Weekly update

Not been doing much photo work this last week, mainly as I've ben feeling under the weather somewhat. Instead I have been spending some time reading up on lighting and posing techniques as well as looking through my archives.

I haven't done very many portrait shoots but have found that the few I have done have provided me the most positive feedback from my subjects - and their friends. So, I'm wondering if this is an avenue I should explore further and undertake more portrait shoots.  Definitely something to ponder on.

I may have posted these before (or a version of them) but here are two of my popular portrait photos, slightly edited and cropped to 10x8.

5 days!

Regular readers of my blog will know that I have had ongoing issues with one of my lenses and its aperture diaphragm operation. Well, my patience is almost wore out now after it has failed once again.

I picked it up from my local repair shop this past Saturday and was pleased to be able to shoot with it once more. So much so that I was specifically shooting subjects with it in mind, including most of the recent photos I ave posted here and on my website. 

Today I went to use it and noticed I was not having the viewfinder darken when I activated the DoF button on my camera so I popped the lens off to check the aperture function. As you have likely guessed, the aperture diaphragm is "stuck" open for some reason (either gummed up/failed diaphragm blades or the actuator spring has detached again). Either way, the lens is only usable at one aperture setting and as this is about the 6th time of failure, I am seriously reconsidering weather it is worth pursuing any further repairs as I'll soon be out the value of the lens in repair costs.

You may be wondering where the 5 days bit comes from.....let me explain. This past Thursday when I was making my second visit to the Route 66 Village, I noticed a few photos seemed a little off on exposure but didn't think much of it as the light was so changeable. Today, after finding the lens had failed again I took a second look at the meta-data for the photos. I saw that the ones that appeared off where shot at apertures of f4 or f8 BUT the diaphragm was stuck at f2.8! 

Second visit to Route66 Village in Tulsa

I recently took a second visit to the Route 66 Village in Tulsa, Oklahoma to see about taking some different photographs. To do this I timed m visit to coincide with sunset and it was a day where some passing thunder storms had blown through the area. As I found, the sunset was fairly un-impressive in its quality of light.

However, it still gave me an opportunity to photograph the locomotive in varying light and also to practice working with fill-flash.

Here's an example taken with available light:

Here is an example taken with a mixture of available light and fill-flash:

(A larger selection of the photos taken are available to view on my main website)

Good but can do better

I enjoyed my visit to the Route 66 Village but knew that my photos could
have been better or at least look different under different lighting
conditions.

Today I paid my second visit and timed it to be there around sunset. To add
a little more interest, there had been a storm blow through the area, so
there had been rain and lightning but this also meant heavier clouds. The
sunset was a little disappointing as there was little colour to the sky but
the photos certainly proved interesting. I will post some in the next day or
two both here and on my main website gallery page.

Sent from my Motorola Smartphone on the Now Network from Sprint!

New gallery and teaser

I just posted a new gallery on my website from my recent visit to the Route66 Village in Tulsa. There they have (according to their website) the tallest oil derrick as well as a restored Frisco 4500 locomotive with rail-cars.

It was my first chance to really get up close to a locomotive and I was a little taken aback by just how big it is. Also just how high off the ground the cars really sit - I'm 6'1 and the caboose floor was at my chest height!

Here are some sample photos from the gallery:

Weekly update

Been a good weekend photography wise. Got my 20mm lens back from repair and it's working great - been checking it out on some new photos today. Plus the weather has been a little kinder today where the temperature barely got above 100F.

Spent some time at the Route 66 Village location along Southwest Boulevard in Tulsa, photographing the oil derrick plus the Frisco 4500 locomotive and cars. I'll post some photos tomorrow so stay tuned.

Quick post to keep with my weekly updates

To keep up with my intention to post at least once a week I thought I'd give a brief update to cover ideas, thoughts and actions since my last post.

Starting this off I can report that I have taken my "troubled" lens in for it's latest round of repairs. Hopefully this time it should be simple and quick as it appears that it is a spring that became disconnected and not lubricant leaking onto the aperture blades.

The next bit of news is more a change of mind-set in how I process my digital files after I have taken the photos. Where possible I am trying to abide by the rule of "do it right in the camera" and not in the computer. While I like working with digital files in Photoshop type software. I much prefer being behind my camera taking the photos and have grown tired of spending so much time sat at a computer. To this end I am pretty much limiting myself to using Lightroom to process the RAW files from my camera and carrying out minor image corrections/tweaks. I am not at this time prepared to forgo the use of RAW and shooting entirely in JPG's as I still prefer the flexibility and adjustability of RAW files.