Yes, pretty much anything and everything that is in the house is vulnerable to being shot. It seems that everything I see these days is seen with the idea of “that would be neat to shoot.” Valentine’s Day provided a great visual feast for my eyes. (I also enjoyed the taste.)
I’m absolutely enjoying my Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens. My brain just works this way. I love looking at things in very tight closeup views.
Don’t step on these in the middle of the night.
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I love how this lens measures up.
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This used to be part of a DVD player.
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One thing about f2.8 is it’s sooo razor thin on the DOF that I have to stop down a half stop or full stop to get what I want to be in focus.
Stay tuned for more experiments …
- Kyle Dreier
Six months ago I had no idea I could purchase a plastic toy camera lens and attach it to my Canon digital SLR. As with most technology the more and more it is refined the cleaner and crisper it gets … and the less personal it gets. Ever since moving from film to digital I’ve missed the warmth of film, the texture and grain of film … and I’ve missed the unknowns of film that turn into happy accidents.
As I’ve explored my creative expression through photography I discovered the Holga. This is a toy camera made in China that uses 120 film. The images I saw from this camera, as I explored other’s galleries, where rich with personality – mainly due to the fact that the images weren’t clean and pristine. Thus started the desire to own a Holga.
I learned that I could purchase a modified Holga lens. Now that I have it and have done a little playing with it I found that the small sensor on my DSLR doesn’t give me the full effect of the Holga. But, when I remove the lens from is focus ring-mount I can use it as a macro lens and the results are fun and relatively difficult to control – thus more fun.
This is a full-frame image with the Holga in “macro” mode … if you can call it that. Stay tuned for more tests and experiments.
- Kyle Dreier
I knew this place was old but I didn’t know just how old until I asked. 1938 is when Elliston Place opened their doors for business. When Amy and I left Dallas to move to the Nashville area in 1998 John Harrison gave us a list of the top 10 things to do in Nashville. He grew up in the area and on that list was Key Lime pie from Elliston’s.
Tonight, however, it was a cheeseburger and fries for me. Don’t let the lack of modern lustre scare you. This place is a landmark and any absent polish is simply part of the great character in this place.
This neon sign is a very familiar image along Elliston Avenue.
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Ah … air conditioning.
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Don’t forget the music store next door.
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A good sport. When I asked if he was the owner he quickly said “Just call me the cook.”
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No need for air conditioning tonight. Hot chocolate was my desire.
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Oh how I wish neat details like this were in today’s new restaurants.
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It’s hard to beat a burger like this.
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I love the fact that I can go in and listen to the Bee Gee’s and Dr. Hook … if I wanted.
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Take this as a compliment to the cook.
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Certainly a nice gesture. I shall be back.
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My only regret is that I didn’t leave room for pie, or a malt.
- Kyle Dreier
Until about a month ago I’d never heard of this term. I’ve been in and around photography since my teen years and you’d think I’d know what Bokeh meant. Because of my recent quest to upgrade all my photography equipment I’ve been doing a great deal of research and I began to run across this term.
As it turns out, Bokeh is used to describe what I usually shoot for in photography (no pun intended) – putting everything else out of focus. I love to shoot with my aperture wide open, partly because I like to just use available light and stopping down at all would simply slow down my shutter speed too much. It’s for this reason that I’ve upgraded to better and faster lenses – faster being a larger aperture.
So, where does the term Bokeh come from? That’s to Wikipedia I found this:
Bokeh (from the Japanese boke ã¼ã‘, “blur”[1]) is a photographic term referring to out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens. The aesthetic qualities of the bokehs produced by various lenses are open to dispute, but it is generally conceded that an out-of-focus background image can at the very least reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject.
I would have to agree with this general aesthetic statement … I like to keep everything else, ie. distractions, out of focus.
- Kyle Dreier
I may have just discovered my new favorite lens. Yesterday I received my latest addition to my camera bag … a Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens. At first impression I have to say this lens just feels like a strong lens. The weight and materials feel solid and the performance so far is equal.
My first test is working to see exactly how shallow the depth of field can get. What better test to see how sharp a lens’ focus is that to shoot an X-Acto knife blade. I’ll admit, it took a while before I could get my eyes to discern the location razor thing depth of field. But, Canon made focusing manually very handy. What a great feel from the precise movements.
The other thing about this camera that I’m really jazzed about is the bokeh. Bokeh is really just a fancy word for out of focus. I’ve not found the origins of the word but it certainly describes what I’m looking for in a nice lens. Basically, if I’m focused in on something I want everything else to go out of focus. The above photos were shot wide open at f/2.8. This lens looks as though it’s going to deliver in this area … big time.
- Kyle Dreier
I’ve recently purchased a Holga lens. What is a Holga lens? Think of shooting through something that resembles the bottom of a plastic water bottle. The Holga camera is a toy camera made in China that uses 120 film. Through the creative inventiveness of Randy over at HolgaMods.com, I have a Holga lens which actually attaches to my digital Canon EOS.
Shooting with a Holga on my DSLR isn’t the same as with 120 film, but it does open up the world of more creative photography in what is such a clean and sterile digital environment.
The Holga lens is far less than perfect in it’s materials and results. Let’s talk optics. It’d be a short conversation. Just a plastic lens. Let’s talk aperture. Looks to me like about an f/8 or so? It’s about the size of a pencil.
Focusing is done through twisting the lens which is on a screw type thread. Yes, you can screw it off the mount and then you’ve got a great hand held macro lens. Move it a round a bit and it’s a hand help Lens Baby.
I’m looking forward to doing more test shots. For now, I’m more enamored by the idea of a $35 dollar lens in my camera bag keeping company with $1,000 lenses. I hope they all get along just fine.
-Kyle Dreier
