn't resist trying.

I don't care how long you have lived somewhere, or of you know every nook and cranny of a place. Go shoot anyway! Think of a different angle, drive an extra 10 minuets, or go without a plan. Those have always helped me with any block of creativity, or in my case, helped me think through things.

Thanks again for looking.

24/52...

20120610-111519.jpg Random drive in the county, leads to this shot. Went out on a drive earlier this week to try an HDR sunset photo, and came across this skull on a fence. The farmer that owns the land stopped by to talk while I was setting up. Turns out his son put it there a while back.

I will be posting the sunset I shot as well. That will be posted tomorrow.

Jon

@jonseaton-instagram @thejonseaton-twitter

20/52...

here is another sunrise photo at the Indialantic beach in, Florida. for this i used my sigma 17-35mm at 17mm with a ND8 filter. i believe this was a 10 second exposure at f22. i set the timer on the camera then watched the waves for a bit.

i was hoping for a more dramatic sunrise, and was pretty disappointed with what i had in camera. i was originally trying some HDR shots but the noise was just too high.

after i got home i realized the colors that were present and decided to process them in lightroom 3. there was very little post done on these, just some of my "stock" adjustment. overall i was super please with my morning.

throughout the next week or so i will be posting some more shots form this morning.

Thanks again for looking.

Jon

@jonseaton – instagram @thejonseaton – twitter Facebook.com/seaton.jon – Facebook.

19/52...

20120506-104719.jpg This was shot withy sigma 70-300 f4-5.6. This was shot at 70mm f4, I very rarely use this lens, mostly Due to the massive amounts of chromatic aberration it can produce.

I decided to dust it off after the rain on saturday. There was a bunch of squirrels running back and forth on a power line. Since this is my largest zoom lens I decided to give it a shot. Well.... The squirrels were gone by the time a swapped lenses. So I kept using it, trying to see what I could get.

I was watching the rain roll off out roof, I snapped a couple photos of the drops falling off the helicopter. I noticed the crazy amount of bokeh, and depth of field, it really reminds me if a tilt shift style lens. The line of focus is so thin, and yet still crisp. I was going to ditch this lens, but I might keep it for this effect alone.

Jon

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter