The new lens is a veritable bokeh machine. It takes the background, obliterates it and then reassembles it into the most lovely bokeh I have ever seen. This is just a gloved hand in front of Cynthia’s “What’s For Dinner” quilt.
Sabine Street Bridge
At some point everybody shoots a picture of the downtown Houston skyline from the Sabine Street Bridge. This shot was processed for HDR using 3 separate images I took just as the sun was going down. Each was shot at varying exposures on the 11-18mm ultra-wide angle lens and blended together using Photomatix
Due to the rampant theft of this image I was forced to remove the high res version. If you would like to purchase this photo for use on your Web site, please contact me.
Prime Directive
That’s a 77mm UV filter. Why am I grinning like an idiot? Because it goes on my latest acquisition:
The incredible Sony SAL135F18Z 135mm F1.8 Sonnar T* Lens
That’s right, 135mm at 1.8 making it a beefy telephoto and ultra fast which is ideal for the kind of photography I like to do. It’s been on my wish list since purchased my first Sony DSLR and I finally just bit the bullet and bought it. I could not be happier. These tests shot using the lovely Cynthia as the subject gives you an idea of the quality of the optics we are dealing with here
From a distance:
And up close
As you can see, this thing is razor sharp. Taking into consideration the 1.5 crop factor of the APC-C sensor this lens is effectively shooting 1.8 at 200mm (202.5 to be precise). That’s equivalent to the max zoom of the high end 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses used on a full frame camera by many concert photographers and a full stop faster making it a monster of a concert lens.
I am going to L-O-V-E shooting with this thing.
16 years With No End In Sight
Cynthia and I celebrate our 16th anniversary this weekend. It’s an ongoing journey of exploration and adventure and so much joy. I’m a lucky, LUCKY man…
Hurricane Dolly
There were some amazing storms early early this morning caused by the approaching hurricane “Dolly”
Since I am “lucky” enough to be up at the crack of dawn I was lucky enough to see the sun punch a hole in the storm clouds as I rolled into work.
1400 Smith St.
Call it what you may, but 1400 Smith St. will always be “The Enron Building” to me.
This was shot handheld from Bell @ Louisiana using my 17-50mm 2.8
Skate Free Or Die
The Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark nestles up to the Houston skyline over near Sabine and Memorial Drive. A state-of-the-art 30,000 square foot in-ground public facility, it’s pretty spectacular to see and, being free, a great entertainment opportunity for skaters and observers on any given day. It’s also well lit and open till 10pm so you come late and beat the heat.
My friend Groovehouse had been posting some pics to his Flickr site and I thought I might go try my hand.
Fortunately when I arrived at the park Groovehouse happened to be there. You can see him working his craft in these two photos:
I really like this place. The lighting, the people, the layout of the park. It’s fun to just watch and it’s really fun to shoot.
Groove helped me out with some tips and was especially helpful in pointing out who the particularly good skaters were so I could be ready to shoot when they “dropped in.”
This is Ben Raybourn
And this is Charlie Urquhart:
Obviously, I’ve got a lot to learn about shooting this kind of stuff.
I have some additional photos here.
The (original) El Orbits
Jim Henkel on guitar, David Beebe on vocals and drum and Allen Hill on bass.