Playing with more Bokeh...

I did an impromptu Temple Square visit with my family on Monday, shooting a little bit with the DA 35mm f2.4 I have borrowed but found the field of view a bit limiting, but shooting mostly with my 30 year old Manual Focus 24mm f2.8. This year I have become ... enamored? of shooting wide open (meaning that I don't use the aperture to limit the amount of light coming in.) because of the effects on the out of focus highlights, also known as bokeh. This allows me to make some cool looking pictures as well as not use a tripod all the time.

f2.8

This one was deliberately unfocused throughout the frame just to see what it would look like.

I was VERY pleased that this turned out as well as it did, it is not super sharp but is sharp enough for ISO 200 and 1/20s shutter speed. The color of this lens even wide open is really quite good, with decent contrast.

I really love the Tabernacle as well, I have sung there several times in my youth and it is just a special building.

Exit Level 4

Took a borrowed copy of the new Pentax DA 35mm f2.4 (a budget priced new prime) with me to work on Monday. As has been my usual wont over the past while I try to find at least one interesting shot each day. I found this corner of the parking structure I walk through interesting in an Urban Decay kind of way. I went for 3 different approaches and left you with one untouched frame to compare with. Don't know that it really works but was a fun exercise. I have a LOT to learn about street/urban shooting.

This was pushed WAY over the top. Looks pretty freaky.

Untouched, WB as the camera chose on the Auto Setting.

B&W conversion using A/W Converter.

WB set in camera to Flourescent, some tweaking in Photoshop. I kind of like the conflicting lines in this one the best.

Some First Shots with the 8mm Fisheye

I am very interested and excited to learn this new lens. The perspective is simply out of this world, and it is able to pull in very small and cramped spaces and "Get it in". Corner to corner it gives you 180 degrees. So far I find it's sharpness to be superb and color rendition indoors to be neutral and accurate. It is all I could ask for especially at the price.

So.... I got off early last Friday (The value of being efficient!) and ran away to the State Capitol. A building that I love, but struggle to capture due to the sheer immensity of the building. I have a penchant for domes and lying on the floor to take pictures of them. This one involved lowering my tripod a bit and lying on the floor. I really like the perspective (Distort & Conquer is my motto!) and the colors turned out pretty good. Sometimes indoor HDR's tend to get a little weird color wise but I am getting better at controlling them.

This is a non HDR and non turned funny shot for comparison. Did I mention that I really like the perspective that is afforded by this lens?

There was a bride getting some shots taken so I tried to stay out of their way. Personally I would have been using a little fill flash in this lighting setting, but that is just me....

The House of Representatives Chamber was open, and I took a few shots. I did a 5 shot pano but I am having trouble getting my programs to play nice with them... I think the distortion is getting me in trouble. Will keep working on that! What I had was really quite wide enough though for one shot. Again an HDR.

The Rotunda/Dome again but from up on the balcony. Considered a pano again here, but liked this perspective.

Playing with funky compositions, really needed to extend the tripod a bit and get really close to the light though I think.

Non Fisheye shot of the bride taken with my Pentax 55-300, just because I liked the interplay of the bride with the photographer.

Hope you enjoyed, I will be putting more shots up as I get the chance to use it, after a while the shine will wear off and I will use it when appropriate but not all the time! ;-)

Ahhh...... New Glass!

I have been lusting after two things lens wise in the recent past: A fisheye lens, and a Macro Lens. (We won't talk about camera bodies right now, the new Pentax K-5 is stellar and completely out of my price range especially with a camera that is perfectly functional.) Well thanks to an extra shift and an understanding wife I now have that fisheye. This is a fairly well regarded lens, and is MUCH cheaper than any other option I have available.

Here are a few shots of the unboxing.

It is a reasonably sized lens considering that it has a 180 degree field of view diagonally from corner to corner.

Here it is next to my Sigma 10-20 EX DC f4-5.6 which is a pretty good size chunk of glass in it's own right. This lens is reasonably enough sized that I would be willing to hike with it. Just imagine the breathtaking shots I can take looking over the edge of a steep cliff!

First shot, bounced my flash off the ceiling. Problem... flash is going to be tricky. I like to bounce off things, but this lens includes too many things IN THE FRAME which will make it just a little more complicated!

HDR from tonight... MAN this thing covers a lot of image.

This is with One pass of correction of 100 in Photoshop, not nearly enough.

This is with a second pass of 100 of correction, still not quite there, though the wings on the sides are near straight, the fountain edge is still pretty curved.

This lens is going to take some learning, but I think it will be about right for my uses and is GREAT for the price!

Good Morning!

Like I have said before... a sucker for sunrises!

Sigma 17-70 just down the street from my house.

Improved Version

I did a whole new version, different HDR settings, Exposure change, Perspective correction. Better? Worse? I kinda like it!

It was a dark and Foggy night!

I received a call from a good friend of mine telling me to hustle up to the temple, it looked really cool in the fog. Haden't realized it was as foggy outside as it was. After I finished my responsibilities I ran up and got off a few quick shots. As is my usual wont when photographing the temple I bracketed and processed the shots in Photomatix Pro HDR program.

Not sure how happy I am with them, not going to get me into National Geographic or anything, but they are sorta cool.

This is slightly different in settings and tone, maybe better maybe worse.

Either way I enjoyed my foray into the fog.

Nice Relaxing Evening... Playing with my camera and the Christmas Tree.

I have been itching to try some tree lights shots this year. Decided I had waited long enough so I pulled out my Pentax 135mm f2.5 manual focus lens and had some fun.

Now you may ask why that focal length? Well a couple of reasons, first it is reasonably sharp & contrasty wide open which helps as I don't have any lenses with rounded aperture blades so if I stop down I get funny shaped out of focus lights in the background. More on that later. It is also a pretty sharp lens wide open too. I also liked the focal length as it helps to narrow the field of view and isolate the things I want in the picture.

The only drawback to the lens is the closest focusing distance is not fantastic (like 5-6 feet) so I don't get a lot of magnification out of it, plus the depth of field is rather thin at wide open apertures as well.

Well.. on to the pictures.

This is the only one I took that was "In focus" that I really liked, need to work on lighting.

This was deliberately out of focus, looking for a fairly dreamy look. Did this simply by putting the lens at the closest focus distance and then backing away until it looked pretty fuzzy. The change in shape of the color disks towards the edge is called "coma" I hadn't realized that this lens had that much, of course this is a rather extreme test of the lens.

Now these last 4 shots are to demonstrate different loosk I was able to achieve. All were taken from the exact same spot. You will notice an octagonal shape to the blur disks, that is due to the shape of the diaphragm of the lens, it has 8 blades.

The first two are at maximum focal distance (Infinity) The first at F4

This at F2.5

Now at Minimum Focus Distance and f 2.5

F4

Overall I like the effect and will play with it more, probably should pull out some other lenses too, just for fun.

Funny of the Day from DPReview

Click Me for the Thread on DPReview.

BACKGROUND

LBA or "Lens-Buying Addiction" is a disease which affects the conscious thought processes of its victims. Certain segments of the population are at a much greater risk of begin infected. Specifically, infection rate is dramatically higher for people who own DSLR cameras, with Pentax owners being particularly susceptible. This is a threat that photographers must live with on a day-to-day basis, but there are certain steps which may be taken to mitigate the danger of contracting the disease. LBA is now classified as a pandemic, and is estimated to effect more than 14 million people worldwide. Genetic research has determined that LBA originated in central Europe near the time of the first World War, and samples of the earliest known strain of LBA have been isolated from the remains of Oskar Barnack, inventor of the 35mm film camera.

The term "LBA" is attributed to Lance Blackburn, and was first coined in the DPReview Pentax DSLR forum in November 2004. It has since been validated by an official Pentax advertising campaign. The original acronym referred to "Lens Buyers Anonymous", which is a support group for people with this disease.

TRANSMISSION

The LBA virus is one of the few known human pathogens with the ability to spread via the internet. It may also be transmitted through more conventional pathways, including physical contact and airborne transmission.

SYMPTOMS

Early stages:

• excessive online surfing of photography web sites and forums

• salivation when presented with certain stimuli such as any contact with un-owned lenses (with increased susceptibility to lenses with long focal length, wide aperture, high MTF, good bokeh, or any combination of these factors)

Middle stages:

• periods of memory lapse followed by inexplicable presence in a camera store

• steadily increasing camera-bag size and weight, with a corresponding lightening of the wallet

• hiding of receipts from recent lens purchases

Late stages:

• more time spent packing camera equipment than clothes when going on a trip

• the total inability to use zoom lenses, resulting in the repeated need to interchange prime lenses during photography

DIAGNOSIS

Often cases of LBA go undiagnosed. In controlled tests it was found that subjects infected with LBA will attempt to justify their lens purchases instead of recognizing the symptoms of LBA in themselves. The associated denial may induce behaviour which masks the symptoms of the disease. For this reason, it is advisable to seek immediate medical attention for any friend or loved one suspected of having contracted LBA.

TIPS FOR AVOIDING THE SPREAD OF LBA

• avoid close contact with anyone owning a large lens collection

• sterilize wallets to remove credit cards and any excess cash before entering a camera store

• always use protection when mounting other lenses on your equipment

• abstinence, whenever possible, is the preferred option

• avoid viewing online pictures from lenses you do not own

• avoid reading new lens reviews, either online or in photography magazines

• stay home to avoid infecting others when you feel the urge to buy a new lens

• cover your mouth to stop the spread of lens sale price quotes

• avoid handling other camera owner's equipment (hand sanitizers are ineffective in preventing the spread of this disease)

• in case of an epidemic, victims should be quarantined to keep them isolated from uninfected camera owners

TREATMENT

There is no known cure for LBA. However, the most reliable treatment for alleviating the major symptoms is a depletion of the funds available for new lens purchases. The accepted most-effective method for accomplishing this is through the acquisition of a spouse and/or additional children, although some studies indicate this treatment may result in side-effects which are more severe than the disease itself.

Lens Testing

Recently had a photographer friend test a lens for me. My K35mm f3.5 lens to be exact. His brief write up is here. Overall I am pretty impressed with how this 30+ year old Manual Focus lens performed.

I Hate Snow....

Two longish exposures from my front porch, but of a wuss tonight, just didn't want to go out in the blowing snow..... (Flashing light is a snowplow if you care!) As always click on the photo to make it larger.

Back to my old ways, Temple Photos!

I was very bummed to have missed some incredible sunrises the last few days, determining to NOT miss them this day I got up a bit early and swung my the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on my way to work. While I did't get as awesome of a sunrise as I had the last two days, I did get some shots I like. These are all HDR and played with a bit in Photoshop... why not?

The first one is the most straightforward shot. 6 closely bracketed shots... well a set of three at -2, 0, +2 and another set biased a 1/2 stop darker and then again shot at -2, 0, +2 and all bunged together in Photomatix. Slight levels/brightness/contrast/unsharp mask bumping, and correction of perspective and here ya go:

I can't even begin to remember everything I did to this, the B&W conversion was done in Photomatix, multiple layers of light gaussian blur masked to fix a few things, strong vignette, leveling perspective correction....

These are a bit more straight ouf of Photomatix, with less correction, not sure if I like these better then the first, may need to play more with these bad boys!

Which do you like more?

Ah... How do you say?...... Mode of Transportation!

I will state at the outset that I am a liker and user of Public Transit, I use it when I can and it is not unreasonably slow. That said, on days when it is raining/slushing/snowing I would almost rather be in my own truck. Then I think about it and really want to slap myself for even letting the thought cross my mind.

I work every few weeks at a large teaching hospital in the city for extra cash. This allows my wife and I to keep our sanity... and home... the last two times I have worked I have gone back to riding the bus/train combo to get there. It takes about 25-30 minutes longer but is much less stressful. I have also taken my camera both of the last two times to document the trip. Probably won't be doing it much through the winter, as there will be little light to work with... Anyway and without further ado here is documentation to prove that I did indeed do my bit to save the environment... and other drivers from my driving!

Pick me up....
Waiting in the rain.

On foot here, stairwell of the parking structure I walk up/through to get into the hospital.

Going home on an empty train. Except for the really shy lady who refused to have her picture taken.

There is something melancholy about windows with rain on them, sometimes melancholy is good.

The view from the other side of the camera. A local TV station has their new studio on the ground floor with the backdrop being the street. I occasionally like to look in, just not when they are filming. The idiots that stand there and do silly things make me ill. I have always wondered if I would even be able to talk sitting on this side of the desk and camera!

Beautiful Fall Day.....

Last Saturday started off rough. I had had a rough day on Friday at work, didn't sleep well, and woke up tired and dyspeptic. When I surfaced in the pre-dawn hours I had this feeling that I needed to go for a walk. So I did, slapping on my old Manual focus 24mm f2.8 prime. This is one reason I love Pentax and want to buy the Limited lenses that they sell. Small and optically really good, they are awesome to use. What I have now I call my poor mans limiteds, which have the famous Pentax color but are Manual Focus and Manual exposure setting (with a little help from the camera). Anyway, I am glad I have small primes to put on and carry because if I had to have my Sigma 17-70 on for a walk like this I would be much less likely to carry my camera.... and would have had to just try to remember this glorious morning that our creator made just for little old me. He knows I am a sucker for sunrises and he made me happy!

10 shot panorama, hand held.

Later in the morning I took my kids to my parents to rake leaves, during breaks I shot a few more artsy shots.

This one probably looks a little dumb, but I like it anyway!

Final Version.... I think....

I have had a few folks say that they thought this was a little blue, but the sky was kinda blue. I may go back and get crazy with another version some day, but right now I LIKE this one!