Anybody Doing Anything, Photographically?

[Andy]

January - March tends to be a "dry" period for me, artistically. Michigan has its own version of "mud season" starting where I live in March. However, this year we had a light snow year and a warm, dry spring. Our farmers started planting sugar beets last week.

I have had an unusually busy winter at work and though I would like to get out and do some "Agriculture" photography of planting, the prognosis for my time is not looking good.

I did buy myself a "birthday" /"Christmas" present this year -- a new D700. For those who don't know, the D700 sports one of Nikon's so-called "full frame" (35mm equivalent) sensors and that is a monumental change for me. I have shot the D100 and then D200 since 2003 and acclimated myself to the "APS" size, sensor. A smaller dimension, it created interesting challenges for wide-angle shooting and enhanced telephoto shoooting. Not only did it create a "field of view" issue that resulted in a perceived "longer" lens, but because it was using a much smaller "image circle" for the lens, the quality of the photographs appeared to be much better. The APS sensor made it possible for Nikon to produce the 18-200 VR lens (designed specifically for the APS sensors, its 35mm equivalent was about 28-300). It appeared acceptably sharp throughout its range to me, and shortly after mounting it on the D200, it became a near-permanent fixture.

Going back to the 35mm size, thats just not currently possible. While Sigma and Tamron both offer a 28-300mm lens (essentially the equivalent of the 18-200VR on the D200), virtually every report I have read makes it "soft" from 200-300! So, I am learning to go back to my pre-digital era and interchange lenses.

I own a prime 60mm micro and 300mm. Both are constant f 2.8. They will no doubt perform just fine. I kept the old Tamron 28-200 from my old film days, but am looking for something closer to the 18-200 VR. The Tamron is slow and not a VR type lens. With the ISO and sensor quality gains on the D700, I may be able to make the Tamron work. It always had image quality that was pretty good for its limitations. But I am struggling around for the right combination. I recently bought a Sigma 24-135 f2.8-4.5 on eBay. It hasn't arrived yet, so the jury is still out.

In the meantime, I have not had enough opportunity to put the D700 through its paces. I did take a business trip to Austin, TX in Feb. It was warm enough to sneak out a couple times at the end of the business day and take some shots. You can see them at my website in the Cityscapes gallery where Austin has earned its own gallery.

Anybody else doing anything -- either photographically or with equipment?

[faxmachineanthem]

Nice shots Carol, very cute.

I've been playing around with spring shots taken at local parks. Some of these are obviously pretty highly processed and not intended to be "realistic".

[autzig]

I just returned from a trip to Utah where we visited five national parks, two national monuments and a Navaho National Park.

I've put some of my photos on my website under the "New" Portfolio.

www.goldimagesphoto.com

Al

[faxmachineanthem]

That looks like it was a great trip, Al. I made a similar one a couple years ago before I learned much about photography (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef). I really like the shot of the birches on Boulder Mountain. We stayed a night at Boulder Mountain Lodge in Boulder. That morning I saw the most spectacular sunrise of my life.

Despite the great scenery I found southern Utah a challenging environment to photograph in. The canyons and bright sun can cause some harsh lighting.

[faxmachineanthem]

Thanks Carol! The third shot does not have the Orton effect although I've used that before and like it. I processed that one in Lightroom 3 Beta (which is temporarily free to use, by the way). Much of the subdued golden color was from a Lighroom preset called Antique Light. That took away much of the color in the trees so I then exported it to Corel Photo Pro X2 (Photoshop for cheapskates ), where I painted the green and especially pink back. I wanted it to look surreal like a children's book illustration.

I am certainly planning on making a trip up to VT for Fall again, although my wife probably won't allow the full week photography extravaganza that I did last year. How about you?

[Andy]

Good stuff Al! Lots of nice color to be coaxed out of those rock formations and the skies.