Tuesday, April 23, 2024
And The Winners Are...
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Bee Good!
Members of the Beekeepers Guild were on hand to help with the distribution. The "kits" (the wood framed mesh enclosure containing one queen and a swarm of drones) were being unloaded in the back lot of the store. Each kit's exterior was then vacuumed to catch any drone bees that might have escaped. This fugitive drone was handed to me for inspection, along with assurances that drones had no stingers. I gently nudged him from my palm to the back of my hand, and he stayed there for several minutes while I photographed the tasks in progress.
The distribution was scheduled for 11:00 am and would end in one hour. The new beekeepers came with paperwork in hand, ready to be verified by a Guild member and to receive their kits. As soon as all was deemed in order, they were free to take their bees.
Trying Something New: In an attempt to make the bees more recognizable, I operated my camera with my left hand and holding my flash in my right hand, aiming it directly at the bees in the lower right corner of the frame. You can see that the effect on the bees is minimal, but I managed to overexpose the tops of the frames. If called upon to make a similar shot in the future I will grid or snoot the flash to get more light on the bees and less on the lids. I did not submit this image because I felt the skeptical man in the background might be a bit distracting.
These caged queen bees were kept safe and warm in a belt pouch under the jacket of one of the Guild members. Up until now, I didn't think of my Fuji 10-24mm F 4.0 lens as capable of focusing this close, but this kind of foreground/background shot has lots of potential for establishing relevance in future photos.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
The Need For Ballast
Monday, March 25, 2024
Mirang Wonne
Monday, February 19, 2024
Lunar New Year Celebration In Millbrae
Gung Hay Fat Choy! The Lunar New Year celebrations span several weeks here in the Bay Area. In San Mateo County, it started with a performance at the Hillsdale Shopping Center on Saturday, February 10, and will culminate with the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco on Saturday, February 24. The Millbrae event normally follows on the Saturday after the Hillsdale event, but was re-scheduled to Sunday due to inclement weather conditions.
Millbrae Parade, 2020 |
This year the mini-dragon could easily move among the onlookers, giving everyone an up-close-and-personal encounter with the enchanted beast. I did my best to stay just ahead of the scrum, grabbing photos whenever I could, behaving like a true "run and gun" paparazzi. These six photos were the best of the "near misses" that I made during the Dragon's stroll down Broadway Street. My exposure was manually set to 1/250 of a second, F 16, flash set to full power with a beam spread of about 24mm. This gave me a restricted beam of light with a sharp edge fall off. There was some blown-out details at the edges of the fame, but reasonable exposure in the center. Was the exposure ideal? From a formulaic perspective they weren't, but it sometimes resulted in some rather dramatic images as you can see in the last row. The composition? Some unfortunate framing and the position of the dragon worked against me in some images, but the effect deserves an encore appearance in some future assignment. Remember that none of these images made the final cut, but I am intrigued by the results of my unorthodox lighting.
And The Winner Is: This is the shot I submitted for publication. It is better aligned with the expectations of the editor from a local newspaper. It gives a feeling for what happened at the event, has a distinct center of interest, thanks to the one yellow dragon standing tall, and includes lots of local residents who might actually identify themselves when the photo is published. The nice fluffy clouds add to a more festive feel to the photo, which is true to the intent of the celebration.é¡˜ä½ æ´»åœ¨æœ‰è¶£çš„æ™‚ä»£*
* May you live in interesting times. Courtesy Google Translation
Friday, February 9, 2024
Mill Valley
Coyote Creek from behind the closed Dipsea Cafe. |
Fence Festooned, Native Plant Nursery, Mill Valley |
Friday, February 2, 2024
The Opteka Lens, Again
I had some time to kill before I was to meet a friend in Richmond, so I thought I'd take a 30-minute detour into Sausalito and spend the time looking for something to photograph with my 15mm F 4.0 Opteka wide angle macro lens, a lens I have barely touched in over three years. As I mentioned in the Morning Photo posting, it's a lens looking for a reason to exist. Yes, it can photograph at a 1:1 reproduction ratio and render images with world-width backgrounds. But the novelty wore off quickly when the images were a little soft with color-fringed edges. It turned out that I could not find a subject that would showcase the close-focusing capabilities and the wide angle of acceptance of the lens. Everything that caught my eye was pretty much two dimensional or too large to take advantage of the macro focusing capabilities. The canisters in this photo were about 12" in diameter, and were oddly rendered due to the short shooting distance. I attempted to correct the barrel distortion that curved the foreground, and was partially successful. The Opteka never received high marks in this regard. This was Sausalito, so of course I had to stop to admire the many yachts resting in their slips. The crisp whites and the cyan skies always catch my attention. I made tis shot intending to examine it for color fringing and other difficult to correct optical defects so common in inexpensive lenses. There was definitely some color flinging and a lack of sharpness along the edges, totally expected for a lens at this price point.
One of the most
memorable articles from Modern Photography was one where a Scandinavian
photographer who, armed with a Hasselblad 500, a 40mm Zeiss Distagon lens, and
some film, created several black and white images using a single egg
as a prop. He created one image where he photographed the soles of his model’s feet,
one wearing a black sock and the other bare, with the egg carefully nestled
between them. If the egg was a metaphor for the origins of life, the human
presence in the image made one ponder the evolution of our species from an
unusual perspective. The photographs gave me something to think about, since
those images have stayed in my intellectual photo album for nearly fifty years.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Examples Without Judgement
Friday, January 19, 2024
The 2024 Freedom Train
The Freedom Train: Since the Pandemic, participation in the annual Martin Luther King Freedom Train appears to have dwindled. In years past, the event included presentations to civic leaders and teachers who furthered the promotion of Dr. King's ideals. While other residents chose to use the holiday as a Day Of Service, many continue to ride the CalTrans Freedom Train to a commemorative parade in San Francisco. While not a dedicated train, it provides free transportation for those who were ready to pick up their tickets at the San Mateo Train Station and board when it arrived at 10:10 am.
When I arrived at the station, I was surprised to find that there had been no presentation ceremony, and that staples of events past were gone, specifically the customary singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” I found a relatively small crowd milling about, bereft of the sweatshirts, caps, posters, and other items commemorating Dr. King.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw several children mugging for their mothers, each carrying a graphic of Dr. King at the Washington Monument. As I approached, I attempted to make several "if nothing better comes along" shots in case nothing better could be had. When they saw that I had taken an interest in them, they became very eager to cooperate with me. For the record, the camera was a Fuji X-T2, the lens was a 10-24 F 4.0 lens and a Godox V1 Round Head speedlight with a grid installed. I had set my exposure (1/250 of a second, F 11, ISO 400) as a starting point. The sky and clouds in the sky were not particularly attractive, so I changed to F 16 in the hopes of improving the background. When the background exposure was satisfactory, I adjusted the flash output to achieve a reasonable exposure on my subjects' faces. Since the flash was mounted on the camera and there wasn't time to experiment, I ran with what I had and hoped for the best.
The edge softness of the Godox V1 makes it a personal favorite so long as I resign myself to shooting manually. The TTL controls is just to fussy, and by applying the proper adjustments, brings a lot more control than most conventional speedlights.
Sunday, January 7, 2024
7Artisans 28mm F 5.6
Photo Source: Click Here |
My friend Shawn, in his infinite wisdom, loaned me three Voigtlander lenses, prompting me to get adapters for both the Leica screw mount (M39) and Leica bayonet. After playing with those lenses, I decided that I absolutely had to own a 25mm Snapshot Skopar of my own. I got a used one with the Leica screw mount as it was designed to be zone focused and therefore wasn't manufactured with a focusing cam. I passed on the optical viewfinder because I could accurately compose using the Sony's electronic viewfinder. For the record, I love this lens, but it did make me think about buying/using some of the new and inexpensive Chinese made Leica mount lenses. I found a 7Artisans 35mm Pancake Lens at Seawood Photo in San Rafael, and I bought it for a bit of dumb fun. While it wasn't expensive, the 35mm focal length was a bit too long for my taste. I proved too difficult to actually use, and can only conclude that it was purchased as a gag gift for a rich uber-enthusiast.
TTArtisans Lens. Buy yours here. |
The TTArtisan Esthetic: Shawn suggested that I should consider purchasing one of the new Chinese lenses that attempted to duplicate the look and feel of those elegant Leitz lenses for a fraction of the cost. One of the lenses , the TTArtisans, copied the look and feel of the expensive Leitz Sumarron-M 28mm F 5.6. It was designed with the film shooting Leica enthusiast in mind, as it comes with a rangefinder cam to aid in critical focusing. I must admit that the lens is attractive, and those who have reviewed it have commented on how well the manufacturer has simulated the true rangefinder experience. Improper calibration of this focusing cam is one problem that my digital workflow has deftly sidestepped, since I use the focus peaking feature when viewing through the electronic viewfinder.
7Artisans Lens. Buy yours here. |
On January 24, 2024, the lens still costs less than the TTArtisan at B&H Photo if you are willing to wait. |
17th Street, San Francisco |
Cole Valley, San Francisco |