a couple of shots from the new lens!

Hey everyone,

so i am totally in love with my new lens :)

i will give you a little rundown on my initial impressions;

1. the lens is built like a tank! its hefty (but not too much), seems to be made of metal, has a rubber seal at the end. the manual focus ring is very smooth and damped

2. focusing is fast and very quiet and spot on

3. images are super sharp and the color is perfect

4. lens hood is very high quality

i would like to write a full blown review at some point, maybe in the next few weeks!

i just ordered a 52mm to 62mm coupler, so i can reverse the 50mm on the front of this lens for greater magnification. that should arrive soon (i hope)

so in a few words, if you can spare the extra money, this lens is by far worth every penny! i have always believed you get what you pay for, and this glass is proof of that! 5 out 5 stars :D

here are a few shots i have taken, there is many more, but we are in the final stages of planning the reception and we have to get everything ready! once its all over, i should have some more time to make more posts :) thanks for reading, till next time!

C




'Network'




'Nothing Else Matters'




'Sol'

I am lucky, oh so lucky

Okay, just a quick note :)
sooo, got my birthday present today. My amazing, beautiful wife set up a fundraiser and pooled the money together and got me a.........

Nikon 105mm f2.8 Macro Lens!!

holy crap

this is my holy grail, i have wanted this lens forever now, and i actually own one, i cannot believe it! i will post some pics up real soon! i took about a million today just trying it out.

i want to thank all those who contributed! especially Dayna! Love you xoxox





thats all for now! i think i will get some sleep, seeing as i have to work all day tomorrow. although i would love to be out shooting with this new amazing glass...ah well, another day!!

take it easy!

C

whats new?

Hey everyone!

so, whats new, you ask? well, me and dayna have been pretty tied up getting things together for the wedding reception! its coming up fast!
in 2 days i will be turning 26! thats pretty exciting :)

i have been reorganizing my gallery, to try and categorize the images. i thought i finished the other day, but i asked dayna to go through it, and she noticed it was a bit too much! so i changed it again, i think i have got it now. its in a constant state of tweaking but its fairly close to where i want it!

hmm, what else. at work the other day, they brought a photographer in (Blair Gable) to shoot the plant and some people working for a promo. you should check out some of his stuff on his site, very good portraiture and photojournalism stuff there!

i got around to putting a couple of new images up on the gallery.

'Rise and Shine'




'Exodus'




'Rescued'




'Slow Drip'




'Swirling Daydream'





I have more black and white landscapes i did a few ago, i will put them up later!

I am off to go read a book, Dayna just got me this for my birthday 'John Shaw's Business of Nature Photography'


see you later!!

making some changes!

my site is being revamped, so the images are moved around and some of the links in this blog will not work! bear with me :)

Making use of an old flash bracket

Hi there!

just some updates:
first, i have surpassed 1000 visitors to my gallery page! :D :D :D if i had have known who was the 1000th visitor, you may have got a prize...
second, i built something cool out of an old flash bracket for macro photos!

i got the brilliant idea from the macro guru over at DGRIN, Lord Vetinari!

basically, you take your flash bracket, buy a cheap ball head at your local camera shop, and get some 1/4" bolts. then, i had to drill a hole in the top of the flash bracket to put the bolt through, i then attached the cheapo ball head to the top of the bracket. my sb-600 came with a tripod hookup, so i attached that to the top of the ballhead, then attached the flash to that, allowing me to swivel the flash around and point it in front of the lens! this cost me about $25 to do. my flash brackets handle got in the way of the bolts a bit, so i had to do some 'dremeling' of the plastic to make it fit, but it worked out wonderfully!




please forgive the quality of the images, i whipped them up in a few minutes just to show off the rig :)

i will post some test shots that i took with this beast after the weekend, i am working for the next 3 days so i wont be doing much shooting! but the weather is turning out for the better, so i will be able to find some bugs soon! *fingers crossed*

stay tuned!

The Nikon BR-2A Macro Reversing Ring

okay! i got an exciting thing in the mail the other day!
a nikon br-2a macro reversing ring!

for those that have not heard of this, it is a metal ring with a 'f mount' connector on one side, and a 52mm filter thread on the other. this allows you to reverse mount a lens onto the camera, effectively turning any lens into a macro lens, capable of 1:1 magnification. they suggest using a normal lens 50mm or so, a prime lens is ideal, also if it has an aperture ring, it makes life a lot easier.

i ordered from ebay, and it arrived from hong kong really fast! i had read online about ways to make one, involving an old uv filter, a lens body cap, epoxy, a dremel tool etc etc. i did not have the motivation to do this, and i wanted something a bit sturdier.

the br-2a is all metal and nice and chrome looking :) it was a little stiff to put on at first, but with a little coaxing it got on there. once you mount it on the body, then you just thread your lens on it like you would a normal filter.


here it is! nice and shiny


nikon lens cap and br-2a


A shot with my 50mm reversed on the camera!

first impressions:
-very fun! i went around my house taking pictures of light switch screws, peeling paint, nick knacks, and other random stuff. there is a ton of different subjects that open up to you when you can shoot like this.

-lighting is a bit of a problem. when the lens is mounted like this, metering doesnt work, and the flash needs to be set manually. after some playing around, i was able to get the best results with the lens aperture set at f/8 and the on board flash at 1/16 power. any smaller aperture and it gets hard to see the image in the viewfinder, and depending on the image you desire to take, you can go larger on the aperture, but DOF is super shallow as it is, and you may end up grossly overexposing the shot! but the fun thing about it is experimenting :) i did mess around with my sb-600 off camera, but it was really hard to hold the flash and stay steady with the camera. so until i can modify my flash bracket, thats a no go! luckily the on board flash is suitable for the time being (albeit a little flat)

-focusing takes a bit to get used to! seeing as i never used a proper macro lens before, it took a bit to get the hang of focusing with this shallow of a depth of field. basically you set the lens at infinity, then move the camera back and forth to focus. once you do it a couple of times its all good. as i mentioned earlier the DOF is so shallow, even breathing can put you out of focus. i am going to play around with mirror lock up and using my cable release once i get the flash bracket done up.

all in all, i am loving this little gizmo. i could go around my house all day finding wierd and wonderful little things to shoot. and its a blast to look at the details you can capture once you view the pics on the monitor!

for post processing these images, usually i will bump up the clarity, then sharpen in photoshop.

here are some test shots. these were taken the first day i got it, and i had no regard for composition, lighting, subject etc. these are straight out of the camera, only resized in lightroom:











final impressions:
-neat little thing to have in your camera bag! very cheap alternative to a true macro lens. but with that being said, if you are serious about macro photography, i would recommend spending the money for a true macro lens. for insects and living critters, with a reversed lens, you need to be really close to focus, this could scare them away. for flowers and still life subjects, this is an okay setup, but still, metering and ttl flash support is pretty handy, and you just dont have it with this.
all in all, i like the extra versatility this gives me, and it will for sure tide me over until i get my nikon 105mm VR (!). i have plans for that lens when i get it as well :) i am looking to get a full set of extension tubes, then use the 105mm vr, then reverse the 50mm on the end of that! it should be crazy :D

well, i hope you enjoyed my little review! and here is one final shot i took yesterday of a sluggish housefly on my windowsill. i converted it to HDR because i thought it was a little bland in its original state (which you can see here)





take care everyone!!

added a few new pictures

hello! so my weekend was quite busy. friday was a write off seeing as i just got off the overnight shift. saturday we went to a friends house for dinner and ate a lot of food and hung out with the kids! sunday, we got our dog trained by "Barkbusters". It worked out quite well, and we are seeing a big improvment!

i did get some time to work on some pictures though. we will get to them in a minute. but first, i sold 2 more prints!! thats really good news and i am really happy to see my work go up on more peoples walls!

i also ordered a Nikon BR-2A reversing ring to tide me over until i get a macro lens :) once it arrives, i will post some pictures up for all to see!

without further adieu, here are the 3 new pictures i put up last night!




'Silk'




'Scorched Earth'




'Venting Spirits'


Hope you enjoy, as always, if you pop by the gallery, don't be shy and sign the guestbook or leave some comments! i always love to hear from you!

see ya next time!
C

New pictures will be up this weekend!

Hey all,
just wanted to give a quick update, i am working on some new pictures to add to the gallery this weekend! so stay tuned, i will add some links once they are up!

nothing else is really new, my lovely wife got me these a few days ago, so i am playing around with them, i think will make some neat effects with macro photos, water drops and other things.

i am also planning to get an infrared filter soon as well. i have been able to reproduce the effect in post processing sometimes, but i want the real thing :)

in the future, when i upgrade to a new body, i will keep my d80, and get it modified for solely IR use!! but thats a long ways off, unless i win the lottery or sell a lot more prints (hint hint :) )

anyways, i have to work tonight (ugh) and there is lots of cleaning to do around the house, and i need to work out!

also, my condolences go out to the family of my Si-Kung, Grand Master Sunny Tang (Dunn Wah) of Scarborough, whose mother recently passed.

take care everyone
C

An update

Hey everyone, so i have had a pretty busy couple of weeks...we went to toronto and dunnville, ontario last weekend to visit my grandmother and my uncle! we had a really good time as always! There is a link in the sidebar to his blog "talking about cancer" that is a very good read. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer about 7 years ago, he thought he got rid of it, but it came back again. The worst things always happen to the best people. He is such a strong person. it really makes you think about the important things in life and that would be family, friends, and just making the most out of everything.
My aunt and uncle were generous enough to invite us back for a few days around easter! so that will be fun. and that weekend is also my wife's birthday, so it will be a good time. anyways, i am off now, i just got home from a night shift, and need to eat! hopefully there will be some new pictures uploaded to my gallery later this week! stay tuned

to my uncle doug, you are an inspiration! stay strong, we love you very much and will see you soon!

C

some new pictures up!

hey all!

as you may have noticed, the layout of this page is ever changing. i am trying to match it as closely as possible to my gallery pages so the transition is barely noticeable. i think it is coming along nicely! i am getting a lot of help from Denise Goldberg (website here) who is an avid poster and blog customization expert at Dgrin (the Smugmug users forum). So thanks again Denise!

Well, i have put up some new images to my gallery! a few in the 'Landscape' page and finally a couple in the 'Break from the Norm' page.

be sure to check them out!




'No Escape'




'Tree of Life'




'Mystic'

Enjoy, and talk to you later

C