Paul's Photo Blog

On the move...

2010-05-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Since Blogger can't upload photos, and since I haven't found an iPhone/iPad app for Blogger, I'm moving this blog over to Wordpress.

New posts will be found at http://paulmphotography.com/wpblog

Technology -- A Case for the Good and A Case for the... Challenging...

2010-02-17T00:35:00.001-08:00

Creek #9
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

It may appear that I've given up on my Project365, but that's not at all the case. I've actually been rather faithful in posting my images to Flickr, but just haven't kept up on blogging about each photo. Oh well, it was the photos themselves that comprise the Project365 not so much the blog posts...

Nevertheless, I'm going to take the time tonight before I head to bed and jot down some things...

I've now burned through 3 rolls of film on my Canon EOS-1 film camera. I'm still getting used to it, and figuring out its quirks. One thing I'm still fussin' with is the battery. Fortunately I found a rechargeable battery on eBay that seems to work well now.

I was very thankful my wife woke me up on Monday morning to tell me to go take photos. I'm not at all a morning person, which really makes it difficult to be a nature photographer. I suppose if my income depended on it, I'd be more willing to adjust my body clock. But for now, I'll remain a night owl. Still, yesterday was a good day for me to take advantage of the day off from work. We were wrapping up a 3-day weekend in the Gorge, and I wanted to head somewhere that I passed on the freeway so many times but hadn't yet explored. After grabbing my shower and a little bit of coffee (both necessities for getting me fully awake) I headed out the door.

One of the places I stopped was at a campground that was closed for the winter. It's off the I-84 exit to Viento State Park just before you reach Hood River, Oregon coming from the west. I was looking at a bluff/overlook that appeared to be an old section of the highway and was hoping to get up there to take some photos from a higher vantage point. Unfortunately that didn't work out, but I did find the creek in the photograph here to shoot.

As I set up my tripod to handle the slow shutter speed, it dawned on me that I didn't know how to use the self-timer. I also didn't have a cable release, so the self-timer was a must in order to keep the camera as steady as I could, eliminating as many sources of vibration as I could in the process...

I was all alone here -- there wasn't even another car in the parking lot. It wasn't THAT early - I'd made a stop at Cascade Locks and it wasn't like I rushed out the door. It was easily 11 a.m. by the time I got to this spot. But there still wasn't a soul around. It was quiet, peaceful, and the fast-rushing creek drowned out the noise from the highway (though I was far enough away that I couldn't really hear it).

Even though I felt like I was way out in the boonies, I still had cell phone service. Yeah yeah, the Verizon vs. AT&T ads are true - Verizon has muuuuuch better 3G coverage than AT&T - but it's not as if I didn't have signal at all. To be fair to AT&T, I had a quite decent Edge signal even if it is woooooefully slower than 3G. But I still didn't get an iPhone to switch to AT&T...

Being the resourceful type, I Googled "Canon EOS-1 Film Camera Self Timer" and of course got the HTML manual provided courtesy of the awesome Mir photography. I quickly found how to set the self-timer and went about my shooting -- hopefully getting sharper and clearer shots than when I just pushed the shutter button on the camera while it was on the tripod. It's one little thing that makes a difference, after all, in getting a sharp shot or a blurry shot...

I finished off the roll of slide film, messing up a few shots because I forgot to turn the self-timer off when I went back to hand-holding the camera. But still - I thought it was wild being able to use my iPhone technology in the middle of what felt like nowhere to learn about my camera (when normally I would've been SOL).

Speaking of technology...

I know not very many people read this blog but that's OK. I have a few followers who are photographers on Twitter and I'll post the same question there (pointing, of course, to this blog entry -- so if you came here from there, THANKS!)

My biggest question transitioning from a film photographer to a digital photographer (although I'm not really transitioning away from film) -- how do you decide what photos to post? With digital, shooting 500-1,000 photos in a half-day outing isn't anywhere close to impossible. Yes, I'm getting better about chimping and deleting the clearly obvious mis-fires. But even with getting 3-4 slightly different variations of the same photo - all of them good shots but with subtle variations in the compositions - how do I decide which one(s) to publish?

Likewise -- I'm just a part-time semi-pro that doesn't shoot nearly as often as I'd like. I'm probably up to 50,000 shots that I've made since 2006. Even if only 5% of those shots were really really good, that's still 2500 photos that I'd consider worth sharing. Now, I don't know about you but I can barely sit through 15-20 image slide shows without getting a little bored. Or at least not paying as much attention as I should. Maybe only 250 of those (0.5%) are really really REALLY good.

How do I present those 250 images? If on a web site, certainly categorizing them would be a big start. Shooting weddings/portraits, sports, and landscape/scenics is a good start -- and I've organized my web site into more manageable categories.

I know I want the best-of-the-best displayed in my online portfolio, and that every photographer's challenge is determining what he/she considers their prime quality images. Still - I go back & forth on several images that I want to include and omit in this portfolio. And this is, of course, compleeeeeetely ignoring the fact that I'm not happy with my web site gallery layout...

The question I honestly ask - knowing that you can really overwhelm people by throwing hundreds of photos at them, how do you decide what to cull and what to show -- especially in your best-of-the-best portfolio?

It's a question I'm really struggling with...

iPad -- First Thoughts from a Mobile Photographer...

2010-01-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

I'm going to jot a few notes down from my thoughts on the iPad's massively anticipated introduction today. Especially in the context of having just bought a Windows 7 Netbook...

Full disclosure - I'm editing this post a bit since when I posted it, I didn't have all the information available at my disposal. Apparently I missed the memo that there's an accessory that may mitigate my biggest beef:

No built-in USB input and no Card Reader = BAAAAAD! While there are other awesome potential uses for the iPad for the mobile photographer (think portfolio sharing, specifically, and as Scott Bourne points out -- opportunities for e-Newspaper photographers to continue to be employed), it seems apparent that you can't get photos onto the iPad without synchronizing it to your computer (a la an iTouch)*. I can kinda see not adding a camera -- it would be a bit unwieldy to use it as a camera like I do my iPhone, and even video conferencing would require some sort of stand -- but the fact that you can't get photos to the iPad (w/o synchronizing, I'm assuming) for editing/uploading via USB/Firewire/Card Reader really really disappoints me.

*Note that I made this comment before I saw they will be offering the "Camera Connection Kit" accessory. I'm suuuuper curious if the kit will work with the iPhone (after all, the iPad's OS is similar to iPhone OS, if not the exact same thing).

With a netbook, I can either use the USB port with a card reader, or if I'm shooting w/an SD card, I can just plug the card directly into the computer. Then I can copy an image or two to the netbook and open up some photo editing program (I'm going to test this more when my wife returns from her trip with the netbook). It's not something that would tear me away from using my desktop primarily, of course, but as a part-time freelance photojournalist, a Netbook might still be my best option for editing a few photos before uploading.

I'm a HUGE fan of having one device to shoot, edit, and upload photos. The iPhone has changed the way I do photography. The one frustrating thing about it for me is that I can't use it to upload photos I take on my other cameras without synchronizing it with my computer. What I wouldn't give for an app that allows me -- even via WiFi or BlueTooth -- to take a photo from my camera and get it on my iPhone for editing and uploading somehow. There are apps that turn the iPhone into a WiFi storage device, but as far as I've seen, you can't open any photos you may put on the iPhone using these apps in any of the photo editing apps.

I dream of the day when I can open a photo from my dSLR on something like the iPad and edit it with PhotoForge, Photoshop Mobile, BestCam, etc., and then upload it to the web. I love working with my Wacom on my desktop in Photoshop -- dodging/burning, cloning, etc.

If the Camera Connection Kit accessory being released for the iPad also works with the iPhone, then I'll make that a good start. Maybe after getting tired of editing pix on a small screen, I'll move to the "Arnold Scharz-iTouch"

Edited here to add more thoughts...

The iPad, though, does have some limitations that would cause me to really pause and think about buying one.

1) Like the iPhone and iTouch, it doesn't (except for iTunes of course) multi-task. No Pandora while editing photos. While I do have a decent iTunes collection, I often open Pandora to listen to music while on the computer. They have to fix this "feature" quickly, really.

2) Apparently still no Flash support. Huge mistake. Apple and Adobe need to find some sort of ground here. This is ridiculous!

3) The iPad/Feminine Hygiene Products jokes were lame and old before the official release. Yeah, yeah, be more creative people! There's plenty to rank on about it. This is low-hanging fruit and, really, not funny.

4) Even WITH the Camera Connection Kit option, there's still no way to access/use external storage on the device (without, of course, having to sync it to a computer). Being able to pull movies off an SD card or a Micro-SD card would be sweet! I get that it would cut into their pricing structure, but still...

And, I pretty much agree with everything on this list.

I'm overwhelmingly disappointed on the one hand at a few things - I thought it might be a direct competitor to Netbooks (I'm not sure it really is, but it will certainly cut a spot in that market) -- and genuinely excited on the other.

Bottom Line: I'd LOVE to be able to take this with me for photo editing and uploading when I'm on the road or in the press box. Having to lug around a laptop in addition to 50+ pounds of camera gear has proven challenging. A device like this or my Netbook would make it easier for me to choose whether or not to take a computer with me for editing/uploading. Provided, of course, the Camera Connection Kit wasn't too unwieldy or expensive...

Driving into the sunset (#26/365)

2010-01-27T00:27:00.001-08:00

Driving into the sunset (#26/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I'm getting late posting these, but at least I'm posting before I go to bed (even though i go to bed after midnight, generally)...

Saw the sunset on the way home from work tonight, and I had all kinds of ideas for photos. But time wasn't on my side, and I couldn't exactly pull over. So I just grabbed my iPhone and shot through the windshield. If you pull the image up in Flickr (click the image), and then find the "all sizes button" you'll notice the street lights on the side of the highway.

I know there's a secondary cell phone law, but I'm not sure if there's a secondary camera law. I'm sure, however, even though I wasn't talking on my cell phone, the officer (had I been pulled over for, say, speeding) probably could've written me up. But who knows...

I don't, of course, advocate shooting photos and driving at the same time. Especially at highway speeds...

Self-portrait in C Major (#25/365)

2010-01-26T00:23:00.001-08:00

Self-portrait in C Major (#25/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Many years ago when I was first getting into photography, I also happened to be into playing the piano. To kill some time one day back then, I did a series of shots with my film camera playing chords and doing different things on the keyboard. This time, it was hard to hold the camera steady (in this case, my iPhone) and I didn't have a flash to make things work like they did back then.

I tried taking a shot with my right hand playing some scales, but that didn't work for me. So I just stuck with a simple C chord. Then I put down the phone and played a tune.

I love playing the piano! I wish I had more time for it - I spend Thursday evenings and Sunday evenings at church playing keyboards for the Life Teen Mass. But it's never enough time -- and balancing my obligations and my hobbies has been a real challenge lately.

Highway Evangelist (#24/365)

2010-01-24T21:56:00.001-08:00

Highway Evangelist (#24/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Kind of a busy day for me today. Actually, not "kind of" -- it was DEFINITELY busy. I slept in a bit as I'm wont to do on a Sunday, but got up later than I'd hoped since I knew it was going to be busy.

Made some coffee, grabbed a donut that I'd bought yesterday at the store, and then did a bunch of little things. After making and eating lunch quickly, we headed off to church for our son's First Communion class session. On our way to church, I saw this car driving on the freeway. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of it.

The sign said something like what the typical hardcore "repent!" evangelists like to say -- "Repent of your sins, or face judgment and terror when the Last Judgment comes!"

I guess that's one approach for sharing the Gospel. Doesn't sound like "Good News" to me...

Lookin like a Foo w/you Pants on the...Wall? (#23/365)

2010-01-24T21:37:00.001-08:00

Lookin like a Foo w/you Pants on the...Wall? (#23/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

We went shopping yesterday, and I found a sale on a pair of corduroys so I took a couple different sizes into the dressing room with me. They really have a nice dressing room at the Eddie Bauer store! When I glanced at these pants hanging on the wall waiting for me to try them on, I thought the background and lighting was sort of fun. So I snapped 'em with my iPhone. I bought the pants -- figured it was best to go with the ones that were a little too big on me in case they shrank.

My wife thinks they'd like this shot for their ads, but I think it's just an OK shot, nothing special. Processed on my iPhone as usual...

Meters. (#22/365)

2010-01-22T23:30:00.001-08:00

Meters. (#22/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I walk around and over these pretty much every day as I pick my son up from school. Their number and arrangement fascinate me every time. I've wanted to make a high-contrast black & white shot of this, since it felt so "industrial" to me, and I associate the stark black & white contrast w/industrial type scenery. I used my typical recipe:

1) Open the image in Photoshop Mobile
2) Apply the black & white conversion
3) Apply the "Vibrant" filter
4) Apply the "Vibrant" filter again
5) Save the file
6) Open the file in BestCamera
7) Apply the Vignette filter
8) Apply the Frame filter

Then I threw on one more Contrast filter for added pop. Voila! There's my "secret" recipe...

The way I've composed this, I'm reminded of the baseball diamond. It's abstracted a bit, sure. Or maybe it's only clear to me because I'm such a baseball nut.

Maybe later in the Project365 I'll explore this again...

Thursday. (#21/365)

2010-01-22T00:27:00.001-08:00

Thursday. (#21/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Just a quick blog entry here to re-iterate what I put in the description field on the photo at Flickr.

This morning (Thursday morning, I mean - it's past midnight now, so technically it's Friday) was a griiind for me. Staying up late, being busy, has completely exhausted me. I've had commitments every night this week, and a pile of work to do on projects at home. Plus a few e-mails to catch up on and a whole bunch of other stuff.

So I'm tired. I'll be tired again in the morning, since I'll be up well past 1 a.m. yet again, and having to wake up when the alarm goes off in 5-6 hours.

I snapped this on my iPhone (typical) this morning just as I was arriving at work. I thought about putting my work building in the frame, but decided against it and tried to find a composition that worked. Actually this is probably the weaker of the two, but hey - once I select a Project365 shot, I'm not going to change it for better or worse.

It's all about light and texture here. I take a lot of these sorts of shots. Something intrigues me about bare tree branches in front of interesting skies.

And the sepia-tone reminds me of coffee. I'll certainly need my morning Starbucks tomorrow when I wake up. Likely another triple venti non-fat latte. Simple, yes, but when I stir in some cinnamon, it works. I don't really like syrups. So, tomorrow, at least I won't have to pretend I'm actually going to order something different. A V3N it will be.

In my personal cup...

No Parking, No Politics #2

2010-01-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

No Parking, No Politics #2
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

So I missed posting the Project365 photo to the blog last night. It's nearly midnight again and that would make two in a row. Well - let me catch back up...

I knew I'd have some time to take a photo after work in the evening, but since I was heading out for a rare meeting at a local brewpub I figured I'd take a photo of something there. While I did shoot a photo of my beer, it was pretty boring (but the beer was fantastic!).

On the way home, I decided to hit my old stand by. Yeah, I take a lot of pictures here. Being a rare clear January winter night, the water when I first got there was mirror smooth. I snapped a few with my iPhone, but then realized that it'd be a good time to pull out more horsepower. So I pulled my G9 out of my belt bag.

I took several shots, not too much different from ones I've posted on Flickr before, with slight variation due to more clarity/mirror smoothness in the water. Then I tweaked the settings and figure out the self-timer well enough to be able to snag a few self portraits for my Facebook profile photo.

As I was walking back to the car, I saw something I'd never really seen before. I mean, photography, ultimately, is about seeing. The more and more hardcore professional photographers (especially the really creative, artistic ones) I read about and learn from the more clear that becomes to me. Yes, shooting snapshots is great for documenting moments. And it's easy at times to create a "pretty picture."

But it's really challenging to "see" art. To make a statement. To say something with a photograph that makes you remember it. Really, I've only got maybe a handful of these types of photos in my portfolio. I've got lots of "pretty pictures" but I'm still not sure I've fully accepted myself as an artist.

I could talk for months about the technical side of photography. I know a lot about cameras and lenses and archaic gear. That's fun for me to dig around with. However, it's really hard for me to call myself an artist. I think I'm getting there, but I'm not sure. Certainly as I re-explore the passion for photography that I set aside for ~15 years, I'm emerging more as an artist and growing in that side of things rather than the technology of it. Well, really, I'm pursuing both...

This photo is all about context. I'd bet that many people who didn't know already what the building in the background was, could still determine that it's a governmental building of some sort. And in case there was any doubt whatsoever, I hinted that context in the title.

But there's more context here, too. Without actually capturing some element of date in the image itself (yeah, you can look at the filespecs and see when the shot was taken and posted to Flickr) you wouldn't know what's happened recently. At a local level, it's "Leg" time (pronounced like "Ledge")! For us local Olympians that has a certain context to it.

On a national level, however, one of the most recent political stories is that thanks to Martha Coakley's loss to Republican Scott Brown, the seat formerly held by the recently deceased Senator Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts will now be occupied by a Republican.

I could go on and on and I had several directions that I was going to take this post. But I've plumb run out of time and will just say that I really don't get into politics that much. It's not my cup of tea by any means. I really should, considering where I live and what I do for a living, but it's something that I really actively try to avoid like the plague.

As I've posted on my Facebook profile, my political views are thus: "Too conservative for the liberals and too liberal for the conservatives." I equally hate the Democrats as much as I hate the Republicans. I don't ascribe to a party. While I get their purpose and don't think democracy can survive without political parties, I just can't STAND what the two major parties in the U.S. have become.

One thing that particularly bothers me as a Christian is that I'm expected to follow the "pro life" candidates, which typically come from the Republican party. Sort of peer pressure, if you will, from my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm sorry, but I absolutely refuse to do this. I still exercise my right to vote, and I take it very seriously, but I refuse to vote on one issue. While I do tend to vote along certain party lines, sometimes, it's only because I feel like I'm forced between the lesser of two evils.

So, following this, I see a lot of my friends excited that a Republican has booted a Democrat. I, on the other hand, see this as a sign of democracy in action. Ted Kennedy was a senator for a very long time. There is good and bad that follows this. Isn't our government supposed to be FOR the people and BY the people? Well, someone who's parked in an incumbency may or may not be able to do that well. I'll leave it up to the people he served whether or not Ted specifically did that. I'm not well-enough informed to make that call (and he didn't represent me directly, so...).

Okay, I'm rambling again on a subject that I really don't like to talk about and this photo definitely isn't about that particular situation or Ted Kennedy or Massachusetts. I don't take too many political photos - or at least I don't try to. This one, however, is all about politics. I'll leave the full detailed interpretation up to the people who view this photo. It should serve, however, as a reminder to those people serving in public office that there's no job security.

There's No Parking in politics. I know senators and representatives and those other elected officials all know this very well. Or at least they think they do. But they definitely need a reminder every now and again.

Finally - I did post the iPhone version as my official Project365 shot on Flickr (and shared it on Twitter). But that was just a quick snapshot and a placeholder as I processed this photo taken with a camera I had more control over. It's not a technically-perfect photo, but that's not the point.

It makes a statement. I've explained it a little more here to provide some context.

While I didn't plan this photo, I did "see" it after stopping at a place I frequently cover with my cameras. And photography is about "seeing" and communicating. Even if you don't quite get all the context here that I had when I "saw" this shot, I think the message might well be communicated...

Tuesday Morning Sunrise (#19/365)

2010-01-19T22:30:00.001-08:00

Tuesday Morning Sunrise (#19/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

This morning, I saw glimpses of pink in the sky just as I'd come downstairs to start making breakfast for my son. I ran upstairs to grab my D200 and slapped on my 55-200mm VR lens that I absolutely love.

Having lived in this house for almost a year an a half, I've seen several sunrises in my back yard. We live in a neighborhood where the houses aren't that close to each other and yards are comparatively large, which is what we were looking for when house shopping. Still, we only pretty much have a view of the neighbors yards and not much else.

I decided to grab the 55-200 to see if I could work with the sunrise, rather than complaining about not having the view we could've had if we'd bought one of the other houses with better views that we walked through when house shopping. I figured with the short telephoto I could isolate an element of the sky a little more and still capture the essence of the sunrise.

By shooting a vertical/portrait-oriented shot, I was able to isolate this small bit of sky hanging behind the trees, which I threw into silhouette. With the various shapes and sizes of the trees, I thought these elements were interesting enough to provide an anchor to the scene and perhaps a bit of scale.

I played around with a few angles, but this is the last shot I took and my favorite of the series. Maybe I'll post a few more, but this is my Project365 submission for today...

Equivalents, 2010 #1

2010-01-19T18:42:00.001-08:00

Equivalents, 2010 #1
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

From my first roll of film through the Canon EOS-1 I just got. I really like this shot, but I'm going to have to re-scan the film. The haloing on the trees is just not right. Originally shot on Fuji X-Tra 400-speed color film, but I converted it to black & white in Photoshop.

I bought this camera to shoot wide-angle stuff. It's nice to have 22mm actually BE 22mm. Unfortunately the shot I took with my Nikon-mount 17mm lens is out-of-focus because in my haste I forgot to manually focus. The color's nice in that shot, and it does capture the sunrise. but this shot worked better for me and seemed like the best shot to post first from this camera...

A Final Portrait (#18/365)

2010-01-18T23:27:00.001-08:00

A Final Portrait (#18/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I finally got the chance to list my broken Nikon F4S on eBay for parts only, before I left for church yesterday. In addition to setting a buy-it-now price, I set up the auction so that 10% of the price would go to the Red Cross.

I like good karma.

I'm hoping this old camera can be put to use to spare the life/lives of one or more Niikon F4S. Nikon isn't making parts for these anymore, and they can be really hard to find. I know I'm not the only nut out there who LOVES this camera. To me, this is the best film camera Nikon ever made.

And, even though it's a tiny amount, I'm hoping the Red Cross uses the money to make a tiny bit of difference in the world. I can and will donate more, but this camera has been a special part of me - even though I didn't put but one roll of film through it.

I can't wait until I can buy another one. Yes, my Canon EOS-1 is a temporary fill-in. While I do like the EOS-1 a lot (although I just submitted the first roll of film for development -- so I'm completely withholding final judgment until I get those photos back) it's no F4S.

Until we meet again...

Faaaaavvvrrre! (#17/365)

2010-01-17T13:15:00.001-08:00

Faaaaavvvrrre! (#17/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I like watching NFL playoff games, but I'm really only ever rooting for the Seattle Seahawks. I've always admired Brett Favre, though. He had a heck of a game today against Dallas. So, this is just a snapshot for memory's sake.

I wonder if this card just went up in value a little bit...

Flowers for Grandma (#16/365)

2010-01-16T21:31:00.001-08:00

Flowers for Grandma (#16/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Today we celebrated my wife's grandma's 90th birthday. I was enlisted to take photos of the event. It was a tough assignment due to the massive number of people and mirrors everywhere. But I grabbed a few decent shots, including this one of a bouquet of roses that a cousin brought.

WAKE UP!!! (#15/365)

2010-01-15T23:14:00.000-08:00

WAKE UP!!! (#15/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Twas truly a rough Friday for me. I basically tried to get the Project365 shot out of the way early - in a rainstorm, I'm drawn to these canopies and how the raindrops and light dance around on them. I figured a nice bold color with some simple text that captures these rain drops would be worth shooting.

Then I woke up and realized that I definitely didn't deliver on what I was hoping to accomplish. So I submitted it to the "Passive Aggressive Comments..." group on Flickr for them to make me laugh about it.

I wonder what lemons do when they get lemons. Do they make lemonade?

Of course, after I'd already selected this for my Project365 shot, there happened to be a pretty amazing sunset. I thought about switching but then that would be cheating IMHO. But they're in my photostream now too...

Glazed Expressions (#14/365)

2010-01-14T22:51:00.001-08:00

Glazed Expressions #3 (#14/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Stayed home from work today because I woke up not feeling so hot. Got some much needed rest - it's sleep I've really needed but have been too busy to find much of. Lots of projects at my feet...

Took an hour or so to mess around with this wine glass that I bought locally from the German/European Boutique "einmaleins." I didn't really have the space to set up hard-core lighting stuff so I got a little creative. Slapped on my DIY Beauty Dish and found the reflections quite interesting. There's a whole set of these on my Flickr account.

Nestled (#13/365)

2010-01-13T23:33:00.001-08:00

Nestled (#13/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I don't know what it is that draws me to little micro-scenes such as these. Perhaps there's a bit of the red-green counterbalance in play, as well as the juxtaposition of a dead/decaying leaf within the clutches of life-breathing greenery. Perhaps, too, it's symbolic of how I've felt lately - feeling quite dead but needing to be alive and energetic. Relying on others a lot to prop me up. But I've also been the prop-er, so there's that too...

One of these days I'll use another camera on my Project 365 photos. But time has been verrrrry hard to come by lately, as has good non-downpour weather. On my iPhone, I can shoot, edit and upload the photo without having to take a whole lot of time. While the quality and control may be limited, it's still good enough for me to express and capture what I'm seeing/feeling via photographs.

No idea what will inspire me tomorrow. I guess that's sorta the fun part about a Project 365. Sometimes you can plan and other times you just look/create/react...

Homage to Frank Gehry (#12/365)

2010-01-12T21:42:00.001-08:00

Homage to Frank Gehry (#12/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

For today's image, just before leaving for work I shot two photos of this white paper birch tree in front of my yard. I found the various layers interesting and the shapes therewith reminded me of the Experience Music Project building (and many other buildings) designed by Frank Gehry. Do you see it, too?

It Rained on my Coffee this Morning (#11/365)

2010-01-11T17:45:00.001-08:00

It Rained on my Coffee this Morning (#11/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I'm not a big fan of Mondays. Nor am I a big fan of rain. Mix the two together and I really really need an extra dose of morning coffee. It rained on my coffee mug on the way into my office from my car.

It rained so hard and was so cloudy today that I actually tried posting this to Flickr from my phone several times but didn't have enough signal to do so.

Still have the lights up (#10/365)

2010-01-10T23:01:00.001-08:00

Still have the lights up (#10/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Definitely just a snap tonight. Spent the whole day at church today, and had to go grocery shopping and grab dinner afterwards. I did unplug the main lights, but the room upstairs is too full of Legos and other things to step on, so I couldn't unplug those lights. My son will do it in the morning...

While I had the weather yesterday afternoon, I could've taken them down. But instead I chose to do yardwork before heading out with my film camera (and, of course, my G9 on my belt and iPhone in my pocket). I won't rehash yesterday's story, but I did buy a new battery for my "new" camera and that seemed to work. At $13 a pop, though, I'm going to try to find a better solution. I could get the grip and then use AA batteries. But that adds weight and bulk - which makes the decision border between using my 35mm film camera and the Mamiya a bit smaller...

Anyway - more of a documentary photo than a piece of artwork...

I Took a Walk Along the 4th Ave Bridge (#8/365)

2010-01-09T18:28:00.001-08:00

I Took a Walk Along the 4th Ave Bridge (#8/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I finally got good weather and decent lighting to go out with my new-to-me film camera today. Wouldn't you know it - something is wrong with the camera and it didn't work. Battery seems to have a charge but the camera won't turn on. Story of my life...

Grrrrr...

So I took photos with my iPhone and G9 instead.

Which Way??? (#8/365)

2010-01-08T21:23:00.001-08:00

Which Way??? (#8/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I was having problems deciding which photo to choose for my Project 365 today, so I posted to Twitter asking people to vote. Of course, people are busy on Friday nights and I haven't yet heard back from anyone. However, since I shot, edited and uploaded it on my iPhone, using Chase Jarvis's BestCam app for final tweaking and posting on BestCam and Twitter, it was submitted to the iPhone app for people to vote on as well. Since the folks who use the BestCam app voted a couple times, making it show up on the "best photos" list I decided to use this one today.

I'm tired of the rain. So so so tired of it this time of year especially. I'm not a fan of the post-Christmas winter here in the PNW. I've been putting up with it for over 35 years and I'm really tired of it. I don't travel much so I'm sure I'm taking it for granted, and I do know that the rain is what keeps Washington as The Evergreen State. I need to learn to appreciate it more, I guess.

Red Gem (#7/365)

2010-01-07T23:59:00.001-08:00

Red Gem (#7/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Nothin' real special about today's photo. Sort of a "found industrial art" type shot. I actually shot pretty much the same photo yesterday but revisited the angle just slightly. I thought the object was interesting, and I blew the colors to oblivion just because I could. There actually wasn't much light on this subject since it was twilight up here in the dark-when-I-leave-for-work-and-dark-when-I-drive-home Pacific NW.

Decade's First Sunset. (#6/365)

2010-01-06T20:13:00.001-08:00

Decade's First Sunset. (#6/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

So, two blogs today since I didn't get to post one yesterday (although I did take and post the photo)...

As I just commented on Flickr, it's blurry and a very unartistic photo. Pretty much a snapshot for today's Project365. I suppose I could put more work into it on PhotoForge on my iPhone (it's got a decent clone tool) but it's not really worth my time. Selected this one, though, because even though it's a crappy photo, it will remind me of the missed opportunity and challenge I had today -- I'd left my belt camera (Canon G9) at home, and I was REALLY having a hard time finding an interesting angle to shoot with my ultra-wide-angle iPhone lens. It was the first sunset I was able to see this year (due to the crappy weather we've been having around these parts) and I was really unable to do much about it since I only had my iPhone camera. I've been wanting to go out with my new-to-me EOS-1 film camera so badly but haven't been able to because of the rain (and work during the day). So, as I left work I had both hope that I could do that soon and frustration that I'd left my better camera at home...

Mariners Legends (#5/365)

2010-01-06T19:54:00.001-08:00

Mariners Legends (#5/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I did post the photo but I ran out of time for yesterday's blog post...

I had a concept for the photo, but I was crazy busy yesterday having to eat dinner, satisfy my kid who wanted some daddy time, and then head off to hang out with some local photographers. I ran out of time to be able to find what I really wanted to shoot, but I did find these in the box of cards I pulled out.

What's funny is - the Edgar Martinez card shows him playing defense. Today, the official announcement came that he fell very shy of the minimum percentage for HOF enshrinement. More than one voter commented that he didn't do enough with the bat to overcome the fact that he was a career DH. While I do call that argument bullshit, I do understand that the sentiment is popular, since a lot of NL writers really never got to see Edgar play. Funny - he did play well over 4000 innings over 500+ games at 3rd base, and he was a solid defender there. But it's not enough for many voters.

I could go on and on about what a sham the HOF results were this year, but this is my photography blog...

I will say this, though. Randy Johnson is the best MLB pitcher I've ever met. I'll never forget his first no-hitter and breaking the ceiling lamp downstairs as I jumped up and down. And being at the 19-strikeout game in which Mark McGwire hit a darn-near-600-foot home run about 50 feet over from where I was sitting.

While I did get this picture, I'd hoped to take a picture of the pictures I have from that game...

Almost Cerulean... (4/365)

2010-01-04T22:05:00.001-08:00

Almost Cerulean... (4/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I was listening to The Ocean Blue's "Cerulean" (link is to a cover) today and it struck me how much I like that song. The imagery used in the simple lyrics seem to suggest simultaneously downward and upward looking. Imagery of heaven; imagery of sadness...

So I tried to take a picture of it. Of course, I could've turned this into a cyanotype, but I don't think the literal color is as important as the emotion is.

Out with the "Old", In with the "New" (#3/365)

2010-01-03T15:03:00.003-08:00

Out with the "Old", In with the "New" (#3/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Still haven't run a roll of film through - the weather's been too crappy to go outside with it. But the more I play around with the EOS-1 the more I really like it. Feels a lot like my D200 with much more simplicity. My favorite feature? AE locking works such that you push the button and it stays on without needing to hold down an AE button. I LOOOOVE my now defunct F4S, but the EOS-1 may well be the first camera I ever use where I can operate it totally by feel. So simple and clean! Why can't all Canon SLRs be so ergonomic? And Nikons for that matter...

I'm still a manual-focus junkie so I don't really care that the EOS-1 had better AF than the Nikon F4 (causing many a pro to switch from Nikon to Canon). The F4S is still a better camera for me. But I can see why a lot of people switched back then...

Between Rainstorms (#2/365)

2010-01-02T12:40:00.001-08:00

Between Rainstorms (#2/365)
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

Day 2 of the Project365. For this shot, I happened to notice the rain droplets on some bushes in the back yard as I was getting ready to take the garbage out. Took the garbage out and then went out with my iPhone. It's really really hard to compose with the iPhone at times, and it's even HARDER to selectively focus. I had several iterations of this shot and several compositional angles. This one still has issues but it's the best of the bunch.

Project 365 - My 2010 New Year's Resolution...

2010-01-01T00:43:00.000-08:00

No idea how I'm going to do this but my 2010 New Year's Resolution is to complete a Project 365, where I intend on taking and posting a photo a day. I pretty much do this anyway, but I'm going to be more complete and thorough to fulfill my resolution.

The Flickr set is here. Here's Photo #1/365 snapped right at midnight on 01/01/10:

Chase Jarvis is at it again...

2009-09-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.thebestcamera.com/

If Chase Jarvis isn't one of the best photographic innovators on the planet in a world full of shutterbugs, I don't know who is...

Seriously, "iPhone-Tography" ROCKS!

2009-09-15T21:24:00.001-07:00

I just added a link to a brand new web site I found via Flickr group - iPhone-Shots.com. While I'm sure Chase Jarvis probably gets credit for being the first big time pro to tout the iPhone as a legit photo tool, it's quickly developing a cult following as a tool that's fantastic for creating and editing awesome images.

My first 3Gs had a defect in the camera, which made me hesitant to judge it as a valuable tool. However, soon enough I got a replacement and now I can't resist using my iPhone as a powerful all-in-one photo tool. All it can't do directly on the device is print - and being a bit of an old-school photographer, there's still a part of me that believes a photo isn't finished until it looks good in print.

Not to worry - I've actually printed a couple of photos from my iPhone, and if I didn't know I shot the image with the iPhone, I wouldn't be able to tell which camera I shot it with.

Here are some more of my favorites - all taken and edited directly on the iPhone:

2009 Autumn Emergence

2009-08-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

(Click to see it on Flickr and for full-resolution). Shot with my "PannyLeica" this year.

Continuing my annual tradition...

Or maybe I should do more color...

2009-07-23T11:03:00.001-07:00

Dancing in Technicolor
Originally uploaded by PositivePaul

I currently have this as my desktop wallpaper. And no matter how much I'm drawn towards monochrome images, a strong color image is very powerful. The lighting, color and texture make this semi-abstract photo appealing, and are in a lot of ways more important than the subjects of the photographs themselves. They become the subjects in a lot of ways...

I dunno what it is about monochrome...

2009-07-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

...but even though I have better equipment for producing color photos, I'm still much MUCH more drawn into sepia and black-and-white images...

New "camera" -- again...

2009-06-26T21:23:00.001-07:00

Well, actually, since my Sprint contract was up and I wanted an iPhone, I got one of those. I initially bought the cheapest 8-gig 3G version, but the day the 3GS came out, I took that back and got that one.

A week later, I finally am getting a chance to play around with the built-in camera and on-phone photo editing tools. Wow. Just. Wow...

I'm going to have to swap it, however, because as you can see in the top-right corner of this photo here, Apple's QC has... issues... I love my Macs, but this flaw in the brand new iPhone camera (only on my phone at least from what I've seen this far) is a bit frustrating...

They've finally taken my Kodachrome Away...

2009-06-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge Paul Simon (and Simon & Garfunkel) music fan, and I'll probably admit that Simon's "Kodachrome" steered me at least a little towards Nikon when I was determining what camera company I wanted to buy into when converting to digital.

The Seattle Times reports today that Kodak has pulled the plug on Kodachrome. Now, there's only one place that develops it any more -- not exactly the one-hour processing that we can get with other films. But before you stock your freezer with any last rolls you may scramble to find, Dwayne's photo has only agreed to keep processing it through 2010.

I've never shot a roll, and it looks like I never will. Still, I'm a sentimental sucker and I'm a little saddened by this news.

First look: Tokina 28-70mm f/2.6-2.8 AT-X Pro (Discontinued)

2009-05-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting this lens for awhile - I've heard good things about it. Since this lens has some issues, I basically got it as a throw-in along with another lens I purchased. I can probably squeak by with it:

Catching up...

2009-03-02T11:13:00.001-08:00

Wow, it's really been a few months since I last posted here. A different year, even! No worries - I'm still taking photographs. I've just been too busy to write about it. What better to do with a sick day than to catch up a little bit on what's going on in my world of photography...

A few months ago, I started searching for a new carry-with-me-everywhere camera. Of course, I did this very same thing about a year ago -- for a camera to keep in the CAR with me, and decided upon the Panasonic FZ-10. Dang, a quick search of the archives tells me that I didn't even write about my mental process behind THAT camera search. I've really neglected this place!

So it sounds like I need to go back a little further than I originally thought when I grabbed the last cup of coffee on the pot and popped in some Simon & Garfunkel on the iTunes.

The original story of what I wanted, ironically enough, was originally posted in the off-topic section of a baseball forum I hang out on. Since you have to be a member, I believe, to view that section of the site, here's a snippet from that post just so I have it here (in case something happens to that site) that captures my thoughts on what I was looking for in such a camera originally:

Here's what I want:
Full control over the camera
Hotshoe to trigger external flash
Focus control on the lens itself
No shutter lag
A camera that doesn't frustrate me
Image Quality (good color & clarity, but I know noise will be an issue)
No, I'm not looking for a semi-dSLR. I'm looking for a smaller-ish camera that will at least fit in my coat pocket but doesn't have to be tiny, that gives me almost the same level of control as my dSLR. Basically, something that doesn't get in the way, and that I can take with me without having to lug 30 pounds of camera gear in my big, bulky bag. I want a camera with me at all times, and my cell phone camera doesn't count. There really are only two cameras that I've found that will meet these requirements.

1) Leica Digilux 1.
2) Canon G5.

As it turns out, what I ended up buying was a Panasonic FZ-10, about $50-100 dollars less than what I'd budgeted for. I was sacrificing a bit of pocketability (which, as it turns out, was too much of a sacrifice for me) for some massive zoom -- at f/2.8 throughout -- and SLR feel. It had everything I wanted - even the ergonomic-correctness of a manual-focus ring around the lens area (almost right where I'd reach for it on my SLRs!).

I shot with it for the better part of the year (I bought it in April, 2008), creating a set on Flickr for my better shots. I shot my first concert with it -- having both front-row tickets and f/2.8 throughout (combined with manual mode) really helped -- and fell in love with the camera, both for it's still and video quality.

My only problem, of course, was that the camera was just plain too big for me to really use it. I'd leave it in my wedding photography fanny pack in the car, rather than carry it with me everywhere, defeating the ultimate purpose of why I bought the camera in the first place. If I was going to carry a camera bag, I'd just as well take my D200 with a lens or two and a flash.

So, I went on another hunt. I wanted something even smaller but nearly as flexible. I also again set my budget around $150, since I didn't have a lot and didn't want to spend a lot.

I'd done some research and decided that ultimately I wanted either a Canon G10 or a Panasonic DMC-LX3 (or, heh, the Leica equivalent -- the D-Lux 4). But both of those cameras are well above my $150 budget (and the Leica was well-well-WELL above that!). I decided against the G6 (and previous models) because I didn't like the bodies as much as I liked the new body design starting with the G7.

As I'm wont to do relatively frequently, I stopped into the local pawn shop on my way home from picking up my son from school. It's right around the corner, so we do that a lot. He looks at movies and I look at cameras. It's become quite the ritual, really.

Looking in the camera case that particular visit, I noticed this camera:

A Kodak V1253 point-and-shoot, 12 megapixel camera. Two things instantly grabbed my attention. 1) The 16:9 shooting mode for both still AND video and 2) the HD video recording with stereo microphones! One thing that I LOOVED about my FZ-10 was the fact that I could record high-quality video with decent audio. This camera had that and more -- it allowed me to zoom while recording, 720p HD recording and built-in stereo microphones!

Since the store has a pretty decent return policy, I decided to spring for the camera and put it through the wringer over the weekend to see if it would work out for me. I mostly did a lot of video testing, which was fun and neat and all, but I wasn't buying a video camera - I wanted a still camera first, with the bonus of having video if I needed it.

I was having a little problem making decent, usable photos with the camera. After all, while it did have ISO 1600, it did NOT have Optical Image Stabilization. That's huuugely important in a camera, especially in one so tiny. One nice thing about the weight and bulk of a DSLR (and to a certain extent my FZ10) is that it allows you to provide some stability for taking slower-shutter-speed photos. A compact, point-and-shoot type camera exploits any sort of bad technique you have for pressing the shutter, giving you a better liklihood of blurry shots due to camera shake. Having OIS is a big help in allowing you to take sharper photos at slower shutter speeds.

With smaller sensors, too, compact point-and-shoot cameras don't really handle ISOs above 200 very well -- even newer-generation cameras, too (they use heavy noise-reduction to smear out the noise, at the cost of fine details and plasticy-looking images). While the Kodak did have an ISO 1600 mode, the image quality was very unusable. So, not only could I not bump up the shutter speed by increasing the ISO, I was stuck without having OIS to help me through those 1/5th shutter speeds.

When I was able to get decent shots, I fell in love instantly with the 16:9 composition framing. It's like stepping up from an older tube TV into an HD LCD or Plasma or something -- more room on the screen gives you more compositional elements to compose with. This is probably my favorite image I made with the Kodak:

While that photo is relatively interesting and certainly started the ball rolling on a new direction w/composition in the 16:9 mode, I ultimately took the camera back since the photo quality was less-than-stellar. Yes, the HD video recording was very cool, especially in a compact size. Were video my main desire, I'd certainly give this camera another look. But it wasn't. The no-OIS thing combined with a sloooow lens (not much bigger than a pinhole, really) and very poor high-ISO performance was the kicker.

And back to the drawing board I went.

Looking further into cameras that would give me what I wanted in a compact size, I looked back a few generations at the Panasonic LX1. It wasn't quite the LX3 that I wanted, but it did have a lot of what I liked about the Kodak -- the 16:9 sensor. And I found one for the same price I paid for the Kodak. They're actually quite hard to come by on eBay, but wow I'm really glad I made this decision!

The LX1 is "only" 8.4 megapixels (vs. the 12 of the Kodak), but they're far more usable. It only goes to ISO 400 (and that's REALLY pushing it, especially in color), and is a little bit bigger than the Kodak was. But it's a much better fit for me. It's essentially the same camera as the Leica D-Lux 2, only with a different metal used for the body, a little extra grip that the Leica doesn't have (which I really like better) and missing the little red "Leica" badge. Sure, the Leica looks cooler (although I believe it only comes in silver, and I like the black of the LX1 MUCH better). But the Panasonic for all intents and purposes is exactly the same camera -- for less than half of the cost of the Leica version. I've created a set for the LX1 on my Flickr account.

Last weekend I re-visted my favorite waterfall in the Columbia Gorge -- LaTourelle Falls. While my dSLRs were in the car, I only took my Mamiya RB67 ProS (I know, I know, I didn't mention this camera either - long story for another day, I suppose) and my LX1. Ultimately, I might make some photo excursions with my RB in a bag and the LX1 on my belt. I know I'll still be able to get fantastic shots, even if I'm a little dysfunctional with the RB. This LX1 is an amazing camera in a tiny package.

Exactly what I was looking for.

Photos from the Storm...

2008-12-22T21:53:00.001-08:00

It's been pretty snowy here for the last week. I've had my camera locked and loaded the whole time...

Last Bits of Autumn...

2008-11-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

I continue to be impressed with my little stash-in-the-car-so-I-can-always-have-a-camera-with-me Panasonic FZ-10. I went on a retreat recently, and since I was there as a musician, I didn't really have the lugging power to take my sizable (and heavy) camera bag with lenses along with my keyboard, hand truck, amplifier, and other stuff. Knowing I had my Panasonic in the car was good enough, as I didn't really expect to have much time to escape in the woods and take pictures anyway.

I did, however, have enough time to grab these shots. Yeah, I reduced the noise and adjusted both colors and exposure in Photoshop -- but nothing unusual. Having a background in film photography, it's something you always do in the darkroom anyway, so I don't feel guilty. I set the color setting on my camera to "warm" though on purpose, and my PS adjustments are there just to enhance my interpretation of the light quality and experience in this scene.

Click on the photos for larger versions (on my Flickr Account) and EXIF info...

My current desktop wallpaper:

Moved!

2008-10-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

I hinted at it in one of my recent posts, but now it's official. We've moved to a new house! Lots more leaves and flowers and other things to photograph here, but I'll definitely still miss my old Japanese maples. There are, however, a few on our new lot. I've been waaaaaay too busy unpacking and doing other things to grab my camera and head outside, though. The weather hasn't cooperated much either.

I did want to post one photo, though, of the piano in our new living room. It's finally getting the grand treatment it deserves. It just siiiiings in its new location (although it does really badly need to be tuned).

First Concert Photos, Pretty Much Ever...

2008-09-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

I just started sifting through and processing some of the first concert photos I've taken since becoming serious about photography. I snapped some photos back in high school or junior high at a Beach Boys' concert once, but I had both a crappy camera and a lack of knowledge about photography.

Tonight, however, I grabbed my Panasonic FZ-10 point-and-shoot camera (okay, so it's probably closer to a hybrid dSLR/Point-and-shoot) and played with it during the Steven Curtis Chapman/Michael W. Smith concert. I switched to manual mode, initially started at ISO 400, but remembered how noisy the camera was at 400, so I cranked it down to 200. I set the shutter speed to 1/80th for most of the photos, slowing it down to 1/50th when I wanted more of the lighting (keeping the aperture set at f/2.8). They wouldn't let me bring my dSLR in, and I didn't want to risk having my dSLR confiscated, so I stuck with this camera.

I'm honestly blown away by how these photos turned out. Granted, having front-row seats (thanks to my totally awesome brother-in-law, Dave, who bought those tickets for my birthday present) helped, but I was amazed at how clear the photos were. A skosh of Noise Reduction and a bit of both level adjustment and warming filter (depending on photo), and that's pretty much all the processing. Granted, had I had my dSLR they probably would've been better, but these are pretty decent.

Autumn's Arriving, 2008

2008-08-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

Every year, either mid-August or early-September, I seem to manage to find an inspiring image reminding me that Autumn color is just around the corner. On this fine 95º day (85º in my house), I happened to find this year's image:

It doesn't appear likely that I'll get to continue my autumn tradition of shooting the Japanese maples in front of my house this autumn, since we're finalizing the sale of our house (and I don't want to trespass). I'm sure the trees will be thankful that I'm not out there sticking my lenses in them. Depending on which house we settle on purchasing (we have two really excellent choices), though, I may find other victims...

Here's a chronology of these images, to keep score...

2005
(Taken Labor Day weekend with my digital point-and-shoot)

2006
(Early September)

2007
(August 21 -- testing the 55-200 VR)

Summer Tidal Abstracts

2008-08-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

Something different -- certainly inspired by Ed Weston. I call this series "Summer Tidal Abstracts."

See the full album here...

It's ALMOST Summer, officially...

2008-06-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

But flash is still very much a part of summer photography...

100mm F/2.8 Series E vs. 105mm F/2.5 AI

2008-06-19T17:32:00.000-07:00

My friend at work loaned me his old camera gear to play with. Included in the kit was the 105mm f/2.5 AI lens. Since this lens has a pretty solid reputation for quality, I wanted to see how it compared to my $55 100mm f/2.8 Series E lens -- one of my favorite lenses.

VS

All photos with the 105mm AIS were shot at f/2.8. Photos are exactly as they came out of the camera, with only the text added in Photoshop -- no further adjustment. I focused on the same item in both sets of pictures, using the same focus point on my D200. Let's look at the results:

These lenses are practically the same. I notice very, very little difference. In the last set of photos, I do like the 105's bokeh a tad better -- it's a little creamier. Honestly, it makes me that much happier with my cheap 100mm holds its own.

From the Archives -- TLR Oldy Moldys

2008-06-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

I finally got the scanner I've been wanting for a few years. It arrived yesterday, and I finally got a chance to set it up this evening.

Here are a few keepers from the first and only roll of 120 slide film I've ever shot, which I just recently re-discovered (it wasn't in the book of negatives I put together in college).

Out with the Old, In with the New

2008-05-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I retired my first dSLR last week. I sold it to someone looking for a fast camera for shooting sports -- still a very good use for it. Here's the last good shot I made with my D1H -- it served me very well for over two years, even if it was a generation or two behind the current times when I purchased it.

But the good news -- to replace it, I got a used and somewhat-abused, but still functional D200. I'm the type of person who likes to actually use their equipment, not admire it sitting on a shelf. So, when the opportunity to save some cash arose by grabbing a D200 with some cosmetic issues (after taking a bit of a plunge off a tripod), naturally I'm going to be interested. Unless the camera doesn't work, I don't really care if it's not in mint condition. Same thing for my lenses. I'm sure I was a photojournalist in a former life or something...

By finding this deal, too, though, I was able to purchase a new lens along with the camera, for about the same price as what D200 bodies alone are going for nowadays. The lens I got is a 35mm f/2 AF-D. It's honestly one lens that I didn't think that I needed, but when I was looking through the viewfinder with the lens, I noticed that it seemed to match the normal viewing perspective. This makes sense when you think about it -- a 35mm lens on a 1.5x digital SLR becomes roughly a 5omm lens on a full-frame or film camera. So, yeah, after never really owning a 5omm when I shot film, I now have the equivalent of 50mm f/2 in digital.

And I'm recognizing how awesome this can be.

I already have a 20-35mm f/2.8 lens, but that sucker is huge. This small, compact lens gives me an extra stop, too, over that lens. It's wide enough to get a lot of stuff in, but not so wide that everything gets distorted. It's really a versatile little lens.

But the thing that I REALLY like about it is that it focuses very, very closely. I'd need to look up the stats, but I'm guessing it's about 3 inches in front of the lens. Combine that with the low-DOF f/2 opening, and it makes for a PERFECT lens for me to do my "Group F/1" stuff...

I love the bokeh! And the "Vivid Enhanced" setting on the D200 is really really nice.

In addition to being a great macro lens, it's also great as a portrait lens. Again, it's wide enough to get a decent head/shoulders portrait without having the distortion of an extra-wide when you get close to shoot the head & shoulders.

When I bought my D2H, I debated long and hard over whether or not to get the D200 instead. I ultimately decided that I preferred the machine-gun speed over the higher resolution. Especially since the D200 had 10 megapixels -- more than I really need. But now, I've decided that in shooting weddings more and more, I need all the resolution I can get. So, I've complemented my D2H with a D200.

Both of them are, really, more camera than I can use. Maybe in 2-3 years, I'll upgrade to a D3 and a D300, but for now I'm set...

Beer Break!

2008-05-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

So, in my inbox today arrived the monthly update from Gravity Beer Market (which, conveniently, is practically around the corner, but realistically ~2 miles from my house). When I saw the description for this beer, I HAD to go buy some. Being bored watching the M's implode yet again, I tried to escape the game by going to Gravity. Didn't totally work, though, 'cause they had the game turned on there.

After spending the better part of a half hour perusing their awesome selection, I found what I'd come there for, and a few other beers. This particular concoction is a bit expensive -- $14 for the bottle -- but I was willing to risk it.

I mean, after reading the description, how could I NOT give it a try?

A big, belgian-style Wit brewed with coriander and orange peel and fermented with Pinot Noir juice. After fermentation a fraction of the batch is aged in Oregon Pinot Noir barrels, and another fraction is aged on oak staves. The beer is blended together before packaging.

Since my beer tastes have been set aside for my lust for all things wine (particularly Zin, Cab-Sav, Syrah, and Pinot), it was appropriate that I'd gravitate towards this particular brew.

In spite of buying four other bottles of various stuff, I had to crack this open. Well -- after shooting photos, of course.

The color was as expected, the head was perfect. When I finally got done gazing at this beauty and pulling the glass to my face to inhale the aromas, I was very pleasantly surprised at the complexity. The wide variety of fruity citrus flavors dance around, and yet the balance of yeast, dry oak and golden, milky smoothness of the Wit calm things down.

I think I have a new favorite. I mean, how else can I combine three of my favorite things: beer, wine and photography?

Damn good stuff!

A Walk in the Rain

2008-04-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write up my experience as a first-time credentialed press photographer, but we decided to go for a walk in the rain instead today. Of course, even though it was expected to be wet, I had my camera and my supertelephoto (400mm f/3.5). It was a bit big, but indeed it fit under the coat during the rain showers. Here are a few shots from our outing. The rest are on my Flickr account.

Like Father, Like Son...

2008-03-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Look at that technique! And that's my F4 and 80-200 F/2.8 Nikkor. I could do w/o the tattoo, however...

Have Camera, will smile!

Post-Visualization and The Philosophy of Post-Processing

2008-03-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

Over the past year or two, I've tried to divert my attention away from baseball, and on to photography (or something else). The problem I've encountered is that these two interests can very much merge. So, naturally, when a photography conversation started up at a new-from-old baseball community, I had to join in.

In this thread of conversation, the topic of post-processing came up:

One of the things I've noticed, on Flickr and elsewhere, is how much photographers in the digital era use post-editing software (Photoshop mainly) to fix/enhance/alter their pictures. I have to admit, this is probably my biggest pet peeve about photography these days. I had this argument with my DP instructor at the community college I attended as well. My basic belief is that the camera and the photographer's eye/sense of composition are the only two tools in photography. The rest is graphic design. But the two should be two very seperate things. I firmly believe in no post-editing, unless it's in-camera, or if it's for a specific purpose (such as fixing up photos that need to be used for something specific, such as wedding photos). I guess I kind of see using Photoshop to fix up pictures as cheating, in a way.

Anybody have any thoughts on this? Am I starting a debate?

I thought my response was worth stashing over here:

I'm honestly still struggling with this topic a lot myself. But the more and more I think about it, the more I'm very comfortable with heavy post-processing in the digital darkroom. Here's why:

When I was a photography student, there was no such thing as digital -- well, yeah, technically there was, but it was saved for NASA shuttle missions and for international cutting-edge media work (and the cameras were fairly archaic and started at 5-figures). In the black & white darkroom, we learned techniques for dodging and burning, boosting and cutting contrast, and creating special effects. We also learned how to tone prints using selenium and sepia toner. In the color darkroom, we learned how challenging it was to get color balance correct, especially when you're using the dodging/burning techniques you picked up in the black and white darkroom. And once you do acheive your goal of a successful print, there are inevitably imperfections caused by dust that either settled on your negative in the enlarger, or any number of ways. I learned techniques for spotting and hand-retouching prints that became very important the more I printed my negatives.

Having spent the better part of three years of my life in high school and college in the darkroom, I learned that producing a print was just as much of an art form and technical challenge as getting a good negative/slide was. Post-processing was very much a part of the game. Even Ansel Adams, the master and co-inventor of the Zone System -- probably the most important guide to exposing pictures correctly -- incorporated post-processing into his pre-visualizations. And, he'd often revisit some important images as he developed new techniques and post-processed these negatives in new ways. But every single print he made was post-processed in the darkroom (boosting contrast, selenium-toning, dodging and burning, etc...) Clearly, there were very few film photographers who could pre-visualize their art from exposure to print. Most of the ones that could excel at it were well-established artists. It's not an easy thing to do...

After taking the better part of 15 years off from serious photography, I got back into it about 3 years ago when I bought my first Nikon. I bought an 8008s in anticipation of getting into the Nikon system for transitioning into the digital world. Since I knew a thing or two about editing pictures in software, I would always have my pictures put onto CD when I had the film processed. I bought a few lenses and a flash, and hacked my way into re-learning how to properly expose and compose pictures. After spending countless hundreds of dollars on film processing, I was finally able to convince my wife that a dSLR would be a good investment.

In some ways, I bet she regrets giving me that blessing. But in others, she's clearly seen how I've re-captured my old talent for photography.

One of the ways I've recently kept this passion alive is by discovering the world of post-processing in Photoshop. Yes, as you mention, there's a lot of intersection between the work of graphic designers and the work of photographers in the digital darkroom. But really, Photoshop (and other tools) allow you to do the same manipulations you would do in the "analog" darkroom -- but make it much easier and faster. In the color film darkroom, there's not really much of a safelight (as there is in the B/W darkroom). Rather than being able to develop your prints in trays (as you can in the B/W darkroom) and see your image unfold in print, you have to develop your prints in tanks. I discovered very quickly that this was not a fast process. I'd often make 2-3 test prints to develop at the same time, as you had to wait the better part of 15 minutes before you could even see your print (nevermind the drying time needed to really make sure your colors were correct).

In the digital darkroom, I can take this 15 minutes and be mostly done with my corrections. And I can generally have some touch-up work done as well. Printing, of course, is still very much a challenging part of the equation, and requires even more processing (not to mention a good understanding of monitor and printer calibration). But these days, many digital photographers do very little printing (and are more concerned about getting their pictures distributed on the Internet), so that's something they never learn.

The bottom line is that while I initially agreed that heavy post-processing should be considered "cheating" I don't anymore. In fact, I'm starting to accept the philosophy that post-visualization (looking at a collection of images you've already made and seeing the deeper image within, after you've already clicked the shutter and "developed" the image to your computer) is a new and exciting strategy that the digital era is ushering in. Post-processing really only becomes "cheating" when you're a photojournalist or a forensic photographer and you're doctoring a scene to tell a different story. The AP standards, though, for manipulative photography are quite challenging and really go too far, IMHO. That includes things such as in-camera sharpening, etc. You're starting to see camera manufacturers incorporate special (expensive) software to verify that a digital image hasn't been altered in any way. To me, those sorts of things are only important for legal and forensic photography.

Post-processing, however, for artistic purposes is very much NOT "cheating." When it's incorporated into the exposure, too, all the better. Things like panorama stitching, distracting object removal, HDR, and other special effects are very much a part of photography in the digital age. Obviously it's very important to start with a good exposure and composition -- it makes things easier and faster in the long run. But post-processing is very much an important part of the art (and science) of photography these days.

And, really, where DO you define the line between "cheating" and non-cheating post-processing???

Postscript:
I'll do another much longer post on why I believe post-visualization might be something worth exploring -- a positive side effect of Photoshop and digital imagery. Maybe it's because my pre-visualization skills are still very raw, or it might be something worth further exploring. Maybe it already exists as an artistic philosophy, and I've missed it or it's called something else.

Anyway - the images below I made for comparison's sake. I needed to grab some images from my D1H to showcase it for a potential sale. I'm starting to get more weddings scheduled, and while the D1H certainly can handle it, I'd prefer to get something newer or with more pixels. Not that 12x18 isn't big enough for me, of course. But I was asked by someone potentially interested for a recent photo or two. So, I went into my "darkroom" and shot another series of water droplet photos.

The concept of post-visualization and post-processing can sorta be demonstrated in this image. Again, I was just shooting some snaps trying to grab something relatively interesting to send along. To me, post-visualization can incorporate SOME pre-visualization, but it's mostly involved with looking at a picture within a group of pictures and seeing something deeper -- that you might not've seen the first time around or before you fired the shutter.

I'll get more into this later, I hope, but there are certainly times when I see something new in an image I cast aside at first glance. In the photo below, I started looking a little deeper, and tried to salvage an OK-but-not-fantastic photo that even post-processed has some issues.

Straight out of the camera, only rotated & converted to JPG:

Processed for exposure (and BW conversion) in Capture NX, and touched-up, mutilated & cropped in Photoshop CS.

I dunno -- I kinda like the effect. It's certainly helped a somewhat flawed capture of a spontaneous moment in time.

The Difference a Day Makes

2008-02-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

Spent three hours last night shooting the Eclipse. Spent 5 minutes tonight shooting the full moon. Spent 1/2 hour in Photoshop to make this:

Supertelephoto Art, In Seattle

2008-02-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago, I got the chance to play around with my 400mm f/3.5 supertelephoto up in Seattle. I'm exploring the artistic merit of shooting anything but birds and sports with a supertelephoto lens. I think it works. As always, click to enlarge (in Flickr).

(D2H, 400mm, monopod, Photoshop)

(F4S, 400mm, monopod, Fuji film processed at Costco and scanned onto CD at processing, Photoshop)

Film + Photoshop = COOL!

2008-01-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

Excuse a bit of vanity, but I've been playing around in Photoshop more (after all, it's kinda hard to get out during the darkness this time of year and take pictures), and found some really cool-looking tricks that I mixed together on a self-portrait that I thought would fit. I shot the original on my Nikon F4, and then brought into Photoshop via the Costco scan I had developed today. It's sorta got that cold, yet still alive feel to it, and really captures me in one of my many moods.

I could rant about how pre-visualization is sort of old-school and talk about how I'm starting to see things in a picture AFTER I've already made the shot. This is one of those instances where I was just messing around w/my 'new' camera burning up film, shooting a familiar scene (me and my camera reflected in my bathroom mirror), and then once I saw the image on screen, I had an idea of how to process it in Photoshop. I envisioned a sort of retro-faded color look, with the edginess of some of the modern photography portraits. Here's the result:

I've also purchased my first "pro" printer, thanks to a fellow photog on Craigslist. She had a great deal on an Epson 2200 -- a bit older, sure, but I've discovered that it's by far the best printer I've ever owned. 13x19s out of that thing are really really cool -- and I have to get some roll paper so I can print some panoramas. Costco also started carrying the Ilford Pearl Semigloss paper for REALLY cheap (100 pack for $19!) I love being able to control everything from shutter snap to print. Sure Costco does a great job printing, but they only have two paper choices (and my Ilford Pearl isn't one of them), and I'm starting to really want to do some printing of my own. I'm finding that proofing colors and exposure works fairly quickly on 4x6 paper, and then once everything seems acceptible to me, I can go big. Like up to 13x19 big...

I'm excited!

Ice Age

2008-01-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

Some shots from the frigid cold here today.

100th Post! Hug(in)! Capitol Panorama!

2008-01-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

Built this from the in-camera JPGs (which are actually a little smaller than the JPGs from the raw conversion would be), using the Hugin freeware Panorama stitcher. Once the file was stitched together (took about 40 minutes, start to finish, and that included the time I needed to learn how to use the program), I edited it in my nearly 6-year-old Mac with less than 1 gig of RAM just fine. I boosted the saturation and brightened the shadow areas a bit. Smoothed out some transition areas too.

(Click to enlarge)

Two Workhorses, and Beer...

2008-01-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

Inspired to shoot a little tonight. A few shots of two workhorses. And goooood beer (Scaldis Belgian Ale)...

Crop Factor...

2008-01-14T22:45:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to ponder the difference between 17mm on my 'new' F4s and on my D2H (with a 1.5x 'crop factor'). The difference in the distortion/skewing is very noticable. I'm not sure if it's just a different viewing angle, or if it's really as noticable between the cameras. I'm going to have to do something more 'scientific'...

(D2H)

(F4)

Any color/exposure differences come about because I let the 1-hour photo lab scan the negative for me. I'd ideally, too, like to get the processing a little closer to each other, too.

Still, it's very weird seeing the difference in the distortion with the same lens.

Film, Revisited...

2008-01-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

I just essentially traded my old film camera for the film camera I've wanted since I first started getting into photography - the Nikon F4s. Granted, digital offers so much more for so much less in the long run. With as many pictures as I take during the year, I certainly can justify spending $1000 on a dSLR. But I still will always have at least one film camera body. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 'new' F4s. I haven't even uploaded the pictures to my computer from my D2H, but here's one shot I made about three hours ago on my F4 (with the Nikkor 400mm f/3.5):

Granted, that's a crappy scan from the 1-hour photo center at Fred Meyer. If I scan the negative, I can get a little more tonality and texture out of the wall. But, honestly, that's pretty darn good!

And there's something about the smooth whir of a frame of film advancing in the back of a Nikon F4s. Plus the camera itself is a work of art.

Film is not dead. Not by a long shot. I can't wait to get some Fuji Velvia 50 through that thing...

Edit -- here's the same shot w/the 1.5x 'teleconverter' that's inherent to the dSLRs, from my D2H:

So, it's the Government Holding the Pot of Gold?

2008-01-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Captured that on my way into work this morning, with my cell phone camera (click for a larger version). While driving*. I saw the rainbow forming as I dropped my son off, and knew from past experience that as I'd round the particular corner, it'd be hanging over the Leg Building. So, I carefully readied my camera and as I rounded the corner, I snapped the picture.

Yeah, quality-wise, it's not nearly as good as it would've been, had I shot it w/my D2H. But I got the picture I wanted, and I haven't found a vantage point that I could shoot this scene from without stopping the car on the freeway (illegal, completely unsafe). Heh. The "No Texting while Driving" law just took effect. I wonder if using a cell phone camera would count as texting.
*Disclaimer. Don't photograph while driving. Especially not with an SLR...

White Christmas!

2007-12-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

Just what I wanted (but didn't really want to drive home in)!

This shouldn't be possible...

2007-12-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

Click on the picture to pull it up in Flickr. Then click on "All Sizes" to see it as large as I can display it on Flickr.

This is a 1/5th-second exposure, hand-held, in Shutter priority mode, with the flash set to TTL (normal synch, not rear-curtain). With the 55-200 VR lens giving me the advantage of a few extra stops of sharpness, and with the wind being mostly calm to hold the tree steady, there's enough sharpness there to make things interesting. Certainly the flash exposure would be much quicker than 1/5th of a second, but the available light was reasonably dark even though I was standing under the streetlight.

The layers of the falling snow is what I wanted to capture here, juxtaposed with the lighted and snow-filled needles of the pine tree. The 1/5th-second exposure, combined with the flash did some very interesting things to the falling snow. Notice there's several flakes that are reasonably stopped within the scene. Then there are streams of other flakes, lit by the street lamp, blurred by the long exposure at 1/5th second. Finally, there are a couple of "blobs" that are sorta in-between -- outside the field of focus to be sharp, yet not quite blurred enough to be seen as a streak in the scene.

I'm happy to have captured the various directions that the snow was falling, and the snow on the pine branches. At 1/5th of a second, I'm not sure a non-VR lens would've captured this the same way. Yeah, there would be some sharpness in the branches thanks to the shortness of the flash exposure, but there'd be more blurriness, too, since the natural movement of the camera/lens at that focal length would've been amplified. I may still crop this scene a little bit (the shallow DOF forcing the bottom branches nearest me out of focus is sorta distracting -- and not part of the scene like I might've explored with the Group F/1 style), but overall I'm pleased with this result.

Here's how it's REALLY done!

2007-11-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

Just like many photographers nowadays, I confess to being inspired by Ansel Adams early on in my photography "career" -- and while I've grown to appreciate other photography masters, I cannot cast aside the feelings I still get when looking at a print from Ansel's many works -- which are almost as strong as when I saw Ansel's work for the first time.

In surfing the web recently, I came across the Ansel Adams online gallery. Or, I should say that I re-visited the site. I've been there before, just didn't really take a very deep look. Well, I'm glad I dug a little deeper.

In addition to selling the mass-produced works that you can get in art shops, and being the main source of Ansel's original photographs (prints that Ansel himself made in his darkroom and either signed or initialed), I discovered that there was something "in between" that, while still somewhat expensive, was reasonably within my budget.

The Ansel Adams Gallery is offering for sale a series of 25 prints from a special collection that Ansel himself collated into a "Yosemite Special Edition" and authorized his former assistant (Alan Ross -- a master photographer and print maker in his own right) to continue printing after his passing. These photographs are printed in the "old skool" method using Ansel's negatives exposed on photo-sensitive paper in an enlarger, developed in chemicals, and toned in selenium. Having spent MANY hours in the black & white darkroom, I recognize the challenge this entails, and the art form that is becoming more and more rare.

I've seen Ansel's prints on display in a few places and even some for sale, but the $5,000 price tag (and, well, WAAAAY up from there) has been beyond my reach. The Yosemite Special Edition, indeed as they advertise on the site, is as close to a real Ansel Adams print as most people can get. After several rounds of negotation with my wife, and involving her in the print selection, I purchased this one:

It arrived on my doorstep today. Wow. Just. WOW!

It's very inspiring seeing this in print. There's definitely a difference in the quality of a darkroom-made photograph and one that comes from a printing press. I've been reading about some of the digital printing capabilities and how they're getting MUCH better -- and special inks are available for printers to print black & white. While I don't have any pictures that are anywhere close to the quality of Ansel's work, I do have some that I'm very pleased with. I don't know if I'll ever get into a darkroom again, but I've scanned some of my black & white negatives, and would like to print them myself.

Now, however, I have a benchmark at least. The print I received today is really really REALLY cool. It really brought me back about 20 years when I first saw Ansel's photographs. Even though it wasn't printed by Ansel himself, Mr. Ross did a masterful job.

Wow. Just. Wow.

Bentley Hybrid Upcoming???

2007-11-06T23:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, well, no. Not quite yet. I have no clue if they're even thinking of it. But it was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this scene at the 2007 Seattle Auto Show.

More pictures are posted on my Flickr stream.

A Look at the Moon Through a Supertelephoto

2007-10-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

Grabbed the 400mm tonight to grab a few shots of the moon. I also wanted to see what the image quality would be with the crappy Tamron 2x teleconverter. Here are a couple of the shots:

New Cool Gimmick for On-Screen Galleries...

2007-10-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

In browsing the web recently, I stumbled across this new Flash-based GUI for viewing images. It's sorta cool, actually. I'm always looking for cool designs for web sites, and I'm going to completely redesign my photography site early next year. But I had to share this one. Click the image below to view my Flickr photos in Tilt Viewer.

Read more about Tilt Viewer here.

So What's the Going Rate for the Tooth Fairy???

2007-10-21T13:45:00.001-07:00

My son lost his first tooth today. He's looking forward to the Tooth Fairy's visit...

Before:

After:

The Peak of Autumn...

2007-10-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

From my Fall 2007 Gallery

Autumn Porthole, Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, Revisited...

2007-10-18T22:36:00.000-07:00

Last year, I took the family for a walk through the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge to shoot some pictures of the autumn leaves. Last Friday, I took my son back through, since he had the day off from school and it was my time to stay home with him. I remembered a certain tree near the entrance of the path that I shot last year, and I wanted to see what the foliage looked like this year. Here's the shot from last year:

Of course, I post-processed that image rather heavily -- too heavily for my tastes now. So, I wanted to shoot it again this year. Here's a couple of shots of that tree as it stands this year:

Hmm, looking at the picture from last year, which was taken about two weeks later than the pictures I took this year, I'm not as convinced the leaves have turned later this year at all. Interestingly, too, the blackberry brambles seem to really be taking over this tree. I shot these bottom ones with my 55-200 VR lens attached to my D1H (the D2H was occupied with the 400mm f/3.5). I'm still amazed that camera works as well as it does.

Windy!

2007-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Real windy out here. I believe our building is currently running on generator power, as I've heard from others calling into my coworkers that say the power's out all over the neighborhood.

Here's one quick snap I took looking out the window at the trees:

Yikes!

Testing the Tokina 300mm F/2.8 AT-X SD

2007-10-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

Finally got a chance to put the Tokina 300mm through some tests outside. Fortunately my puppy was a willing subject. What an awesome lens! Between the two of these superteles, I can hardly wait for baseball season -- the 2008 season -- to begin...

Indoor Supertelephoto Portrait

2007-09-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

I suppose some people wouldn't call a 300mm f/2.8 a "supertelephoto" per se, but considering its size with lens hood attached, I sure do.

Since my D1H was handy, I slapped on the new-to-me Tokina 300mm f/2.8 that I bought yesterday from the same person I bought the 400mm from. It focuses MUCH closer (8 ft. vs. 14 ft.) and I was able to take the opportunity to grab a quick portrait of my son, cranking the ISO to 1600 and shooting wide open (and removed some of the noise in Neat Image). I had 1/500th at f/2.8, and this lens is a lot more hand-holdable than my 400mm, so I was able to shoot this with only the 15-watt compact flourescent my son was looking into as the light source. Fortunately, he was as willing as always to pose. I just wish he'd follow directions that well when I wasn't taking pictures...

Supertelephoto Art.

2007-09-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Supertelephotos are quite often used to chase around critters, whether small or large, and action, whether fast or slow. You don't see any wide-angle lenses in the sports pits shooting the action on the field. I'm still learning how to handle a supertelephoto for chasing the action. Meanwhile, I took a break practicing shooting action to see what things look like from the perspective of a supertelephoto, when the action wasn't an important part of the image.

Here are a couple of the results:

Welcome, Autumn!

2007-09-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or is it coming a little later this year. The colors just now seem to be turning around here.

More from the 400mm f/3.5

2007-09-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Still practicing. Still missing shots, because I'm still trying to control this monster. But I'm getting better...

Interesting bokeh...

First Impressions: 400mm F/3.5 EDIF

2007-09-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

I happened to luck into my first supertelephoto over the weekend. These lenses don't become available very often, let alone at the price I paid for it. Fortunately I had just enough in my lens fund, and was able to purchase this awesome lens. I can't wait to shoot a baseball game with it, although, I really have to get used to not having a zoom and using a monopod. This lens is heavy!

I've never shot with a supertelephoto, so I'm trying to get the technique down. It's a different world, that's for sure. I need to practice practice practice...

So, I took a break from using my son as a model. I decided to chase our poor dog around the back yard this time. With the compression that a telephoto gives you, I probably could've used a smaller aperture, to get the nose and other features more in focus.

I was blown away by the crispness of the numbers in this picture, when zoomed in at 100%. I don't think the full 4.1 MP image will display when you click on the picture, but you get a good enough idea.

This lens will change my photography. Heck, at this point, that should be my goal in acquiring gear. It's not about the gear you have, really, but about how you use it. It's too bad the Rainiers' season is over, otherwise I'd head to Cheney and shoot away. Need to practice a bit more before I head to Safeco...

Rescued from the scrap heap...

2007-09-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got my first film scanner shortly after Christmas, I still wanted to be able to scan medium-format negatives. But I didn't want to spend a ton, and even considered just sending my film away to be scanned by a scanning service. That actually would've been expensive too -- even moreso, and probably still rather time-consuming. Last night, however, I consummated yet another Craigslist deal, finding an older Epson scanner in a random ad that turned out to be able to scan medium- and large-format negatives. After asking about the model number, (the Epson 2450) I decided to risk the $10. It didn't have any software or the film holders, but it supposedly worked and had the transparency adapter for scanning film. And, it is USB and FireWire compatible

I'll definitely get my $10 worth.

I'm scanning some old negatives from the 1920s right now, that we found in my Grandma's attic. But my first scan was of a color negative I shot probably 15 years ago, with a now 50-year-old camera:

I love the vignetting -- I'm not sure what caused it in this picture. In looking closely at the scan, I probably shot it wide open. The depth-of-field isn't very deep, leading me to believe I shot this handheld and not on a tripod, due to shutter speed or something.

Now if I can only find the box of slides I shot with this camera...

More from the 55-200 VR

2007-08-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm really digging this lens! No, the slow-shutter-speed telephoto shots aren't totally sharp, but for on-screen viewing, they're "acceptible." Consider that it was so dark that I had to use the little LED "flash" on my cell phone camera as a flashlight to walk through the woods to get this image, well after the sun had set on the horizon:

1/8th @ 200mm ISO 800, a little sharpening and NeatImage.

It's not perfect, of course, but considering I was shooting in near-total darkness, literally catching the last light hitting this mountain, I think it's pretty cool that I was able to catch something hand-held...

Here are a few more images, some with VR needed, and some without:

1/90th @ 200mm ISO 200

Mmm. Huckleberry. Some of the softness is probably because I was a little too close. I actually wanted to slap the macro on, but since we were too busy picking huckleberries, I decided to leave the 55-200 VR on and step back beyond the 3-feet minimum. Here's where the 18-200 VR would've shined a little more, since its minimum focusing distance is only .5 m (compared with the 1.1m of the 55-200 VR). Again, pay a lot more, get a bit more...

The clarity of this lens, even when VR may not be needed, is still pretty amazing.

I can tell that the images I'm going to get in the 55-200mm focal length will be much better than what I've gotten out of my other lenses in that focal length. Nikon has produced yet another low-budget beauty (to accompany the 50mm f/1.8 AF).

First Impressions: Nikkor 55-200 AF-S VR

2007-08-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

We're on vacation this week, and as hard as it is to be away from the piano, it's been nice going out in the back woods on our family property and snapping away. We made the trip into Portland yesterday afternoon, and I found the camera shop I was looking for in order to compare a couple of lenses I was considering. I didn't have a whole lot of time, since my son was asleep in the car, and my wife was waiting in the car with him, but they had both lenses I was considering purchasing in stock, and I got just enough time to play with them.

After a quick series of in-store tests, I decided to indeed purchase the Nikkor 55-200 VR lens that recently came out. It dawned on me in the store that I'd never purchased a new lens, other than the lens that came with the first 35mm SLR I bought (the original Canon Rebel). All of my other lenses I've bought either at camera shows or on eBay. I hadn't actually sprang for a lens brand new.

Even though I had two lenses that basically covered the same focal length (my 70-210 F/4 Series E and my Tokina 80-200 f/2.8 -- both manual-focus), and I probably need to replace my 75-300 AF (since it took a 25 foot plunge onto a linoleum floor, even after being somewhat braced for the fall by hitting a woman's arm first), I wanted to get a VR lens. Sure, the 18-200 VR lens would be nice, and I'd like to get my hands on one, but I didn't have the budget for that lens, nor for one of my dream lenses, the 70-200 f/2.8 VR. I wanted to see, however, how well the 55-200 VR that just came out worked with my D2H. After reading some extremely positive reviews, I wanted to check out this lens, and compare it to the twice-as-expensive 70-300 VR.

The 75-300 VR felt a lot more solid (read: heavy) vs. the 55-200 VR, and you really could feel the VR kicking in. With the 55-200, it's a lot harder to notice when VR's working its magic. The 75-300 VR seemed noticably slower in focusing than the 55-200 VR, which sorta surprised me. Might just have been some other variables, though, since I was quickly running these tests, making sure I was OK with only getting 200mm at the long end. In the end, I decided that the 55-200 VR was certainly good enough to at least temporarily sate my VR cravings, and certainly the price was the most deciding factor.

I mean, heck, $250 for a VR lens? One that's light, compact, and could definitely stay on my camera? Score!

And after putting it through the wringer in the woodsy back acreage on our family property, I'm very glad I bought this lens.

On with the first sample shots!

1/8th second, focal length 150MM, ISO 400
Straight out of the camera -- no sharpening, no color adjustment - just JPG conversion in Capture NX and cropping/resizing in Photoshop & Fireworks (batch processing for web done in Fireworks).

1/6th @ 90mm

1/4th @ 70mm

1/40th @ 60mm

More testing the AF speed than VR here. Seems a little slow, as expected, but not anything unmanageable. Espcially since I've been using MF lenses for awhile, with less-than-desirable results.

1/40th @ 100mm

1/6th @ 200mm

Yes, that's right. One-sixth of a second at 200mm. Now, of course, it's not entirely sharp, and I did apply both USM in Photoshop CS and sharpening in Capture NX, but for on-screen viewing, it's certainly acceptible.

1/20th @ 135mm

All but the first image here have been post-processed in Capture NX and Photoshop CS. But considering I was shooting hand-held at ISO 800 or less, and the highest shutter speed I used was 1/40th in these images. I must say that my first impression is very favorable for this lens. The bokeh, in spite of the max. aperture being 5.6, is very solid -- which was one of my big hesitations in buying a "prosumer" VR lens. After all, my forays into the world of f/2.8 and lower were founded during a discussion about the 18-200 VR lens with a friend. I like bang-for-buck values, and this lens is definitely no exception. If the 18-200 VR were only $100-200 more than this lens, then I probably would've bought that lens instead. But since it's 3X the cost of this lens, I'm happy with what the 55-200 VR offers, price-performance-wise.

It's probably worth a bit more than the $250 retail it currently sells for.

...And Sometimes, Dreams Come True

2007-08-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it fit in our living room...

My Dream Piano.

2007-08-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

One of the most beautiful pianos in the world -- Mason & Hamlin has been my quiet favorite above Steinways and Bösendorfers, even though I've played both. The action has always fit my playing style precisely.

I love playing a good hammer-weighted keyboard like my Alesis QS8, especially with its awesome piano sound clearly resounding through the monitors in my music studio. But there's nothing like playing a REAL piano...

New Camera!!! D2H First Pix (And a comparison w/my D1H)

2007-07-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to purchase a second body, as with the wedding I shot a few weeks ago, I realized that I badly needed one if I'm going to continue shooting weddings. Not only that, but my D1H is having issues with the sensor. There's this long red line down the left side of all my pictures, and it's getting more and more difficult to clone it out. After much deliberation, I decided I'd stick with my budget and buy a D2H. Yes, for a few hundred more, I could've bought a D200, but I didn't want to stretch out the budget any further than I already planned. I also wanted to save hard drive space, since megapixels take them by the droves. While I'd prefer the D2H had a sensor that was 6 megapixels, its 4.1 MP should be fine for most of what I do. Heck, I was able to print out 12 x 18s from the 2.7 MP of my D1H, so I expect that's not going to stop (and the prints I do make with the D2H should be better at 12x18 than those from my D1H).

One of the things I was most curious of was how the color rendition compared between my D1H and the D2H. Since my D1H didn't have Color Mode III (Nikon's weird, proprietary scheme for naming colorspaces like Adobe's sRGB, etc...), I often enjoyed the extra saturation that Mode III provided by converting my Raw NEF files to Mode III. Since Mode III was actually introduced with the D2H (IIRC - I'm not sure the D100 didn't have it first), I was curious how the conversion compared with shooting in Mode III natively w/the D2H. So, I made my first shots with the intent of making such a comparison.

Nothing scientific, really. I just took the same picture twice -- once on each camera, swapping lenses on the cameras -- and tried to keep the settings the same. Here are some side-by-side comparisons of the two cameras. Natively shot in Mode III on the D2H, and converted to Mode III on the D1H frames in Capture NX. I made sure to use the same White Balance settings, ISO settings, and saturation settings.

D1H (saturation set to 'moderate' in Capture NX):

D2H (saturation set to 'moderate' in Capture NX):

(yeah, mom, I realize my backyard needs a visit from the lawn mower, and the clean-up crew -- just wanted a quick snap of something with a lot of different colors)

D1H (saturation set to 'normal'):

D2H (saturation set to 'normal'):

D1H (saturation set to 'normal'):

D2H (saturation set to 'normal'):

Nothing special in any of these pictures -- I literally grabbed my cameras and headed out to grab some quick pics, and didn't but barely tweak the settings in Capture NX so they matched. No PS work here.... I think the tomato blossom picture shows the difference the best. The other photos have too many variables involved that were different. But the yard shot does show, too, that the in-camera setting for Mode III is a little more saturated than the conversion of the D1H NEFs in Capture NX.

It only took me about 5 minutes to figure out where things were on the D2H that I wanted to tweak. Awesome.

I love, love, love this new camera. My only gripe is that the aperture setting on my 100 f/2.8 E lens attached to the PK-13 tube seemed to not work correctly all the time when I programmed the focal length and f/stop into the D2H. I had to wiggle things several times, and unmount the lens to get the aperture setting on the camera to change back to 2.8, when I changed the aperture on the lens. This will take me some more research.

Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good...

2007-07-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

And sometimes, it's better to be lucky AND good. Heh.

Came home from the Farmer's market on Sunday, and saw this butterfly sitting in the Geraniums. Ran in the house, grabbed my camera, and was only able to grab the one shot, composing it and making sure I had some basic settings correct, before focusing and triggering the shutter. I wanted to get a little closer, but unfortunately my son was in the way, and I ended up tripping over him and scaring the butterfly away.

Fortunately, though, the frame I did take turned out quite nicely:

In a few weeks, Mmm..

2007-06-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

I love tomatoes, especially fresh off the vine. Looks like we'll have a few...

A few quick snaps from Offut Lake Resort

2007-06-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

Nice wobbly dock to take pictures from. It was actually a little worrisome...

Retracing my steps...

2007-05-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to return to the spot of one of my signature shots (heh, yeah, understatement -- being the whole backdrop for my photography site, you'd think it'd be an important shot in my porfolio) to see if I could clean up some of the nitpicks that keep hanging over my head every time I look at that picture.

Since I'd arrived at Safeco early enough before the group I was planning on spending the evening with, I had some time to do just that. Lighting conditions are very rarely the same, and I believe the sun was higher up in the sky for my second attempt, so the two photos are definitely different. But I was amazed at how successful I actually was in trying to recapture the things that captured my eye the first time I shot the scene. Here's my second attempt:

Of course, I haven't done much tweaking yet, so there's more to be done with this picture. There are a few things I like better in this shot -- the clarity, the "V" shape of the clouds, etc. -- but it's missing some important qualities of the first shot (which, of course, is cropped slightly differently):

Something interesting for sure.

As a post script, I shot another picture later in the evening, which I like a lot, too. Not everything has to be done in sepia, of course:

I'm still here...

2007-04-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I still am taking pictures. Here's one from a new series that I'm beginning to work on, entitled "Paradox":

Doing a lot more reading and studying, though, trying to perfect my craft even more. Here's an article that captures a lot of what I've been pondering, but from a slightly different perspective -- Strobist: Photography's Vanishing Middle Class

I've also taken a plunge I swore I'd never take. I bought a Mac. The final straw for me was when I was trying to manipulate a 100+ megapixel composite image I'd created from 70+ frames on my D1H. It was only 45 MB as a JPG, and no matter which software I tried to open it for tweaking in, it took about 5 minutes to open, and then my relatively beefy WinXP machine basically started choking, letting me do precisely nothing to tweak the image. So, to test the Mac I ended up buying, I opened the same file from my USB-powered external hard drive (through a USB 1.1 connection, nonetheless), and while it took about a minute to open the file, I was able to do some manipulations without the computer and the program completely choking on me. The thing is, when I bought my WinXP laptop, I kept in mind the hardware requirements I thought I might need to do some decent photography manipulation. It's about a year old now, and it has 1 gig of RAM, a decent processor, and it should've been able to handle this file relatively fine. Nope. The 4-year-old Mac with 1/2 the processor speed and 640 megs (1/3 less) RAM, ran circles around that machine. It keeps up with it for everything else, too. Plus, the battery life is at least twice as long, if not longer (I haven't really given it much of a test).

So, yeah, I'm slowly weaning myself away from doing my photography on the PC, and I'm switching to a Mac. Lovin' it so far!

Capital or Capitol?

2007-03-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

I always forget. Nevertheless, I live in a government town. Got some good weather on Sunday, so I grabbed the camera and went a-shootin'. Here's some of the results.

Moth.

2007-03-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

As I was shutting the lights off and 'logging off' the house (i.e. shutting all the lights off and making sure the back doors were locked, etc.), I noticed a moth hanging out on the back sliding glass door. I see a lot of pictures of moths from the top, but not too many from the bottom. Looking at the various textures, I thought it would make for an interesting macro. So, I grabbed my 50mm f/1.4 AI-S and slapped the PK-13 extension tube between the lens and the camera. I also grabbed my still-ball-bungeed-paper-snooted flash, and experimented with different lighting variations. I didn't like the direct, focused light on the moth that the snoot created, thinking it was a bit too harsh and didn't really show the detail. So I turned the flash a little more sideways, using the diffusion created by the white paper to light the moth. And, since most people like sharpness across the entire focal plane, I turned the aperture ring up a bit to capture more detail in the wings. Personally, I like the selective-focused version just as well (because of the depth that selective focus seems to portray to my eyes), but I suspect more people will find this image more pleasing:

Snooted!

2007-03-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Tim has drug me into reading Strobist stuff. Now I'm hooked -- especially on the DIY stuff (since I'd already blown a fair wad on my portable studio box, and a few other things). I've just ordered the cheap eBay remote (and hopefully they'll finally answer my e-mail so I can get the second receiver, for my old rubber-banded SB-28, which will certainly still get some use), and I made a stop at the Evil Empire (Wal-Mart) since that was the only place in town that I knew I could find the ball bungees. And, I bit the bullet and bought an umbrella bracket and a 45" umbrella, knowing that I'll need those things if I'm going to ever shoot more weddings. But, most of the other accessories will certainly be of the DIY variety.

In reading Strobist, though, I wanted to play around with snooting. I had a little different, simple idea, ball-bungeeing a regular old piece of printer paper. It's not a true snoot, though, because the paper allows for some diffusion. I chased my poor dog around first, and she didn't really like that. So, I grabbed my other favorite subject -- who LOVES posing for the camera -- my 5-year-old son, and chased him around with the 'snoot'. Here are some of the results.

And, finally, my favorite. I've probably over-saturated the colors, but considering I was hiding in the bathroom waiting for him to run down the hall, and I aimed the 'snoot' just perfectly (holding it down about waist level), and fired right as he saw me:

Maybe I'll post that one as my first contribution to the hugely massive Strobist Flickr group...

Oh, one more shot. I played around with a new self-portrait. Unfortunately it's rather small since I shot it with my new Tokina 17mm lens (as I did all of the pictures in this post) and blown up a little bit. But it's sorta cool with my face completely blown out on the right by the diffused light through the paper, yet with the other side of my snooted face and reflected in the massive 77mm polarizer that I had on the front of the lens. I'll have to grab my 50mm or my 100mm and see if I can recreate the shot:

An Equivalents Sort of Day...

2007-03-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

I'll have more pictures shortly, but here's a 1200 px background to add to my Equivalents series...

Tokina AT-X Pro 17mm f/3.5 First Impressions

2007-03-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

I mentioned it in my last post, and my 'new' Tokina lens was waiting on the front doorstep for me to come home from my desk job today. First thing I noticed was that it was about as big as I expected it to be. Petty wide for a prime, wide-angle lens, and its heaviness and quality just says "professional" in every manner. With my previous Tokina lens purchase, in spite of its imperfection, I was pleased enough to want to try a more modern lens from Tokina. It's now my most expensive lens, ironically with all the Nikon/Nikkors I have, and the quality definitely shows.

I took the lens out back, and just wanted to see the angle of view. I forgot to switch the camera back to matrix metering, so the exposure's a little off, but I'm amazed nevertheless, at the quality of the details in this lens (click on thumbnail to view a 100% crop -- I chopped the sky off to make it a little more interesting):

While it's not a very interesting picture, the thing I've noticed right away is that this lens is SHARP! To put things into perspective, I normally leave the sharpening at "normal" or, if I need a little extra boost, I'll set it to "medium high" in Capture NX. With this scene, I actually brought down the level to "Low" -- and at that level, it's still quite good. You have to apply some sharpening to RAW images, because they tend to be a little bit softer. With this lens, I might actually be able to reduce the sharpening set in the camera. Wow. Just. Wow.

To further illustrate how sharp this lens is, here's one picture that I shot at 1/2oth, and clearly didn't hold the camera steady enough (I was antsy in anticipation, and also was chewing gum). While it's clearly got some motion blur, it's still evident that this lens is very, very sharp:

One more example, shot at f/5.6, so the depth of focus is rather limited. But, again, I set the sharpening to "low" in Capture NX and converted it to JPG. Other than changing the color mode to Mode IIIa (which my camera doesn't have), and adding the usual bit of saturation to compliment this, that's all that I've done to this image:

It's clear that this lens will be a favorite in my arsenal. I loved shooting at 18mm on my Nikkor 18-70 AF-S, but wanted a prime lens at either 18mm or 20mm. This Tokina, at (at the cheapest) 1/2 of the price of the going rate for the AI Nikkors (let alone the AF ones), clearly meets the need I was looking to meet for a lens at that focal length range.

One more picture -- since it was sunny outside, I wanted to test the lens flare capabilities, and also see how it handled IR. So, I slapped on my generic IR filter, grabbed some things in my back yard to function as a make-shift tripod for the 8-second exposure, and shot several pictures. This is the one I thought suited best for posting, and so I spent the time to clean up the massive noise and converted it to sepia (hey, I think I'm the only one doing IR in sepia...):

Okay, final picture. Got up this morning and decided to add one more IR picture, but this time in cyanotype. It's not perfect, but I just love how this turned out.

I love Tokina's pro glass. If I do ever decide to go with a 12-24 zoom, I'm not going to hesitate saving the extra hundreds of dollars and get the Tokina. I have a feeling that this 17mm, though, will definitely become a favorite very quickly.

Playing with Lighting...

2007-03-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

Last week, I picked up an Interfit Attache Portable Photobox, to play with lighting smaller objects, with a little motivation to see if I can prep some items for selling on eBay. I didn't get the version with lights, figuring I could play with the flash(es) that I have, and maybe get some more full-blown studio lights at some point. The problem is, I've had very little training on studio lighting techniques, so I'm just playing around at this point. In doing so, I'm learning a lot, and having some fun. Here are several shots I've taken of things around the house.

I was in a hurry to get this shot of Erin Glenn Velvet Ass Rose -- I'd only remembered that I wanted to test-shoot with this bottle that we were about to open for dinner. Didn't quite turn out like I'd hoped. That's what I get for being in a hurry and not knowing what I'm doing in the first place...

Enos Slaughter autographed baseball. From my Enos Slaughter baseball collection. Threw it into sepia to give it that vintage look...

My favorite lens. Nikon 100mm f/2.8 Series E. I still can't believe I paid $55 for this lens. Just a fantastic lens for a lot of what I do. I especially like it for macro work attached to the PK-13 extension tube. Small, light, sharp, bright. Just a fantastic lens.

My 70-210 F/4 Series E zoom lens. It was the first Nikon lens I bought, but it's about to go on the market, since I have two newer lenses (one being my faster Tokina 80-200 F/2.8 constant) that I use more frequently. It's a very good lens for certain things, and I've taken a lot of excellent shots with it. I just need the room in my camera bag for my latest lens purchase that hopefully will arrive next week.

Pictures from this Weekend

2007-02-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

Aaaah Internet. While I did have some limited connectivity this weekend, it was tough not being able to fully connect whenever I wanted, to upload pictures and order a few prints.

Nevertheless, we did take a trip up the Columbia River Gorge, and I was fortunate enough to have the batteries charged and the laptop along with back at the house. So here's some more work from this weekend.

We were driving up the Gorge on Highway 14, my dad was the chauffer, and we were already getting a later start than we'd hoped. Fortunately my dad pulled the car over long enough for me to scamper across the tracks and grab these shots with the fog on the water and the Hood River bridge in the background. I took enough time to grab some shots, and then I thought I'd heard a train coming. Sure enough, the train was coming down the track and I hadn't quite zipped up my camera bag. But, I crossed over the track just ahead of the train, since we needed to get back on the road. And it was a loooooong train...

In looking over my earlier work, I wanted to reshoot some pictures from the area of one of my favorite wine tasting spots. While these turned out a little better, there are still some unresolved issues. Oh well, have to go back -- to get the pictures right, of course. Okay, okay, I like the wine, too :-)

Our final destination was the picturesque heights near Goldendale. I was able to convince my dad to stop the car one final time along the way, though, so I could capture the lenticular cloud hovering above Mt. Adams. From this angle, too, it really shows off how similar Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier really truly are. Continuing the volcano theme, too, the final shots are of the last moments of daylight around Mt. Hood.

Cyanotype in the Digital Realm

2007-02-07T18:40:00.000-08:00

An early predecessor to the blueprint and to color photography in general, the cyanotype process was invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, and put into use in photography by Anna Atkins. In playing around with photography while re-studying the history of photography, I've grown a recent fondness towards the cyanotype, not unlike my fascination for sepia. Of course, it has already been brought into the digital realm, and 'an Italian geek' has created a free Photoshop action for converting images to cyanotypes.

Of course, I like exploring things myself, so I played with some settings in Capture NX to apply to my .NEF files and create my own version of a cyanotype. I've discovered that it works especially nice for the higher-noise IR shots I've played around with. It's not quite as 'cyan' as a true cyanotype, perhaps, but the effect is similar, and my own slightly different take on it. Here are a few samples of pictures that I find work well as a digital cyanotype:

(original tweaked -- had to get rid of that annoying billboard, and replace it with a better advertisement)

(IR image, with cyanotype conversion)

IR vs. Non-IR

2007-01-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, thanks to good navigation from my brother-in-law, I was able to make a trip up to a famous spot on Queen Anne Hill for taking pictures of downtown Seattle, after our long day at FanFest. It was a beautiful day, clear and sunny, even if it was a bit cold. I took a few pictures in between battling battery issues with my D1H -- a notorious battery hog. I grabbed the tripod, and slapped on the IR filter, and tried to grab a few IR shots of the scene. Unfortunately, there's a loss of sharpness in IR, especially if you're having to shoot with an 8-second exposure.

Here's the scene, converted to sepia, without the IR filter:

Here's the same scene, a few minutes later (obviously with the sun having set further), but on a tripod, not quite at the same level as the original, and with a MUCH longer exposure time (8 seconds):

A couple of things to note: 1) The pollution in the sky is invisible in IR. The sky is clearer than what was seen with the naked eye, and it's darker, too. 2) the shadows have a much different quality to them.

While this scene doesn't entirely demonstrate the full effects of IR, it's interesting to see a comparison between the two images.

Equivalents, 2006-7, Desktop Wallpaper

2007-01-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

Back in the 1920s and continuing into the 1930s, Alfred Stieglitz created a series of pictures of clouds, which he entitled "Equivalents." I've been very inspired by this series lately, and have started my own collection of Equivalents, as sort of an ode to Stieglitz. I'm not sure whether or not Stieglitz got to see jet trails (he died in 1946, long before jets became a standard mode of traveling across the planet), so in my re-interpretation, I'm trying to keep them out of my photographs, in attempt to capture the essence of what I interpret the emotion and sense Stieglitz saw in his Eqivalents clouds. My gallery of Equivalents can be found here, and here are some sample images that make nice desktop wallpaper for our modern-day computers. Feel free to use these for MySpace backgrounds, etc. If you want prints made, of course, I prefer to do that. Send me an e-mail (paul-at-paulmphotography.com) if you're interested.

Hangin' in Seattle

2007-01-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

I got a chance to hang out with one of my best friends -- my former college roommate -- up in Seattle yesterday. We happened to catch the grand opening of the Olympic Sculpture Park along the Seattle waterfront. Here are a few shots from yesterday.

I also got a chance to shoot down the street from where I shot my "Seattle in Sepia..." original, and I wanted to see how the two pictures would work together. I'd ordered two frames for the original Seattle picture, but I ended up seeing how the second picture I'd taken down the road (on the Bell Street pedestrian bridge above Pier 66) looked in that frame, especially in conjunction with the original picture. Here's a sample of how the two look together framed:

While the sepia effect is a little different in the second (top) picture, I can probably fix that. The sky is obviously different, too. The pictures do work well together, though.