Archive for category Geek
World’s greatest taco stand
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on February 9, 2010
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While Mexican food and landscape photography don’t generally share a common bond, that isn’t the case with this image.
The first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting that you have a problem. If you know me personally it’ll come as no shock to hear that, yes, I am taco junkie. I’m not talking those cardboard and packaged meat things you get from TacoBell™, I mean real tacos; some spiced meat in a soft corn tortilla with just onion, cilantro and salsa.
Over the summer of 2008 I took the family on a 5 day backpacking trip in Yosemite. The high country, in Summer, is a great escape from the crowds in the valley. There’s a little spot along Yosemite creek, about 7 miles from the Tioga road, where we like to set up camp. From there it’s an easy day hike to North Dome, Yosemite Point & falls or El Capitan; where this image was taken.
Rather than rely on packaged food, we always cook and dehydrate our own meals. It’s easy to do and it tastes WAY better than the bagged meals. On this particular day, my son had set a goal:
We should have tacos on top of El Capitan!
After a moderate 4 mile hike we were treated to this view. While my son started setting up the Jetboil stove, I took the time to make this image. After a few shots I sat down and had lunch at the greatest taco stand in the world.
Cheers
Keeping an eye on liberty
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on January 25, 2010
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As I mentioned last week, I find macro photography to be very therapeutic. While I frequently drift from my landscape photography focus, macro photography is very similar; the compositions are just on a smaller scale.
About this time last year, I finished working on a custom macro lens. While sitting at home on a rainy weekend it occurred to me that I hadn’t tried it out on my new Canon 7D. The sensor format of the 7D gives it even more magnification than I get on my 5D. This image is a photograph of a small portion of a US dime. The area depicted is less than 5/16″ across. My, just turned 45 eyes, can’t even focus on it without my readers.
Cheers
And now for something completely different.
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on September 11, 2009
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When describing my style of photography I often use a phrase coined by, my friend, Gary Hart. Simply put, “I don’t photograph anything that moves.” For the most part that’s correct. I don’t generally photograph people, animals or sports but this weekend I’ll make an exception. The 3rd annual California Capital Airshow is in town Saturday and Sunday. We’ve gone every year and I have a ton of fun shooting the show. The first year I managed to fill every CF card that I’d brought along. During the Blue Angels performance I had to, hastily, keep deleting images from my cards to that I could keep shooting.
Shooting an event like this is a complete reversal from my standard style. When I’m out shooting landscapes or macro I don’t take a single shot that isn’t on a tripod. Every adjustment to the camera or its position is measured and precise. Shooting the air show is a wild departure. Everything is hand-held, and most of the time you’re just reacting as fast as you can to get something useable. I don’t take it too seriously but it’s fun to get out and “stretch” every now and then. See you there.
Cheers
Blue Geranium
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on August 5, 2009
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I’m really having fun with the new fisheye lens. I’ve heard from lots of folks who insist that you need to keep the camera absolutely level to avoid the “fisheye effect” but I love the distorted perspective. Rather than try to avoid it, I’ve been working on exaggerating it.
This bunch of geraniums in Golden Gate park is one such example. In real life, this was just a nearly flat wall of flowers. The depth and perspective is a complete fabrication thanks to this lens. Since my camera has a full 35mm sized sensor, it’s able to take full advantage of the huge 180 degree field of view. Keeping yourself out of the picture is actually a bit of a problem.
The details on this one aren’t anything special. I shot this at f/3.5 with gave me an exposure of 1/640th of a second at ISO 100. The day was bright but overcast giving me some really nice diffused light.
Cheers
Stayed Tuned for Filter Calc – Now Available
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on July 16, 2009
Announcing Filter Calc. Filter Calc is a simple application that I wrote for my iPhone. Neutral density filters are a fun way to do some really long exposures. The caveat is that once you get past 30 seconds, most cameras are unable to give you the correct exposure value.
Enter Filter Calc.
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The premise is pretty simple:
1. Meter the scene without the filter.
2. Enter the filter type and shutter speed into Filter Calc.
3. Read the corrected shutter speed.
4. Install the filter and take the shot using the corrected speed.
Filter Calc should be available in the iTunes App store shortly and will be offered, initially, at no charge.
There is a ton of potential for photography applications and I’ve already mentioned that I’m a big fan of Focalware. It just goes to show you that there’s nothing wrong with being a geek.
The typo on the main page as already been fixed and will appear in the next update.
Cheers
Down in the Weeds – Part 2
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on June 27, 2009
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In a previous article I mentioned that I’d started to play with some alternative shooting angles after hearing a talk by Rob Sheppard. Until now I’ve been using my Gitzo 2540 which goes pretty low, but just not low enough. While in a local camera shop I stumbled upon this little guy. It’s made by Manfrotto and goes under the model 345. It consists of a set of 209 legs and a 482 micro ballhead. Once I got it home I dug out an old Really Right Stuff plate and screwed it on, using the supplied bushing. The head is fully removable so at some point I might replace it with a RRS BH-25 but for the time being it’ll do the trick.
Since I have neither a live view screen nor the limberness of my youth, an angled viewfinder is an absolute necessity but I have one already. I’m looking forward to doing some playing with it and will be certain to chronicle the process here.
Cheers
Has anyone seen the moon?
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on June 15, 2009
The moon can be a powerful photographic element. It can add weight and balance to just about any scene. The problem is figuring our exactly where it’s going to be. I often talk about how important is is to be properly prepared when out photographing but I have to admit that I’m often a “seat of the pants” type of guy.
Several years ago I first met Gary Hart during a weekend workshop. One of the goals was to shoot the rising moon over Half Dome. We all followed to one of his “secret” locations because he had already done the homework and knew where the moon was going to rise. We watched and photographed as the sun went down and then we waited, laughed and talked about the day. After a few minutes someone yelled out: “Is that the moon?” We all spun around and the sound of our talking was replaced by a flurry of shutter clicks. He knew where the moon was going to be and where to place us in order to get the shot. He’s since taught me his technique of retrieving and plotting the moon’s coordinates but the caveat is that you need to do that work ahead of time.
Many of the trips that I make to Yosemite are on fairly short notice. I often don’t have time or simply forget to check the position of the moon before leaving town. Using my iPhone I am able to connect to the Internet and download coordinates but sometimes cell reception in Yosemite can be less than reliable. A month or two ago I discovered Focalware in the iTunes App Store.
Focalware is the best $9.99 that I’ve ever spent. It’s an iPhone application that calculates the time and position of the sun and moon from the palm of your hand. Best of all it doesn’t require an active cellular data connection. You can enter a location or use the phone’s built-in GPS to determine your location. Set the date and time and it gives you a table for altitude and azimuth of both Sun and Moon. All you need is a compass or map to see where the moon will be. The new iPhone 3GS, due out this week, even has the compass built right into the device. You can even save locations to a list to use later, when you have the forethought to check before you leave town.
If you’re a nature photographer that has been wondering if the iPhone is a good idea, this should help swing the vote.
Cheers
The color that we don’t see
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on April 2, 2009
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I was going through some old images and I stumbled on this one. A friend had asked to use a couple color infrared images as examples for a presentation. I had to do a little digging to find some but of the ones that I dug out, this is my favorite.
A couple of years ago I converted my Canon RebelXT for infrared (IR) use. All digital sensors are sensitive to IR. So much so, that there is actually a filter, or “hot mirror”, in front of the sensor to block IR light. The conversion process removes that filter and replaces it with an opaque filter that only passes IR light. The type of image captured by the new filter depends on it’s wave length. The filter that I used is roughly 680nm. The resulting image retains some color, albeit pretty strange. Filters in the 830nm range pass no visible light so they produce strictly B&W images.
This image is of a bright orange flower with a dark black center. Rather than capturing visible light, the camera is capturing only reflected IR. The results can be other-worldly.
I don’t use this camera much and I’m not quite sure why. I think that I might have to bring it out more often.
Cheers
Digital Picket Fence
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on January 29, 2009
One week after building it, I finally had a chance to spend some quality time with Frankenlens. I started out playing with flowers and leaves from the yard but, as is usually the case, I “wandered off.”
Looking through a macro lens changes your perspective on normal objects. Under magnification our brains try to connect what we see with something within our normal frame of reference.
For me, that’s the fun of macro work. My frame of reference is largely landscape photography. When I start looking at objects on the macro level I start seeing themes and shapes. Moving the object a quarter of an inch can radically change the perspective of the image. It’s amazing how, once you let go of your normal analytical processes, you can spend hours looking at the same object. Each new view shows you something that was there all along but you never noticed.
This image was made of the connector on the edge of a laptop hard drive. The brass pins are 4mm tall. The image was cropped slightly to clean up the edges and adjust the rotation. The exposure was made on my Canon 5D, using my reversed 18-55 EF-S lens set at 55mm. The aperture was f/22 for 3/4 of a second at ISO 800. With this homebuilt macro lens the working distance is really small. I was no more than 2 inches from the subject and at 18mm it gets even smaller, a little over an inch.
Cheers
Getting closer
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on January 22, 2009
While most of what I shoot is generally classified as landscape or nature photography, I’ve always been intrigued by macro work. Since photography is only a part time thing for me sometimes real life dictates that I can’t always just take off and head to Yosemite on a whim. On those occasions I sometimes spend the afternoon “playing” with a macro lens. There’s something really interesting about seeing ordinary things on an extraordinary scale. Scratches become valleys, specs of dust become boulders, peppercorns become asteroids. There are so many details, in every day objects, that we just don’t see. Ironically macro photography, in my aquarium, was really what reignited my interest in photography.
Macro photography, by definition, is magnification of 1:1 or higher. What the ratio refers to is the size of the image projected onto the film plane or image sensor. An object at 1:1 magnification is the same size as it’s projection. At 2:1 it’s the projection is twice the size of the object in real life. Getting to 1:1 magnification generally requires some special equipment. Zoom lenses, such as my Canon 24-70 f/2.8 often say “macro” on them but that only means that they have a shorter minimum focusing distance than a non-macro version. None of the zoom lenses in that category, that I’m aware of, will get to 1:1 and therefore aren’t truly macro lenses. Generally speaking to get a true macro lens you’ll need a prime, (non zooming), lens. My favorite is the Canon 100mm f/2.8.
There are other ways to get to 1:1 magnification, which is really the point of this article….
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