Drive to nowhere....

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...

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

23/52...

A little bokeh to make the day better.

New ride....

Took my new Specialized Langster out for a ride last night. Thank you again to Two Wheeler Dealer of Sioux Falls for carrying an amazon line of bicycles.

This is an amazingly fun bike, and I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a fun commuter, or just another bike to add to the fleet!

This is the chromoly version; steel is real, and is super comfortable. Cranked out 10 miles (i need cycling shorts, bad) with my camera and a couple lenses in a backpack. Managed to snag a few photos, and decided to snap a couple of the new ride as well.

If you're a Sioux Falls native, stop in and check out the only Specialized concept store in South Dakota! You can also check them out in Rapid City, and Spearfish, SD. Or at twowheelerdealer.com

Jon

@jonseaton-instagram @thejonseaton-twitter

22/52...

last Sunday my mother renewed her vow, with her husband of 18 years. i had to pull double duty as groomsman, photographer, and keeping the ring bearer: my son, in line. as you can see from my previous posts on here, i am not a portrait photographer, so doing this shoot was WAY out of my comfort zone. i just hope i managed to capture the moments my Mother wanted to see forever.

congrats to my Mother, and Step Father.

jon

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter facebook.com/seaton.jon - facebook

21/52...

this week i was using a new (to me) vintage 70-210mm f3.5 that i got off ebay for $15.

i was just testing it out and getting used to the manual focus, when i saw this family walking up. the dad was not in the best of moods, and the mom may have been the cause. they were walking down the middle of the street, i really do not know why people do this in my neighborhood, we have sidewalks. back to the story, they were walking down the center of the street the son was trailing a little while the parents "talked", loudly.

what caught my eye was the kid, was wearing the hockey mask you see in his hand, oh and he was proceeding to flip off every car that passed them... it was as if the cars shouldn't have been on the road while they were walking in the middle of it. the mom saw this and gave the boy a little smack on the head and pulled the mask off... so dad proceeded to flip off the next car that passed...

i love my neighborhood...

jon

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.

ocean sunrise...

another view of the sunrise/coast line.

good morning...

sun rise shot, on the Indialantic beach in Florida.

Vacation time...

Well, currently I'm in Florida on vacation. So I'm not sure if I will be getting a bunch of photos.... Or none...

Today I went to the beach with a friend, and was able to snag a quick HDR shot of the sand, water, and sky. I'm hoping to get a few more coastline, or sunrise photos if I can.

Thanks again for looking.

Jon

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

19/52...

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

Power...

Bored after the little rain we got today.

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter.

A view from up top...

Revisiting the storm...

Here is a HDR shot with my sigma 17-35mm. Same location as the previous 2 posts.

This was the first shot I took. I never realized there was an apartment on this rooftop, I think it's absolutely amazing!!!

This is the top if the buildings on Phillips avenue, between 10th and 11th streets.

Thanks again for looking.

Jon

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter

Storm HDR

Went out to see the storm last night. Again it was just mugging us, and all the major stuff was too far out to get a decent photograph. So I decided to improvise, I grabbed my fisheye lens, and hung out of the parking ramp. I did a handheld, 13 bracket, her shot. I was pretty pleased that I kept it mostly stable.

I processed this with photomatix. I went for more of the surreal/painting style shot for this one. I toned down the saturation, and dropped the gamma to give it some grit.

Overall not a bad shot for what I was working with, and I'm still overly addicted to HDR photography!!!

Comment, follow, and thank you for viewing.

Jon

@Jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter

Watching the storm roll in....

Went to a local parking ramp, to see if I would get some decent storm photos. The shorn was too far out, and not all that spectacular. So I got some HDR shots of the rooftops instead. This will be posted soon. Check back and see them within the week.

Jon

18/52....

17/52...

Just a different view, of Down Town Sioux Falls, SD.

Protest...

This photo taught me a valuable lesson.... Buy more memory cards... I almost didn't get this shot. I left my memory card in my computer!!! I saw this couple while I was downtown, and tried to get the shot. Sure enough my "no card" error popped up. My jaw dropped, I missed this shot!!!

I ran home as quick as I could. Normally this is not an issue, but I was also trying out a new camera bag, and forgot to pack my spare card. Dumb move!

Thankfully when I returned they were still sitting there, cute as can be. They waived, and smiled as I took a few pictures.

I hope to have as much love, and passion as they do when I get to be their age.... Well if I make it that far...

Jon

16/52...

hasty picture this week. i had another one planned to try, but it did not work out. possibly next week.

this is an HDR photo, of the pond waterfall in my back yard. shot at f22 on a cloudy day. actually, this morning. i have really been cutting this close the last few weeks. i'm going to try to plan ahead a bit more from now on.... TRY, being the key word.

canon 50D canon 50mm f1.8 prime.

15/52...

This week I decided to try some stack focusing. This photo was 15 photos blended together in photoshop CS5. I took every photo at a different focal length so everything was in focus, step by step.

The issue I ran into was the exposure. To get the marble properly exposed, I had to use a faster shutter speed, but that made the handle, and wood too dark. To solve this I basically took the same photos, at different shutter speeds and combined them, similar to an HDR photo.

The end result is multiple things in focus, with no bokeh, or anything out of focus. I purposely kept the little dust "hair" in focus. That was my first focal length, followed by the marble, then the handle, then the wood.

I used my canon 50D with a sigma 70-300 on the macro setting. I believe this was shot at f5.6. Using a tripod, and manual focus, I was able to step though the focal lengths and achieve the photo.

Thanks again for reading

Jon