Bokeh in its Splendor

The art of creating out of focus images is always so hard. You first have to focus correctly on the part of the image that you want sharp and then you have to see how much you want the rest to be out of focus. On a camera such as the d70s with a small small view finder this is challenging. You can see that the sharp portions of this image is not as sharp as I want it to be.

Nevertheless what I like about this image is the nice Bokeh that turned out. When this happens it makes me feel way better about my decision to buy these lenses.

In any case, deadlines dictates that I must work hard and my backyard is full of subjects to keep the time spent on this hobby to a minimum.


105mm F/3.2, 1/100,

Pansy ... Pansy shot

I still can't seem to get the HTML link to work. I always get a dead link.

Anyways, went to talk to my graduate supervisor today and he is cracking the whip! So this Photo blog is going to suffer!

I took this picture in my backyard while on a break. I gotta manage some fun time, but it is going to be limited. This show shows it ... kinda lacking in quality. Some more Photoshopping with help... But... sometimes you gotta show sub-par shots and perhaps you can learn from it!

105mm, 1/160, f3.2, ISO 200

Look "Up"

Hmmm, having troubles with linking this image to my Flickr site, so I am still stuck with Picasa. Well I am still finding images from Toronto that I find intriguing. This is a shot I took from a restaurant by the CN tower in downtown Toronto. I haven't been here for more than 15 years so it was great seeing everything again (special thanks to Anthony and Mike for taking me or else might have had to wait a few more years). Once again the colours from Picasa are not saturated enough, very dull.

18-70mm @ 44mm F/8, 1/250, ISO 200

Glass Dome

This is a picture of the Eaton Centre Dome, downtown Ontario. What I like about this shot is the depth of the mall and the distancing effect this has on the glass dome.

(Add on)
I have really come to like my 18-70 as it is a very good lens 80% of the time. It is lacking for low light conditions and for portraits. Other than that, like this instance, it is very very good for its price and for its size and weight. At 18mm there is noticeable distortion, and thus it is not suitable for people shots, even if it is a big group. So if taking group pictures it is best to step back a bit and utilize at least 22mm.

If Nikon comes out with a professional VR non DX standard zoom undoubtedly I will still keep this lens after all Cheap is not necessarily bad ie) the 50mm 1.8 which I bought in Hong Kong for $90 Canadian (ahhh I love the strong Canadian dollar).

18-70mm @22mm, 1/60, F 7.1 ISO 200

Endless Sky

First day back in Cow-Town. Catching up on these posts sure is really hard. In any case, while walking my dog at Nose Hill Park I captured this shot. Some simple photoshopping has been done on this photo. I sharpened the shot a bit and raised the saturation of some colours.

I neglected to mention this earlier, but all my shots are done in RAW format. It is much easier to touch up images later with an uncompressed file. Exposure and white balance control as well as colour saturation is much easier to control using the Nikon raw control for Photoshop.

Also I have come to realize that Picasa renders colour really poorly. The pictures posted and viewed here are much duller and less vivid than with other programs. Future posts will be linked to Flickr.

18-70mm @ 18mm, F/7.1, 1/160, ISO 200, Spot Metering

Reflections

I took this shot by the ACC. Even though Leaf suck (although not as much as the Oilers) the ACC is NICE unlike the dumpster Rexall Place. The pillars are a monument which is supposed to symbolize the beam lights that go on in this area at night.

18-70mm @ 18mm, f/10, 1/200, ISO 200

Secret (Candid Expression)

Well there was a reason why I was in TO, my cousin's wedding. They had a professional photographer for the main events, so I took the chance to capture things that were happening behind the scenes. I got this shot when my other cousin wasn't noticing and it turned out to be pretty unique.

I really liked this shot because it really showed alot of expression on both parts (it seems I am on a expression role here in TO). I used a SB-800 attached on the hot shoe with a deflection attached on the top.


18-70mm@ 60mm, f6.3, 1/125, ISO 400

Harmonica (Candid Expressions)

I have been in Toronto for the past couple of days so needless to say it has been really difficult for me to post.

While walking around downtown TO, with way too much gear, I took this shot by the Air Canada Centre. The 70-200 is indeed heavy, and when combined with my D70s and kit lens + SB800 and 50mm the bag is almost 20 pounds. Combined with the fact that it was a 30 degree day with high humidity, it was really a workout. However, when I do manage to get shots like this, it is all worth it!

I thought this shot was very neat because he was really playing with a lot of expression. When he started playing I snapped on my tele and took this shot when he didn't notice me hehe, I was about 15-20 feet away.

70-200mm @ 200, F5.6, 1/250, ISO 200

Jazzy

Jazzy Scooter! Classy ride for the girls. Anyways the story behind this shot is that I took it because I arrived at a talk too early and I didn't want to sit in the room by myself. So I decided to walk around Steven Avenue. David Pratt was speaking, Canada's former Defense Minister, brilliant man lots of insight and he is also my type of man a LIBERAL, capital L liberal.

Anyways, this shot turned out with the background way too sharp (an f-stop of 2.8 wouldn't have made it much blurrier). In retrospect I should have used the 50mm and set it at 1.8. But didn't want to change lens outside (my 105mm was attached) I used photoshop to imitate the Bokeh it kinda sucks but I will post new attempts as i get better with it. In any case.. I find photoshoped Bokeh to be too unnatural.... so buying expensive lens is justified! haha

105mm VR, F7.1, 1/100, iso 200

Absolutism

Went to my friends convocation today at the University of Calgary. Much too boring as we arrived more than one hour early to take pictures. However the graduates had to line up 45 minutes before the ceremony. So we just sat on the bleachers. I was actually hoping to get an awesome candid shot, but then they dimmed the lights and I am sick of having to de-noise my pictures. As I looked around I saw potential in these simple chairs, the chairs for the President and Chancellor of the University. Of course I then proceeded to ponder what it takes to sit on this chair ... and then answer is another degree ... a PHD and then alot of bureaucratic work. A PHD does sound tempting after one of my friends from school told me that "I am just 400 pages away from being called Dr. Johnson." He had just finished his comp's. One can only dream and then try to make these dreams come true.

I really like this shot because of the focusing of the light on the "thrones" very neat effect. Also I used my SB-800 to light the shadows just a bit. I must tell you guys, this flash is amazingly powerful. I was able to capture shots of my friend form 60 feet away and still light the whole frame with the flash (the gym was very dim). TTL is just amazing. Not to mention the 70-200mm I have which is in fact a "Legend," undoubtedly my favorite lens (although not the most useful, the 18-70 is by far my everyday lens).

70-200mm VR @ 180mm, F 3.5, 1/80, ISO 400

Our Pet Turtle (Macro Depth)

I actually cheated a bit on this picture because it was not taken today. However it is one of those countless shots that I have not yet processed (raw files). The reason for my posting of this shot is because I actually, by accident, killed this turtle last week by keeping it out in the sun too long. GUILTY GUILTY feeling. In anycase we usually leave it outside on even hotter days for longer periods of time and there is no problem.

If I remember right this is one of the first shots I took with my 105mm VR. Truly an amazing lens ... I have no doubt that this will become a "legend," amongst Nikon lenses.

105mm VR F8 1/60, ISO 200

Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 (Detail Shot)

The Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 makes me drool! I crave one, however being a grad student I have opted to live 2 years of less luxury. Unless I decide to do more school... but lets not think about that.

In any case, I took this shot near the end of the day. I had nothing but a sunset shot I took while I was biking at Nose Hill Park, which I think are even more sub par than this one. But truth be told I think me being in this picture has degraded this picture a bit, not to mention the ulgy red Explorer that was behind me!

Once again I utilized spot metering to prevent the blowout of the reflections.

18-70mm @34mm, 1/60, F4.2 ISO 400

Action at the local Skateboard Park

I found it really hard to choose between pictures today as both of these were to my liking. These shots were taken at Millennium Park down town Calgary. I was a cloudy day so the white light was somewhat perfect for this type of shot.

I utilized a ISO of 1000 for these shots for the reason that I wanted to have high shutter speeds (around 1/4000-1/5000) to capture the moment. With such a high setting noise is a given if you look closer you will find that these shots are more grainy than usual. Photoshop did indeed help but not 100%. Perhaps it improved the image by around 30-40%. In retrospect an ISO of around 600 might have been a better choice as shutter speeds of 1/3000 would have done the trick as well.

D70s, 70-200mm VR @ 80mm, 1/5000, F7.1, ISO 1000 (Top Shot)

D70s, 70-200mm VR @ 130mm, 1/2500, F8, ISO 1000 (Bottom Shot)

Sunlight and Shadows

Must I say this photo a day project is very difficult, missed another day already! In any case, went on a fishing trip today to Chain Lakes. It is south of Calgary in the foot hills. Scenery was very awesome, reminded me of the English country side which is very beautiful.

Anyways, when we were leaving the lake at around 6:30pm I took this shot. It is hardly a good representation of the scenery around me but what interested me the most about this shot was the shadows intermixed with sunlight. I recently learned a technique to capture such shots from Photozone and it was very effective with this shot. With matrix metering, because of the fact that the camera takes the whole frame and analyzes it for 'correct' exposure, chances are the shadows will be over exposed. The same is true for centre weighted metering, which takes an average of the middle portion of the frame. Spot metering on the other hand lets you choose which area in the frame you want to meter for, such an option will allow you to correctly meter for shots with significant contrast between shadows and highlights. For this shot I metered for the lighter shadows (the shadows which aren't as dark).

The picture has been cropped to remove the unwanted road on the foreground.

18-70@ 70, 1/640, F9, ISO 200,

Siddhartha Gautama

Sigh... it has rained all day in Calgary! Yesterday was one of the worst storms to hit Calgary in many years. In fact all the records were shattered, man hole covers were blown off, streets were flooded and lightning has struck 4 houses and 2 golfers. So I guess my picture of the day will have to be indoors today.

This is a statue of the SUPREME Buddha Siddhartha Gautama I found in my friends house. After reading the Strobist: Lighting 101 blog I decided to try my hand at lighting objects with multiple flash lights.

For this shot I utilized both my flash lights the SB-600 and SB-800 and my 50mm 1.8 (at last). Both flash lights were set on manual power with the master(sb-800, attached to the hot shoe) powered at 1/128 and the slave (the SB-600 located to the left) powered at 1/32.

The master light was pointed to the ceiling to light the hair while the slave was aimed at the left wall to light the left side of the statue.

The Nikon creative lighting system is totally awesome, I am thinking of getting another SB-600 (if the price is right! GOOOO BARGAIN FINDER) I hope next time I have a real model so that I can use my umbrellas.

50mm, F4.5, 1/2, ISO 200 + Wireless remote.

The Conjunction between Nature and Urban Dwellings

Went out of my daily bike ride earlier today because severe thunder showers was forcasted for the evening (you can see the billowing clouds in the horizon).Again my thesis has held me in my office and again I failed to use 50mm as I had hoped to. If only the 50mm is truly a 50mm but these dx cameras with a crop factor of 1.5x makes this lens 75mm equivalent. My next camera lens must be a 2.8 normal zoom, I just hope Nikon comes out with a new one, as the 17-35mm range is not so great and 28-70mm is probably going to be discontinued soon. A 17(18)-70 2.8, non dx, VR, IF and AF-S pro lens (gold ring) would be GREAT.

The First image is of the ravine near my house. Lots of quasi wildlife here. 18-70mm @40mm, F10, 1/400 ISO 400 (accidental forgot to check my Camera like a noobe)

There is significant Photoshopping this picture because I did not have my tri-pod with me to take a Bracketing series of shots to generate a HDR image. So I had to use the magic wand to localize the sky and adjust the levels. You can tell by the fact that the colours are a bit dull due to a compromise exposure (so that the sky won't be washed out and the foreground overly dark). Nevertheless, sad to say, these are the best images of the day.

In any case I was originally going to post only one picture, the first one, but as I got up the hill I discovered a small heard of deers and this one in particular seemed to have a interest in me. I wish I had my 70-200 for this one, but carrying that on a bike ride is as asking for trouble.

18-70mm @70mm F8, 1/200 ISO 400

Ginger my Sheltie

Our seven year old Sheltie. Ginger has been in our family since my last year in High School. Truly a family dog as she really dislikes socializing with other people.

I have been meaning to get some shots outside of my neighborhood however my masters dissertation has kept me in my office slaving away. I have also been meaning to use my 50mm 1.8. Although it is by far my cheapest lens it is also one of the sharpest.

70-200mm VR @180mm, F3.2, ISO 200

The Humble Poppy, Simple yet Elegant

The Poppy, Simple Yet Elegant

Not a very original shot however, the white clouds today provided excellent white light for taking such pictures. I had my 105 on from yesterday and decided to use it again.

105mm, 1/40, f13, CS2

Nature's Fireworks

They say that man's creativity and ingenuity is frequently derived from nature.

On a bike ride today I chanced upon this flower which reminded me of the fireworks I once saw in Victoria Harbor HK. Trying my had at depth of view I captured this image. It was starting to get dim outside, to compensate I utilized a higher ISO

105mm VR, ISO 800, 1/200, F3.5