Blooms

I admit it, I like taking pictures of flowers. I really like their colors and contrast. I don't have a macro lens (yet) though so these are done with normal non-macro ones. We begin with this:

More blooms as we go along.

53 Week Photography Projects Week 12: Gathering

My shot for this week's theme. I call it 'Yum!'.

This was from a family barbeque at my fourth brother's home. All home cooked goodness. Nothing beats charred meat I always say!

A walk around Austria and an adieu to the Canon G9

Yesterday I, at long last, managed to sell my Canon Powershot G9. I sold it to my friend at only a token amount. I then took a look at some of the photos I took with it since 2008. Among them is this collection which I finally decided to process and upload. I have to say that based on these shots, the Canon G9 is a very good camera indeed.

Full set of pictures here

My kids

Like any hobbyist who has kids, Matthew and Madelyn (Little PixelNewbie and Little Ms. PixelNewbie) are my primary models for my photos. For the last 2 weeks, I've been making the conscious effort to bring my camera whenever the family heads out. I only pack 2 prime lenses: the Canon 50mm f1.2L and the Sigma 30mm f1.4.

The 50mm f1.2 is relatively slow to focus which makes shooting a running subject a challenge. For the shot below, I had to get Matthew to run back and forth a few times to get a decently sharp image.

I think the following shot could have benefited from my Canon 70-200 f2.8 which will allow for a clearer separation of the subject and the background. If I didn't have a big belly getting in the way (or if Canon's LiveView wasn't such a POS), I would also have wanted more trees than steps by shooting from an even lower angle. Decent enough due to my kids' expressions though.

The 2 lenses I brought are actually more suitable for close-up portraits like so:

This one just begged to be in B&W. :)

53 Week Photography Projects Week 11: Music

Week 11's theme is 'Music'. I call mine 'Music critic'.

This was taken a few years back when I was still using the Sony A550. This was shot with the Sony 50mm f1.4 (which was basically my always mounted lens). My boy started stuffing his ears with tissue when one of the aunts in the family gathering started to Karaoke. Fun stuff.

53 Week Photography Projects Week 10: Wind

This is my entry for Week 10: Wind. Also taken during the Hokkaido trip in December 2010 like some of the previous photos.

There was a snow storm going on and I took this shot in the relative safety of the tour bus. I have to say that the lens (Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L) is very impressive: I took this standing inside the wobbly bus, shooting from behind a panel of glass, with the bus actually turning away from the subject and handheld.

I also have new found respect for dog owners. :D

53 Week Photography Projects Week 9: Texture

I missed out on Week 8's 'Memories' because I tried to take a new photo based on the week's theme. I gave up as I simply don't have the time to walk around with my camera to look for something decent to shoot. So I decided to join according to the spirit of the group: to contribute a photo each week based on the theme of the week.

This is my Week 9 entry: Texture.

Much like Week 7's entry, I took this when I was on a trip to Hokkaido, Japan in December 2010. This was from a shop that sold snacks and fruits.

Oh, BTW, the 'Texture' here is 'slimy' :D

Marketing trip to Carrefour

First time doing this. People were staring but who cares. The lighting was decent and I didn't zoom at all so I had the iPhone really close to the fruits. I even had my whole arm and phone inside the fridge for the shot of the ice cream. :D

These were exported to Lightroom for some simple tweaking: crop, adjusting the clarity, reducing noise and mild sharpening. Many praise the iPhone 4's camera but it only really works well in good lighting. I'll never replace it with even a decent point and shoot to be honest.

Full set of pictures here

Nikon 1... really?

By now, everyone has seen Nikon's entry into the mirrorless digital camera market, which is currently dominated by Olympus. I still don't understand Nikon's rationale of developing a sensor size that's between Olympus/Panasonic's 4/3 and compact cameras. While it's fast to focus, has interchangeable lenses and is pretty small (even though the V1 is really even bigger than the Olympus EP-3), you can't really fight against physics here. A small sensor just doesn't produce images as nice as the 4/3 or APS-C sensors. There's just no way.

Sure it's acceptable, but when is acceptable good enough? And why would a home user (which Nikon keeps emphasizing is their target market) choose the Nikon 1 over any of the 4/3 line of cameras when they are priced the same?

With Nikon's entry, Canon is now the only major manufacturer who hasn't jumped onto the mirrorless bandwagon. Some say they won't at all, some say it's a matter of time. Me, I'm looking to upgrade to a Full Frame sensor DSLR so while a more portable APS-C sensor camera that can take my EF/EF-S lens sounds incredibly cool, I think I'll hold out for the Canon 5DMkIII instead. :D