Photography – Page 41 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

High Speed Glass

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Got a little “pick-me-up” in the mail today. The Sigma AF 30mm f/1.4 EX HSM DC I won on Ebay finally showed up.

Happy dance!

I’d been coveting something just a bit more wide-angle than my Sony 50mm 1.4 for shooting concerts and other low light subject matter. The Sigma 20mm 1.8 was just too weak wide open. Maybe it’s in need of calibration or something, we’ll see.

I’d gone off in search of this particular lens a few weeks ago and was unable to locate one for the Sony/Minolta mount. The guys over at Camera Co-Op let me play with one on a Nikon and I was quite impressed with the sharpness and brightness of the lens and I pretty much decided then and there that I must have this lens!

The lens was delivered to my office this afternoon and as soon as I got home I did what any self-respecting, dignified adult male would do…

…I rolled around in the grass and shot pictures of wild mushrooms growing in the front yard!

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Depth of field is fun and quite controllable and the bokeh is very nice.

I’m really going to enjoy this!

Crooner

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Hummers!

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird has taken up station in the back yard and is fiercely guarding the lone feeder in the garden.

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Even got a few shots of him flashing his ruby throat!

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[tags]hummingbirds, birdwatching[/tags]

Flickr Explore

Five of my photos have appeared in Flickr’s Explore

3-5 have been dropped, but 1 and 2 remain.

1. Vanishing Point, 2. Classy Chassis Car Show – Fake Miniature, 3. Shattered (Shadooby), 4. Lizardo, 5. Architecture of the Quilt – MFAH

Lessons Learned

Last night’s photo shoot got me thinking more about portraiture work.

While Thomas Escalante’s antics in front of the camera might have spoiled the shot as a group photo, it demonstrated the fun that can be had when shooting someone as charismatic and animated as he is.

El Orbits – Promo Shots

Went out to 3700 Main to take some shots of The El Orbits for possible use on the upcoming new album as well as other promotional material.

Let me tell you, shooting for fun is one thing, shooting on spec is a different animal entirely. I shoot in my own particular style and “as my mood dictates.” I capitalize on opportune lighting and subject matter and I do it for my own pleasure.

Setting up a shot and trying for a specific effect combined with dealing with various personalities makes me edgy. Of course they’re all friends and that helps. But still, I get stage fright from behind the camera if that makes any sense.

I have a ton of photos to process this week. These two jumped out right off the bat:

We’ll see how they stand up after I’ve had a chance to more fully review what I’ve got.

Portraits of Jim – revisited

When I first got my 50m 1.4 lens for the Sony Alpha 100 about a year ago, I shot a couple of quick, casual shots of my friend Jim while having lunch.

They were very clean and I really liked what I got just off the cuff, as it were.

In looking at them now I decided I could probably coax a little more life out of them with a few tweaks in Photoshop.

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The originals can be seen here.

Dragonfly

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Shot handheld using the Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di lens. The dragonfly was being VERY cooperative and hanging around as I shot picture after picture.

The auto-focus couldn’t lock in so these were shot using manual focus, which is particularly difficult for me what with the glasses and all…