I gave painting with light another go, but did it a bit different this time. Details and links after the break.

EXIF

Body: Canon Rebel T2i
Lens: Canon 18-55mm IS f/3.5-5.6
Exposure Time    6 sec
F-Number    F7
Focal Length    18.0 mm

Instead of locking the camera down and moving a light, I did the opposite. I was camping with my family and I had one of my cousins hold a flashlight. I then waved my camera around for a few seconds. I think the orange light was from something else nearby, maybe a campfire or a car.

Links!

• On Tuesday I had a photo of my pile of junk I moved into my new apartment.
• Wednesday was part one of my Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk photos from Lansing’s Potter Park Zoo.
• Thursday was part two of the Photo Walk photos.
• And Friday was the last batch of the Scott Kelby Photo Walk photos.
• Saturday was a brand new episode of LansingNext. We chat about video games and non-traditional board games. Fun stuff!

Other links

• Photojojo now offers a mug shaped like a camera lens. Awesome.
• I came across a great collection of Photoshop tutorials over on naldzgraphics.net.
• Matt, one of my fellow Potter Park Zoo photo walkers, had a great shot of one of the Zoo’s otters.
• And Flickr user mctuba had this amazing shot of one of Potter Park Zoo’s bald eagles taking a cool drink.

More photos this week, some will be from my trip to Meijer Gardens and others from a various abandoned tourist stops on US-12 here in Michigan. Fun stuff.

And don’t forget–there is a brand new Magic of Eyri Podcast this Wednesday.

I found this critter at the Woldumar Nature Center here in Lansing. EXIF and links after the break.

Exposure Time    1/30 sec
F-Number    F5
Exposure Program    Aperture priority
ISO Speed Ratings    200
Exposure Bias Value    1/-3 EV
Focal Length    131.0 mm

I was walking down one of the (many) trails at the Nature Center and I glanced at this plant. I did a double take, and noticed this spider. I have no idea what kind it is. I took a bunch of photos, but they didn’t turn out as well as I hoped–there was a bit of a breeze and it kept blowing the plant around. I even used my tripod (which was a challenge on the uneven trail), but oh well. Its eyes are so tiny!

Links!

• Tuesday I talked about photographing fireworks for the first time.
• I shared a photo I took in Alcatraz Prison of a decayed wall/window.
• I posted a funny video ad for a DSLR.
• Friday, I had a couple versions of a photo I took of El Azteco in East Lansing.
• And on Saturday, there was a new episode of LansingNext.

Other links

• I Write Like (via BBspot.com). Paste some of your writing into this tool and it tells you which famous author you write like.
• This Saturday is the Worldwide Photo Walk at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing (I’ll be going, woo!).

More photos tomorrow!

Taken on July 6th, 2010 at Woldumar Nature Center in Lansing, Michigan.

More about this photo and links after the break.

I sat on a dock on the lake in the Nature Center for a while, waiting for one of the dragonflies to land on a lily pad long enough for me to snap a picture. Thankfully, I got one to face in my direction, and with its wings spread. I love the color of this dragonfly and the detail in its wings. I’m glad I decided to spend part of my day off at the nature center.

• Canon Rebel T2i
• f/5.6
• 1/500 second
• ISO 100
• 229mm
• EB -2/3
• Canon 55-250mm IS f/4-5.6

Links!

• I had a post about trying out long exposure photos.  This was a fun little experiment, and I look forward to trying similar shots soon.
• I had a photo of a bee and a beetle fighting for real estate on a flower in downtown Lansing.
• I write a preview story about the Taste of Downtown here in Lansing. Sadly, I was not able to attend.
• And here is last week’s episode of LansingNext.

Look for a new blog post tomorrow–it’ll be about my first stab at taking photos of fireworks. And speaking of new, I changed my WordPress theme over the weekend. I’m not done tweaking things yet, so it may be a few days before everything is the way I want it to look. I’m happy with the new layout however, it is simpler and allows for larger photos.

But first, a photo.

Learn about this shot and view my links after the break.

I took the picture above in Alcatraz Prison back in April (and it is part of my Escape to Alcatraz set on Flickr). This was actually shot on one of the auto modes, the No Flash setting, I think. I had only just recieved my Canon T2i a couple of days before, so I was still learning how to use all of the settings.

Still, despite this being taken on a full auto mode, I’m happy with it. And I’m not above using those modes when needed. When you wanna get a shot, you gotta get it however you can.

I had to rotate this shot and crop it in Photoshop so that the Library sign was level. The funny thing is, I didn’t even notice that sign until I was editing the photo last week. I took the shot with the light pouring out of the window as my target. Lucky me!

On to my links:

• On Tuesday, I talked about Playing with Depth of Field. I like using the manual aperture settings to control what is and isn’t in focus.
• Wednesday had me blogging about the problems I have with outdoor photography while wearing photochromic lenses.
• Friday’s blog was about Painting with Light.
• I wrote an article for Examiner.com about Where to Beat the Heat in Downtown Lansing.
• Then I did a review of the bento box lunch at Omi Sushi in East Lansing for Examiner.com. Yummy (includes photo slide show).

Other links

• Brian Briggs over at bbspot.com gave me a bit of link love by linking to my Fictional Restaurants I Would Skip article. Thanks, Brian!
• Jeff Van Camp, aka JVC on LansingNext, claims that the Last Airbender is worse than the Phantom Menace. Bummer. I was looking forward to seeing that too.
• And Erik, another friend of mine, decided to liveblog the entire Lord of the Rings film trilogy. It is a funny, funny read.

But first, a picture, just for you. I’m going to start doing these recap posts on Mondays instead of Fridays from here on out.

This moth invaded my bathroom last week.

• I blogged about reflection photography. I enjoy trying to snap fun shots of reflections, such as in the picture below.

• I shared a recipe for easy mini-pizzas. Yummy.
• I wrote about fictional restaurants I wish I could visit for Examiner.com.
• …and then I wrote about fictional restaurants I would skip.
• Later in the week, the edgy Fraggle Rock skit for LansingNext was given its own podcast.
• On Friday, I blogged about hoping to write for Cracked.com.
• Lastly, Saturday brought us a brand new episode of LansingNext (guests: Dominic Cochran and Philip R. Moon).

Busy, busy busy. Look for a brand new blog post to tomorrow!

This is a photo I snapped of a barn swallow that wouldn’t leave me alone. Seriously. This thing appeared in the same spot for two days or so, just teasing me to take its photo.

Here is a color shot.

Pretty.

• I rapped about learning action photography on Monday. Includes photos of wet dogs, if you are into that sort of thing.
• The Magic of Eyri Podcast was nominated for two Parsec Awards! These awards honor speculative fiction podcasts (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc)
• Wednesday brought us a brand new Magic of Eyri Podcast. This is the last one until August–I’m taking July off.
• And Wednesday was another wacky edition of LansingNext. We chatted with John Palmer from Michigan Microbrews, and Mike Weber, who reviews Lansing bars. Oh, and we decided to do an “edgy” Fraggle Rock skit. You must listen to believe it.
• Thursday, I talked more photography, this time I blogged about shooting objects through other objects. Yeah.
• Lastly, a story I wrote for Examiner about Dimitri’s closing in downtown Lansing.

Some more big news–starting next week, LansingNext will be live streamed at 9AM on Saturdays instead of Wednesdays. The good news is, this won’t really hurt the podcast side of it, other than it being online a few days later. If you already subscribe via iTunes or RSS, then you won’t miss a thing.

What a week!

I shot this photo in Caseville last weekend.

The month off from releasing episodes will help me built up a bit of a buffer so that I’m not worrying about releasing episodes week by week.  My goal is to have at least two episodes totally finished by the first of the year, if not more (or at least some more scripts finished). I’ve been going full throttle on my free podcast since last Spring, so I figured I’ve earned a break. The less stress around Christmas, the better. I am looking forward to giving myself a bit of a breather–in a way, it is a Christmas present to myself.  I may take that time to re-record episode 001 (“A Shameless Summer“) as well.  It could certainly benefit from it, as I’ve become much better at producing episodes since then (if I do that, I’ll still keep the original version online, so one can compare and contrast).

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And here’s your weekly round-up of my various writings running wild around the back alleys of the Internet:

• Divide and conquer your hunger with the soup and sandwich combo at Soup Spoon Cafe, Examiner.com (11.16.09)
• Hold the cow and grab a spicy black bean burger at Michigan Brewing Company, Examiner.com (11.18.09)
• Find a fast, spicy lunch at Bangkok House, Examiner.com (11.19.09)
• This week’s High Noon Fantasy Hockey, IllegalCurve.com (11.16.09)

I’m not going to bother explaining how a thirteen year old is able to update a website while in a far away fantasy world, because there are other examples of people doing this.  It also gives me something to update in between episodes, and since my episodes are on a bi-weekly schedule (every other Sunday, Ep009 goes online this Sunday), I’m always worried about losing listeners.

And honestly, I’m having fun with it so  far–and it doesn’t cost me any thing, so why not? I’m still figuring out which direction to take it in (like do I reply to people or not, are the updates Magic of Eyri canon, etc), but I think it’ll just boil down to what I have time for and, more importantly, just having fun.

Also, episode 008 of Magic of Eyri is online, here ya go.