Country walk with a new lens

divamum · January 2, 2009

The Child and I went out for a walk in the unexpected sun which emerged this afternoon. What better way to try out the new lens?

C&C absolutely welcomed, as always. I know that a couple of these are a little soft - 17mm at 2.8 is clearly not going to be the best option for maximum clarity, and ANYTHING at 2.8 needs serious attention as to which focus point is selected! :doh . I've fudged a few blown highlights too but we still had fun and in general the lens is performing wonderfully - very pleased!

We started with me trying a portrait using the wide angle end of things ....
1

.... walked around the corner
2

.... and into the most perfect late afternoon light

3

4

and we even tried a jumpshot, just for fun!
5

Of course, there were far more interesting things to do than stand there while mom took pictures. Digging rocks was high priority for a few minutes

6

7

But after a while we moved on, and she was even persuaded to let me take some more pictures .....

8

9

.... on condition that the tables were turned afterwards!
10

A fun afternoon. Comments welcomed!

Allan FG · January 2, 2009

Great shots, I have such a hard time getting my kids to pose for me.

pyry · January 2, 2009

1, 3, 7 and 9 if you can recover the highlight

The first and seventh are really very good indeed

Good to see The Child is taking an interest in photography, or is it just to get back The Mum?

divamum · January 2, 2009

Loud Al wrote:

Great shots, I have such a hard time getting my kids to pose for me.

HA! You should have seen the outtakes...

I had to negotiate to get those smiles - it's at the point where she sees the camera in my hand and RUNS the opposite direction!!

divamum · January 2, 2009

pyry wrote:

1, 3, 7 and 9 if you can recover the highlight

The first and seventh are really very good indeed

Good to see The Child is taking an interest in photography, or is it just to get back The Mum?

Thanks, P! She's interested, although she would DIE before she'd admit it :giggle. Taking her own shots was, on this occasion, mostly to get back at me

(that said, I had to laugh that of the 10 or so she took they all had artsy tilted angles and used the fence rail remarkably well - she actually has a very good eye!)

pyry · January 2, 2009

divamum wrote:

Thanks, P! She's interested, although she would DIE before she'd admit it :giggle. Taking her own shots was, on this occasion, mostly to get back at me (that said, I had to laugh that of the 10 or so she took they all had artsy tilted angles and used the fence rail remarkably well - she actually has a very good eye!)

Well, M

If you can recover that highlight a bit (you had camera in raw mode, yes?), get a print of it, put it in a frame and display it proudly. You know, to tell her that she's got talent and all that.

You will have to get a another camera after a stunt like that most likely though...

jeffreaux2 · January 2, 2009

Looks as if that lens has fallen into good hands.

Yes you have blown highlights in several of these.

3 and 4 could have benifitted from a tad less power on the fill flash...ie some negative FEC. A warming filter....1/4 CTO on the flash at that time of day ought to produce more pleasing tones between foreground subject and warm background as well.

Looks like you two had fun....just cant decide who had the most!:D

divamum · January 3, 2009

pyry wrote:

Well, M

If you can recover that highlight a bit (you had camera in raw mode, yes?), get a print of it, put it in a frame and display it proudly. You know, to tell her that she's got talent and all that.

You will have to get a another camera after a stunt like that most likely though...

rofl

divamum · January 3, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Looks as if that lens has fallen into good hands.

Yes you have blown highlights in several of these.

3 and 4 could have benifitted from a tad less power on the fill flash...ie some negative FEC. A warming filter....1/4 CTO on the flash at that time of day ought to produce more pleasing tones between foreground subject and warm background as well.

Looks like you two had fun....just cant decide who had the most!:D

Actually, I think I had those with the FEC about -1 stop, but I realised (too late) that I needed to drop it down even further - the shots of her against the railing struck a better balance, I think. Learning curve...

Oh, and for the record: those poses were ALL her own doing - I just pushed the buttons:)

We did indeed have a lot of fun!

Wasn't quite as cold as we'd expected either (hence the gloveless hands) - just a bright, crisp winter day, which was pretty perfect weather for a walk in fact

Edited to add: the fill on those was (blech ptui) the onboard flash - I didn't take anything with me except the camera itself because I didn't want to carry a bunch of stuff with me. One of these years I will figure out how to streamline my kit AND make sure I have what I need with me (so far I always seem to overpack or underpack. Ah well!)

Scott_Quier · January 3, 2009

with Jeff - you are off to a very strong start with this lens.

Oh, Please let me know if you figure out how to trim your kit and still carry everything you need. Like many others, I'm still struggling with this.

divamum · January 3, 2009

Scott_Quier wrote:

with Jeff - you are off to a very strong start with this lens.

Oh, Please let me know if you figure out how to trim your kit and still carry everything you need. Like many others, I'm still struggling with this.

Thanks Scott. I have to say, getting a better piece of glass makes me realise what I've been missing - while the 50mm 1.8 does produce some great shots, the Tammy is SO much faster to focus, and having the added flexibility of a zoom is won-won-wonderful!

Now, what I REALLY want is an equally optically sound 17-105 2.8 a coupla oz lighter, no bigger in dimensions, and with IS. For under $400

:D:D:D:D

jeffreaux2 · January 3, 2009

Scott_Quier wrote:

with Jeff - you are off to a very strong start with this lens.

Oh, Please let me know if you figure out how to trim your kit and still carry everything you need. Like many others, I'm still struggling with this.

....

You will appreciate this one Scott....

I am saving for the Thinktank "airport security" camera bag. It has wheels and room and security locks including a built in cable lock to tether it to something heavy at events. Truely a nice bag, but at a price.

In the meantime, I thought I was being real smart when I picked up one of those small, lightweight, cheap luggage carts. You know the kind....weighs just a few pounds and is made of black tubing. $9 at Academy Sports.

Anyway, Tuesday...for my afternoon shoot....I bungeed my bag to it, a couple pieces of foam core, monopod, and 3 step ladder. It worked pretty good really...for the most part. Later, for our final series of shots, we went to the levee downtown which has a RR track that parallels it....and there was a train....so....

We had to use a cross walk that was built to go OVER the train. So now, I have all this gear...some of which normally would have been left in the truck...AND the cart....to carry up 3 flights of stairs. NICE.

divamum · January 4, 2009

A couple more.

Playing with processing stuff - I freely admit that this is experimentation, but I can't help but wonder how they come over to others (and on calibrated monitors)? I'm really just playing with some presets and sliders, but after a while it's very hard to decide whether there's any merit to it or if it's simply mindless adjustments for their own sake...

C&C of course welcomed. Trying to figure out if any of these can work for the challenge; I think they're a bit banal for that still, but we'll see - they've been fun to work on, regardless!

Snowgirl · January 4, 2009

Of the last two, I prefer the first. The hair light and catch lights look really good.

Of the first batch I liked 3, 8 and 9 - clear and decent colour.

it is WAY too cold here to go out and play. I took the dog for a 15 minute walk and even he was begging to go in. Brrr.

dreamcometrue · January 4, 2009

I like the first shot. I love the way the sun catches her hair. Beautiful shot and daughter.

divamum · January 4, 2009

Snowgirl wrote:

Of the last two, I prefer the first. The hair light and catch lights look really good.

Of the first batch I liked 3, 8 and 9 - clear and decent colour.

it is WAY too cold here to go out and play. I took the dog for a 15 minute walk and even he was begging to go in. Brrr.

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, not too bad here - cold, but not COLD, if you know what I mean!

Btw, I think it's you who has the 50mm1.8 mentioned in another thread? Until I got the new lens, almost everything I've shot has been wtih teh 1.8 - it can be a cranky focuser, but it gets some great pictures! Main thing I found was not to try and and focus too close - if I got even the tiniest fraction closer than its focusing range it wouldn't even try but just spin.... and spin..... and spin.... Can't beat it for the price, though - it's worth sticking with it!

divamum · January 4, 2009

dreamcometrue wrote:

I like the first shot. I love the way the sun catches her hair. Beautiful shot and daughter.

Thanks for the kind words. The light was amazing, and why I leaned on her to pose for me! Was a beautiful afternoon