A comparison of filters

Sometimes you can completely change the feeling of an image based on how you filter it.

Babies are great

Did a gender announcement shoot recently for a lovely young couple expecting their first child. Some things that I feel really made this a successful shoot were as follows.

1- Make sure you talk to the couple before hand so that you can get a feel for their personality, and let that shine through the photos. In this instance, we talked extensively about their interests and sense of humor, which, led to them choosing sock monkeys as the medium of announcing the gender.

2- Choose the right location, but have a backup. Initially, we were going to shoot in Annapolis. However, due to a combination of atrocious weather, the Naval Academy graduation, and SERIOUSLY awful weather (it was gross and cold and rainy and windy and and and), we ended up using my fall back location the next day. Turns out, it was a fabulous idea.

3- Wardrobe. Talk to the couple before hand and have them dress in colors that compliment each other, but, are comfortable enough that they will be relaxed. A gender announcement shoot is meant to be the embodiment of the love the couple shares for each other and a way to let them shine through. If you ask them to dress more formally than they are accustomed to, you won't get the shots you want.

SO, now that you know the hows, here are the results.

This was the teaser image that the couple released. It drove their friends up the wall for HOURS trying to get them to say what the gender was. Definitely recommended to add some interest if you plan on doing a shoot like this.

Engagement photos are so much fun

Seriously. Engagement shoots are LOVELY. The couples are just so happy and in love and it just feels so easy to get them looking great together. The only hard part is to get them to loosen up a little when you start to shoot. After that, it is smooth sailing and you just need to be ready with the camera.

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Week four

Fun with a creepy shed in the snow and the cold. Long exposure and my SB-900 flash hand held on 1/64 power flashed a bunch of times to get the effect I wanted. Only thing that would have made it better would be a little fog. 

ISO400 14mm f/8 30sec

Progress

Quickie post today. My Nikomat, my D70s, and my D600. The Nikomat isn't what I learned to shoot with, but near enough to my F3 to count for this. :)

52 week photo challenge

SO, I've actually been doing this for three weeks, but, I give you my first three weeks of my 52 Week Photo challenge. The goal is to plan and execute one shot per week. The key with it is to plan the shot instead of just winging it and selecting something. What I have so far is almost planned, but not quite. I have been planning the third shot though. So, getting there?

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

For the images in full lovely glory, check them out on my Flickr. Enjoy!

When it's cold outside

Play with Tokidokis inside! The way to do toy photography is to make sure you either have the perspective set up so that you keep them forward in the frame against the backdrop for the size perspective. OR use a macro lens so you can bring them in nice and tight to the lens and make them dominate the frame. Another way to keep the photos interesting is to make sure you have your background carefully selected so you don't have distractions in the image. A poorly placed cup behind your shot could completely ruin the size perspectives that you want.

ISO100 55mm f/9 1/100sec

ISO100 55mm f/8 1/100sec

ISO100 55mm f/9 1/100sec

All of these shot with my SB900 off camera and connected via a calumet flash sync cable with no diffusion. Flash was set at Manual 1/128th in order to not overwhelm the scene with too much flash. By being careful with your flash angle, you can create dramatic light and shadows instead of the boring straight on flash that you get by shooting with the flash immediately above the camera facing the subject. Take the flash off! Expirement! You'll like it!

My Review of Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED MC Super Wide Angle Lens with Automatic Chip for Nikon

Originally submitted at Adorama

Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED MC Super Wide Angle Lens with Automatic Chip for Nikon

Good for fun

By CaffeinatedPix from Washington DC on 1/17/2013

 

3out of 5

Pros: Consistent Output, Durable, Easily Interchangeable, Nice Bokeh

Cons: Lens Hood Casts Shadow, Slow Focus, Long Focus Ring

Best Uses: Landscape/Scenery

Describe Yourself: Photo Enthusiast

Was this a gift?: No

I'm really enjoying the ridiculous wide angle that you get in this lens. However, at the same time as it tires to maintain itself as an ultra wide that keeps lines straight, there is some definite distortion in the center and outside edges of the lens. If you keep your horizon to the center and have no straight lines running parallel towards the top or bottom of your image the center weight distortion isn't that bad. The through the lens metering that you get is accurate and my Nikon deals with that lens very nicely thanks to the chip in the lens.

The only downside I'm finding is that because the focus ring is so very long it is hard to adjust focus on the go as you are working with it. Good news though is that the focus ring is nice and smooth as you turn it. I took it to the dog park with me when taking my lab/pit for a walk and I found the easiest way to get good results was to just set a focal distance at about one meter and try and maintain that range to the dogs and keep my aperture midrange to get a wide enough focal plane.

Final aside, if you pop up the built in flash for some fill light, the built in lens hood will cast a shadow on the lower portion of your image if your subject is up close. Generally this isn't a problem, but, if you're in a bind and don't have a strobe with you, it could be problematic.

Overall a good lens and very enjoyable though. Definitely happy with the purchase.

In this you can see the distortion on the steps.

Tags: Distortion, Made with Product, Using Product

(legalese)

Doctor Who

I'm working on those fog images from the weekend, but for now I'll give you a glimpse into some ideas I have that I'd like to execute. Namely, this idea involves these little guys.

The Dalek Paradigm Action Figure set. Image from the above vendor.

I'm going to eventually convince myself to buy the set of the (mostly because they're just plain awesome!) and then get them and a suitably nerdy friend for a model and have some fun shooting some dalek invasion photos.

Mostly, it will involve a lot of perspective shooting to get the Daleks to be the appropriate intimidating size in relation to the model. Also, some good lighting to make sure things are quite nice and dramatic enough. In theory it will definitely be a fun and epic shoot. Just need to get things lined up for it. (I'm totally open to donations of Daleks though if you're feeling charitable and want to see an epic story told in photographs! LOL)

Sorry for the minorly Whovian aside, but, sometimes you need to let out your inner nerd. Here is something from the weekend to tide you over though. I give you adorable critters from the National Zoo!

Adorable Red Panda sleeping in a tree with his tongue hanging out.

Tiny teaser

Sometimes when the weather is right, you just have to bundle up and head out. I had a great night where everyone else in DC was watching the ravens game and a great fog bank rolled in. So here is a teaser pic for you guys since I haven't posted anything recently.

Sunshine and flash?!

What sorcery is this? Broad bright sunshine AND your on camera flash at the same time? What madness am I going on about? Simple as this. Sometimes, to get the angle you want and the exposure you want you need to pop off your flash (be it an attached flash or your on camera) to get a little bit of fill light to get the image where you want it. How does it end up looking? Well, something like this.

You start out with an image that is framed a lot like you want it to be, buuuuut when you expose for the sky and click that shutter you get this.

ISO400 14mm f/8 1/3200sec

NOW then, framing is alright, sky looks nice, the shore looks alright, but darned if those rocks don't just plain look dull, boring, and well, frankly, completely and totally worthless and underexposed. How do you fix it? You add some fill light!

ISO100 14mm f/22 1/160sec

So, now that we have added fill light you can see that the image just plain pops so much more. You get great highlights up front and a sky that is still nice and defined and not all washed out and overexposed. If you'll notice though, the settings have changed CONSIDERABLY. The reason I had to do this is to accommodate for the D600's maximum shutter sync speed of 1/200th of a second. This is rather inconvenient because in a situation like this where you have a gloriously sunny day, you really need to be able to pop that shutter off as quick as you can. So, I stopped down the lens as far as it would go, minimizing the light coming into the lens. Then, I reduced the ISO to 100 reducing the sensor's sensitivity to light, which allowed me to have the shutter slow down enough to get me the sky exposed correctly and still have the flash give me the right amount of fill. Also, because it was a very bright day, I had the flash bumped down to -3.0 so it wouldn't overwhelm the setting. 

The only unfortunate thing about using the on camera flash though is that with the Rokinon 14m lens the lens hood (which is quite solidly attached) casts a shadow, visible above, when using the built in camera flash on the D600. I could have pulled my bag around and pulled out my SB-900, but, I was balancing on two small rocks over the creek and didn't want to risk dropping something in the water. Oh the things we crazy photographers will do to get the shot, eh?

Starry Night

One of the sad things about living in the suburbs close to a couple of major cities is light pollution mucking up my attempts to see the stars. Last night was very gloriously clear and lovely outside. so I stepped out for a bit on my balcony and gave it a go. 

ISO800 14mm f/10 30sec

Now, here are some ins and outs of photographing the stars. To get sharp images (read not star trails) of them you're going to need a couple of things and to do a couple things.

#1 - A SOLID tripod. I'm not talking about a $20 job from walmart. You're going to need something that has a head which when locked into place is really firm and (if you're going to be out in it) something that won't go all wibbly wobbly if a mild gust of wind comes about.

#2 - High ISO. The above was shot at 800 to reduce inherent noise in the image. NOW THEN, the reason I was able to get away with this is just exactly because I'm in an urban area with a LOT of light pollution. If I was out somewhere gorgeous like Yellowstone with minimal light pollution I'd crank the ISO up to 1600 or maybe even higher to maximize the sensor's ability to pick up that gorgeous startlight.

#3 - A remote (optional, but preferred). Now, if you REALLY want to get nitty gritty and awesome, get a remote (corded or wireless) so you can shoot in mirror up mode and get absolutely no camera shake at all.

#4 - Weather appropriate clothing. Case and point for me I was doing this in shorts and a tshirt while it was a stunning 36*F outside. I could get away with it though by jumping in and out of my house through the patio door. Now, when I did some astral photography while I was in Japan it wasn't too cold, but I was doing it during the summer when I was acclimated to summertime heat so when it got a little chilly I actually had to bust into my hiking pack (I was on top of a mountain in the Hakkoda Mountains, Japan) and pull out my space blanket. Kind of inconvenient to hold it on and manipulate the camera at the same time.

SO, there you have it. Happy shooting and feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions!

Veeeediiio

Now for something completely different! Video!

Thanks to the D600 and it'd built in time-lapse function, we have video. SO, here are the basics about the video.
- frame every 5 seconds
- camera on Aperture Priority mode
- ISO 100
- total shoot time an hour-ish
- Manfrotto Compact Tripod

Not the greatest view, but, I do enjoy the view from my balcony. Things that you learn from doing timelapses though is patience. Sadly, I'm horribly IMPATIENT. Hence this didn't actually get to it's full two hour time that I'd set it for. Of course, the exposure times were getting up around 4 seconds each, so, I felt justified in cutting it short.

About halfway through there is a brief camera flash. Once again, that is me getting impatient and messing with the exposure value briefly. Gotta love it.

Hope you enjoyed!

We have wide angle

Just got my final bit of kit to go with the D600 until I have more $$ padding my pockets. The Rokinon 14mm f2.8. First impressions are that it focuses smoothly and is a royal pain the the bum to get my focus set because the focus ring is so long. HOWEVER, as it is mostly for landscape/city use anything past 3 feet is in focus, so, it is convenient. Haven't had a chance to give it a real go yet, but, here is a quick setup on my favorite kitty Kona. Love him and his gimpy ear.

ISO100 14mm f22 1/200

Shot  with SB-900 + Strobies Portabox handheld up and to the right. Black background achieved through having the living room dark with the D600 set to it's fastest sync speed and the camera stopped all the way down limiting light. Additionally, the flash was powered down to -2.3 limiting it's output to prevent too much of the environment being lit.

A little bit of red

Sometimes you just get really lucky as you're walking along. Side of an amazing burrito shop in Virginia. 

Not going for much of an update today. Though, this may b the beginning of a photo a day project. We'll see how things go. 

ISO500 85mm f4.5 1/40sec

D600 sensor issue

Well, I appear to have gotten a model of the D600 that suffers from the annoying sensor dust issue. The fortunate thing is that it appears to be something that goes away after about 1000 shutter actuations, so, I guess I'm going to go snap happy so I can work the dust out of the body. It is really unfortunate and extremely annoying too.

You can really see it here in the image below along the left side. It is really quite aggravating all things considered. Especially since this was a great snap of a friend visiting me for the holidays. Oh well, I still love the new camera, flaws and all. I just can't wait for it to get over this issue.

ISO320 24mm f13 1/250sec

Happy New Year!

Best wishes in the new year to come! For Somali speakers, sano cusub wanagsan! For Chinese speakers, 新年乐快！！祝你们好运！