Bulb setting at night

DSC_5322
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

I’m still experimenting with the bulb setting, but this time, I’ve gone outside. (I’ve been in the back yard, mostly for security reasons.) I’ve noticed that a lot of the pictures in the back yard on bulb come out yellow, but that has to do with the lighting from what I understand. I don’t want to use the flash, mostly because you can get better results at night with bulb.

I do have an 80B filter, which removes yellow, but it doesn’t fit the 50mm f/1.4 lens I’ve been using and that’s the one I’ve been getting the best results with. (I know I can fix it in Photoshop.) I may try using other lenses just because the 50mm has such a limited range of view. The Sigma 28-90 I have may work. I think it even takes a 55mm filter.

As for the ones that I’ve taken, I have been playing around with them in Photoshop. I even posted one with a diffuse glow, which I think came out pretty well. I think with the bulb setting, it will take a lot of practice to get it down. I’ll probably post some other attempts latter this week.

laserpointer 4961

laserpointer 4961
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

It’s funny what you can accomplish with a small piece of technology. My father got me a laser pointer and I’ve been playing around with it. It helps that I started playing with the bulb setting on my camera. For those that don’t know, the bulb allows you to hold the button down to keep the shutter open for as long as you like. This can be used for several purposes, including showing the path of stars.

This picture was taken by pointing both the camera and the laser at the vertex of my room and moving the laser in a very tight circle around said vertex. For a picture like this, it helps to have the lights out and to take the picture at night. Otherwise, you get a very bright picture.

Had I been looking to show you the color of the wall, I could have used the flash to capture the wall. Since the flash fires for an instant, the room returns to dark and doesn’t add any information or value to the pixels. It’s only if I use the laser pointer that anything changes.

I’ve been playing around with the laser pointer, pointing it at different things. In an adjacent picture, you can see what happens when I make the circle a little bigger. Since I’m not yet capable of creating a perfect circle, you can see distinct lines. (It’s much easier to keep the laser in a more confined space for some reason.) You also get a clearer definition of the vertex.

I may post some of them later. (Note that the number at the end of each title is usually the number that the D50 assigns to the picture. Thus, a lower number indicates something that I took earlier.)

Junebug 5013

Junebug 5013
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

Yes, it’s been a while, but I thought I’d start back up. The primary reason for this is that I’ve gotten several new toys, one of which is a 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens. For those that don’t know, this is a film lens (which can be used on a digital body) to get great photos. The low f-stop gives the blurry background. I was able to get this picture of my brother’s cat, which my mother loves. I have to admit that I do like it, even though the top of the ears are cut off.

I’m not so sure I’ll be taking more pictures of her in the near future, as I got a bite on the hand from her for my efforts. I’m not sure if it’s that she was upset by the flash or if she just likes biting people. It might be a bit of each. (For the record, I had the flash pointing up towards the ceiling.)

I’ve been able to get a similar photo of my cat, Pepper. The lens is great for portraits, but I have to stand back a lot farther than I’m used to with the 28-90 lens. The part about this lens that I like is that you can get the blurry lens. I’ve also noticed that I don’t have to use a flash a lot of times. (That’s another advantage of a low f-stop.)

I’m hoping to post a photo or two a week. I’ve also got a new memory card that I’m testing out which is supposed to put the location of the photo into the EXIF data, but I haven’t gotten that to work very well yet.

Arch Creek 2283

Arch Creek 2283
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

I had a chance to go to the Arch Creek Park today and take some pictures. I even had a few that turned out pretty well, like the one I’m posting today. This was mostly an attempt to test out the Sigma 10-20 lens that I bought last week.

The distortion is visible with things that are easy to judge, like grids, boxes and faces. For things like grass, it doesn’t show up so much. It’s also odd looking through the viewfinder, then taking it away. From what I’ve read, the angle is somewhere around 102°. That’s pretty good.

If you’re thinking it’s a great way to get a picture of someone without them knowing, bear in mind that you do notice distortion in the corners. The trouble with a lens that wide is that it‘s going to be a fisheye or close to it. Yes, you can correct for this, but it’s not always that easy. I’ve been messing around with a few pictures and some turn out better than others.

It’s also an f/4-5.6, which means that it’s not so good for indoor shots. Here, it’s at 5.6. I got some nice lighting from outside, but it still came out a little dark. (The onboard flash didn’t help much, which is why I should make my next investment an SB-600.)

I’d like to go to some other area parks to get some more shots. Depending on my days off and the Miami weather, I may do just that. I just have to make sure to bring someone with me.

Do cool photographers use a polarizer indoors?

trees against sky 1770
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

Here’s a picture I took in my back yard. I was trying to see what a circular polarizer could do. For those that don’t know, a polarizer acts like sunglasses for your camera and reduces glare. A circular polarizer rotates so that you can change the amount of polarization by rotating the outside of the lens.

Here, I was able to put the sun behind the trees. I got a nice silhouette effect from it and the sky looked a little darker. Without the circular polarizer filter, the sky would have looked a lot bluer. (Click on the picture and check out the surrounding photos.)

A circular polarizer definitely has its uses, especially here in Miami. The sun can be very bright. I’d live to get a chance to really try it out. I think this weekend, I’m going to go to a local park and see what I can do. I ordered a new lens, but it probably won’t arrive by then. I can always hope, though.

Pepper 1616

Pepper 1616
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

I commented at dinner tonight that I like taking pictures of my cat. She seems to have this interesting look on her face here. Sometimes, she seems bored. Other times, she’s more than happy to be playing with one of her toys. Here, she was just sitting around looking at the room. There wasn’t anything in particular that she was looking at. If you go to Flickr and look at the picture before and after this one, you’ll see that she was just looking around.

I really like her pose here. The only thing I would have changed was the crossed front legs, which I didn’t even notice until I was writing this. She has a very alert look on her face, which she makes sometimes. It’s as if you asked her caught her off guard with some random question.

I’d love to get some more pictures of her. She’s always up to something. She’s either peeling the wallpaper off or climbing around the chairs. I almost thought of doing a blog just for her, but I don’t know if people would come back for that. There are a lot of cats out there and they’re all special. (Not as special as mine, mind you…)

That being said, I’m going to try for some variety here. Maybe tomorrow or Friday, I’ll be getting some more pictures to post.

flowers from table 1635

flowers from table 1635
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

My mother loves to get flowers. I felt that I should get a picture of them at least once. I think these were used for Christmas, but I’m not sure. I really just wanted to see what I could do with my lens. Flowers are kind of easy to photograph because so many people like them and they sit relatively still for long periods of time.

What makes for a good subject? I mean, the same could be said of naked women. Many people (mostly men) like them. On occasion, they’ll sit still long enough for you to photograph them. As much as I’d like to photograph them, though, I’d like to refrain from posting any adult-oriented photos here. I’m hoping to keep as much of a family-friendly look to the pictures.

Right now, I’m just photographing what’s convenient. That means taking the camera out when I can so I can get stuff that’s not normally convenient, hence yesterday’s photo. I’m going to upload some more so that I can get some different pictures on here. (I can promise all those parents out there that there are no naked ladies in the pictures.)