Archive for the 'Camera Stuff' CategoryAbout cameras, equipment, and postprocessing techniques This post follows parts one and two, of some pseudo street photography with the Nikkor 300mm f/2 lens. I used a monopod for these photos, taken in and around Kyoto Station. I really like the architecture of Kyoto Station, and it likely lends itself to being exploited by a 300mm f/2 lens, but I didn't do it justice and all these photos are fairly boring. But this is a "story" blog, not a "photo" blog, so I'll continue the story of my first day with this lens... I had hopes that the effect would be interesting, of focusing on someone [...] View full post » This is a continuation of "Street Photography (Sort of) In Roppongi Hills", about some random street photography I did with a 300mm f/2 lens. It's a huge lens, but not because it has such a great amount of "zoom". The Sigma "Bigma" goes to 500mm (and with a 2× TC, to 1,000mm), but because it's "fast"... it has a huge front element that just drinks in huge amounts of light. It makes the Bigma, which I thought was big, look like a cute little infant. Because of its size, it's a conspicuous lens that attracts copious amounts of attention, though [...] View full post » Most "street photography" photos I see make me wonder how they survived the cutting room floor, much less were actually chosen for presentation, so it's an understatement to say that I don't really care for it. But, today I found myself in the Roppongi area of Tokyo, and so I spent a while wandering around with the camera taking pictures in isolation, without any connecting story, so I guess today's post is my version of "street photography". Like I said, the whole "street photography" thing doesn't really do it for me, so I found myself gravitating to a small park [...] View full post » Scott Kelby's marketing skill continue to amaze me. I posted the other day in "The Amazing Marketing Power of Scott Kelby" that I was disappointed in Scott Kelby for hyping a product close to him in a blatantly dishonest fashion. It seems that he responded to the tsunami of criticism a few days later in a video on one of his sites, KelbyTV, where, around 10 minutes into the show, he addresses the issue. He says... This is shockingly dishonest.... the "went and did it" has nothing to do with the context he set up. Folks saying "We wish we [...]
I've had a number of posts recently about the Cosina Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 and the ultra-creamy bokeh it has in close-up macro shots, as featured in "Exploring the Edge of Creamy Macro Bokeh with Lily of the Nile", and other recent examples here, here, and here. All those examples were taken in less than ideal conditions, with the camera held by hand while the flower or whatnot jiggled in the breeze. So today when I noticed some nice fluffy dandelions by the river, I thought to bring some home to give the Voigtländer a whirl with the benefit of a [...] View full post » |