BMX Riders

At the NECCC conference, one shooting event they offered was to photograph some BMX riders doing tricks.  It was a difficult place to shoot for clean backgrounds because all of the college buildings were in the background, but I was able to get down low and get some shots of the riders against the sky.

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After the all the jumps and tricks, they brought out the models so we could shoot them with the riders.  I was able to get some portraits and some images with action.

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Jo-Lee

Here are some more model images I shot at the conference last weekend.  This is Jo-lee and all of these were shot with the Rokinon 85 mm f1.4 on the Panasonic GH4.  Click on an image to enlarge.

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Here is an interesting article about bikini tops and bottoms. Recent Survey Shows Staggering Results for the Most Popular Bikini Tops and Bottoms

Battle of the 85 mm Lenses

At the NECCC conference this past weekend, I was able to test a few 85 mm lenses.  This is a great focal length for portraits and for creating lots of creamy bokeh.  They also tend to be pretty sharp since they are prime lenses.  I tested the Olympus 45 mm f1.8, Rokinon 85 mm f1.4, the Canon f1.2, and the Panasonic Leica Nocticron 42.5 mm f1.2.  Sony also has an 85 mm f1.4 G Master wich is supposed to be very good but I didn't test that lens since I don't have a Sony camera.

First of all, I would like to shot two images to show why you might want a lens with such a wide aperture.  It's certainly much easier to shoot with an f2.8 or f4 lens but you just don't get the same amount of bokeh.  Here is a shot taken with the Rokinon f1.4 and one taken with the Canon 24-105 mm f4.

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Rokinon f1.4 at f2 shot on a Canon 5D MarkIII

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Canon f4 at f4 shot on a Canon 5D MarkIII

As you can see in the first image the background is more blurred.  The bokeh is also affected by distance and the model on the right may have been a little closer to the wood but in general all of those shots were sharp throughout.

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Canon f1.2 at f1.2 on the Canon 1DX MarkII

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Rokinon f1.4 at f2 shot on the Panasonic GH4

I was shooting both of the above lenses on Canon bodies.  The Canon F1.2 is an amazing lens and produces a very unique look.  I had heard the autofocus on this lens was slow.  I didn't find that to be the case but focusing was a challenge at f1.2 and many of my images were out of focus.  I wasn't using my camera so I think with some practice this would be less of an issue.  The depth of field is so shallow, if you get the eyes in focus the skin looks very soft, probably because it's partially out of focus.  Click on the images to see them up close.  The Rokinon seemed to be a bit sharper but I was shooting it at f2.  The Rokinon is a manual focus lens and it was extremely difficult to get the eyes to be sharp.  I had a ton of images that were out of focus.  On the rare occasions when I did get the focus right, the images look amazing.  

The Canon would obviously be the better lens but it costs nearly $1900 while the Rokinon is only about $269.  I also tested the Nocticron for my Panasonic GH4 and I found this lens to be the easiest to use.  The images were always in focus and sharp with nice bokeh.  This lens also has image stabilization so it really does well in low light.  I only tested this lens in a dark hall so the images are terrible (shot at ISO 3200) but I think you can see this lens is pretty amazing as it should be since it costs around $1400.

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42.5 mm Nocticron F1.2 shot on the Panasonic GH4

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Olympus 45 mm F1.8 shot at F1.8 on an Olympus EM1

Natural Light Shoot with an Outdoor Set

I went to the NECCC Photography Conference this past weekend and shot some models.  This was an outdoor set, in the open shade so it's all natural light.  I got lucky with this shot the wind picked up and the sunshine came up all at the same time.

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Light version.

Here is a slightly darker version of the image.  Post a comment below which version do you think works better?

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Dark version.

I'm Off to the NECCC Conference

I'm heading up to Umass, Amherst today for the NECCC photography conference.  I've been before and they always have some great speakers.  It's important to always learn new things. This year I'm looking forward to seeing Lindsey Adler, Terry White, and Art Wolfe.

The also have photo oportunities like models, still life step-ups, and this year a BMX bike show.

These are some images I took there many years ago.

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Osprey Building a Nest

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Abstract Flowers

Next time you find yourself in a garden or field of flowers, try some abstract blurs.  Take lots of images because most of them will be failures, but some will be really interesting.  Try a relatively slow shutter speed, may start experimenting around a 1/15 second and see what you get when you move the camera.  Try different movements, up and down, side to side, twist, and also try quickly zooming the lens during the exposure and see what you get.  Post them in the comments below, I'd love to see them.  Try it, it's fun!

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This images was made by twisting the zoom ring on the lens during the exposure.  When doing this technique, try to put a main subject in the center of the frame in the hopes of getting one flower in focus.  I didn't quite achieve that with these images but I have with sunflowers in the past.

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Same technique as image 1.

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Here I spun the camera.

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This was another zoom technique, this time I do have some flowers in focus and I love how it make the image feel sort of 3D.

Don't Forget to Enter Your Flower Images this Month

This Thursday is the deadline for this month's photo contest.  Click here to enter your flower images.  

I shot the images below at a new tulip garden in Situate, Rhode Island this spring.  In these images I was concentrating on a primary subject with a shallow depth of field for lots of background bokeh.  In the next few days, I'll post another series of tulip images where I was focused on create blurred abstracts.

Great Year for Lupine

I photographed these lupine a couple of weeks ago in Maine.  I was early June and all the fields were full of wildflowers.