Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Out of focus rollercoaster girl.

Don't get me wrong. Flickr is wonderful. It's both an outstanding piece of web-based software and a wonderful community full of talented photographers. (At least I think a piece of software can be a community... that may be another discussion altogether). Nevertheless, there are times when my fellow flickrites wear me out.

Focus

I took this shot at the 100th Yankee Doodle Fair in Westport. The weather had been hot and balmy all day until around three when a huge thunderstorm rolled through. Afterwards, we had this wonderful warm misty thing going - normally, not my kind of weather but for photographic purposes: outstanding.

This shot was one of about 10 that I took of this particular subject. I'd say I started by focusing the camera on the front of the car, and then I shot a few with the girl in focus.

During post I decided that this shot was more meaningful to me. Somethinig about the way that the shallow depth of field amplifies the expression on her face... Yes, I realize that sounded a bit doofy.

Whatever. I'm proud of my shot. I post it to all the flickr groups that I usually go to. What happens next, I wasn't prepared for: The shot gets absolutely panned. Of the 20+ comments, probably half contain some variant of "too bad the girl isn't in focus".

I know that criticism is feedback. Sometimes its amusing. Sometimes its helpful. Other times...

What do you think?

Friday, June 15, 2007

Slam Dunk at Kate's Parents in Redding

We went for a cookout at Kate's parents house for her birthday (Pang and I got her a weed-whacker). While there I managed to score shoot some great photos of the general going's-on.


Created with Paul's flickrSLiDR.
I'm not sure if I like the idea of posting slide shows here. It seems to me like its a cop-out. Like I couldn't be bothered to pick the best one. So you'll probably only see a few of these pop up from time to time.

Some catching up to do

I've been learning a few things about my new lens. Here is a short summary:

  1. Big lenses weigh a lot. I've had to buy a new more comfy camera strap.

  2. f/4.6 isn't very big. Well, I guess I knew that coming in, but its a bit of a shock when I switch from the 18-200 f/4.6 to the 50mm f/1.8.

  3. Just cause you can, doesn't mean you should. Sometimes it's hard to resist zooming in on things. Narrow-field composition is a very different beast than shooting wide.

Dignity. Pride. Eagleness.
Well, yes, I took this photo in captivity. And my photographic-cred takes a hit for that. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd want to run into this bugger on his own turf. That can-opener is a serious piece of hardware.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

I'm Back

By popular (err... not-so-much) demand.

And to prove it:


A Long Overdue Job - Celebrity bloopers here