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BCS National Championship Game!

The Gators are champions again! Oh how sweet it is. I was lucky enough to have been able to cover the 2008 BCS Championship Game in South Florida betwen the Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners. I was working for WUFT-TV Sports, so I wasn't there as a still photographer. Nonetheless, I toted my camera with my smallest lens, the 50mm f./1.8. I was able to snap a few. By the way, in case you live in a bubble, the Gators won 24 to 14.

The WUFT crew... Tim Tebow in the postgame press conference...

Major Wright's gear amidst the victory confetti...

Louis Murphy does a dance...

Lousi Murphy and Tim Tebow before the game...

Tim Tebow to Percy Harvin just before kickoff...

The trophy in all its gloriousness...

Before entering our police escorted media bus...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, my friends. Here are some pictures I took from the Acosta Bridge over the St. Johns River in Downtown Jacksonville. Photographing fireworks is difficult at first, but once you learn, things get a lot easier. First, I set my ISO to 100. The lowest possible ISO reduces noise. I can only have this low sensitivity because I use a tripod. No tripod= no good photos in this case. Next, I set my focus to manual and manually focused on the buildings in the background. I was usually zoomed out to 28mm. I used a small aperture, usually f./ 8 to f./ 11, so there weren't many depth of field issues. I used a shutter speed of 1/10 second to 10 seconds. This allowed the fireworks to "do their thing" as my camera's sensor recorded it. If I could do it again, I'd back further up. I wish I had a wider angle lens, like an 18mm or wider.

The important things to remember are a tripod and a longer shutter speed. You don't need a DSLR to shoot fireworks effectively. You can use a simple point and shoot if it has manual settings or a fireworks setting. If you don't have a tripod, try to find a stable ledge or table.

Gators slam Stetson

New Camera

I switched my camera body. I sold my Nikon D50 digital SLR and bought the newer, a little upgraded Nikon D80. I managed to make the trade only paying about $25 out of pocket and a lens. I'll miss the good ole' D50, but I needed the better ISO, more focus points and additional features of the D80.

The D50... (photo by zonnet.nl) The D80...

(photo by regenthilldesigns)

Macros in the Yard

Here are some macro (close-up) shots from a few different places. Most of them are from my parents' yard, which is run by wasps and lizards. To get these shots, I had to get my knees, and sometimes the rest of my body. I used my 70-300mm Sigma telephoto locked at 300mm in the macro position for close focusing. I used auto white balance, the widest aperture possible to freeze the bugs and minimize camera shake. I usually shot between ISO 400 and ISO 800 to get the fastest shutter speeds possible.

Thanksgiving in the Everglades

I took a trip to visit the relatives in Miami for Thanksgiving. The weather was beautiful, so we decided to bike 15 miles in Shark Valley in the Everglades. There weren't any sharks, but we saw tons of these reptiles. I brought my D50 with just my old fixed 50mm f./1.8 Nikkor because it's tiny and weighs practically nothing. I cropped some of the pictures to make the subjects bigger. That's where more megapixels count. Just goes to show you don't need to use a $4,000 telephoto to get some decent wildlife shots. Most shots are ISO 200, auto white balance, f./ 4 and shutter about 1/1250 second.

Okay, I understand this wasn't the smartest thing to do. It was a one time deal. Kids, don't try this!