Updates...

What is new? I have been going to the Livingston County Photography club for the last few meetings. The group of people are pretty nice, and I like the mix of personalities.

A quick note: I am creating Photoshop tutorial videos on Youtube. So far I only have one video; an introduction to CS3, but I expect to make more over the next few months. These videos are basically for my students, but I hope that it will generate more traffic to my website and all that good stuff. Maybe Ill get people reading this blog - then I would have to write about interesting stuff. Maybe I should do a series of blog entries that teach a little about photography each week... that seems like a lot of work! Well, it might be fun since I would learn stuff myself trying to come up with interesting topics.

Go here to see my videos on youtube.

I will also be posting little tutorials on my web site that cover the same topics as the videos for those who prefer to read than to watch. Those tutorials, which take more time to make, and one is almost complete, will be available >>>HERE<<<.

Take care.

My new lens: Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8

WOW

What else is there to say? All the reviews say the same. For me, this lens on my D300 is perfect. I bought a Sigma 18-50mm, and I am happy with it, but since the D300 is a DX camera, there is a 1.5 magnification to the equivalent focal length of the lens - and I just couldn't get wide enough with 18mm. An 18mm lens on my D300, is like a 27mm lens on a film camera. However, a 14mm lens is like a 21mm lens on a film camera, and there is a huge difference between 21mm and 27mm! I really don't know waht else to say about this lens except that I want to take more pictures with it. Because of the overcast light, I didn't have problems with flare, but I happy with the contrast the lens managed on such a muddy day. I also noticed that I didn't have much perspective correction to make when at 20-24mm.

For now, I think my lens collection is pretty complete between the 14-24mm Nikkor, and the 18-50 f/2.8 Sigma, and a 70-210mm f4-5.6 lens since I don't do much work past 50mm mark anyway. The 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens looks pretty tempting since I would like to get a FX body at some point and the Sigma only works on the APS-C sensor bodies. Well, for now, I am pretty well set on lenses.

If you aren't sure what I am talking about when I refer to DX camera, and 1.5x magnification, feel free to email me and I would be more than happy to explain it to you.

Well here are a couple of shots I took early Saturday morning.




Just a little self promotion, but I am a local Ann Arbor MI photographer and my website can ber viewed here.

If you are interested in photography, and can't find any local classes, then check out this page of my website here. Since I teach a class through Ann Arbor's Rec and Ed department, I have put together a few powerpoint presentions on the fundamentals of photography and you can download the pdf versions.

Thanks,
Matt

To my invisible audience...

Well, boy, its been a long time since I have last posted a blog. What can I say, its been a busy last couple of months. I haven't done as much photography as I would have liked, but I do have some pictures to post.

Also, I have been working on my lectures and I have uploaded a newer version of my first lesson. I am working on updating it even more, plus updating the rest as well. I also plan to make some online tutorials on histograms, perspective correction in photoshop and perhaps a few more on photoshop since I don't teach photoshop in the class.

Go here to see my latest lecture and I hope to have the next three posted in the next several weeks, if not days. This will also be where I will start posting the online tutorials.

Well, here are some of the pics I took the other day at Ford Lake, Ypsilanti. I love the gradient of colors in the sky along the horizon just before and during sunset, especially on a clear day. This is me playing with patterns, lines and shapes.

This one is my favorite of the bunch:


This one is more of a pattern shot - a weeping willow against the yellow/blue sky:

Boardwalk - lines:

Im not sure how to label this one off the bat, but its similar to the weeping willow but with more of a subject based image than a pattern shot.


I would appreciate feed back on any of these images. They were all shot with a Nikon D300 using a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 lens, at ISO 200. The aperture and shutter speed varied, but most were shot at about f/4. The only post porcessing I did was some brightness/contrast, color saturation, sharpening, and cropping.

For those who don't know, my web address is: www.oil-rigs.net, and I am based out of Ann Arbor MI. I keep promising to unveil my latest project, but I haven't gotten all the images I would like. Tomorrow I am expecting to get the famed Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens in the mail and I plan to go crazy with that lens. Ill post updates. This is supposed to be a great lens for architecture, and that is the only clue I will give as to what my current project is.

I have a few great shots that I am excited to post here soon.

Thank you for reading this post mom! Actually I don't think that even my mom is reading this... poor me! Just kidding. Hey, if anyone is actually reading this, post a "hi" comment just so I know.

Thanks!

Update - NEW CAMERA!

Well I am finally getting back to my roots in the film world. After getting the D300, I have traded my old D70s to a friend for a Hasselblad 500C. On top of that, I mixed up some of the good 'ole D76 film developer that I had kept in a drawer for probably 6 years now and developed roll of film from the Hasselblad. Now all I need is a film scanner, and I can stick to the digital work environment. However, I do have an enlarger sitting the basement right now.... maybe this weekend Ill plug it in an make some prints. Ill have to buy some new photo paper... Hmmm

Another option is to have the negatives scanned professionally, but when I found out how much that cost I am going to have to start saving my pennies. If I shoot 10 rolls of medium format film, then Ill will just about pay for the negative scanner.

For my invisible audience ( I am not sure how many people are reading this, I thinks its just me, myself and I at this point), you can anticipate me revealing my big photo project in the next couple of weeks. I have been working on the beginings of it for a few months now.

Take care.

Website: www.oil-rigs.net

Red Cross ball (10-11-08)

Almost two weeks ago I covered a charity auction/banquet for the Washtenaw County Red Cross. Here is a sample of some of the pictures I took at the event. Before I started volunteering, I didn't realize all the services that the Red Cross provided, such as assisting people whose house had caught fire. Besides helping out, volunteering with the Red Cross is providing a lot of great experience covering fast moving events and anticipating the great candid moments.

Here is the auctioneer in action trying to motivate the bidders to bring the price up. It was fun to watch, he was pretty funny.

The waiters were all dressed in costume - there was a WWII era theme to the event.

There was a "big band" and swing dancers. With the dancers I was trying to get a great shot using a slow flash, and I didn't get anything I was super happy about, but I did get some good panning shots.



In the next week I'll post images from Ashley and Jeff Kermath's wedding I covered on the 4th of October. Got some great shots I am happy with.

The begining...

This is my first blog. Hello.

My name is Matthew Eddy, and I live in the lovely town of Ann Arbor. I only moved here 2 years ago from the central coast of California. As you might have expected, its a bit of a change. Freezing temperatures in winter, humidity in summer, lack of hills, snow, and the terrible roads are balanced with the cultural diversity, the fall colors, beautiful sunrises/sunsets, thunderstorms (which I think are fun) and I am sure there are more positive comments I could make about Ann Arbor, and Michigan in general.

Well, my main motivation for creating this blog is for my friends, current and potential clients to get a taste of ME, and keep people informed on the projects I am working on. I will be focusing on my Photography, and the small company I started called Oil-Rig Productions.

Why Oil-Rig Productions? It started as a domain name, something that was unique since www.matteddy.com was taken. So why Oil-Rig Productions? Well, driving up and down the coast of California from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara, there are a number of oil rigs just off the coast, and I, being a industrial nerd, was fascinated with the contraptions. However, I am working on a current project that relates to oil rigs, but its not a mature project yet, and so I don't want to unveil it just yet.

My current public projects:
-Teaching photography classes through the Ann Arbor Rec and Ed department.
-Volunteering with the Washtenaw County Red Cross as a photographer


Well, I will post more as I have news. Right now I need to work on picture for a wedding I covered for Ashley and Jeff Kermath on Oct 4th. I will post some examples of my work on my website: www.oil-rigs.net

Take care,
Matt