I decided to break out the soft box tonight while playing ball with Mela.  I was fiddling around with all sorts of angles this evening, trying to get something a little bit different than I captured in the past with Mela and her ball.  I really like how this shot came out.  The catch light in Mela’s eye is perfect at making it look alive.  My mind likes to predict Mela’s facial expression which is hidden behind the ball.  Like the title of the photograph says, “Go on, I Dare Ya”!

I thought I would not have a picture at all for today when I first looked at the digital negatives.  Luckily, the noise reduction algorithms in Lightroom 3 saved me.  Even though every single one of my exposures was significantly underexposed, I was able to increase the exposure and compensate for the additional noise using out of the box Lightroom 3 functionality.  Thanks Adobe for such a quality product!

I know I am WAY behind at this point in posting all the pictures from the Photo365 project.  I assure you that all of the pictures have been taken.  Slowly they are making their way up onto Flickr and then onto the project blog here.

This picture of one of my nieces was taken back in April.  It feels like forever ago.  It was an extremely mild April afternoon when I was in New Jersey visiting for the weekend.  My nieces was outside playing with some bubbles with the new family dog, Sofie, so I decided to join the two of them and take some pictures.  This is one of my favorites from the whole weekend.

This is Sofie, my brother’s new family member.  Sofie was a great subject for me and I hope to get some great shots of her and her new family while I am visiting this weekend.

Today was my future nephew-in-law’s birthday party at the baseball camp.  They played all kinds of throwing and running type games to improve their core baseball skills.  I tried to capture the action as best as I could with the low light conditions.  I tried high ISO’s, direct and bounce flash, and tiny apertures to get the best lighting and motion blur for each type of shot.  I think I was pretty successful with today’s photography in getting the light to an acceptable level.  Unfortunately, the Canon 7D noise monster bit me on this one.

Leila loves the warmth of the sun.  When she is not by our sides we can usually find her laying in a patch of sun streaking in through the windows or out in the back yard soaking up the rays.  Today was no different except for the expression on her face.  Whether Leila is squinting because of the sun, or she is half asleep, I do not know.  But I do know that she made a perfect subject for today’s photograph.

Tonight I went back to photographing the Vietnamese doll that my dad brought home from overseas for my mom while he was in the service years ago.  This time around I was using the 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens and a single Speedlite to capture the scene.  The 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens by Canon is quite a good portrait lens in addition to a fabulous macro lens.  The 100mm focal lens is perfect for compressing the backgrounds of portraits and can help capture even the finest of details in objects.  I highly recommend the lens to all Canon shooters.

Behold the latest gadget to join our collection.  This is the iPad.  I originally thought I was not going to get one.  But, because of a pretty poor morning a few days ago, my fiancee and I decided to go on an iPad “Easter egg” hunt.  I fully expected not to be able to find one on the morning they came out.  But low and hold, Best Buy only had one guy on line when we got there.  Ultimately, we were number eleven and twelve in line to receive our iPads when the store opened.  Pictured on the screen in this photograph is the origami slide show in the picture frame mode.

I seem to be shooting a lot of this type of dog portrait since getting the macro lens.  The close up on the face is a personal favorite at this time.  I love the detail visible in the strands of hair and the variations in color in the coats.  Leila was my model tonight.  As with most nights, by the time I get around to taking my picture for the day, Leila was ready for bed.

Yup, more macro action this evening.  I like to take my new lenses out for extended test drives over the first couple of weeks to make sure I begin to learn exactly what they can and cannot do for me.  This photograph demonstrates the thin depth of field a macro lens gives you when you are in close to the subject.  The hairs on Mela’s snout are in focus near her skin, but as you follow them out, they go out of focus.