Flowers galore

So really this post isn’t just about flowers, but it has something to do with the post. Over the last couple of weeks my Brother-in-law graduated (he is single ladies!), Christmas was had and pictures were taken. I look forward to using my new Manfrotto 055xb tripod and Manfrotto 486rc2 head quite a bit. To brass tacks, here are some of the graduation pictures.

Jack and Mommy to cheer Uncle Tom across the stage.

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 + Vivitar 1.5x tc

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

Of course a few straight baby pictures, a roll of film that I shoot wouldn’t be complete without at least a couple.

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

Now its time for the flowers. I have been brushing up on my macro photography skills, especially with flash and I’d like to think I am getting better. Now I just need a half way decent scanner to actually get a good capture of what the negative/print actually looks like.

Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro

Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro

One final parting image, the first of a couple of shots I took in downtown old Ellicott City this past weekend, the others on a roll of Ilford XP2 super I need to finish off. This one was taken inside a 1790’s duplex, one of the oldest in the country (earlier housing was almost all row/townhouses or single family homes).

Sigma 28mm f/1.8

Winter is here

Well, winter is officially here. Okay I am a couple of days late in noticing the fact. Mother nature certainly wasn’t tardy in noticing it though as the weather around here has been frightful, the fire is so delightful, and since we have no place to go, lets show pictures. My wife always says I have a bad sense of humor, I guess it shows. Anyway, we’ve had a little snow and Christmas is just around the corner. After my son napped through the f irst couple of light snows of the year he woke up from his afternoon nap just in time to get some pictures out in the show before it got to dark. I present to you Jack’s first picture in the snow!

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

After warming back up we decided to investigate the Christmas tree. So…out comes the camera again.

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

The next day I had a chance to get out in the morning to do a little photography in the woods near my house. Nothing like a little snow and cold weather to add to the scene.

Tamron 28mm f/2.5

 

Tamron 28mm f/2.5                            Sigma 24mm f/2.8

I am starting to get a hang of Macro photography in low light. My technique is to use an index card taped over my Vivitar 285hv to work as a diffusor and setting the f lash power to 1/4 and the aperture to f/19. I think next time around I’ll try to set the flash power back to 1/16 and use an aperture of f/13 or f/16 as the highlights were a little blown in the image. I hold the flash off to the side using the flash cord to connect it to the camera.

Sigma 50mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1

Also I managed to give my new Sigma 70-210mm f/2.8 APO a try this past weekend to finish off the role. That extra 2/3rds of a stop over my Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 is really nice, the Sigma is also noticeably sharper at f/2.8 then the Vivitar is wide open at f/3.5. I am really liking the Sigma. Also that extra 2/3rds of a stop is really useful at providing subject/background separation and the Bokeh is really nice.

Monster zoom

Just received a new lens earlier this week. Its a monsterous 70-210mm f/2.8 Sigma APO zoom lens. Okay, it isn’t nearly as monsterous as some long telephoto zooms, but this sucker now ranks as my heaviest lens, the largest filter size and the 2nd longest (the Sigma 400 f/5.6 APO is about an inch longer). This sucker came all the way from the Czech Republic courtesy of Ebay. I haven’t had a chance to actually take any pictures with it owing to work and nasty weather, but I hope to get some actual use out of it this weekend. I have a review up under the page links.

(From left to right) Sigma 70-210mm f/2.8, Sigma 400mm f/5.6, Vivitar 70-210mm f/3.5 and Zuiko 50mm f/1.8

B&W Thanksgiving

I had a roll of Ilford XP2 super B&W film with me at Thanksgiving, so here are the results. One of the things I love about Ilford XP2 super is how much latitude it has. I’ve exposed it as everything from iso100 up to around iso1600 with good results. ISO 800 and especially 1600 certainly generate a grainy picture, especially in any shadow areas, but the result isn’t necessarily displeasing.

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

 

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4                              Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f/3.5

 

Sigma 28mm f/1.8                             Sigma 28mm f/1.8

The tree lighting picture was exposed at iso1600 using f/2 and 1/8s with mirror lockup, its actually pretty sharp if you look at a large version of the image. Rangefinders deffinitely have something with the lack of mirror vibrations.

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

Odds and ends

The last roll has some odds and ends of photos on it. I was going for an Infrared feel for the 3rd image leaving just the blue and cyan channels untouched. The final photo had all of the channels desatured 100% except the red channel which I desaturated 60%. I felt like it lended a certain something to the photo.

Vivitar 70-210mm f/3.5

Tamron 28mm f/2.5

Tamron 28mm f/2.5

Tamron 35-70mm f/3.5 macro

 

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4                      Zuiko 50mm f/1.4

Zuiko 50mm f/1.4