nikongod

I've been saying it for years.

congrats!

I know nothing about scooters/motorcycles, but I really like this photo: So New York... by 708718, on Flickr

Happy Birthday Scott!

Happy Birthday Justin!

The other day I ordered a Brompton. It will be here in 2 months. I hope.

If anyone is interested, onesaleaday.com has Rokinon lenses on sale today. 8mm, 14mm, 35mm, 85mm... yummy.

In one sentence: Unless you are very careful you wind up with a photo of "lots of nothing." For example: half of the photo is a pretty uniformly bland sky or similarly uninteresting fore-ground. A whole lot of who cares with your subject way off in the distance. After that crop to what you would have gotten with a 20-24ish lens. So why not have moar megapixels, less weight, and moar-good-optics and just shoot the 20 or 24? The really wide FOV makes it a bit harder than normal to keep crap from casually creeping into the corners/edges of the image but this usually manageable. The DOF is always "whoa a lot" so you can not rely on the background going out of focus to force attention back into your subject. These characteristics/problems/challenges are still there with the 20 or even 24, they are just not as difficult to deal with. When you shoot the 14mm lens "right" it is amazing. It does really well in confined spaces (Cubicles or other very small rooms, closets, cars, etc) or when you are outside just remember to fill the frame with your subject* which usually requires getting VERY close. In crowded cities this is actually a good thing - by the time you are far enough from the bull on wallstreet to get it all in with a 28mm a tourist grabs its balls... The weird perspective shifting the lens does is also a cool thing in the city. Making people look larger than buildings and whatnot. If you have not read it, read the Ken Rockwell article on ultrawide angle lenses. Take it with a pinch of salt, 'cause he is Ken Rockwell, but it is one of very few articles on how to shoot ultrawides. *yes, photography 101, I just find I need to make a very conscious effort of it with this lens.

I use my 24mm prime a ZILION times more than I use the 14. Shooting the 14mm lens is hard. On that note, any time (except for the weekend of June22) you want to borrow my Rokinon 14mm for a week or so you are welcome to it.

I went to the Red Hook Criterium in the Brooklyn Navy yard with Nechama over the weekend. Red Hook Crit by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr Red Hook Crit by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr Red Hook Crit by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr The guy in the the Rockstar energy drink kit works for her. Click through for more.

I went to the Red Hook Crit with Nechama over the weekend. Red Hook Crit by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr Red Hook Crit by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr Red Hook Crit by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr The bike race should be in the golden hour. That would make me happy. Click through for more.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Remembering by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr From a few weeks ago.

Happy Birthday Miguel!

I took some photos: aaR0018957 by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr aa_DSC3957 by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr aa_DSC3841 by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr

This. Except I'm not sure that there are any ultrawide DX primes. 14mm is the widest *commonly available* rectilinear prime I know of in SLR mount. That being said, the 21-23mmFOV from putting a 14mm lens on a DX body is a pretty fun FOV.

Happy Birthday Brent!

I have a Tamron 90F2.8macro. So not the same, but I do have a complaint that I think applies to most macro lenses when used as portrait lenses: AF is very slow. At normal portrait range (7-20ft), your subject could die of old age before the lens focuses. If you leave the lens set to "full range" and it hunts grab a beer and come back later. If your subject is moving (I like to shoot street) it is almost hopeless. The above is slightly exaggerated. That being said, the 90 is incredibly sharp any way you shoot it. If you are shooting macro ALWAYS manually focus. Murphy's law dictates that whatever you want to focus on will be between focus points. If it happens to be exactly at a focus point there wont be enough contrast to focus... sometimes the old fashioned way is easier. Fucking Flickr.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Happy Birthday!

Thanks Everyone!

You have been here too long to think this is a headphone forum.

GIMP is free. And it does fractional opacity which can be cool if you want to stack lots of layers. BUT the user interface is about as rough as photoshop. You may be able to find standalone software or a GIMP plugin that does all of the actual work here for you, I have not looked. I only have 2gb of RAM. My method is: I stack 5 shots then merge. Then repeat until I have a bunch of "stacks of 5" Then I stack all of those. This keeps the number of layers you are working with at any time nice and low which should help with limited RAM/processing power. Keeping the number of layers low also makes remembering the opacity values easy. A couple stacks: Night falls on lower Manhattan by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr Grand Central Terminal, take 2 by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr Grand Central Terminal by Lord Nikon 12, on Flickr

I think you will like this article & the technique it outlines: http://www.verdantvista.com/gallery.php?doc=tut9 It buys you some flexibility and is probably easier than trying to get digital to shot clean for 5min.

Happy Birthday Shelly!