Snapshots - June 17th 2013

It's been a pretty mixed time lately, and filled with a lot of technological issues.  I have since overcome the ones concerning my camera, now I need to deal with my ailing Macbook Pro.  

Fortunately I have been able to source a temporary workaround for my lack of laptop - albeit having to switch back to Windows as an OS.  Thankfully my Adobe subscription to Creative Cloud permits me to use either Mac or Windows to run applications.  I also was able to track down a "free" application to give me the ability to access files on my HFS (Mac) formatted backup drive from Windows.  This means I have full access to my photo archives regardless of OS platform I use.

I'm still taking photos and as of today have over 6GB worth, in alternate archives, that I have taken since having laptop issues.  To some this may sound a lot, but to some this is a small number of photos for a 2 week period!  To me, this is  my experimenting stage, where I'm having fun and practicing my photographic vision to see and capture interesting images.  I have no real direction currently in my work, although this may change at some future time, just not for the foreseeable future.  Which is not a bad thing as it gives me the freedom to explore and experiment, which in turn could lead to new opportunities.

I have to say though that it has been good to simplify my approach to photography and return to working with a single fixed focal length lens.  For the majority of my recent work, this is what I've done.  There has been a few photos taken with one of my telephoto zooms but they are in the minority.  If the image can be captured the way I want with the 35mm lens, then that's what I use; if not, I will select the best tool for the job (if I have it). 

It's been a while since I've posted any photos here, and even longer since I posted anything on my website.  To be honest, my website has been badly neglected for a while and in desperate need of a full refresh.  While I'm at it I would like to see if there are any options to pull my website and blog together under the one URL.  If I can, this would help streamline my web presence and allow for better (and more frequent) updates.  Oh, and don't be alarmed if my website goes offline, as at the very least I need to do a big overhaul and refresh of it.

I guess this is going to be a new start for me -a  new camera, a new lens and hopefully soon, a newly serviced MacBook Pro.  Stay tuned for how it all works out.

Nifty 50

I had forgotten just how flexible and useful a 50mm (or 35mm on DX format) lens really is.  Also just how much I missed working with one on my DSLR.  I've recently rectified the situation and picked up a Nikon 35mm f1.8 lens and it's already my favourite lens to shoot with.  It's like welcoming home a long lost friend and finding out you should never have parted ways...we just "clicked"! 

If you don't have a 50mm or equivalent lens in your arsenal I would really recommend you get one and see for yourself why it's the most popular lens in photography.

I have been busy getting reacquainted with the lens (35mm on DX) and have a lot of selective focus photos with shallow depth of field, which is a great by-product of the focal length, combined with the wide maximum aperture.  This does show up one drawback of the Nikon lens...the aperture diaphragm is not truely circular so the bokah is slightly irregular.  It's a minor detail that won't stop me from using the lens.

The only downside to all my recent photo taking is that my MacBook Pro is out of action, so I haven't had the opportunity to check out all my photos.  I do have everything backed-up though, so everything is safe.  Just need to get it serviced, which will be covered by my extended warranty.

All in all it's been a fun time and I'm glad to finally be back using a "nifty" 50.

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

Another pet portrait

I'm still testing out the capabilities of my new camera and taking more pet portraits, while trying to decide on a self assignment subject to work on.  Some may not view pet portraits as a subject of value but I disagree and think that it is a subject that deserves consideration.

Once more I turned to my stand-by subject of Merlin, my tabby cat.  This time I used my Nikon 55-200mm lens, with my SB-600 on camera with a diffuser dome, set to bounce at 45 degrees.  It was also set to -1.0EV and zoomed out to 24mm to give a little pop of fill without over powering the ambient light.

~Merlin

New updates - changes

It's funny what can influence your creativity and productivity if you let it.  New things definitely has a positive effect, be it a camera or a puppy...or both.

First change is the arrival of a new puppy into the family, a rat terrier we called Amber to match the colour of her eyes.  Of course, this also means I have another "captive" photo subject, or to be more accurate it means I have to practice photographing a fast moving subject.  She's fast!!

~Amber

My previous "captive" photo subject was/is my grey tabby cat Merlin.  He's put up with my continuous annoyance of putting a camera in his face and the popping of my flash gun as I practice fill-flash techniques.

~Merlin

Both photos were taken with my "new" camera (new to me) a used Nikon D2x, with a Nikon 60mm f/2.8 Micro lens and SB-600 Speedlight providing some fill-light.

I've also been experimenting with another new purchase I made recently - a SU-800 Speedlight Commander unit to allow the use of off-camera TTL flash for either fill-flash or full lighting.  Works fantastic with the D2x.

Finding time

I had forgotten just how quick the day can go by and how little opportunity you can have to productively fill that time.  Or more importantly, just how time consuming a young puppy can be.

After thinking about it for a long time and always doing the "what if" and the "need to do this first" we decided to jump all in after seeing an adorable rat terrier at a rescue event in a pet store.  We were there to get supplies for our cats and happened to look in to help socialize the rescue animals...and found one special puppy.

Jump forward a couple of weeks and it's been educating to say the least.  And still is, despite the cliche, as I have a new photo subject and the chance to try to capture a small, fast moving critter without it all being a blur.  I might even pick some of the better ones to post here.

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

Ruminations and Procrastina......

Not been very active here or anywhere online for some time.  To be honest, I've been so preoccupied with my "other" life that I haven't picked up my D-SLR since January.  I have dabbled a little in cellphone photography - in that I have switched camera apps on my phone to one that imitates a full camera viewfinder.  I also found a nice panorama app for my phone, so will be trying it out sometime.

I did finally take a couple of films in for developing - a 35mm one from my Kiev rangefinder and a 120 from my Holga.  So, I will be going "retro" with my film cameras!

I remember reading an article (or several, can't really recall) that artistic people tend to go through a lot of "dry-spells" creatively and often re-invent themselves to break out of their rut.  All I know is I seem to have gone through a lot of these dry-spells lately - at least in actually taking photos.  I still have a lot of visualizing of photos, techniques, ideas - I just have a bad case of procrastination and don't put any of these ideas into practice.

Was good to be out and about with  camera in-hand today.  It may have only been five photographs I took with my Holga but it's still five more than I've taken for some time.  Little steps to breaking my procrastinating bad habit.

Random update

I haven't been spending much time with my camera lately.  Lots of things competing for my attention and I have been busy in other things.

During and after my recent portrait session I realized how little I know about posing a model and how I need to learn more techniques.  My lighting techniques have proved pretty effective and improving my posing should really help my portrait quality.

Instead of taking photos, among other things, I've been reading a lot more.  Both for a technical writing class I'm undertaking as well as  photography techniques.  I've also been reading up on body language, and what a fascinating, complex subject it is.  Hopefully having a better understanding of body language will help with my portrait photography.  It certainly explains why some photos have a stronger attraction or emotive response than others.

I certainly have every intention of picking up my camera again but also plan on continuing my (mixed) reading as it all adds into who I am and also into my photography.