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Reyeslp

Granville Street Twilight

Granville Street, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

If there's one thing I like abiout the D800, it's the ability to bring out detail from the shadows which I did here. Just terrific...and you can do the same thing with highlights.

D700-D800 comparison

D700-D800 comparison, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

Another sample of the difference in quality between the D800 and D700 under low light conditions.

low light - D700 & D800

low light - D700 & D800, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

The quality of the D800 on the bottom is just a bit better than the D700 on top. Quality difference comes out in low light conditions.

low light - D700 & D800

low light - D700 & D800, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

I stumbled on the quality differences of the D700 and D800 while shooting low light at a stage play. The natural colours are sre so much more solid on the D800 (photo below) as opposed to the slightly blown out photo of the D700 (photo on top).

choir

choir, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

Senior year for my daughter and so my last as well. I've been taking the choir group shots for so many years now. This is about the best of the shots. The group was well arranged and the lighting came out right. Have basically tried the same light setup but never quite getting it right. This was practically out of the camera with only lens correction and WB changed.

city in fog

1, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

We've been getting a lot of fog lately and I thought shooting the major buildings would be nice. However the Shangri-La was more a stroke of luck as my wife likes to go to this area. And I saw the fog hit the building. Unfortunately I rushed it and I couldn't quite figure out a good composition. The streaks along the side of the building was interesting and unexpected.

Whatcom Falls Almost Fail

Whatcom Falls, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

Quick visit while the wife was at the mall. To my horrors found that I didn't have the little attachment for the camera that connects it to the tripod. Holding it on top of the tripod wasn't very stable so I thought to connect it to the tripod directly. It worked but maneuvering the tripod was slow and unwieldy, Oh well at least I got a few nice photos out of it as well as explore more of the area. I'll be back...

Farmer's Market, Los Angeles

Farmer's Market, Los Angeles, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

The Grove without the TV glitz is a fairly humdrum location to shoot. But the surprise for me was to find that the Farmer's Market was adjoining to The Grove. Something that I found out when I walked to the end of the street and discovered the building with the Farmer's Market sign. I rarely came to this market back in the 60's but 3rd and Fairfax somehow sticks in my mind. Talking to this man about the old days was quite interesting.

another side of Vegas

1, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

I was quite surprised to find that Las Vegas had some new buildings which would have made for some interesting architecture shots. The skies also had just the right amount of clouds to help make it interesting. Unfortunately I did not have the time to set up the long exposure shots to produce the shots that I thought would result in. Maybe another time...

alien

The day was plain for a good part as it was grey and overcast. So I tried slow shutter speeds to try and create more dramatic photos and this was one of the more successful ones. Good light would be preferable but when on the road with family it often isn't possible.



via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/fu1ESp

17-mile drive

In a bit of an unpredictable day with basically running around with a bunch of relatives, the good photos came out unexpectedly as the sun was at times covered by clouds and at times shown through. The viewpoints also came unexpectedly and came more from experimentation than anything else. I specially liked this image.



via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/ftC6DV

Rodeo Cove

I wonder sometimes why I bother coming at the bad times for photography as the results are never as good. No matter the composition without the golden hour colours they just don't come out as well. And in addition I never got to the spot where the better viewpoints were as they were in the far off distance...or at least too far to walk as others were waiting. Sigh...



via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/fsUpVZ

lone tree

A few minutes before this it was just plain grey. Then the light appeared and transformed the scene. It was so easy after that.



via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/fmx6NK

as luck would have it

I've been to this area quite a few times but never at the right time. This time was different. After driving around the area we got into the Ansel "lone tree" area. The sky was grey and overcast and the first few shots were so-so. Then the sun broke through and the resulting light was incredible, It was point and shoot after that and very little PP was necessary. I could be so lucky all the time.



via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/fmyXpE

slow summer day on Sunset Beach

20130716-Vancouver_SunsetBeach_DSC9449, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

I didn't think the time lapse would work (but it did) so I tried a more traditional slow exposure shot (5 minutes) stacking 2 ND filters (10-stop and 8-stop). I've been wanting to do this on recognizable Vancouver figures but never got around to it. Will have to make a point of doing it when the clouds are out.

slow summer day on Sunset Beach

20130716-Vancouver_SunsetBeach_DSC9444 a video by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

My first real attempt at time lapse photography. The D800 makes it real easy as it makes a mov (video) file out of it automatically. Not bad for a first try. Photo taken every 10 seconds for 20 minutes.

technique for exposure

upload, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

I used to flip-flop between matrix, center and spot metering as the situation changed and found it not to be not as consistent as I would want. So based on a tip on the web, I went to matrix-metering 99% of the time. Matrix-metering is what we pay for when we buy a camera so it works quite well. Of course it will still have problems when there is back lighting or dark or white areas. So the trick is to shoot with matrix setting first, check the LCD and adjust the exposure compensation until satisfied.

Queen E Sunset

20130705-Vancouver_QueenESunset_DSC9393, a photo by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

I wanted to start taking landscape photos from the top of Queen E since it is a high point in the city and close by. It meant using a long lens and I used my longest lens (80-400) which is supposed to be sharp up to 300mm. The end results required about 100mm in which case the 80-200mm would have been sufficient and a better quality lens. It was a comedy of errors..I started by using my daily settings instead of using my landscape mode. Which resulted in blurry images as it didn't have that lag after pressing. I eventually switched to my landscape mode at which point it got a little sharper. But the VR mode could have caused some blur and the focusing at the buildings instead of 100 yards in front of where I was meant the DOF was incorrect. Sigh...at least it was a cloudless night and the result couldn't have been any good anyway. Good chance to practice.

North Falls

North Falls a video by SlowManLuis2011 on Flickr.

So here was my first hike from an app with a website that shared hiking trails.A good lead to areas to explore. The GPS was a handy guide to help from getting lost- the initial reason that I wanted a GPS app and it does help one to get back to the starting point. A great guide as it helps to know what is around a location. But a trail that on paper looks fairly easy...turned out to be a real hard one. It was drizzling almost the entire 3 1/2 hours that I walked and the heavy backpack that I carried didn't help.Groaan...