Out and About with My Prime Lens

In my travels, I'm forcing myself to take one camera with me. I'm in practice mode all the time. Learning to see. Learning to take great pictures.

Yesterday evening, we were in Columbia, MD. I decided to take with me my D40 and my 35mm lens. What a lightweight combination. I hardly notice the camera weight in my hands. Too bad that I didn't think ahead in my Coach outlet shopping excursion (few months back) to get a purse big enough to hold my D40. I'll leave that topic (bags and purses) for a future post.

Here we are "window shopping" at the LLBean store:




My D40 does a fantastic job with capturing colors. Here's another picture with a salesperson helping a customer:




We go from the outside of the mall to the inside...you can see the lens does a great job capturing a carousel with lights:



For interior shots, I'm still practicing or learning to hold my camera still. You think it would be real easy, but every now and then, my hands do shake. I don't know if that's the result of low chocolate intake or the lack of the VR (vibration reduction) on the prime lens that I'm used to having on the other zoom lens. I blame it on the lack of chocolate. :)

Camera: Nikon D40
Lens: 35mm
F-stop: 2.8
ISO: 200
Flash: None

Learning to Use a Fixed/Prime Lens

When I teach my "how to take better pictures" photography class, I suggest to the students to "zoom" with their feet. Meaning to move closer to your subject using your feet. Chances are they have Point and Shoot cameras with limited lens capability. If they want to get a close up of their subject, they need to move closer.

Naturally, I should practice what I preach. I grabbed my trusty D40 and my 35mm prime lens and went outside to capture a few floral shots as the sun started to disappear. This Nikon 35mm/f1.8 lens is known for it's low light capabilities. I put it through it's first outdoor test.

It's funny how old habits are hard to break. I kept reaching for the "ring" around the lens, hoping to zoom a bit closer to the flowers. Slap my silly hand, I can't do that with a fixed lens. I learned to lean in closer.

I was able to catch this beauty...Milkweed flower complete with ants:




Here's one of the first hydrangea flowers in bloom:




Both floral pictures were taken in Aperture Priority mode. I still need to take many more pictures and get the feel for this lens. Looking forward to taking some indoor shots and sharing the results. This is a small but sweet lens.



Camera: Nikon D40
Lens: 35mm
F-stop: 2.8
ISO: 200
Flash: None

Another Peony and "to Crop or Not to Crop a Picture"

Many of our peony bushes are exhausted. A few are still blooming. The late bloomers I call them. I managed to find a beautiful peony flower for my vase.

Today was a mostly cloudy and rainy day. The sun did manage to poke its head out for a few minutes. Not enough time for me to go on a photo adventure. So, I made do with what I had.

Today's topic is "to crop or not to crop". Most of us, will typically take a horizontal picture or landscape mode I call it. It feels natural to hold a camera that way. Rarely do we hold the camera sideways and take a vertical shot (portrait). I've gotten in the habit of taking a picture both ways. Two different shots can give two completely different feelings.

Here, you can see I've held my camera sideways (portrait) in order to capture the flower sitting in its vase.




This picture was taken in normal or landscape of the flower without the full view of its vase. The original picture showed too much "space" to the left and right of the flower. I ended up cropping the sides. The flower appears bigger and looks like it's floating in space. I wanted the flower to be the subject of my picture.



There are times when you should crop your photo to remove "empty space" or to give your photo balance. Sometimes, I'm in a hurry to get that Kodak shot and my subject is off-center. That would be a good time to crop the photo, so the subject is in the center of my picture.

Many of the new cameras have the crop feature built into the camera. Also, there are many photo editing software that have that capability too. I've made it a personal mission to take great pictures and do very little editing. After all, I'd rather be taking pictures than spending time in front of my computer.

Remember after you take your first shot, see if it makes sense to turn your camera sideways to capture a different feeling or even a different subject. When you start thinking that way and start taking portrait shots, you essentially are cropping your photo as your taking the picture.


Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 18mm-200mm
ISO: 800
Flash: SB-600 with GF Lightsphere

Gary Fong Lightsphere

See what happens when I have a day off from work? You get two blog posts from me today.

I've been itching to write a post about some of the equipment I use and carry in my bag. Here's my latest toy, the Gary Fong Universal Lightsphere (Cloud). When I first saw this contraption, I thought...who would carry something like this in public? Kind of geeky, if you ask me. I did some research and found that this gadget actually diffuses light 360 degrees. I imagined something like surround sound. Off I went to my local camera shop to check out this nifty toy. I took my camera and flash with me as Roger wanted to be sure the lightsphere would fit my SB-600. Because this version of the lightsphere is called "universal", it easily mounted on my flash and then got strapped with velcro. We tested the flash with and without the dome. Bounced the flash around the store. I was sold on this product.

Here's some pictures of this geeky gadget on my flash.

The frontside of the flash with the lightsphere and dome attached:





The backside of the flash:






Flash at an angle:





The rubber band that goes around the flash head (to hold the lightsphere in place):




The pieces (lightsphere and dome):




I'm glad I got this toy. I can now take my creativity to a new level and well...I get to spend more time with my camera. I plan on using this lightsphere for portrait photography as it reduces a lot of shadow. Personally, I think it's better than the Sto-Fen diffuser by a long shot.


In case you haven't noticed...I took all these pictures without a flash at ISO 1600.

In the next post you will see one of the results of using the lightsphere. Also if you look at my profile pic/avatar, that was taken with the lightsphere. Pretty cool stuff!

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 18mm-200mm
ISO: 1600
Flash: None (I had to take it off the camera to take a pic of it)

Peonies & Lighting & Aperture

After working long hours this past week, taking a break yesterday to regroup and recover mentally, I was ready to get my creativity going today. I was out and about in our garden early this morning looking for some beautiful blooms to put in my vase. The peony blooms and buds are abundant this year thanks to the our snowstorm blizzard we had in early February. Right now, our gardens are looking lush and green.

I stumbled across three different varieties of peonies. Two are double flowers (white and pink):

(ISO 800) The only touch up I did with this photo is to auto adjust the colors. Typically, the image from the camera produces a dull white flower


The other is a single flower peony in a striking dark red color:

(ISO 1600) No touch up was done to this picture

Personally, I try to not to cut a peony stem if there is a blooming flower with buds attached. After the stem is cut, the tight buds will never open for me. I prefer not to waste a bud that could be blooming it's heart out in our garden later.

I wanted most of my flowers to be in focus with the background slightly blurred. I set my camera to Aperture Priority with an f/22 setting. Both pictures above were taken with this setting. I also used my SB-600 flash with a Gary Fong Universal Lightsphere attached (including its dome covering). I bounced the flash off my living room ceiling. I received a nice surprise.

I did take a few pictures with a smaller f-stop at 11. The center flower was in focus, but the rest of the flowers became slightly blurred.

After many years of working a hectic schedule, I'm learning to stop and smell the flowers. I'm learning to open my eyes and see God's creation and beauty around me. Photography is a great way to capture those moments. I'm glad I have the ability to do that.

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 18mm-200mm
ISO: 800 & 1600
Flash: SB-600
Accessory: Gary Fong Lightsphere

In the Garden and Learning About Aperture

I came home from work just in time to catch the last of the late evening light. With camera in hand, I snapped away at the flowers and plants that were blooming in our garden.

Peonies are my favorite flowers to photograph

After so many years of blooming, this is the first time we've had an abundance of blooms from this Clematis

This clematis doesn't like to climb our mailbox


This is a rogue Geranium that seeded itself amongst the ground covering. I would have liked to have seen three purple flowers in this pic, but will settle for whatever I can get.




Believe or not, this is a really small plant (Columbine) that grows along the edge of our walkway. I had to get really low on the ground to capture this shot.





** How-to-Series: Learning About Aperture **

I started this blog last year with the intent of sharing my picture taking experiences and what I see through my lens. I haven't been doing a great job of providing any insight on how I take pictures. So, I thought I would take a moment and share a "learning" experience.

Here, I am playing with the Aperture on my camera. It's the large "A" on my DSLR dial. No, it doesn't stand for "automatic". "A" is for Aperture. A small aperture number (large opening) produces this type of picture with the main flower in focus and the background out of focus.

Taken @ f/5.6. Extreme fuzzy background


Taken @ f/8


A large aperture number (small opening) produces this picture with the background somewhat coming into focus along with the flowers.

Taken @ f/22

I will be back with more "how-to" posts. In the meantime, grab your camera and start taking some pictures.

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 18mm-200mm
Flash: None

Taking Pictures Without Flash

I'm making an effort to get out and take pictures each weekend. I have the Nikon D5000 which is touted for its low light picture taking capabilities. I have been putting it to the test...without flash of course. It's taken me awhile to learn how to use this DSLR with all the settings and features. I'm learning a lot about what to do and what not to do. What to set and what not to set. So far, I've owned the camera for a month and I've taken over 800 pictures. With lots of practice, I think I'm getting a handle on it. On to my adventure for the day.

I believe we broke a record today. It felt like it...90 degrees and hot! I decided to visit someplace colorful and would keep me out of the heat. My assignment today took me to Merrifield Garden Center.

Here I am in the greenhouse. It was a nice steamy hot area to be taking pictures. I hurried along, snapping away.







I enjoy roaming the garden center. You never know what you might find laying around.










There many areas decorated at MGC. I feel like I walk into different living areas. Different themes with different arrangements.






















** How-To Series: Adjusting the ISO levels **


All of these pictures were taken indoors with no flash and a steady hand. I've managed to find the setup range on the camera that will automatically set the highest ISO level at 1600 and the lowest shutter speed at 1/30 sec. My ISO is currently set at 200 automatically. I couldn't figure out why the camera kept defaulting to ISO 200 whenever I was taking low light pictures. Not good when people are in movement and the results are blurred images. So by setting the camera range to an ISO 1600, this allows the camera to adjust the ISO from 200 to 1600 in relation to the amount of light that is available. By setting the lowest shutter speed at 1/30 sec, the camera will automatically adjust (go no lower) to get the best possible picture.

This D5000 is a true winner in my book.

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: 18mm-200mm
ISO: 200-320
Flash: None