The Roving Photographer

So Rare As A Day In …

Paul Sevensky — Sat, 26 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Although the poet James Russell Lowell asks, “And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days;” — I’d like to cast a vote for late April and early May as well. I have previously posted light-and-shadow examples because the contrasting moods fascinate me, but the blooms of spring add even more impact to one of my favorite styles of photographic expression.

The Inner Light

Although tulips are quite common, I found the angle of the light reaching into the petals and setting them partially aglow a particularly striking contrast to the shadows of the outer edges of the petals.This is an afternoon sun and while it was quite strong, the fragile petals diffused it well. I thought the added touch of red from the bloom behind it and the light-to-dark progression of the background made a pleasing statement.

Another Bloom

Not being a botanist, I’m not sure of the type of bloom I have captured in the image above, but I did like the contrast of the pure white with the orange of the leaves and the deep shadow of the background. I thought the sliver of light along the edge of the stem provided a attractive compositional element.

Finally, there’s this image taken at Tobyhanna State Park. A more expert source tells me this is likely a wild azalea. No matter its name, the bloom is delicate and a welcome companion along the park’s Lakeside Trail at this time of year.

Wild Azalea?

This is a much softer light-and-shadow contrast, but I found it interesting. I tried to match the symmetry of the blossom by framing the two stems in the background to serve as “ladies-in-waiting” to this regal blossom.

What is so rare as a day in June? A day in April or May, I’d say. Definitely.

Simple Clicks – Serenity

Brent Pennington — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:30:00 +0000

If serenity looked like anything, I think it would look like this. Slight ripples in a lake at sunrise. Just enough texture to be interesting, with soft colors. Just the sounds of nature.

(Impressed yet? I have a writing degree, after all

Actually, it’s hard to attach words to an experience like this. It’s quiet and simple and difficult to describe, but very enjoyable.

Geese, on the other hand, are not normally very peaceful. Although in this case, the family of them cruising the lake were quiet and seemed to fit right in.

At this point I’m pretty sure I’m babbling like a moron. So I’ll stop. Just enjoy the photos.

My thoughts on the Panasonic 12-35mm

Brent Pennington — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Image Credit: DPReview.com

A few people have asked me if I’ll be getting one of the newly announced Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 lenses for my OM-D. The lens was only announced earlier this week and is already apparently on Amazon’s list of most-ordered lenses, which is no surprise.

For all its strengths, the m4:3 system currently suffers from a lack of fast, versatile zooms. The 12-35 represents the first effort to address this hole, as this lens will fill the slot of the 24-70mm lenses in the Canon and Nikon systems, which are generally the primary working lenses of pro photographers.

I had a Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 for my EOS system and it was frequently in my bag on gigs. But here’s the thing – I wasn’t in love with it. I bought it, and kept it, because it’s the lens I was supposed to have. Granted, it does cover a useful range with a fast aperture, but it was never thrilling to use.

It was my lazy lens. I grabbed it when I wasn’t sure what I’d be shooting, or what the conditions would be. Or I’d throw it in the bag along with the telephoto and 50mm prime, just in case. But I never reached for it specifically. (And I wasn’t terribly sad to see it go when I switched systems.)

So will I be getting the Panasonic 12-35mm? Not planning on it. Which doesn’t mean I won’t end up with it at some point in the future – it is popular due to its usefulness, after all. But for at least the foreseeable future, I’d rather stick with a good, fast wide-angle, a couple of excellent primes, and a fast telephoto.

(The telephoto is the other place the m4:3 system is lacking, but Panasonic is apparently coming out with a 35-100mm f/2.8 to compliment the 12-35. That lens will take the place of the classic 70-200 lenses, which I miss terribly. The moment they release the 35-100mm, I’ll be the first in line for one!)

Simple Clicks – Olympus M. Zuiko ED 45mm f/1.8

Brent Pennington — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Image Credit: Olympus USA

This isn’t a review – I’ll one of those at some point in the near(ish) future. What this is is a quick sample of photos and a few preliminary thoughts on this lens, which arrived a little over a week ago. Like the Leica 25mm I mentioned last time, this lens is also hard to find, as it’s proving to be very popular with m4:3 users due to its excellent performance.

With the 2x sensor factor, this is a 90mm equivalent, which makes it essentially the same as the 85mm lenses that are always popular among portrait photographers. That’s how I started using it, at least after a fashion – although instead of shooting head shots of people, I did my initial shooting down at Hillside Farms. Chickens, after all, being generally more open to posing than many people I know. (Although I did end up getting a few good portraits of Mandy towards the end!)

For starters, the lens is tiny. Even the box it comes in is tiny. Unfortunately, it’s also constructed of plastic, unlike it’s brother, the Olympus 12mm. So while it feels fairly well put-together, it lacks the impression of ruggedness you’d hope to find in a lens. (It also comes without a lens hood – thanks Olympus. But $9 on eBay got me a screw-on metal hood that makes it easier to keep the front element protected.)

What it may lack in build, however, it certainly makes up for in performance. Here’s a close-up portrait of Mandy, which clearly shows the optical strengths:

And another, more 3/4 length:

The following images are all straight from the camera, except for being saved as JPGs. All are linked to larger versions – just click on them. The first shows just how shallow the DOF is, when the subject is near minimum focus distance. Trying to anticipate where the ant would be when I tripped the shutter, I actually got a little ahead of him and he’s just outside the plane of focus:

Here’s a pair of shots that shows the DOF wide-open at 1.8 vs. stopped down to f/3.5. Whereas wide-open, focusing on someone wearing glass could be tricky, by about f/4 I’d expect it would no longer be a problem:

And a final shot to show the sharpness of the lens:

So after all that evidence of the lens’ performance, what’s my verdict? I don’t think I’ll be keeping it.

Surprised? I am too. But here’s the thinking: despite being small, sharp, and fast, 45mm doesn’t blow me away the way the Leica Summilux 25mm does. The colors aren’t as vibrant or alive and I find they actually need a boost in post-processing. The images just don’t sing the same way. And I find myself wanting more reach than it offers. I’ve used it several more times since taking the images for this post, and I keep coming back to the same conclusion each time – despite being a very strong performer, it just isn’t the right lens for me. It’s on its way out, and I plan on replacing it with the coming Olympus 75mm f/1.8.

Dropping In

Paul Sevensky — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Water fascinates me, whether it be the large scale of a thundering waterfall or, in this case, just a few well-placed droplets left by rain or dew. Properly exposed and framed, those water droplets add a dynamic statement to any photo.

All In A Row

These droplets were left from a recent overnight rain in my mother’s backyard. The midday sun was just starting to emerge from behind clouds, but these leaves were still well shaded. I was again using my 75-300mm as a closeup lens; to me it looks like these water droplets were on the march up the curve of the leaf, led by the largest drop — almost like a family.This other shot is from Tobyhanna State Park, and in this case, it’s an early morning light on these tender droplets just suspended from the tips of the foliage — almost like ornaments on a Christmas tree.

Just Hangin' On

No doubt within minutes the strengthening sun would begin evaporating these small light-catchers and they would plunk to the ground below. While they lasted, they made a pleasing image against the backdrop of the darkened lake shoreline.

In the dark

Brent Pennington — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

So photo excursions don’t always work out as planned. After my last successful night of astrophotography, I was excited to head out again and try to capture some more night-time landscapes at a new location. But a combination of factors came together and shot some holes in that plan.

The photo above is the best of the night, and definitely a departure from what I had planned. It’s fireflies, blinking their way through the tall grass near the parking lot at Fords Pond. I saw a photo like this in National Geographic a few months ago and loved it, but wasn’t sure how to go about capturing it myself. I guess the first step was “find a field of fireflies.”

The overall composition is pretty lousy; it just isn’t an engaging scene. Call it a proof of concept shot. The fireflies caught me off-guard and by the time I had figured out the exposure (long) and started trying to find a good angle, the fireflies spread out and the chance was past. The good news is, it’s a new challenge for me to tackle and I’m definitely up for it. The first step? Do some research on fireflies and figure out where, and when, to find a good mess of them again. Then lock down a scenic location and put that knowledge to good use, likely with multiple exposures merged in PS.

I did manage to grab a shot of the treeline with Venus as it was setting – this is another multi-frame composite, brought into Photoshop and merged. I’ve got to refine this one a little – there are gaps in the star trails in between the exposures, which amazes me a little, since I shot them back to back. But apparently a few seconds is all it takes.

The image I wanted was a recreation of one I shot a while back, of the starfield behind my favorite tree at Fords, which stands at the edge of a hayfield. Given the E-M5’s astro abilities, I had hoped to capture some longer star trails.

Unfortunately, this is where things broke down. It seems that “progress” has made it there as well.

The southwestern view is now marred by a distant but very bright light, which washes out the entire sky along that horizon. No low or mid-height stars, and certainly no ghost of the Milky Way. The image I had hoped to recreate is no longer possible.

It’s a little depressing to return to a favorite shooting spot only to find it corrupted. The image below shows the results: barely any stars visible at all, even up high. I could go on about light pollution, the startling waste of energy each night as individuals and businesses pump photons into the sky – but I’ll stop now, before I bore anyone to death. Suffice to say, it is a problem that’s rarely acknowledged.

At any rate, it turned out to be a less-perfect night compared to the first outing. There was a high-level haze that moved in soon after and cut down the starlight. My last few exposures didn’t come out and we wrapped it up without any amazing captures. Maybe next time.

Simple Clicks – Bald Eagle (and the power of post-processing)

Brent Pennington — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Click to view full-res JPG

Just a simple click here, and it’s more about the performance of the Olympus E-M5 than about the Eagle itself. I shot this several weeks back and sort of forgot about it. It’s not a good shot – I was working around the side of the pond to get as near as possible to the eagle. There was no way to get a shot from along the shore due to branches, but some park regulars told me that the Eagle usually tolerated people hiking on the trail under this particular tree, so I gave it a try.

I only got one shot before he took off. Against an overcast sky, bright gray, in Evaluative metering mode, it was a crap shot. The eagle was more of a silhouette. But I saved the shot and played around with it in ACR and was pleasantly surprised – even amazed – at how much I was able to recover. It’s still a crap shot; I certainly wouldn’t put it in my portfolio, or usually even share it here. But I figured that some of you might find it interesting, in terms of sensor performance on the new Olympus. Given the amount of fill light I dumped into it, coupled with a boost of exposure and brightness, it doesn’t look too bad.

The E-M5′s sensor may be small, but I don’t find it at all lacking in guts.

Loud and Low

Paul Sevensky — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

We hear a lot about the differences between men and women, and that would seem to equally apply to other members of the animal kingdom, including birds.

The male Red Winged Blackbird captured here at Ford’s Pond was blasting forth with his best conk-la-ree! call; I think if you could scale the intensity of his call to a larger creature, you might think of the trumpeting of an elephant.

Guys Are Loud!

I had to be content with a somewhat “artificial” environment look to this photo, since he was perched on a parking lot bumper with pavement in the background, but except for him not being on a high perch, the shot is still indicative of the bird’s behavior, as the Cornell University All About Birds site says, “leaning forward, drooping their wings, spreading their tail feathers, and fluffing their bright shoulder patches to show them off.”

The female, on the other hand, in addition to its having a muted brown streaked coloring, is a mere whisper compared to her male counterpart.

The Quiet Female

Here is the female, pensively perched on a reed. Again according to All About Birds, the female’s response to the male call is “a series of three to five short chit or check notes.”

Maybe she’s trying to tell him “Pipe down already!”

Simple Clicks – Goose Head

Paul Sevensky — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

It seems like Canadian Geese (along with their droppings) are everywhere I look in Northeastern PA this year — all of the usual water spots I frequent, such as Lackawanna State Park, Ford’s Pond and Merli-Sarnoski Park. I’d pretty much taken to ignoring them in search of more elusive targets like eagles and herons, but when this one struck up a pose nearby, I decided to get a closeup portrait.

Head Game

With an extremely bright background, he appears almost monochromatic; the little bit of background detail came from a little post-production adjusting. I was very happy with the sharpness and the eye glint seems to impart some character. I guess the moral here is don’t discount any opportunity for a shot, even with a familiar subject.

Oh Venus…

Paul Sevensky — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Whatever role the goddess Venus plays in the fortunes of love, as Frankie Avalon’s song suggests, the planet Venus makes a lovely astronomical object that dominates the night sky, outshining everything other than the moon and the sun. Venus at its brightest has prompted reports of UFOs and other celestial phenomena.

Venus at Twilight

I took this picture of the celestial queen on the grounds of Keystone College’s Cupillari Observatory as the twilight began fading. Overall, the balance of the lighting and the framing are acceptable, but next time I will be trying to make improvements. This was a 25-second exposure at f4.5, ISO 200. Venus is blazing at -4.46 magnitude, overwhelming the nearby star Elnath in the constellation Taurus, which is shining at a rather pedestrian +1.62 magnitude.

A second picture I took of Venus and Elnath from approximately the same vantage point as the sky darkened was disappointing, but instructive. Again it was a 25-second exposure, this time at f5.3, ISO 800. It didn’t have quite the impact I thought it originally had in the image review screen, but I think I understood where to go from here.

Venus at Night

One of the problems, of course, is that with Venus as bright as it is, exposing for the foreground tree will tend to blow out the disk of the planet. I need to experiment further to find a more appropriate exposure value.

Oh Venus…I’ll get you next time.

The Roving Photographer

So Rare As A Day In …

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Simple Clicks – Serenity

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My thoughts on the Panasonic 12-35mm

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Simple Clicks – Olympus M. Zuiko ED 45mm f/1.8

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Dropping In

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In the dark

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Simple Clicks – Bald Eagle (and the power of post-processing)

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Loud and Low

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Oh Venus…

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