Happy Birthday Irene!

Birthday Surprised

Nikon D50 and AF Nikkor 50mm f1.4
1/40s f/2 ISO800 50mm

Happy Birthday, dear wife! One month in the planning, I could not have pulled it off without help from a bunch of accomplices. Good food, good people, good times, and some good photos I hope. :)

More snapshots here. I think I'm over-using the tilted angle perspective. At some point I brought out the Siggy for the wide shots, but the prime produced some good portraits. My Buyer's Remorse demon says: "It's expensive glass, so it should."

Macdaddy has some snaps here entirely with the more reasonable 50mm f1.8, and he got in some great group shots (yes, it's possible if you stand/sit far enough). 

Cinderella Behind The Scenes

Cinderella Backstage

[ Nikon D50 and Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 ]
[ 1/13s f/3.5 ISO1600 35mm ]

I had the chance to assist on Erik Roque's shoot for the souvenir program of the Philippine Ballet Theater's production of Cinderella. There was not much chance to grab any photos wired to the entire setup since there was so much setup to do and not a lot of time to do it, but Ryan and I grabbed a few shots from the the sidelines.

What I learned:

• I have much to learn about the art and science of studio lighting. And if there was any doubt, those studio lights are fragile and expensive. I think I'll stick to flash guns for now and let the pros handle the studio lights.
• Photographers really need assistants, or the strength of ten men, to carry the hundreds of pounds of gear deemed essential for these shoots. We got by with a little less gear, enough for three out of shape individuals to handle.
• The AF Nikkor 80-200mm may be considered dated or obsolete, but the sharpness will still blow you away. Never, ever, attach it to your camera unless you are prepared to want it.

The director asked for some group action shots and some adjustments had to be made. Besides the redo of the lighting setup, we pressed into service a Speedlight and my own Siggy. Since we didn't have any other wide angle lenses on the set, we ended up using the Sigma 18-50 for the full-body shots. I hope it proves sharp enough at f8.

Immense thanks to Ninong Erik for putting up with a couple of rank amateurs on his set. It was a privilege. It's not every day you get to shoot men in tights. Err ....

More behind-the-scenes photos here.

Happy Birthday Andy!

Birthday Girl

[ Nikon D50 and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF ]
[ 1/50s f/2.2 ISO1600 50mm ]

I didn't shoot this one. Props to my Nikon broodah for getting this shot!

More photos here at GerrySnaps.Fotopic.net. MacDaddy has a bunch of snaps here.

They do grow up fast!

First Birthday

Tricks Are For Kids

[ Nikon D50 and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D AF ]
[ 1/50s f/2 ISO1600 50mm ]

More photos of Andy's first birthday to come.

Hy-Photo-Chondriac

The Dirty Dresser

[ Nikon D50 and Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC ]
[ 1/30s f/5.6 ISO 200 50mm ]
[ Bounced Flash with Vivitar V2000 ]

I'm back-tracking on my 'first D50 photos' here. Later in the day I got some sleep and was ready to do some more test shots. I was pretty pleased with myself for about ten seconds. Then my eyes drifted to the lower left and looked upon ... some dust!

Dust is the enemy to SLR shooters. Clever, this whole interchangeable lens SLR concept. Every lens change is an accident waiting to happen. Entire businesses have thrived on this fear of dust. We are talking two hundred of your American dollars for a pack of Q-tips, a makeup brush, and a solution that's mostly water.

It hasn't been with me for 24 hours and dust is already friends with my sensor, I thought, and here I was without my extra-special dust-busting Q-tips and makeup brush. It's a dilemma fit for an all-girl high school. Except imagine all the schoolgirls are in fact heavyset, bearded men sweating profusely under their vests of many pockets.

Luckily what I missed, as usual, was the obvious: there really is dust on our not-so-well-kept wall, and none on the sensor.

Moral: Clean your room, then clean your sensor.

Starting Out

3 AM Learning Curve

[ Nikon D50 and Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 ]
[ 1/30s f/2.8 ISO200 50mm ]

I admit it. I am one of "those" people. After barely a year of shooting and a single photography class, I had the audacity to claim that my prosumer rangefinder camera was limiting my ability to make good photos and justified the upgrade to a digital SLR.

I blame peer pressure, though in truth I can only blame myself.

So here it is, my first step up the pinnacle of photography. It is remarkable in that I can see a hundred things wrong with this photo--no--snapshot. Worst of all, it is a photo of a lamp. It was all I could manage at 3 AM with bleary eyes and an alien tool in my hand. Yes, that was a flimsy excuse for having more equipment than skill.

3AM. The learning curve starts now.