Photo Of The Day 02/06/09 - Comparison

I just picked up a new Pentax  DA 18-55mm lens and wanted to compare the image quality to that of my Pentax FA 50mm F1.4.  Here are two very similar images shot with two different lenses.  The top image is with my 50mm prime and the bottom one used my new 18-55mm.  I have to say, it took me a while to see any differences and I don't think they are very significant.  However, after some major pixel peeing, I was able to determine that my new 18-55mm has slightly brighter or bolder colors.  This might be a little off because Olivia did move around as I was changing the lens and her position relative to the light might have something to do with the subtle difference.

Camera:  Pentax K20 with Pentax FA50mm prime for the top photo and my new Pentax DA18-55mm for the bottom photo.  To keep everything as similar as possible for both images ISO = 200, Aperture=11 and the exposure was 1/180 of a second. Lighting:  Nikon SB-25 @ 1/2 power and 50mm zoom to camera left shot it into a very light khaki colored wall to camera right, about a foot from Olivia.  I then added fill light with a silver reflector to camera left.  Triggered with AlienBees CyberSyncs.

See the rest of my Photo Of The Day posts here or just look at the photos on Flickr

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Photo Of The Day 02/02/09 - Ashley on a PC

Nothing real special about this photograph, but it was my only photo form Feb 2nd, so it gets to be photo of the day.  The reason behind this photo is that Ashley loves her Mac and we like to joke around about the whole Mac/PC debate.  So when I walked into the office one day and saw her working on a PC and not her Mac, I had to capture the image for all to see. 

Camera:  Pentax K20 19-35mm lens  ISO 400 Aperture f/4.5 Exposure 1/20 (Yes, it was hand held.  I love the Pentax shake reduction.)
Lighting:  Just crappy office lighting

See the rest of my Photo Of The Day posts here or just look at the photos on Flickr

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Photo Of The Day 01/30/09 - Snow Angel

We had a decent bit of snow in St. Louis at the end of January.  It was not tons, but enough to really cover the ground and the statues that I brought back form Loveland over the summer.  We have on angel in the front yard that looked pretty cool with the snow coming up one side of it. 

So quickly before I had to take the girls to school I rushed out side with my camera.  I wish I would not have been rushed, because I was not really happy with any of the photos.  The best one of the day still required some post processing in Lightroom.  Nothing too much except for really cranking up the black levels.

Although the photograph is not horrible, the thought of a massive crop to get rid of all of the red in the background sounded interesting.  So I took the photo to the left and turned it into the photo above.  I think the cropping really simplifies the image to show what I really wanted to show, all the snow piled up on the angel.  What do you think?  Agree or disagree?

Leave your thought in the comments.

Camera:  Pentax K20 50mm prime lens  ISO 200 Aperture f/1.4 Exposure 1/1500

Lighting:  Just the overcast morning sun

See the rest of my Photo Of The Day posts here or just look at the photos on Flickr

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Cameratown to Give Away Pentax K20D Digital SLR Outfit this Weekend - Enter Today!

Not a single photo here, but Cameratown is giving away a ton of great stuff, including a Pentax k20, my camera of choice. Here is the contest link or just visit their site.

Photo Of The Day 01/27/09 - Stop Snowing

Today I had great hopes for a nice winter wonderland photograph.  The snow from earlier covered the ground so I took the dog for a walk with the camera slung around my neck.  It was not too long before I saw a red stop sign standing out amongst the white and gray tones of everything else.  I remember that cameras can be fooled by the bright white of a snow covered ground.  To compensate you increase the exposure compensation a half stop or more.  To me this is a little confusing, so I will do my best to explain at the bottom of the post.  But now, back to the story.

I saw the stop sign and in my mind had a great photograph all figured out.  Put the sign in the bottom right corner and it will be great.  I just have to remember to dial in some exposure compensation.  In reality it did not work out that way.  I remembered the compensation, but did not like any of the photographs.  I screwed up the composition.

Camera:  Pentax K20 50mm prime lens  ISO 200 Aperture f/4.0 Exposure 1/250

Lighting:  Very overcast day

Post Processing:  Adobe Lightroom

I don't want to skip a day or throw out the photographs, sot how do I turn nothing into something?  That is exactly the answer!  I will try to turn the crappy photo into a decent one.  The end result is above, here is what I started with.

That photo and about 5 minutes in Adobe Lightroom gave me the photo of the day.  Granted it is not an amazing photo by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a great improvement over the original.  At least it is in my opinion.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments.

Now for my explanation on exposure compensation for snow.  A digital camera has to make a lot of decisions about the scene and lighting to figure out how to set the variables, typically aperture and shutter speed.  To do this, it needs a reference point.  For the camera that is 18% gray.  I guess if we had to look at the world and find an average value, someone figured it out to be 18% gray.  When the world is covered with snow, it is much brighter than 18% gray, but that does not stop the camera from thinking it is.  Therefore, the camera closes the aperture and/or speeds up the shutter so it lets in the correct amount of light for a scene that is only 18% gray.  That is why so many snow snapshots look gray and dingy.  The camera made the snow 18% gray.  Of course the snow is much closer to white so compensating by telling the camera to allow more light brings the snow up to white again.  At least that is how I understand it.  Correct me if I am wrong.