Wistful

Friday Morning Coffee

I was outside with the dogs, drinking my morning coffee, when I realized I had never taken my camera + 50 mm lens, set it on an ISO (1600) and on aperture priority and then gone from wide open (1.4) to stopped all the way down (16) shooting at the same thing.  This image is at about f2.4, which is a relatively shallow depth of field. You can see how the coffee cup and the chair behind the circle of friends figure are out of focus but the circle of friends is crisp.

I noticed some things I'd never noticed before:  vignetting occurs more at the wide open end of the lens than in the middle and end of the range (that's the darkening around the edges, and it's really noticeable at 1.4 below.  See how the deck posts in the middle are lighter than the ones at the edges?

The fun part was that Gus insisted on helping.  Here he illustrates the f16 aperture.  See how more of the whole image seems to be in focus? And the edges aren't darker than the middle?  Smaller aperture.

If only Gus could hold a reflector.

Mixed Emotions

So I switched my camera equipment from Canon to Nikon.  It's similar to years of PC use and a sudden switch to an Apple Mac laptop.

I love my new Nikon.  I'm still learning to use it.  And I don't really miss my Canon camera, but I had a hard time giving up my 24-70 mm lens.  I love this lens.  I can't use it with the Nikon, though, so I've finally put it up for auction on eBay.  And, there are two bidders.  So I know I will at least get a minimum amount of money.

And with that money I will get a new lens.

But I will always remember how much I loved this lens - it was my first 'professional' grade lens.

Happy Valentine's Day

Last year I made Valentines and mailed them out.  This year, not so much.  But the sentiment is the same!

Here's wishing you plenty of conversation hearts today!

Tootsies

Perspective

Do you ever feel like you're on the inside looking out? or the outside looking in?

Who, me?

His-n-Hers

Not too hard to tell which is His and which is Hers, is it?

Too Early

We had a bit of very cold in December.  But now, it's far too mild.  And things are blooming that should be waiting until early March; forsythia, fruit trees, daffodils, snow drops and this.  I don't know it's name.  Flowering Quince, maybe?  Anyway, it's too early and in recent memory we had a hard freeze in April, right before Easter.

Fingers crossed.

Evening Sky

the trees almost obscure the wonderful texture in the clouds...but maybe you can see it...

New Chews