I thought I had it figured out. There is a photographer who I see a lot on the forum and she takes beautiful pictures of people in public venues with a 56mm f/1.4. I often think that I would very much like to see the world through that lens and I have thought that it is suited to me. I don’t feel comfortable taking pictures of strangers. The way I figure it, the 112mm FF-equivalent lens would me the opportunity to capture images from a distance that would be a little less conspicuous. And while I don’t have a 56mm 1.4, the 45mm 1.8 is a very solid lens in its own right and I thought the I could make some satisfactory images with it. Wow … I sure was wrong. Firstly, the lens is longer than I am used to and – frankly – I don’t think I want […]
The forecast said the good light was going to be brief, but it was going to be dry, and I didn’t have any too-early commitments, so I decided to go to Green Lakes with the 75-300 and try to capture images of wildlife this morning. As I was walking up the hill, I could see a silhouette of a deer walking away from me, but they were obscured by some trees in the intermediate distance. When I arrived at the top of the hill, though, I could not see/find them. I stood atop the bench to try to see further, but I was unsuccessful, so I started trying to capture images of some birds. I tried to capture some tree swallows in flight, but failed miserably and (to be fair) I had no expectations that I would be so lucky. I haven’t the skill to track them in the air […]
Surprise … … I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Austin had a orchestra concert in the early afternoon, it was going to rain in the evening in the evening, and the next day would require my supervision of 2 preteen girls in the house as Victoria continued to celebrate her 11th birthday, so this morning was going to be my only chance to get out for a walk with the camera. I rolled out of bed, got dresses, grabbed my camera bag, and proceeded to walk out the door and drive to Green Lakes. I had all intentions of just parking at the lakes and walking the trails to the rolling hills to practice handheld macro and wildlife photography, but things took an unexpected turn for the better when I arrived to find low mist/fog at the lakes. I started at the northwest side of the lake and worked my […]
I woke up at 0400 and was getting out of bed at 0445, unable to fall back asleep. As I was reading about the previous day’s news, it occurred to me that – if the light were right – I might be able to catch a sunrise image at a location that I have always wanted to photograph when the conditions were right. I drive past the location everyday that I commute to work and know that the sun is near the right spot if the conditions are right, so I looked at the sunrise forecast. It was promising, so decided to put on my long-johns, grabbed my gear, and made my way to the nearest parking lot to the highway: the 481 sports complex. When I left the house, I had intentions of driving right up to the spot that I was going to photograph from, but then I […]
The day before, Austin and I had gone out for a nice walk at Green Lakes. We started near the camping check-in and walked through the frisbee golf course, cabins, campgrounds and up to the top of the hill at the Rolling Hills. We saw 2 pileated woodpeckers and assortment of squirrels and nuthatchers (I think). I wasn’t going to make him stop, but as we walked across the parking lot near the kickball/baseball backstop, I pointed out some leaves in the melting ice that I thought might be appealing photographic subjects and made a quiet point to myself to try to return soon if the opportunity were to present itself, which it did today. I parked at the same location and brought my Yak-Trax that I hadn’t had the occasion to use yet this winter. The crimp-ons proved to be a wise choice: the ice was melting, but there […]
I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it again and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it better than last year if the conditions were better than 2 weeks prior, so I went back to Onondaga Lake to photograph the eagles. The most difficult thing to do is try to figure out how to focus with my kit. I was able to get keepers with each method, but one proved to be easier than the others. The method that will never work is C-AF with tracking. It sucks and is unusable, so I am left to keep the bird in the middle of the frame and target the subject with the AF-point/target. S-AF works on occasion, but the lens is slow to focus so there are a lot of misses as the focus hunts for the subject, even if I can track the […]
On Saturday, I grabbed the camera with the 75-300mm and went snowshoeing at Green Lakes. Knowing where the piliated woodpecker was inclined to forage for food, I again made way to the camping section of the park. I was expecting to walk past the cabins and into the upper camping lot closer to the Rolling Hills section of the park, but I found one in amongst the cabins and in beautiful light. The bird was high enough that I was concerned with startling it, so I proceeded to pull out my camera, turn it on, bring it to me eye and … “No Card” was flashing at the top of the EVF. Good light or not, the camera doesn’t work without a memory card. I would spend the next 15 minutes watching the bird do their work before continuing my snowshoeing. Before leaving, I was certain to capture an image […]
Sure, I could take pictures of snow, but the subjects of those pictures are usually about the stuff that isn’t white, not the stuff that is. I tried to take pictures of specific flakes in a pile of snow last night, but that is too-tall an order for my ability. First I tried it with flat light, but that didn’t work. Every flake looked the same and blended into the other, so I tried to light specific flakes so that they glistened and stood out from the others, but it was impossible to control the highlights. So yeah, snow is probably not going to be a subject that I submit. What will I submit? Well, one picture is a bit of a stretch, but I liked the idea of “Wite Out”, so I am sticking to it. In thinking of things disappearing, hidden, or covered, I thought about the upcoming […]
I’ve been thinking recently about upgrading my 7 year old camera. The continuous auto-focus is not good by today’s standards (nor was it great when it was released). The 16 megapixel sensor is dated. The buffer for RAW images is less than great. There are more things that I could do with the newer model. The newer model has a 20 megapixel sensor. It has phase-detect auto focus. It is lighter-weight. It has bluetooth connectivity. The buffer is nearly twice as large. It has Pro Capture mode. It would be a tremendous upgrade. It wouldn’t be my last camera purchase, though. The new Olympus flagship specs were just leaked and the features that will likely trickle down the next iteration of the EM5 make it too enticing to not eventually purchase. Specifically, the autofocus is much improved above with a new sensor. It features a handheld high resolution mode so […]