Fense Tree Leaves

Fense Tree Leaves

Canon 30D - Canon 50mm f/1.4 @ 50mm

1/200 seconds - f/1.4 - ISO 200

Shot Handheld

click on image to enlarge

This is my first foray with the Nik Silver Efex Pro software. The Photoshop plug-in version is wonderful. I chose a simulated firm grain to go with my rendition of fall. I’m a sucker for black and white pictures. This picture of Fall really goes well with color, with the really saturated yellow levels and the deep textured browns of the tree but there’s something to be said about black and white. Monochrome just makes it more special, more legitimate.

Mood: Creative

Music: John Coltrane - Greensleeves

Location: Home Studio

Wise Words 12/20/2009

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. ~ Ansel Adams

Sensor Schmutz

For at least the last three months, I’ve blogged about the schmutz on my camera sensor. Those landscape shots, at least for me, require some small @ss aperture settings. Shooting at f/18 or even f/20 has repeatedly revealed some bad schmutz on my sensor. Argh. Anyhow, I thought getting a sensor scope kit from Delkin would help me address the problem. Having to drive down to the Canon Service Center in Irvine for a new cleaning isn’t a user friendly routine solution.

The night before I was going to catch Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise, I sat there and thoroughly cleaned my sensor and the lenses I expected to use the next day. I leveraged the sensor scope to the best of my abilities and was convinced that I had a reasonably clean sensor.

Having performed what I thought was an adequate cleaning job on my sensor before my Golden Gate Bridge session, I came home to a disappointing set of spots. Lots of them. Way too many of them. They were like photo locust (opening photo of a swarm of locust has been withdrawn due to a personal aversion to locust) Argh. Having to spend more than 20 minutes on spotting is a total buzz kill and a creative flow chi killer.

I’m thinking I’m pretty incompetent but not that incompetent. I know I had a beer or a glass of while while cleaning but not enough to compromise my overall senses. I know I probably changed a lens or two during the shooting session but I didn’t do the lens change in a hurricane, typhoon, or sandstorm. The amount of spots was ridiculous. Then I got smart. Duh. I made a new realization. The schmutz isn’t on the consumer friendly side (the side I can get to why my cheap tools) of the low pass filter. The schmutz is on the, I need a dayam camera repairman, inner side of the low pass filter – the area between the sensor and the filter. In addition, it took me, to my dismay, about two hours to adequately convince the customer service representative that the schmutz was on the pricier side of the fence and this was going to be a complicated cleaning job. Luckily, in the waiting area, the was the newest edition of EF Lens Work III The Eye of EOS for me to thumb through. Oh wells, the timing worked out to my benefit. I was able to make it to a very generous dinner.

I dropped the camera off on Tuesday, December the 15th. I still haven’t received a come and get your dayam undirty camera call back. Must be a really complicated fix it job. Hopefully, the camera will come back clean. Please!

On a secondary note, my new and improved 5D Mark II showed up in the mail. They shipped that bad boy from Japan. How authentic. However, not being completely confident that the camera would actually show up (backorder situation), I didn’t do my usual pre-purchase of important accessories for the Mark II. Well, over the last few days, I pulled the trigger on a Canon OEM battery grip, an additional Canon OEM battery, and a L plate from Really Right Stuff. All that stuff added up quickly. Dayam. But this is a chosen hobby, not one that crashed in my realm of reality. I voluntarily do this for my own existence. And I’m enjoying this to the Nth degree. Happy shooting all!

Black Friday Cyber Monday

Black Friday - Canon 5D Mark II

Cyber Monday Surprise - Canon 85mm F 1.2 Mark II

I have to say, I’m pretty content with my Holiday season inspired purchases. Having emotionally set my mind on purchasing a Canon 1Ds Mark III, I was able to shift my purchasing decision and got the above two items. I even came in under budget. I’d like to offer an anonymous thank you for the sales person at Samy’s Fairfax. She said something to me that made a lot of sense. She suggested I buy the newest technology. Cameras are like computers and they do lose value quickly. Well, the main reason why I ended up getting these two things versus the Canon 1Ds Mark III was the incredible price I got for the 5D Mark II. The Chinaman in me couldn’t pass up the incredible deal. More shooting fun. Pat and CC will be the beneficiary of my new acquisitions.

The lens was something I've wanted for a long @ss time. I've been scoping this lens for over 18 months. After seeing David duChemin sport it in one of his pictures, I was lusting big time. I'm glad the lusting is over with. Having acquired the lens at a remarkable price (got very lucky with the price), I am able to sleep soundly. I suppose, losing those two auctions for the 1Ds Mark III was a blessing. Not being able to buy that camera enabled me to see these two wonderful deals. Sometimes, not getting what you initially wanted is a good thing.

Mood: Content

Music: Mariposa (En Havana)/ Si*Sé

Location: Home Studio