A Photographer's Life 1990-2005 and musings

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/60 sec

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The American photographer Annie Leibovitz famous for her celebrity portraits and work for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines, has a exhibition in The Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay. The exhibition is called 'Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990-2005' and has been touring the world since 2008, now its Australia's turn. Quite frankly with a couple of exceptions it was pretty ordinary. I was interested in her lighting techniques but many of the portraits were a bit 'soft' and although compositions were interesting a focus on her now, sadly, deceased gay lover and some quite mundane happy snaps of her during her fight with cancer were not at all interesting photographically. But what would I know? There is no photography allowed in the exhibition so I cant show you any examples. I recommend people go to see it and make up their own mind. Its on at the MCA till March 2011 so plenty of time. I do hope Ivan and his girlfriend (below) are performing outside when you are there they make quite a pair. Ivan was terrific but I found his partners performance a bit wooden :-)

Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 @ ISO 200, 116mm f2.8, 1/1000 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 @ ISO 200, 116mm f2.8, 1/1250 sec

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I also took some random shots on the street on my way back to my car. . . .

Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 @ ISO 200, 70mm f2.8, 1/250 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 @ ISO 200, 78mm f2.8, 1/2500 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 @ ISO 200, 70mm f2.8, 1/400 sec

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OOF and the Beauty of Blur

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/100 sec

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Lens designers want to attain the best possible image quality and sharp focus performance in their products and the out of focus (OOF) parts of a camera's produced image are not a primary design objective in the manufacture of a lens. However, the OOF blur characteristics were a thing of beauty to Japanese photographers who introduced the term "bokeh" which in Japanese means "blur" or "haze" in the late 1990's. The aesthetic quality of the blur is the amount of background or foreground blur that is controlled (amongst other stuff) by the setting of the lens f-number.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/60 sec

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In an optical system the diameter of the entrance is expressed in terms of the f-number which is the focal length divided by the aperture diameter. F22 is mall f1.4 is large (smaller number bigger hole more light) The larger aperture gives a more blurred background. Out of focus highlights assume the shape of the lens aperture diaphragm opening, for example a six sided diaphragm leads to hexagonal blur patches but it is generally held that the better an aperture approximates a round opening and subsequently a more pleasing the blur (bokeh). One photographer famous for his use of bokeh as far back as the early 1980's is American photographer Kim Kirkpatrick.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/1000 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/1250 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/4000 sec

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It's Hot, Be Cool

Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f8, 1/4 sec

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The first really warm day of this Spring/Summer period for 2010 has seen my cars outside temperature readout showing 42 Deg. C, The Bureau of Meteorology declaring it's present temp as 28 Deg. C and my iPhone weather app as declaring 32 Deg. C ?? Anyway its warm so hers a cooling ice cube to focus on :-)

Hidden Detail

Interesting photography subjects are all around us. Like a simple cup, a gift from our daughter Jacqueline. These macro shots taken with the Nikon 105mm MICRO lens reveals interesting detail not always noticed.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f4, 1/6 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f3.2, 1/20 sec

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The entire cup . . .

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/125 sec

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The sun comes out after rain and you can find very interesting subjects and situations in the most ordinary of places. All of these subjects photographed with a macro lens were hidden gems of much less than 1 cm in size.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f3.3, 1/1250 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f3.2, 1/400 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 105mm Macro f2.8 @ ISO 200, 105mm f4.8, 1/160 sec

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Sculpture by the Sea 2010

Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney has been running annually since 1997, the exhibition is along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk and is a free public arts event. I photographed the exhibition last year and you can see that 2009 blog post *HERE*

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/60 sec

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Sunrise on an overcast but warm Sunday morning I was among at least a hundred other keen photographers.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/30 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f8, 1/60 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f2.8, 1/325 sec

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Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 16mm f2.8, 1/160 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/1000 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f8, 1/30 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/3200 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/800 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f8, 1/50 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/1600 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/5000 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/5000 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/4000 sec

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Perspective and a New Toy

Hmm found a real bargain lens whilst browsing in a camera store the other day, so on an impulse I splashed out. The 50mm focal length is a 'standard' lens on the full frame (film 35mm equivalent or FX format). Like the Nikkor 35mm f2 prime I have which, which is about equivalent in its effective focal length to a 50mm prime would be on a full frame camera (Nikon D3, D700 or a Canon 5D Mk II etc). That is its closest to what you see with your eyes for the D300. The 35mm f2 is tack sharp and has great bokeh too and has been on my camera a lot since I got it.

The 50mm 1.4 gives extremely sharp, crisp focus and is ideal for portraiture on the D300. It translates to a 75mm lens and is the similar in performance to an 85mm 1.4 of a full frame (FX) body. 1.4 maximum aperture means this is a very 'fast' lens and is great for very low light conditions and gives fantastic and pleasing bokeh (background blur). Maybe this will be new favourite, well see. See related concepts in this * POST *

Chinese Lucky Buddha Beer bottle, mmm contents was good too . . .

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/60 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f5.6, 1/400 sec

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Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/1000 sec

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Peek a Boo Dog hiding and watching . . .

Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D @ ISO 200, 50mm f1.4, 1/250 sec

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