Pic of Daddy & Jet used on US nation wide poster!?!

A few days ago I blogged about checking up on where my images sold on iStockphoto have ended up being used using Googles image search. Well just for fun I thought I would drop this shot of me and Jet playing around in a park in Fukushima into Googles search to see what it came up with. 

Needless to say I was quite surprised to find that this photo ended up being printed in the U.S nation wide on 24 x 36 inch posters used to promote National Stress Awareness Month for the U.S Department of Health & Human Services. 

I had originally just uploaded the image to iStock just to see if it would sell for a laugh. Oddly enough not only did it pass iStocks strict image quality standards (once I removed a couple of well known brand names from the bottom of Jet's shoes and my jacket) but it also sold a few times. 

How was the image shot?

I've always loved making images portraying movement. Especially by "dragging the shutter" or making a longer exposure then normal. To do this I mounted my old Canon 40D with Sigma EX 15mm fisheye that I owned back then on the end of a monopod with a ball head mounted on that so that I could face the camera back towards Jet and myself. I then used a cable release to trigger the camera in TV (shutter priority mode) and set the shutter speed to around 15th/sec and started spinning. 

It took a few goes to get one that Jet & myself were perfectly sharp but its not too hard and great fun to do!

 Here's a screen grab of the image also being used in an article promoting health and relaxation. 

Give Google images search a try for your self with some of your more popular images. You might be surprised to see where they turn up!