Not a lot happening lately. While I may not have taken many photographs recently, I have been busy planning out some new photo shoots. Just keeping an eye on the weather forecasts to try and time it right to get the best conditions.
Also, my attention has been elsewhere dealing with non photo related things that have demanded my attention - can't get to locations without a reliable car.
I did get to take a couple of quick test shots of downtown Tulsa today. Wasn't able to stay for long, as the sky was getting less photogenic as I checked out locations, so I called my scouting trip short. I noticed as the afternoon continued, the overall light quality continued to drop until it was a fairly flat, overcast light, the kind that comes out white/grey in photos - yuck!
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
New lens
With my move to specializing in landscape, cityscape and architectural photography I came to the conclusion that I needed to add to my lens arsenal as I lacked a higher quality wide(er) angle lens. In particular something wider than 28mm and to this end I paid a visit to my favorite online retailer - www.keh.com where I found a great deal on a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 zoom lens.
Now some may wonder why I picked this lens over other options such as the Nikon 12-24mm f/4 or even the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, which is very popular. My choice came down to reading some reviews by Ken Rockwell where he actually compared all of these lenses (and some others) and pointed out how little distortion was present in the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 compared to the others, in particular at the 12mm end where it only exhibited simple distortion while all the others exhibited complex distortion that was not able to be fully corrected. To me this was the major selling point as I wanted something that could be easily corrected for distortion and not require additional (and possibly lengthy) post production work, especially when shooting 9 exposure HDR brackets.
The lens arrived today and I spent a little while this evening testing it out on my Nikon D2X to ensure it didn't get knocked out of alignment in shipping - plus it's always a good idea to test out any used lens as there is a limited time to exchange it if there is anything wrong. Well, I can report that so far everything has checked out well and I'm certainly happy with my choice. This coming weekend I plan on getting outside and undertaking some further testing and just getting acclimated to how it handles. And yes, I will share one of my test shots that I took tonight, which while not landscape or architectural in nature did show how well the lens handles fine detail.
Meet our Maine-Coon cat Sylvester, who decided to pose nicely for me.
Now some may wonder why I picked this lens over other options such as the Nikon 12-24mm f/4 or even the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, which is very popular. My choice came down to reading some reviews by Ken Rockwell where he actually compared all of these lenses (and some others) and pointed out how little distortion was present in the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 compared to the others, in particular at the 12mm end where it only exhibited simple distortion while all the others exhibited complex distortion that was not able to be fully corrected. To me this was the major selling point as I wanted something that could be easily corrected for distortion and not require additional (and possibly lengthy) post production work, especially when shooting 9 exposure HDR brackets.
The lens arrived today and I spent a little while this evening testing it out on my Nikon D2X to ensure it didn't get knocked out of alignment in shipping - plus it's always a good idea to test out any used lens as there is a limited time to exchange it if there is anything wrong. Well, I can report that so far everything has checked out well and I'm certainly happy with my choice. This coming weekend I plan on getting outside and undertaking some further testing and just getting acclimated to how it handles. And yes, I will share one of my test shots that I took tonight, which while not landscape or architectural in nature did show how well the lens handles fine detail.
Meet our Maine-Coon cat Sylvester, who decided to pose nicely for me.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Time
Time is a strange thing that comes into play where photography is concerned as we possess the ability to capture moments of time and preserve them. Moments captured for an eternity, or as long as the medium can physically last, that preserve our good times as well as our bad times. As time marches forward in its unstoppable fashion, we can take a moment to look back at what has passed through the medium of photography.
This is one of the things I like about photography, that I can contribute to these memories both for myself and for others. While we may not be able to see into the future, we can certainly see into the past and to a degree, bring it back into focus however fleetingly.
Yesterday I was in the Pearl District of Tulsa, OK. This is one of the older neighborhoods of the city, close to the downtown area and from Centennial Park (6th & Peoria) you have some good views of the downtown skyline. There is also an ornate, freestanding clock that always catches my eye.
Here it is, captured as a LDR Tonemap from a 9 exposure bracket set. I took several sets from different angles but felt this one had the balance I wanted and also had minimal reflections and diffusion on the glass face. And yes, I really was out photographing around the noon hour but then again I'm one of those that feels that the number 1 rule of photography is that there are no rules, only suggested guidelines.
Okay, back to the topic of this post - time. Despite my ramblings, I did have a goal in mind for this post and its subject. I wanted to dedicate this to someone for whom time ran out recently, my dad, Brian Mildon. On Friday January 17th he passed away from a suspected heart attack at his home in Plymouth, England.
For us time meant not knowing each other as we had not been in contact at all for about 15 years, and previous to that there had been very limited contact. We simply did not know each other very well. Even while my parents were together, we did not or could not communicate. To this day I do not know the reasoning behind our communication problems but I do know that everything that happened in our past has lead to this point right now and helped shape the person I am. I don't even know if he knew of my photography work, and in turn this blog, that gives me the chance to communicate with countless people worldwide.
Time waits for no man, or woman, so don't let it go to waste. Find love and happiness and make happy memories - maybe save them as photographs.
This is one of the things I like about photography, that I can contribute to these memories both for myself and for others. While we may not be able to see into the future, we can certainly see into the past and to a degree, bring it back into focus however fleetingly.
Yesterday I was in the Pearl District of Tulsa, OK. This is one of the older neighborhoods of the city, close to the downtown area and from Centennial Park (6th & Peoria) you have some good views of the downtown skyline. There is also an ornate, freestanding clock that always catches my eye.
Here it is, captured as a LDR Tonemap from a 9 exposure bracket set. I took several sets from different angles but felt this one had the balance I wanted and also had minimal reflections and diffusion on the glass face. And yes, I really was out photographing around the noon hour but then again I'm one of those that feels that the number 1 rule of photography is that there are no rules, only suggested guidelines.
Okay, back to the topic of this post - time. Despite my ramblings, I did have a goal in mind for this post and its subject. I wanted to dedicate this to someone for whom time ran out recently, my dad, Brian Mildon. On Friday January 17th he passed away from a suspected heart attack at his home in Plymouth, England.
For us time meant not knowing each other as we had not been in contact at all for about 15 years, and previous to that there had been very limited contact. We simply did not know each other very well. Even while my parents were together, we did not or could not communicate. To this day I do not know the reasoning behind our communication problems but I do know that everything that happened in our past has lead to this point right now and helped shape the person I am. I don't even know if he knew of my photography work, and in turn this blog, that gives me the chance to communicate with countless people worldwide.
Time waits for no man, or woman, so don't let it go to waste. Find love and happiness and make happy memories - maybe save them as photographs.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
New year, new opportunities
With the fast approaching end of 2013 and beginning of 2014 I am hopeful for lots of new opportunities in the coming year.
My blog is now firmly relocated on a new platform and the old URL is now successfully redirecting traffic here, so this blog will continue to grow in content - and hopefully readers.
Both Christmas and my birthday provided wonderful new tools for my photography in a full copy of Photomatix Pro 5 for HDR creation and a Lowepro Flipside 500AW to carry all my gear in. My poor old Lowepro Stealth Reporter 200AW was woefully unable to carry a fraction of my gear and was proving bad for my shoulders and back with what I could squeeze into it.
I am planning lots more HDR work this year, both urban and natural world. I am also growing very interested in trying out HDR Panoramas, especially since I have been reading up on the whole process and techniques.
HDR's are not the only photos I'll be taking though, as I will continue to explore all styles of photography. I do know I have some portrait work coming up and also some product photos for my wife's Etsy site (while being "free" sessions, it is all good practice and helps build my portfolio).
One thing I would really like to do though is to continue to explore new avenues to making money with my photography. Print sales are not bringing any profit and seems to be drying up as a revenue stream for a lot of photographers.
All in all I'm looking forward to the new year and all that it could bring in new opportunities and growth - not only for myself but for everyone else too.
Here's to 2014, may it be great for everyone!
My blog is now firmly relocated on a new platform and the old URL is now successfully redirecting traffic here, so this blog will continue to grow in content - and hopefully readers.
Both Christmas and my birthday provided wonderful new tools for my photography in a full copy of Photomatix Pro 5 for HDR creation and a Lowepro Flipside 500AW to carry all my gear in. My poor old Lowepro Stealth Reporter 200AW was woefully unable to carry a fraction of my gear and was proving bad for my shoulders and back with what I could squeeze into it.
I am planning lots more HDR work this year, both urban and natural world. I am also growing very interested in trying out HDR Panoramas, especially since I have been reading up on the whole process and techniques.
HDR's are not the only photos I'll be taking though, as I will continue to explore all styles of photography. I do know I have some portrait work coming up and also some product photos for my wife's Etsy site (while being "free" sessions, it is all good practice and helps build my portfolio).
One thing I would really like to do though is to continue to explore new avenues to making money with my photography. Print sales are not bringing any profit and seems to be drying up as a revenue stream for a lot of photographers.
All in all I'm looking forward to the new year and all that it could bring in new opportunities and growth - not only for myself but for everyone else too.
Here's to 2014, may it be great for everyone!
Monday, December 23, 2013
Icy morning
It's been cold and icy here in Oklahoma. We were hit with an ice storm recently and the temperature hasn't really been high enough for long enough to really melt it.
Amongst clearing up the mess it has made to an ornamental pear tree in my garden, I've been photographing different aspects of the ice (and will post some additional photos in another post). Today was a little different as I had to go into Tulsa early this morning. As I take my camera with me, there was some clouds in the sky and the sun was coming up, I took a few auto-brackets of the Tulsa skyline with some ice covered trees in the foreground. It definitely gives an interesting look to the overall image, with a nice crispness to the scene.
Then for a different look I did a 90 degree turn and shot into the sunrise to capture this view:
Amongst clearing up the mess it has made to an ornamental pear tree in my garden, I've been photographing different aspects of the ice (and will post some additional photos in another post). Today was a little different as I had to go into Tulsa early this morning. As I take my camera with me, there was some clouds in the sky and the sun was coming up, I took a few auto-brackets of the Tulsa skyline with some ice covered trees in the foreground. It definitely gives an interesting look to the overall image, with a nice crispness to the scene.
Then for a different look I did a 90 degree turn and shot into the sunrise to capture this view:
I will say though that I was a little disappointed with the diffraction softening my focus on the building but overall I like the mixture of the warm tones from the sun and the colder tones from the ice.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
In case you noticed a difference in post appearance
I wanted to make a quick post to explain why there is a difference in how my entries look prior to December 11th 2013. Up until that date my blog resided on a different platform (QuickBlogCast to be precise) and I was experiencing technical issues that made it very difficult to make new entries as I was often unable to post images as part of my blog posts.
So, on December 11th 2013, I made the decision to export my entire blog (and cancel my subscription) and import everything to my newly created Blogger account. As you can see by scrolling to "older" posts everything transferred well, with one exception; photographs and images are BIG and in some cases fill the browser window - while newer ones are automatically sized down and become clickable to view the full size version.
In all, this is a relatively minor issue but one I felt should be explained more fully as it does affect the overall look and feel of my blog.
It also explains why my Blogger version is not showing up in Google searches yet - it's only 8 days old. Ah, the joys of SEO.........
So, on December 11th 2013, I made the decision to export my entire blog (and cancel my subscription) and import everything to my newly created Blogger account. As you can see by scrolling to "older" posts everything transferred well, with one exception; photographs and images are BIG and in some cases fill the browser window - while newer ones are automatically sized down and become clickable to view the full size version.
In all, this is a relatively minor issue but one I felt should be explained more fully as it does affect the overall look and feel of my blog.
It also explains why my Blogger version is not showing up in Google searches yet - it's only 8 days old. Ah, the joys of SEO.........
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Tripods - why so short?
I have to ask a rhetorical question about photography tripods, why do manufacturers make them so short? It seems that everyone views ~50 inches as the preferred height for a fully extended tripod (without resorting to an extendable center column), which for someone shooting HDR bracketed shots is WAY too short, especially as an extendable center column is something that should never be used as it introduces too much instability and vibration.
I'm 6ft 1-ish and would really like a good tripod that has no center column and extends to at least 72 inches and that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount to buy in the first place. Yes there are a few that get close to this spec, but their price gets way high in comparison to the "normal" tripods.
Currently my only real option for a more cost effective tripod that comes closest to my requirements would require me to approach the issue in an out of the box manner - and a little customization. Surveyors tripods, the ones used with lasers, theodolites and other measuring equipment are available in heights of ~72 inches and have no center column. They will however need to have an insert added to convert their attachment screw to one suitable for mounting a photo tripod head but these are readily available for around $20. However, the one flaw in this idea is that the tripod legs are not individually adjustable for angle and/or spread - other than manually stomping the steel leg tip into the ground to secure the tripod in place. Also, as they are fitted with heavy steel spikes, they are not going to be usable anywhere other than on soil without some kind of rubber cover being attached.
I still haven't decided if I'm going to experiment with a surveyors tripod yet but my point is, that if these companies can make tripods that meet (most of) my requirements and price them reasonably, why can't the photography tripod companies do similar. That or some enterprising individual or company take a surveyors tripod and convert it (at reasonable cost) to a photo tripod with individually adjustable legs and exchangeable leg tips. And by reasonable cost I mean something in the $150 - $250 price range.
I'm 6ft 1-ish and would really like a good tripod that has no center column and extends to at least 72 inches and that doesn't cost a ridiculous amount to buy in the first place. Yes there are a few that get close to this spec, but their price gets way high in comparison to the "normal" tripods.
Currently my only real option for a more cost effective tripod that comes closest to my requirements would require me to approach the issue in an out of the box manner - and a little customization. Surveyors tripods, the ones used with lasers, theodolites and other measuring equipment are available in heights of ~72 inches and have no center column. They will however need to have an insert added to convert their attachment screw to one suitable for mounting a photo tripod head but these are readily available for around $20. However, the one flaw in this idea is that the tripod legs are not individually adjustable for angle and/or spread - other than manually stomping the steel leg tip into the ground to secure the tripod in place. Also, as they are fitted with heavy steel spikes, they are not going to be usable anywhere other than on soil without some kind of rubber cover being attached.
I still haven't decided if I'm going to experiment with a surveyors tripod yet but my point is, that if these companies can make tripods that meet (most of) my requirements and price them reasonably, why can't the photography tripod companies do similar. That or some enterprising individual or company take a surveyors tripod and convert it (at reasonable cost) to a photo tripod with individually adjustable legs and exchangeable leg tips. And by reasonable cost I mean something in the $150 - $250 price range.
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