spring's spark

Coming fresh off of Easter weekend, I am feeling ignited by a surge of spring's spark. From blossoms to blooms, sweet treats to Easter eggs, family to festivities, it seems that everyone was savoring a little piece of this season.

Although I captured a number of pictures this past week, for my Best Shot Monday, I have chosen to share something that spoke of tenderness, courage and hope. Capturing the intimate intricacies of something like this tiny peach blossom with my new Olloclip (which has a macro option for my iPhone) makes me swoon. I do believe I have found yet another creative muse!

Now it's your turn to share your Best Shot today. We can't wait to see what captured your spirit (and your lens) this week.

Capturing the Warmth of a Moment in Sepia Tone

My daughter's been on an indefinite hiatus from piano lessons, yet just recently she expressed an interest in making music again to her teacher/grandmother. "I'm going to play in the recital!" she announced one morning after returning home from a sleepover at Mama Sue's house just a couple of weeks ago. And from that point forward (with no prompting from me), she practiced her "Christmas Waltz" each day to prepare for her moment in the spotlight.

It's a familiar cycle. The entrance, exit, and return of inspiration. The birth of a vision. And the decision to make it real. Acknowledging the need to practice and prepare for the moment when we're meant to stand in the spotlight. Assuming that courage will sustain us despite the presence of fear. I was so proud of her at this moment, I almost forgot to click.

Most of my favorite documentary moments are captured with my super wide 14-24mm lens because it gives me the ability to capture more than less of an experience. This image was shot at 14mm with an aperture setting of f/8 and ISO setting of 200. I used my Nikon Speedlight 900 and fired the flash to bounce off the wall behind me to balance the harsh light streaming in through the windows in the back of the room. Then, in Aperture, I applied a subtle amount of Sepia Tone (something I don't normally do) to soften the bright red Christmas dresses in the audience, and put more visual emphasis on the warmth and gestures of the moment.

Spread some warmth with your sepia tone experiments and discoveries in the comments.

Lens Love

October. The magical month. It has been a year since my photography took a huge lunge forward, last October. I will love this month forever! and it is all because of two marvelous creatures: the 50mm/f1.4 lens and the 50mm/f2.5 compact macro lens.

I knew I was missing something in my photographs. Something in the way I was able -- or more precisely, not able -- to translate what I was seeing into tangible results. I see details. Little pieces of light or shape or texture that catch my eye and draw me in. but I wasn’t able to convey what I saw.

I saw it in other photographs. In food photography, still life photography, in magazines, on blogs. A serene beauty in having all but the smallest piece of the image softly out of focus. Shapes. Colors. Hints of information. Dreaminess. 

If they can do it, why can’t I do it? What IS it?

You see, I used to be a photojournalist, and the pictures I made were all about spreading information. Not that photojournalists’ photos aren't artistic, they certainly can be. But the widest aperture I used as a photojournalist was f2.8. 

Having put photography aside for many, many years, I returned with fresh perspective, less of a photojournalist's hat on.

One day, it just clicked. Ohhhhhhhh, I need to use an even wider aperture for even shallower depth of field.

So last October, I bought the 50mm/f1.4. Then in June, I bought the 50mm/f2.5 compact macro. And my photography, and therefore my life, hasn’t been the same since.

Now I use these two lenses almost exclusively. I’m still learning what aperture works well depending on the subject, angle, distance from subject, all that. Sometimes I don’t get the focus point where I want, or don’t have enough depth of field. Sometimes I even remember to bracket. But often, I’m able to show what I see in a way that feels right. Finally! And I love that with both of these lenses, there are often stunningly beautiful surprises in the image that I wasn’t able to see through the viewfinder.

It’s true what they say, that it's not the equipment, it's the photographer. But having the right gear can help a photographer express herself and show the world her unique viewpoint, what and how she sees. And we all know how it feels when we express ourselves just as we intended. Magic.

Image and words courtesy of guest blogger/honorary sister Hillary Sloss of Eyechai.

ooh baby!

It's true, sisters! My baby girl is finally here and I am completely in love! But let's be honest: I am also more than ready to kiss her with my brand new 50mm 1.4 lens :) I cannot tell you how long I've dreamed of taking baby photos with shallow depth of field and loads of softness...

But lens aside, since I know so many of you are total pros when it comes to photographing babies and children in general, I'd love for you to share with me some of your favorite kiddo shots, as well as tips for photographing them. I need loads of inspiration to get through these nursing days, so don't be shy now. Share your most delicious baby shots and tricks with us today.

overcoming your gear: let's call it sharking (and, a giveaway!)

I’ve stood there in shops, staring through glass at glass... coveted glass.

$1599.99. $989.99. $1249.99. Even if I did have the money, how would I ever choose? I need a macro as much as I need a wide-angle. Instead my camera bag is filled with hand-me-downs and compromises, an extremely limited selection of what are generally considered the most ineffective, inexpensive, kit-grade lenses Canon has ever produced.

The Canon EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II lens is a very inexpensive starter lens with a low build quality. As long as the person using the 28-80 knows its optical shortcomings, that designation may be fine. Otherwise, they may permanently be turned off by its performance. Its optics are mediocre at best, making it nearly impossible to get ultra-sharp pictures. The price is cheap, and so is the lens; the overall workmanship and quality is low.  ~ The Digital Picture

Lately, that’s the one I use most often for nature shots, including the one above.

Build quality of the 50mm f/1.8 is very cheap (as you might expect). This lens feels more like a toy than a piece of optics, with plastic contruction right down to the lens mount.

There is not much to this lens. There is no distance window or markings. There is barely even a focus ring - and the tiny ring that is there is barely usable. Only five non-rounded aperture blades are used in this lens, leading to poor bokeh (image quality of out of focus areas).  ~ The Digital Picture

That’s the one I use for portraits, though I'd give it a better review than that.

And that’s pretty much it. A lensbaby for play, as-yet unmastered. A 10-20mm wide angle that’s slow, tough to focus precisely, and distorting around the edges. All mounted to a camera body that’s widely considered to be the beginner point for SLRs. Except it’s been my starting point for years.

I have never used a good lens, let alone a great one. The same goes for a camera body. I’m afraid to even pick one up for the sake of mortgage payments.

+++

Our village is filling up with summer residents, rich folk from the States, England, all points in Europe. With the onslaught of Porsche SUVs comes an onslaught of boats that eat money, sails that literally sparkle, crews outfitted in matching gear.

We’ve got a 40-year-old Shark, adopted, a family of small boats not seen much around these parts. Justin’s spent years sandblasting the keel, replacing the bulkheads, poring the internet for used sails.

"It’s so demoralizing," he said after yesterday’s race. "We came last. I can’t compete with those guys. They’re laughing at us. I don’t even have a roller furling for the jib. The rigging is from the 1960s. There’s no way I can race that boat. I don’t know why I bother."

Later, when the race results came in, Justin was shocked to discover that he hadn’t actually come last. He’d beaten two boats of the fleet. Two better-equipped boats designed to go fast. He beat them because he’s a good sailor. Not because of his boat, but in spite of it.

+++

I feel the limitations of my gear every time I reach for my camera. Clunky, lightweight, noisy, imprecise. I see it when I download, my best-case focusing turning out about as well as I imagine others’ worst-cases.

But every now and then, someone who knows about cameras looks at my images and says, “What do you shoot with?” and I tell them. And in that moment, I get... props.

None of this is a competition, but indulge my metaphor: when it comes to light-bending and composition and storytelling with my camera, plenty of people are ahead of me. I’ll never catch them—not with this glass. But I’m not DFL, either (to borrow from the nautical, Dead F*cking Last).

And for now, I’m content with that. I’ll keep pushing, nudging, compensating, overcoming, until $1249.99 falls from the sky into my lap.

+++

Hello Giveaway!

It’s random giveaway time from our friends at Hello Canvas.

Leave a comment here between now and Tuesday at midnight, and you could win a 20x24 canvas of your photo of choice from Hello Canvas! The prompt: What’s your relationship to your gear? Does it define you? Delight you? Confine you? What are you most grateful for, and how do you see your stable of lenses and equipment evolving in the next year?

Also, winners from our Hello Gorgeous mini contest will be announced on Tuesday. Wheeee!

The winner of the Hello Canvas 20x24 canvas print is Bekkah of Through the Lens, our 68th commenter. Congratulations, Bekkah! And thanks so much to everyone for sharing your thoughts on gear, both today's and tomorrow's (and wishlists).