Strobist

My friend Ben gave me a link to an awesome blog called Strobist today. The author teaches you how to effectively use lighting. Thanks Ben!

Now I just need a Flash...

The NIfty Fifty

These are some of the pictures I took over the weekend using my new Canon 50mm f/1.8 II. I've never actually used a lens/camera that didn't have zoom capabilities so it was a little awkward at first, but once I started running around and "zooming with my feet" I had a blast! I took these pictures at Eric's cabin. It was in the middle of the day, and we we're all hanging out on the back deck where the light was diffused by both the deck itself and the surrounding trees. The weather was absolutely perfect at about 70 degrees with a light breeze and I was in a blissfully happy and creative mood, so I started taking pictures!

Shot Details: Canon Rebel XT with a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II at f2, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec

There are a couple things that really stood out to me about this lens.

First, it's incredibly sharp in comparison to my kit lens. Almost too sharp! It definitely captures all the bumps and blemishes on people's skin and unfortunately, those are distracting. As you can probably already tell, I had to do a little bit of retouching. I used Adobe Photoshop's spot healing and patch tools to remove blemishes and then the median noise filter to smooth the skin a bit. I found a really cool tutorial on skin smoothing.

Second, the wide aperture allowed me to create some nice and pleasant blurred backgrounds (Bokeh!). Unfortunately, while I was taking pictures I was so focused on creating those nice backgrounds that I failed to realize that some of the facial features might turn out blurry. For example, in the above picture, Allie's right eye is noticeably blurry in comparison to her left eye. If I stopped the aperture down a bit I probably could have kept the blurry background and had both eyes sharp.

Shot Details: Canon Rebel XT with a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II at f2, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec

I really like this picture. I'm really glad that both her face and her hands turned out sharp. I think that while the ring really stands out, the first thing that catches your eye in the picture is Allie's face. As you take a closer look at the picture, the ring kind of makes it more interesting. I think if her hands weren't in the picture it would be a boring.

Shot Details: Canon Rebel XT with a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II at f2, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec

Allie doesn't like this picture. She said that she's doing something weird with her mouth. I disagree, I really like this picture because the combination of lighting, colors, and her facial expression make her look soft and warm. She just looks sweet and caring in this picture. I think there are a few harsh shadows under her eyes and behind her... but I like it overall.

I definitely need to work on my lighting. I really want to get a nice external flash at some point. I think I'm going to make some simple cheap reflectors/diffusers out of white cloth, tin foil, and other reflective materials (I'll experiment) to help with lighting.

I also need to work on setting the aperture to the right f-stop so that I get the right depth of field.

I'll post the rest of the picture's I took at the cabin soon (I'm still retouching). Please let me know what you all think of the pictures I posted and how I can make them better! I need your input and constructive criticism!

I'm Broke!!!

I've been saving up like crazy since I realized I was going to be moving. I now have more money in my savings account then I've ever had in my life. So last week I figured I would treat myself for being such a good saver....and I went a little crazy.

I went out and bought Mario Kart Wii on thursday. Then, as luck would have it, REI was having their "biggest sale of the year" starting on friday, so I went out and bought rock climbing gear. I knew I would be doing a lot more rock climbing once I got out to Boulder, so I figured why not? I also knew that I had to take pictures of Allie for her graduation and I needed a sharper and faster lens. So After REI I immediately went to my local Penn Camera and picked up the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II lens that I wanted.

Now, I know that this is a BIG treat...and it really wouldn't be a problem....except for the fact that last week my car started making a horrible high-pitched noise whenever I hit the breaks. It was really quite painful to the ears. Anyways...I figure my brakes needed to be changed. In fact, I was right. But thats not all it needed. It needed $570 worth of repairs!

On top of all that, it's my mom's birthday and Allie's birthday today.

I have bad timing.

So lets break it down:

$200 - Rock Climbing Gear
$100 - Camera Lens
$50 - Mario Kart
$570 - Mechanic
about $450- on birthday presents
= A very broke Juan.

On the plus side, Mario Kart Wii Kicks ass! It's a lot of fun and now that I can't spend any money I'll be well entertained at home!

Also I took a bunch of really great pictures over the weekend using the Nifty Fifty. I absolutely LOVE it! I swear I will actually post pictures on this "photo blog" as soon as I'm done touching up the faces a bit. I'll try to post the pictures by this thursday.