The other afternoon, Roxanne and I journeyed to Sarasota. She was armed with her Lensbaby Composer and 85mm f/1.4 lens. I took my tripod and did most of my shooting with my trusty 24-105mm f/4.0 L-Series lens. My goal was to get some shots I would convert to HDR images in Photomatix. But instead of taking one exposure and then exportting three different versions in Lightroom, I created all of my exposures in camera. I set the AEB (auto exposure bracketing) for 3 shots, one with normal exposure as metered by the camera, one at -2.0 EV and one at =2.0 EV. I set the timer for a 2-second delay in order to give the camera time to stablize after pressing the shutter. When I merged the different exposures together in Photomatix, I couldn’t believe the difference. The subtle details really pop when you merge three exposures. I’ve got to experiment more with multiple exposure HDR images, but I’m really pleased with some of the photos I created from this shoot.

Sarasota Alleyway

Grungy Alley

Rustic Inn

Pineapple Street

Pineapple Street Stores

Yesterday Roxanne and I started out shooting birds in the local landfill. I know what you’re thinking… But the place is full of birds, including eagles. Unfortunately, I don’t have a long enough lens to get a good shot. Then we went to the Venice Train Station to shoot some HDR images. Armed with our tripods and camera set to bracket each shot by 2 EV, we started shooting the train station. As the sun sank lower, we decided to go for the real grunge and ended up in a nearby industrial park. There’s something about junkyards and decrepit buildings that really comes alive when you run the images through Photomatix.

Cheers,
Doug

Venice Train Station

Industrial Grunge

Everything But The Junkyard Dog

On Sunday, Roxanne and I piled our equipment into the bird blind, and headed for a MeetUp photo shoot at a cattle ranch in Myakka City. Got to watch your step in cow country. At any rate, there was all sorts of awesome things to photograph: old barns, decrepit farm machinery, gnarly trees; and yes, even cows. The shoot was well organized. We had a great time. after the shoot, we meandered to Marina Jacks to photograph the marina as the sun set. Here’s one shot from the ranch, and one from the marina after a trip through Photomatix. Enjoy.

Dead Tree Trunks & Red Barn

Sarasota at Sunset

I recently purchased a Panasonic GF-1. The camera uses the micro 4/3rds system. With the kit 14-45 mm lens, the camera has a focal length range that is the 35mm equivalent from 28mm to 90 mm. The camera is very small. The fact that is has a bigger sensor than point and shoot cameras means you’ll be able to control your depth of field with the lens aperture. Point and shoot cameras have a very small sensor which means that point and shoot cameras are not good for portrait photographers or any other type of photographer that requires a small depth of field.

This camera is great for street shooters. My only complaint is the noisy shutter. One time I pressed the shutter button and my subject, who was 10 feet away asked if I took his picture. Overall, I’m really enjoying the camera. If you’re a professional photographer the GF-1 is an excellent alternative when you don’t want the carry an expensive camera everywhere. The camera has point and shoot functionality. But for pros, the camera offers a lot of flexibility including the ability to shoot RAW images. The following image was photographed using the 14mm focal length.

Lensbaby introduced two new optics for the Composer: a fisheye optic, and a soft focus optic. The fisheye has a focal length of 12mm, and  depth of field that seems to go clear into next month. It’s a true fisheye. Images photographed with the lens have a black vignette outside a round center that contains the image. If you choose your subject matter well, the vignette enhances the image. The following image was photographed with the Lensbaby fisheye optic. I tweaked the photo in Silver Efex Pro.

The soft focus optic gives you a wonderfully soft diffuse image surrounding a relatively sharp center. The optic comes with different aperture inserts you can use to control how large the sweet spot of focus is. The following images were photographed with the Lensbaby soft focus optic.

The Lensbaby is positively addictive. Now that I’m using the Composer, I find it easier than ever to catch the sweet spot of focus and get a great looking shot. When I add Nik Silver Efex Pro to the mix, I end up with some truly compelling shots.

Yesterday I shot lots of images. I started the day in Corkscrew Sanctuary Swamp. The birds were sparse, but Roxanne and I got some nice landscape images, and lots of Lensbaby shots of flowers in the butterfly garden. Then we went to the Edison Winter Home in Fort Myers, Florida. The home has one of the largest Banyan trees in the world. There is also a lot of period furniture on the grounds. I shot this image with my Lensbaby Composer. I edited the shot using Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Edison Winter Home

Here are a couple of new pictures that I tweaked using a texture treatment in Photoshop.

Lensbaby Bird of Paradise with Texture Treatment

Lensbaby Macro Shot with Texture Treatment

I drove across Blackburn Point Bridge on a bleak Winter day last January. Ever since then I’ve had an image in my mind of this bridge photographed with a wide angle lens. Roxanne and I were photographing Scrub Jays in Oscar Scherer State Park. When the clouds started forming on the afternoon sea breeze, I suggested going to Blackburn Point Bridge to photograph the sunset. We got there about 20 minutes before sunset and were rewarded with awesome light and some terrific clouds. I got my wide angle shot of the bridge and much more. Like I said, “Sometimes you get lucky.”

Blackburn Point Bridge

Sunset in Paradise

Even when you live close to the ocean, it gets hot in August. And lately I’ve been getting a bad case of cabin fever. Early afternoon is just too hot to shoot, and the light is too harsh. Then come the late afternoon thunderstorms which make shooting in the afternoon a dicey proposition. When I saw the forecast called for a fifty percent chance of rain in the afternoon, I grabbed my camera and a couple of lenses, and left the house at 9:30 in the morning. When I got to Sharky’s Pier, it was already overcast. The following image was shot using my 15mm fish-eye lens. I tweaked the image using Photomatix, Nik filters, and Alien Skin Exposure 2.