Northport, Alabama

I shot some stuff last night, but I haven’t been happy with the results of my shooting over the past few days. I spent a lot of time trying to emulate the wonderful water drops over at Round Here but after soaking my kitchen, myself, and my camera, I have decided that perhaps RainKing is the master of this area. He does things with water that look absolutely otherworldly. As for myself, I ended up making this shot of paperclips and two others that I will post over the next few days unless I shoot something better.

This shot is okay. I like the colors and shallow depth of field, but I guess it bothers me because I have seen so many shots like this before, especially in stock photo collections. I don’t feel like I brought anything new to the subject. On the other hand, I am continuing to force myself to use my tripod and off-camera flash, so I guess this shot was worthwhile if for no other reason than that it reinforces those habits.

Along that line of thinking, I went to the B&H website yesterday and made a wishlist, then went to eBay to see if I could find anything on my list. That was actually kind of fun. I ended up placing two bids not to exceed $20 on a remote cable release for my camera. Even though it only allows me to get two and a half feet away, I think it will still help with my cat photos. (Try keeping an ornery feline on the table through mental telepathy. It doesn’t work!) Also, I can get an extension cord for it or go wireless with a Pocket Wizard later should I ever have the money. The cable release is $60 with shipping, so if I can secure one for under $20 that will be pretty cool.

I also saw a pretty neat tabletop tripod and clamp kit for my flash. B&H has it for $50 and eBay has one for $30. Not too bad. It would sure beat my current method of taping the flash to the wall or having to hold it. I saw a number of other neat gadgets for a photographer’s bag, including battery-powered pocket slaves by Morris for only $40. Can we say stocking stuffer?

Of course the new Apple iPod Photo would make an excellent stocking stuffer too, should anyone out there be listening 😉