John
(you can click on the image to see a larger version)
Last night the moon was beautiful, I wanted to try and capture it with what I had at my disposal, camera-equipment-wise. So, the above image is what I came up with. For my first attempt at astrophotography, I’m pretty satisfied. 
I was checking something out on my website and realized *gasp*, I haven’t written a post in awhile. To my loyal 3 readers (maybe it’s more now, I don’t know) I’m not quite being fair, and I apologize. Lots has happened, so let me sum up as succinctly as possible:
Cleveland Trip: – I just got back from seeing my friend Ricky get married – huge congratulations to you and Amanda, all the best for a happy future!! I had the pleasure of meeting his wonderful family, and even tried my hand at some wedding photography which I actually quite enjoyed! I won’t go into detail, but their wedding photographer looked like she could use some help, so I stepped in at the request of a few individuals. I’d never done that type of shooting before, but it really was fun! I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’d do this professionally, but I digress. I’m glad I was there to see him tie the knot, and I’m looking forward to visiting him again soon.
Camera Conundrum – Great news! I just sold my 50D on eBay, and purchased myself a new 7D! I couldn’t reach my friend who gave it a bad review to talk to him, so I figured I’d look elsewhere and couldn’t corroborate anything he’d said about soft focusing issues. In fact, I’ve never seen my lenses perform as well as they do when attached to the 7D. It’s an amazing camera. It feels terrific, and shoots blazingly fast and it shoots fantastic video. I’m working on a video to post in the next few days which I’ll be sure to share with the few of you who read this.
Work – is going great. Been a software trainer for about a month now, and I absolutely love it. I’m really enjoying working with folks individually, and getting to know them on better terms. Definitely a move in the right direction, and one that I am feeling a lot better about now.
So, I’ve got to head to work soon but wanted to just write a quick update on how things are going. I am actually heading to California next week for training regarding my new position, so I’ll be posting often from the west coast on here so please, stay tuned! I promise, more content will be coming!! Until then, have a great day!!
Okay, so those who’ve read my blog know I’m trying to figure out which camera I want as my second body; a 7D or T2i. I’ve been doing some research, and it turns out I was wrong on my previous post. The 7D DOES have an external microphone input…so it’s starting to look better to me. I was also starting to check prices and it looks like I can get this body with the lens I want in a package, with that lens being nicely discounted.
This decision, while difficult, is starting to get easier. The T2i seems like it would be a great choice, fiscally, but I just don’t think I’d be happy with it. The size and construction would still bother me even though I knew I was saving money. Call me crazy… I know.
More to come soon.
I love my Canon 50D. It’s a terrific camera, that’s treated me fantastically and outperformed my previous Rebel XSi in every aspect. But there’s one thing that it doesn’t do that I really wish it did, and that’s shoot video. I never thought I’d actually be in the position to record high-definition video, but I’m finding myself with a few opportunities coming up and I think I’d like to get into it now, so I can further my options for the future.
I’ve been shooting with one camera body ever since I started getting back into photography, and switching lenses whenever I needed to. It’s not a big deal, but it’d be real nice to have a 2nd camera to be able to swap back and forth with. For instance, I’d love to have a fisheye available and also be shooting with my 17-50mm, or maybe shooting with my 50mm f/1.4 and my 70-200mm L lens available simultaneously. Now… is it a “requirement”? No, but it’d sure be nice.
So, I can go two ways with this. I can look at the Canon 7D, or the Rebel T2i. Each camera has some truly great points to it, but both have one really big glaring negative that sticks out at me.
I’ve lusted after the 7D as soon as I saw it, but a photographer friend of mine whose work and opinion I respect very highly just dumped his for a 5D because of soft focusing issues. I don’t think I’d heard anyone speak about a camera as badly as he did. Granted, I can’t afford a 5D, but if I could this wouldn’t be an issue. I’d keep the 50D as the backup and use the 5D, easy breezy. The 7D would be a great feeling camera as well, since the whole reason I dumped my Rebel was that it was too small for me to comfortably shoot with being that I have large hands. I also didn’t like the plastic body, both of which would be problematic since the T2i is both small and plastic.
Small and plastic, while a problem for the ergonomics, do appeal to my wallet, quite significantly in fact. There’s quite a price difference between the 7D and the T2i, which is really making me question whether it’s worth it to go in favor of ergonomics in this case. I’m thinking that if I decide to buy another camera body I wouldn’t want to spend this much on something I would be using as a “backup” or “2nd body”, I’d rather use that as my primary. This makes me wonder if the 7D is worth the cost of admission.
Apparently the T2i has an external microphone input, for audio captured while recording video, but evidently the 7D does not. This means that any video I record with the 7D would be stuck withe onboard mic’s sound and that’s it. If anyone has info to the contrary, please let me know by all means. This may not be as big a deal, but it might be something that would bug me if I went with the 7D and wished I hadn’t.
Okay, so to sum up, the 7D is expensive and I’d be stuck with the onboard mic for audio on the video stuff. But, it would be more ergonomically friendly, and thus I’d be more comfortable using it. The Rebel T2i is a cheaper camera, it’s plastic, smaller in my hands, and offers full 1080p video recording whereas the 7D limits me to 720p if I want to shoot at 30fps.
OR…I could sell my 50D and use that plus the cash I am getting and buy a 5DmkII…which I’d forfeit my Fisheye and my 17-50mm lens since they only work on crop sensor cameras…
I’m stuck here, really. I just don’t know what to do. Help!!!
This is no big news, but apparently if you pay bills you’re popular. I’ve had auto insurance with my current provider for a few years now, across a few vehicles as well. I have no intention of changing providers, since I’m quite satisfied with the arrangements I currently have. Yet, I still continue to receive paper mailings from this other provider despite my ignoring them. With the onset of “living green” and trying to conserve, wouldn’t it make more sense for a company to give up after a “lead” doesn’t pan out? I’ve been getting mailings for over a year. I’m sure it wouldn’t save them a ton of money by ceasing just my mailings, but multiply the few cents it might cost by a few thousand, or more, and that may add up to some worthwhile budgetary fortitude.
I also just recently received a paper mailing offering me a great deal on a burial plot. I’m 29, which is apparently old enough to buy one of those. No need to remind me of my increasing age; I feel old, but I don’t feel that old. I’m not sure how this particular provider got ahold of my information. As a matter of fact, it may have been the same folks who got me on the list to receive an AARP card, which I was sent in the mail a few months back. Again, I’m 29. Hopefully plenty of years before retirement, and most certainly plenty of years before needing a burial plot.
I suppose I could say I’m content knowing that my information is on file with a few of these services. But, I certainly hope they stop wasting paper on me for the next, oh, 30 years or so. I’m just not interested in thinking about that phase of my life since I have my twenties to finish up, and my thirties to prepare for.
If you couldn’t tell, I love photography. It’s one of my creative outlets, one of my opportunities to let my mind go and capture things I come into contact with in any type of unique way I can imagine. I love the idea of being able to capture a moment, a place, a time, etc. I don’t think I’d ever want to make that my job, because then it would eventually become something that wasn’t fun anymore, it would just become “work”. It’d become less of a creative outlet, and I’d eventually not enjoy it anymore. I’m so passionate about it, that I just don’t ever want that to happen. Photography will always be a hobby of mine, because it’s something that I truly love to do.
I love landscape and nature photography because it takes out the one element that I can’t escape in my day-to-day hustle and bustle: People. Mind you, I’m not antisocial by any means. I love people; I love to interact with them, I love to meet new people, I love to get to know people, but I don’t enjoy photographing them. There’s a lot that comes into play when shooting people, both from a photography/technical side of it but also just the people themselves.
Let’s look at the technical side for just a moment: Studio photography, especially with models, requires the ability to manipulate light in so many different ways in order to get “just the right shot”. There are so many kinds of devices one can use to do so, and a seemingly endless myriad of techniques and skills to learn, and be able to utilize in order to pull it off successfully. While I enjoy the fact that I’m taking pictures, it’s not as fun for me as capturing a beautiful natural landscape.
For the most part, landscape photography can be done with a minimal tool set; a camera, a tripod, and a beautiful scene. Granted there are exceptions to this (filters, reflectors, etc but just humor me here.), but you really don’t need to have all that much with you. Whereas shooting a model on-location would require lighting, stands, softboxes/umbrellas, flash control kits, etc. Lots of extra “stuff”. I’d love to show up to a beautiful spot, take some time to compose my shot, figure out what I want to capture, dial in my settings, and capture the moment.
I can do that by myself, I can work with the light that nature provides, and I can capture it how I see it in my mind. I’m not working under someone’s direction, I’m not going for “a certain look”, I’m taking it for me and nobody else. I’m happy to share my creativity with others, and if they want to reward me for my work, that’s great, but for me it’s rewarding enough to be able to spend quality alone time with nature, and my favorite piece of technology.
Random off-topic rant: Kodak just ceased production on their iconic Kodachrome film, and they had a famous photographer shoot the final roll. If you remember, Paul Simon wrote a song called “Kodachrome” and was offered to be one of the subjects photographed on the final roll. He declined.(Why?!) What an idiot. Being a part of something as historic and significant as this isn’t something you should say “no” to. Robert De Niro was photographed, he didn’t have a problem with it, then again he’s also the man….. it stinks, because I like the song and I want to buy it on iTunes, but I am purposely avoiding it because I don’t want to give Paul Simon any of my money, although it’s not like he’d be out anything significant by my avoiding the purchase; it’s more a principal thing. I also can’t wholeheartedly support a song that says “I’ve got my Nikon camera” – that’s just blasphemy. (j/k). Now if it was “I’ve got my favorite camera” or something else, then I’d consider it, but Paul Simon’s selfish douchebaggery is what might send me over to Limewire if I really want that song in my library. (Granted, I don’t endorse P2P sharing for music, but if I refuse to pay for something and I want it, hey a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do… but then again I do have over 2,000 songs in my library all from iTunes over the course of the last few years…) I digress…I promise.
So yeah, nature and landscape photography is my choice… now let’s see what I can come up with for some shots to corroborate this. Who knows where I’ll be in a year, 5 years, etc. I may become the next ___insert name of famous fashion/people photographer here___…. but for now, give me a lake, stream, forest, or purple mountain’s majesty and I’ll be there with my tripod ready to start clickin’.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but I figured I’d write about something that’s been bugging me for awhile. I’ve been using my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Dii lens on my 50D for a while now as my “walkabout” lens, meaning if I were to just pick up my camera and go for a walk, that’d be the lens I’d take. I generally prefer something on the wider side, though I’m starting to think I may shift my focus a bit (no pun intended) to having something that extended a bit farther into the “telephoto” range. I’d be sacrificing my wide-angleness a bit, but it may be worth it. How often do I shoot at 17mm for a real reason, anyway?
Anyways, on to my dilemma; I went shooting the other day and, for whatever reason, my images were coming out overexposed and washed out, something I hadn’t seen using my faithful Tamron before. I was shooting outdoors, and watching my meter as I always do. Granted, the environment could have been toying with me when it came to the meter and suggested exposures, but it hadn’t steered me wrong thus far. That being said, I talked to a few photographer friends of mine and all said the same thing: “Check your UV filter, it may need to be replaced.”
I’ve never shot without a filter on the front of any of my lenses. Call it paranoia, call it eccentricity, whatever it is. I don’t want the front element of my lens to get dusty. Seems reasonable, right? I mean, how much could a thin piece of seemingly transparent glass on the front of the lens affect the outcome?
I decided to do a little test of my own, and I was actually pretty surprised to see the results. I mounted my 50D on the tripod, and using a cable release took a series of shots with my 17-50mm at various apertures, and also my EF50mm f/1.4 for a “control” comparison. I loaded the images into Aperture, and did not perform any image modification. All of the pictures were taken with the rightmost AF point focused towards the rightmost edge of the “beak” thing on the “bird” thing… I’m not quite sure what it was I was photographing, but they seemed to make for an interesting subject.
Here are my findings. If you mouse over one of the images. it will tell you the details of it, and you can click it to see a larger version. First row of images is using the Tamron 17-50 with the UV filter installed, second row is the same lens but with the UV filter removed (bare front element, AAAHHH!!! hehe), then the final row is the ones shot with my EF 50mm f/1.4 prime. All images taken at 50mm focal length. Each image was taken at ISO 200, f10, f6.3, f4.5, and f2.8, at various shutter speeds.
I tried to match the composition for each of the shots, for consistency. The images were shrunk to 35% (taken RAW originally) and exported as JPEGs for this site. I didn’t think full-res RAW files were really essential for this particular test. This is more of me satisfying my curiosity, that and it was just something fun to do.
** Note – For some silly reason, WordPress decided to put the pictures in a weird order. They are all f/10, then f/2.8, f/4.5, and f/6.3 as opposed to going from largest to smallest. Due to time constraints I can’t fix it right now….
So a few days ago I’d posted a facebook status regarding my being legal regarding operation of my car. I had a few people ask me about it, and thought I’d clarify.
So my mom got her iPhone 4 on Friday, and after getting her plan all set up I wanted to go upstairs to AT&T and confirm a few things on the account since she’d joined my existing plan, to make us a family plan, etc. Once there, the AT&T rep checked my ID and said “Did you know your license was expired?” I didn’t believe him at first, but I checked and sure enough, it had expired… almost one month ago!.
(Insert mental shriek here.)
I couldn’t believe it, I had been driving with an expired license for almost a month. If I’d been pulled over on the highway, I’d be in serious trouble! So, needless to say the drive home that day was quite scary. I don’t think I’ve driven the speed limit on every road since I was in driving school.
Here in NJ, we have this crazy “6 point ID verification system” which basically requires enough proof to verify someone’s identity with various papers. I’m somewhat disorganized, so that was a source of some angst for me worrying that I wouldn’t be able to come up with sufficient points. Luckily, I had (at least I thought I did, as we’ll see soon.).
I woke up nice and early, and got to the Motor Vehicle office around 7:15am, and waited until 8am when they opened. They had short hours since it was Saturday (only 8-12), so I was expecting a long line. There was, just before 8, but I was first in line so it didn’t matter.
According to the rep, the bank statement I’d brought was expired, and she asked if I had my insurance card for my car. I figured, “Sure, I’ve got that.” Went out, checked, and evidently… that had expired too!. So, I walked back in sheepishly with the expired documents, hoping that somewhere she might find some generosity to let me through; and she did. She told me to check my documents next time to make sure things weren’t expired, and sent me to the line for the renewal.
Luckily, I’ve got my new license and a better photo to boot, and went home to print out more recent insurance documents. Luckily my car’s insurance isn’t up for awhile.
Phew! – Certainly learned my lesson there.
Keep my documentation up to date, because “you never know.”
We’ve all seen those little tiny dents and dings when those pesky shopping carts have run-ins with their automobile nemeses, but what happens when the cars retaliate?
Probably looks something like this:
I love this saying, because it makes absolutely no logical sense. For those unfamiliar, this saying is usually directed at someone driving a car who needs to do so in a more rapid manner than they currently are doing, ie they’re late for something, or trying to get away from someone or something.
This also implies that car thieves automatically drive fast. This isn’t always true, because that would cause undue attention directed at them. therefore they’d stick out like a sore thumb!! If you’d just stolen a car, would you actually drive around very fast, thus creating a spectacle? I didn’t think so. Granted, if being pursued by the police, a car thief might drive fast, but how often do those high-speed chases end up where the thief evades the police successfully and winds up with a free car?
I’ve seen enough cop shows on TV to know that catching car thieves is something cops are fairly good at, namely when involved in a chase. “Parked car theft” is a whole other story, equally as shitty, and even worse since there’s practically nothing to go on when the cops show up.
I don’t know what prompted me to write this all down, I just think it’s funny when someone says “OK man, drive it like you stole it” – if I heard that I’d drive normally, not because I wouldn’t drive fast if I’d actually stolen the thing, I’d just want to piss that person off. 
