Winter Lake Panoramic

Here is a shot of the lake that is across the street from our Pastors house. It is a compilation of eight images stitched together in Giga Pano( a program for creating panoramic pictures). The images were photographed rather quickly, from our Suburban window. I had to 'retouch' some areas with Adobe Photoshop CS. But what a beautiful day!

**CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LARGER VIEW**

A white Christmas... almost..

Well, it started snowing last night around 7. By the time we awoke this morning we had around six inches! What a winter wonderland...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Christmas to All!!!

Look at the wonderful bokeh of this Nikkor 50mm 1.4 AF lens!! Absolutely amazing.

ISO 1000 1/50 f/2.5 50mm

ISO 1000 1/10 f/2.5 50mm

A little Christmas eve bird-watching.

We spent the night at Amy's mom and dads house last night and slept in a little. While drinking a cup of coffee and looking through my morning devotion, I spotted a few wonderful birds outside on the feeders. I 'snuck'( is this even a word?) outside and sat on the stairs and it was as if they were flying in to let me take their pictures. What a great time. Well, now it's back to the hustle and bustle of last minute Christmas shopping... enjoy once again.

Christmas is soon to be here....

Just a few days before Christmas and everyone around the Arnold house is getting excited! Friends are traveling and families are gathering. We pray that everyone would enjoy this Christmas for what it was meant to be enjoyed... the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ our Lord..... for He reigneth forever and ever, AMEN!!

Also, please pray for our friend, Derrick Johnson. He asked Christ to save him at 5 am yesterday morning! The day before was his birthday, and now he can celebrate another birthday, the day he was born again! God is so good...

Early morning nut gathering

Just looked out the bedroom window and saw this guy nibbling nuts..acorns to be exact. So I loaded the Nikon 80-200 AF-D ED lens onto the D90 and snapped a few. He didn't stay long, and neither did I. The wind was a little frosty this morning! I barely had time to setup my tripod... the Slick 700DX Pro .

** Please be sure to visit these links. They are very informative about the equipment. Plus, it takes a little time to link to them, but a lot less time than it would to write about them myself.

Tried getting a shot of the moon tonight...

It's a lot harder than you think. The trusty Nikon D90 does quite well, but not so good when leaning on the hood of a Suburban thats running and has five kids in it! :) . Next on the list is a 1.4x teleconvertor. I hear Kenko is making the best one, and it enables you to retain your autofocus/metering capabilities, unlike the Nikon version. Enjoy.....

Raw file converted to JPEG

Did a little bird watching today... and came up with a few of these...

I'm not really sure what this is... anybody??

Also caught a glimpse of this girl....

Blue Bird

I just grabbed a quick shot of a blue bird I saw outside in the leafless willow Oak. We need to get some feed in our bird feeders so I can get some more of these. Shot it with the Nikon 80-200 AF-D ED 2.8 lens, on the Nikon D90. ISO 800 F3.5 200mm at 1/800 sec. I think next time I will try and remember to set the aperture around f 6 and lower the ISO to lose some of the grain. But again, it was a quick grap, then he was gone.. enjoy

Starting to snow.....

Well, nothing like a little Saturday snow... stepped out back and took a few black and whites..

First order of school pictures have been delivered...

First order of pictures were delivered yesterday. Not sure how everyone felt about them, I haven't had any feedback. If you would like, you can leave feedback here annonymously(sp?). Good or bad it doesn't matter, sometimes it is just good to know how we did, or where we can improve. Again, we just want to thank the school and the parents for allowing us to do this.
John and Amy
http://www.johnarnoldphotography.net/

What does Christmas mean to you?

Ok, I'm not really asking a question expecting you to answer, more than I am really just wanting you to think. When Christmas comes do you think about snow topped houses with lights all around, or maybe the ringing of the Salvation Army bell outside your favorite store? Or do the smells of peppermint and hot apple cider come to your nose? I hope none of these are on your mind more than the thought of a little baby, born of a virgin, lying in a manger. A baby whose only purpose of a sinless, selfless life was to carry the weight of our sins to a wretched death upon a cross at Calvary so that we may experience life eternal. I truly believe we have rejected why we started celebrating Christmas in the first place. Now its days off and Happy ho ho Holidays. We only cling to what we want and throw the rest away. It's hard to believe that we still even give gifts. Does it still bring to mind the wise men and their journey or better yet, the giving of God's perfect, sinless son to the wicked, sin cursed earth. Maybe so often we accept our 'Christmas' presents all too eagerly without first realizing the one gift we should be so anxious to receive is the free gift of salvation. This Christmas, as you open your presents, I hope you are challenged to think about God's ultimate gift. I know I will be.

God-Bless and Merry Christmas,
John

Meet Nikon guru, Ken Rockwell

When I contemplated starting a 'blog', I knew I wanted to keep it on topic as much as possible. The more I thought about it, I realised how easy that would be. I don't have a lot of time, so most of what I post will either be about what I do, or what someone else does.. :). So, once in a while, I will be pointing you in the direction of someone elses website. One that I have been to and found interesting and worthy enough to pass on. So here's the first in this series..

Occassionally, you run across someone who is so passionate about something that it makes you passionate. Ken Rockwell is this kind of guy. He is passionate about Nikons, and for a good reason, he knows Nikon! And as well he should. He has been buying, using and selling Nikon equipment professionally for more years than I have had my drivers license. If you are wanting to know what to buy next, or what is good and what isn't, or what works and what doesn't...he is the go to guy. Take a look for yourself at http://www.kenrockwell.com/ .

First order of school pictures are in!!!

The first order of school pictures arrived yesterday. We only had a brief few minutes to look at some of them before we had to leave for a dinner. What a busy time of year huh? I must say of all the ones I looked at, they came out great. We used the Nikon D90 and the Nikkor 50mm /1.4, with two stand mounted strobes. One strobe had an umbrella, the other had a softbox, both triggered wirelessly. Today, my wife will sort through and then repackage and hopefully we will distribute before Thursday.

Thanks again to all who have ordered...we cannot say how much we appreciate the oppurtunity to work with our school. More about the equipment to come in a future post.

J

As a reminder, you can order your school pictures at anytime. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at jnaarnold@northstate.net .

Bradley playing piano...

Here's Bradley playing the piano his great-grandma and grandpa Whitman gave the kids.

Mount Calvary Christian School Junior Choir Christmas Cantata

Wheeeeweeee! Like if that title wasn't long enough...lol. I have really been trying my hardest to learn this low light photography technique. It seems as though the next step may be to get the new nikon D7000 or the D700... haha best of luck...
Well, here's a few from tonight... enjoy..

Mount Calvary Christian School 2010 Christmas Cantata

This was probably the best school Cantata that I have ever heard. The music was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking! The ladies that put this together and the students that performed did such an amazing job. Please visit the gallery on our website for some of the pictures. As I edit through I will ad more and more. The lighting was really tough and we are really working hard at the church/school to improve upon that. I shot most of the pictures at a very high ISO setting of 1600, and a low shutter speed setting that allowed for some blurring and grain in the images. I am looking at changing out my Sigma 18-50 2.8 HSM DX lens for a Nikon. As I stated in my bio here on the blog, I am really a Nikon purist...but my budget constrains me..:)

Gallery can be viewed by click the word: "HERE"

Here are a few..

School pictures have been ordered

We have placed the order for school pictures with our processing lab. I am so excited to see them! They should be here the week of the 13th. We will soon be posting a make-up date for those who were out sick..

So again, please subscribe to this blog for any updates. Also, at anytime additional orders may be placed with the addition of a small shipping fee.

Thanks

School Pictures

On November 18th, 2010 we had our first 'real' photography job. It was to take school pictures for the school our children attend, Mount Calvary Christian School. MCCS as it is better know is located at 6551 Weant Rd in Archdale, North Carolina. What a great school. They have some of the finest teachers in education around! Not to boast too proudly, but the children that attend there are also some of the finest examples of Christian character you will find anywhere. Ok, enough bragging...:)

When we decided to take the 'job' of the school pictures, there was a huge learning curve. We had run our own buisiness before( an automotive shop), but nothing quite like this. All in all, I would have to say it went quite well. The kids were great. It was one of the best times I have ever had taking pictures. My wife is a natural coordinator, and can draw a smile from the most stoic of subjects.

Since pictures were password protected, I can only show you some of our own children....

here's a link to our website, just in case you don't already have it.....

http://www.johnarnoldphotography.net/