Bachelor Buttons

Handheld macro is tough. The shots in this post are all done with the Nikon D80 and a Micro-Nikkor-P 50mm macro lens. Because I was doing this handheld, to keep the shutter speed up I had to open the aperture. These are all around f5.6.

The storm has passed...

After the storm passed yesterday, we were presented with this wonderful rainbow against the dark clouds.

I was in the garage taking photos of tools and woodworking stuff with my 55mm Micro Nikkor lens when I noticed the rainbow out of the garage door.

No time to meter or get a modern lens. Guessed the exposure and got the shot before the rainbow disappeared. I added a half stop or so in Photoshop, but it was pretty darn close. f5.6 1/200.

Must be Spring!

I was hanging out in front of the house on Saturday morning and noticed my tree was budding. Since I was waiting for my son to finish getting ready, I decided to go grab my camera and see if there was anything interesting to shoot.

Portrait Professional

On the left, straight from the camera. On the right, Portrait Professional 9 using default settings.

I  got a chance to play with a new toy recently. Portrait Professional software.

Ramen-ography

Ramen prepared "Don-Style"
D80, Nikkor 55mm 3.5 Micro
Window Light

I was home sick today (pleurisy... Yuk!), so took advantage of having the house to myself while cooking some lunch. The above photo is the end result of me cooking ramen noodles.

Rosco Strobist Filters

I needed to add some length to the Rosco Strobist filter set to give the velcro pads a place to attach. I decided to use gaffer's tape and protect the edges as well.

DIY AI Conversion for Old Nikon Lenses

55mm f3.5 Nikon Micro on the left, 200mm f4 Nikkor Q on the right.
After modifying to work with a Nikon D80.

Some great lenses are available out there for dirt cheap. But they won't directly mount on a DSLR body without modification.

Castle Rock City Trails - East Plum Creek Trail

Castle Rock, CO, has a series of city supported trails and open spaces that are available to visitors and residents. I took a walk with the kids along the East Plum Creek Trail. (Official website: www.crgov.com )

Shooting with the Quantaray / Sigma 70-300 DL Lens

"Low Water Crossing"
Nikon D80, Quantaray 70-300DL
f4.5 @ 1/500"

Back around the turn of the century, when I was still shooting film, one of my favorite lenses for my AF bodies was the Quantaray / Sigma 70-300DL Macro lens. It was lightweight, sharp, and focused pretty darn quick.

High Dynamic Range Images

HDRI Image "Junk Car"
Nikon D80, Tamron 28-80
3 Exposures: -2.0, 0.0, +2.0

A cool technology is "High Dynamic Range Images", or HDR/HDRI. Basically it's taking multiple exposures of a subject at various exposure settings. Software is then used to combine the different exposures into a single image.

Exploring the "Wet Look"

Orange and Bronze Ballpoint Pen
(http://www.mantadesigns.com)

This time I'm using a piece of white swirled art glass. $6 or so at Hobby Lobby. They have a wide range of textures and colors. This white has translucent swirls that can pick up the color of whatever is underneath.

The Wet Look

Black/Gray/Gold Rollerclip Ballpoint Pen
by Manta Designs (http://www.mantadesigns.com)

This is really REALLY cool. The only thing I'd change is the color of the "sky". It should be bluer.

Using old non-Ai lenses.

Fountain Pen Nib
Shot with Nikon D80 and 55mm f3.5 Micro non-Ai lens
on adapter made from extension tubes

There are some great lenses out there for dirt cheap. I mean REALLY cheap. If they were made before 1977, they had slightly different mounts and aperture controls. Newer bodies are unable to mount these lenses without damaging the lens and/or body. That includes my Nikon D80.

Tamron AF28-80 F/3.5-5.6

Tamron AF28-80 F/3.5-5.6
Nikon Mount

This lens came in the mail earlier this week. I've been down with the flu so have only spent a few hours (over the past two days, when I'm lucid) working with it. It was purchased from Adorama for $70. It's new with a USA 6-year Tamron warranty.

Reflectasol and the DIY Softbox

Stuffed Starfish.
This is *NOT* made of chocolate!

Working through learning to use strobes, I've been using various combinations of hard strobes, paper reflectors, ceiling and wall bounces, and my old Reflectasol umbrella/folding reflector.

I never got the soft even light I was shooting for. Nothing seemed to get there for me. Until I can create it, I can't control it. I was about ready to blow some money on a softbox or shoot-through umbrella.

Sensor Noise and ISO Settings

 

As I've been playing with lighting and exposure with the Nikon D80, I noticed something disturbing. When looking at a photo at full 100% resolution, I saw large amounts of noise. No clean lines, no sharp edges, no solid dark colors.

This bothered me. I triple-checked my ISO setting (100) and was still seeing it. Then I happened to look at my EXIF information. My photos were being shot at ISO 1600! GAH!

Turns out that while I was specifying my ISO setting, the camera had a setting deep in the menus for Auto ISO. And it was ON.

One light + a Mirror

VW Bus
Model by Malibu International LTD

Two posts back I talked about putting the optically triggered booster strobe in a Magic Silo. (See HERE if you missed it.) I showed it being used by itself with a lens adapter as the subject.


Today I'll show what I did to fill out that flash and get rid of the dark side of the moon adapter. Let's start with a photo of the above VW Bus model with the single strobe in the Silo.

Sepia In-Camera on the D80

My little girl, goofing for the camera.

The D80 has some post processing features built into the camera. Being a Photoshop user (currently still on CS3), I've generally avoided those features. Making changes on the itty bitty LCD on the back of a camera isn't a lot of fun.

The Magic Silo

The Magic Silo is a light tent made by RPS Studio Lighting. It folds into a 17" diamater flat circle and fits into a nice pouch.

I bought this thing right after moving out to Colorado, probably 6 years ago or so. I paid $40 from Englewood Camera. I tried using it as the instructions suggest. Put the lighting on the outside of the tent and point the camera in from the top. But I could never get it to work for me. I was using hot lights (aka: clamp reflectors with light bulbs in 'em), and they just weren't strong enough to work. So into the garage it went.

More with the Flash Booster

 I played some more with the D80 and the Quantaray MS-1 Flash Booster yesterday.

Those lenses are some the old gear I found when I did my inventory. I offered them up on Craigslist for free, and someone will be by in the morning to pick them up. Before listing them on CL I wanted to take some photos.

The lenses were placed on a mirror, the flash booster was placed so the light spill would hit the subject directly, while the bulk of the light would bounce off the wall.

Quantaray MS-1 Flash Booster (slave)

Several years ago I picked up a Quantaray MS-1 flash booster from the Ritz Camera store in the Orange Mall. The store is no longer there, but I still have the flash. The reviews are still on the ritzcamera.com site HERE.

I bought it for macro work, but it was a pain to get the exposure just right. So after burning two rolls of Velvia to try to get it right, I gave up and tossed it in a bag.

Listed my Kodak Z7590 For Sale

I've listed my Kodak for sale over on eBay: Listing Here

I have been very happy with it, but getting the DSLR means having to buy accessories that I don't currently have. So I need to sell gear to get gear.

I think I'm ok with that!

Inventory of old gear...

Getting that D80 kit got me thinking about photography again, as I've mentioned before.

So today I got out my camera bags to see what bits and pieces I still have left and figure out what might be useful still.

Nikon D80 - First Impressions

My daughter mixing up some fake snow.
Shot with a Nikon D80 and it's kit lens,
AF-S Nikkor 18-135 ED on full Auto

I got to open up the package with this camera yesterday. I took some test shots just to make sure everything was working and to give myself a start at getting to know the Nikon D80.

The shot with my daughter was done full auto, with the on-camera flash as fill. I'd heard good things about Nikon's flash metering, and I definitely wasn't disappointed.

Coming Back...

Huntington Beach, CA
2005
Olympus C-4000 digital camera

I discovered photography in the 1990's. I wasn't a super pro or anything, but I enjoyed the creation of art. I'd always loved creating, but traditional art such as drawing, painting or sculpting were far beyond my capabilities.

When I discovered photography, I realized I could create with my eye and my mind. I didn't need to use a paintbrush or a chisel. All I needed to do was get my vision to appear in the viewfinder. Of course, that's easier said than done. But it was something I could learn how to do.