Friday, January 04, 2013

Ninth Day of Christmas: Lensing around


Just before I returned the 100mm rented lens I took it out to try a bit of non-macro work.
Bitsy was nearby; I took her picture then took the shot again with my 50mm lens to see if I could really see any different.
Oh yeah.  There was a real difference.
With the 100mm I could crop down to her eyes and see a perfect reflection, with the 50mm the crop went soft/fuzzy.
I had a chat with the folks at Pictureline where I rented the lens (a local owned shop, but lens are rented by other stores around the country btw).
For about a third of the price of the 100mm I could acquire a 60mm which I was assured would give me the same degree of focus with about the third of the lens weight.
Guess who really, really wants a 60mm lens now?
(btw again...they do awesome infinity work too, a "one size fits all", no zoom, so one "zooms" by moving one's feet, but the trade off is crispness in the photography that the zoom feature just doesn't allow.)

I decided to try water drips again, this time with my 50mm lens.
A 50mm is usually available for under $100; I picked one up a year ago.
Yes, drips can be captured nicely with the 50mm, but there is a tiny bit of softness compared to the 100mm shots.
Ignorance is bliss...I have ruined my bliss by knowing the difference.
 

Still fun...

If you own a "nifty fifty", give drip photography a whirl!

No snow was suppose fall all week.
I was geared up to get some stuff done inside, and indeed did acquire a nice sized house plant to place in the spot where the Christmas tree stood.
Now I have to go buy a big pot for it. 
One thing always leads to another.
Anyhoo...after dark the snow started up again.
It was bitterly cold, down around 10 degrees out there.
I gave my EF-S 18-55 "kit" lens another shot, again with the magnifier screwed on to the front of the lens.
Since it was night out, the porch light gave the snowflakes a golden glow.

I used the Picasa editing options to reverse the colors, from yellow to blue,  on this shot
 

Since the snowflake was on a magnifying lens, I got the snowflake shadow below.
 
 
 
 
 

A constellation of flakes!

I hadn't noticed the tiny strand of fiber until I cropped this photo down.

By placing the lens beneath the light of the porch light, I got a reflection of the porch light light, which back lit the snowflakes.
Cool!
I learn something every time I go shooting!
 

My favorite shot of the evening.

Title:

"Snowflake flower with dragonfly"

 

9 comments:

Vee said...

Oh I can not afford to become spoiled so I will just enjoy the work that you are doing. I do like the edits, too.

Sheila said...

Vee told us how wonderful your snowflake pictures are. i am amazed. I love learning about photography so will be back to visit. happy New Year!

Grandma G said...

Wow, wow, WOW!! Great job!

Judy said...

You are just having way too much fun with lenses over there! (And I think I just left my comment on the wrong post...since I scrolled down to see 'all the works in your gallery'!)

Happy@Home said...

Wow, amazing shots of the drips and the snowflakes. So beautiful.

Vicki said...

Cool!! Love that last bit of art!

Kathie said...

Very cool - I'm going to have try the water drips as well as more snowflakes.

Hmmm rent a lens - I don't think there is such a thing here but it's a great idea. You can try it before you buy it.

Kathy ~ Artful Accents said...

Those shots are amazing! The snowflakes are stunning!

Thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind words. :-)

Pondside said...

Wow - those shots are quite amazing. I love the drops of water.