Project 50 - Week 4 - Abrupt Change

Project 50 - Week 4
Concept - Flying High Sunny Day

Due to circumstances beyond our control (epic accident on highway causing major delay getting back home), I was unable to take the remaining pictures of the Berkeley Kite Festival today.  As such, I don't feel I have enough suitable photos to make a project, so on to Alternate Project #1, Sunny Day!  This is a collection of shots of a remarkably happy sunflower hanging our at my mother's house. 

Not quite kites, I know, but I still think quite a few of these shots came out well.  I tried to get some fish-eye shots (note: When using a fish-eye, be careful of your fingers!) as well, but the lens is totally manual and I have still not quite mastered it! 

Enjoy! 

(photos will also be posted to anttree.org site within a day or two). 

Project 50 - Week 2 - Rooftop Panoramic

Project 50 - Week 2
Subject: Rooftop Panoramic


Although the weather wasn't quite as supportive as I like, I did complete this weeks project - my Rooftop Panoramic!  This panoramic is comprised of 13 photographs, and shows the view from our apartment's roof.  I tried to be consistent in taking the photographs (focal length, aperture, and shutter speed), as to make the photos all have the same look and feel before combining them.  One odd effect, that I did not expect, was the "curved" aspect of the center part of the shot.  I believe this effect occurred because I was walking along the edges of the roof taking pictures so the shots were not taken from the same "plane" as each other (unlike the first two tests, where I did not really move while taking the photos). Either way, I think the effect is quite interesting, a sort of "mock-fisheye-lens" look.

The overall size of this photo, if printed, would be 8" x 38" (over 3' long!).  I might look into seeing how much it would cost to get a print this large, perhaps on canvas (so I wouldn't have to cut a mat-board or try and find a frame for it!).  I hope you all like it, as before it is a bit of a large picture so to see the large version, click on the small thumbnail picture below and then once it loads click on it again to expand it to the larger size.

Enjoy!

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Photo 365 - Day 233 (Fake Fisheye)

Day 233 (February 21th, 2011)
Title: Fake Fisheye

Fisheye lenses are one of the coolest, if not strangest, lenses in the "photographers arsenal".  Basically, they are super wide angle (5mm-18mm), and make these strange "round" shots.  The edges are blurred and rounded due to the outer-most lens element (it's a large convex piece of glass).  Because of said element, the lenses are crazy-expensive, also because of their short focal length, most "consumer" digital cameras can't use them (it's all scientifical, but lets just say, unless you own one of those crazy-expensive Nikon's or Canon's, your dreams of a fisheye lens are on hold.) 

I call this one Fake Fisheye because... well, no reason really, I just wanted to talk about fisheye lenses, and since I don't have to take a fisheye photo with, I figured any ol' photo will do!  This shot was taken at Mascone Center in San Francisco, near the Zeum (great place for kids!). 

Technical bits: f/10 at 1/250th using ISO 100.  Using ISO 100 really helped reduce the noise, so I highly recommend lowering your ISO to the lowest you can get - it makes post-production much easier! 

Enjoy