PAW 1

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On reviewing my photos from 2010, I was very disappointed.  Sure, I had some decent product shots from my "reviews" and some nice family snapshots.  I even had a few "studio" portraits that I liked.  But no "fine art" and certainly nothing worthy of replacing any of my existing Top Ten shots.  What to do?

As a challenge to myself, I decided on the "Picture a Week" (PAW) approach.  I've been tempted previously but never made the attempt.  My rules are simple:  Take at least one picture every week that is worthy of being published in my blog.  Any camera, any media, any accessory, any technique is OK.  As published, the picture should not require detailed explanation; that is, should tell its own story.

Originally, my plan was to exclude family snapshots from my PAW but who could resist including the above picture of my granddaughter?  Her picture was taken with the G12 and 420EX flash mounted on the camera.  The G12 was in (embarrassment) Program mode and ISO 800.  The flash was fitted with a Stofen diffuser and tilted upward.  Shot taken in RAW mode with slight noise reduction when converting in Adobe Camera Raw.  Above version is slightly cropped. 

In the past, I've smiled at those who take on the PAW challenge but then show several pictures instead of one.  The above shot is the one that I originally planned for this first PAW (well, planned it while about to do a little bit of yard work).  Again the G12 was used but this time at ISO 100 and in manual exposure at 1/160 second and f4 which slightly underexposed the scene.  My  YN460-II flash was mounted off camera (right) and triggered by the RF-602 wireless trigger.   Remembering (at the last moment) that the G12 self timer does not work with flash I rigged another RF-602 as a remote shutter trigger.  Using auto focus but then switching to manual focus to lock it in, I fired off a number of shots while "working".  Then I had to put away the camera gear and actually cut away those dead stalks.

First PAW, check. 
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