Category: DSLR

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Blue Eyes

The last few weeks I’ve put my Leica aside and spent most of the time shooting with my Nikon D800E.  It has taken time getting accustomed to it because I’ve gotten so used to using a manual focus camera.  The Nikon D800E is a very large camera in comparison to my Leica and even though I like the picture quality, my Leica will still be at my side the majority of the time.  I love the challenge shooting with a manual focus camera.  Also, I find it at times more difficult to shoot in autofocus because it doesn’t necessarily focus on what I want it to.

 Here’s a recent picture of my beautiful baby girl.  We were heading out for a wagon ride and the light coming into the garage really accentuated her beautiful blue eyes.  She definitely got them from mommy.

ISO 100 1/160’s f1.4 85mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 85mm f1.4, Aperture, Color Efex)

 

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Going on a wagon ride

Here is a perfect example of how you can break the rule in photography that says that your subject shouldn’t be in the middle of your picture.  The use of my wifes arm and body allowed for an excellent “framing” of my subject, my beautiful baby girl.

ISO 100 1/125’s f1.4 85mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 85mm f1.4, Aperture)

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Faith & Storm – Olympus OM-D settings

I’ve posted a video displaying my micro 4/3 lenses and my routine setup for my Olympus OM-D.  You can view it here.

Recently, a lot of storms have crossed our area.  One evening I drove out to an old cemetery (I’ve posted a prior picture here) and shot some long exposures with my Nikon D800E.  This is a 6 second shot.  I really like the clouds.

ISO 100 f2.8 6’s 14mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, single image, HDR Efex 2, Photoshop CS6, Aperture)

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Demolished Church (soon to be)

 My brother-in-law drove me around the back roads of Southern Illinois looking for old churches and homes.  We came across this church that was originally built-in the late 1800’s.  Unfortunately, it will soon be demolished because it is no longer in use (this is a common occurrence in this part of the U.S.).

P.S. This is my first attempt of a HDR with the Nikon D800E (9 exposures).

ISO 100 f8 14mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, HDR Efex 2, Color Efex 4, Photoshop CS6, Apple Aperture)

 

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3 Monuments part 2 (yes, it was taken with a DSLR)

Almost 2 years ago I said good-bye to all my Canon DSLR gear with the assumption I would never buy another one.  Earlier this year Nikon introduced the D800 and D800E.  What caught my eye was the 36 megapixel full frame sensor.  My first thought was “wow”, a full frame camera with the picture size of a medium format camera.  I immediately placed a pre-order but shortly after cancelled it.  I’ve been debating a lot if I really wanted to go back in this direction but after reading all the reviews, I came to the decision that my love for landscape photography warranted another attempt.

Last week, I finally came across one (Best Buy online)and purchased along with Nikon’s popular 14-24mm f2.8 wide angle lens.  I have not had much opportunity to shoot with it yet but so far I’m surprisingly impressed.  I don’t like the size but for landscape I can tolerate it.   Over the next months, I’ll continue to post pics and my opinion.

Here is another shot of the cemetery taken at a farther distance.  It was taken hand-held with my Nikon D800E and 14-24mm lens.  I was very impressed after realizing the ISO was 6400.  I think for that high of ISO, the quality is acceptable (I did use Define 2.0 for Noise Reduction).

P.S.  My Leica M9 will not be going anywhere and will still always be kept very closely to my side.

ISO 6400 1/8’s f2.8 20mm (Nikon D800E, Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, Photoshop CS6, Color Efex 4, Aperture 3.3)

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