Let there be light...

Physics fascinates me even though I don't understand most of it. I did quite well in those classes, mind you--mostly because I knew which numbers to plug into which formulas. But to this day all I really know is that you flip the switch, the light goes on. Somehow.

Speaking of lights, I really wish I'd been able to study light more in physics class. Those high school and college courses seemed to have mostly involved projectiles, which is great for a doodler (you should see my notebooks!) but didn't delve much into light and how it works. Not that I would have come out with any more enlightenment [sorry, couldn't resist] but it would have been fun trying.

Normally a camera's aperture, the opening where light enters, is circular and controlled by a diaphragm that is adjusted by means of a dial. The diameter of the aperture determines how much light gets to the camera's sensor/film; this controls depth of field among other things.

Most of the Lensbaby optics use removable disks with varying sized holes to change aperture instead of a diaphragm. This also controls how much of an image is in focus and how much receives the LB blur.

But thanks to some I-don't-know-why-it-works reason, you can change the shape of the aperture to something other than round and still take a good photograph--with some additional, amazing results.

Any bright spot not in focus takes on the shape of the aperture. LB manufactures a set of shaped disks, but you can make your own, too. I hadn't planned on ever shooting with these but a post on the Lensbaby Addicts Facebook page prompted me to revisit the idea. And I happen to have a wee tiny oak leaf paper punch and one LB optic that would make this effect work... The photos are so abstract because I had to push the lens as far out of focus as it would go in order to make the effect appear to its greatest extent.

I also enjoy the irony that not one of the trees I was photographing was an oak...

Play Date.

Taking advantage of the fact we are (much to my surprise) having a Real Spring, I purposefully went on a wander earlier this week with my new Lensbaby system--a set of creative lenses that basically do special effects in-camera (saving hours of time at the computer messing around with an image editing program that I don't really know how to use anyway).

I made a point of stopping at two of my "must photograph here some day" locations: An old, old house still standing (barely) on the side of Route 47 and an even older cemetery in Cold Spring. Here's a sampling including stops at Cape May Point State Park on the same afternoon and Belleplain State Forest the following morning; many of these photos will develop into blog posts of their own.

One unexpected bonus of the Lensbaby lenses is that even though they were made specifically for "creative" work, the resulting photographs don't have to shout Special Effects! Because they are quality optics you can be quite subtle; this shot was taken in Belleplain State Forest with the Edge 80:

Even if a half-inch long butterfly lands a few feet away from you while you are shooting landscapes, you can crop like crazy and still end up with a decent image. (American Copper, one of two that fluttered past me in the cemetery.)

North end of Reeds Beach -

Shorebird Banding starts today!

Lensbaby and Lilacs

Sitting on my deck photographing lilacs with my Lensbaby lenses. A lovely way to spend May Day…

Oh, baby...

Lensbaby that is—a system of "creative lenses" for DSLR cameras. You could probably do most (most likely all if you're really, really good) of the effects in an image editing program these days, but doing the work in-camera appealed to me. That, and I figured the learning curve on the lenses would be less than the learning curve on the software. (Not to mention less time consuming: Point and shoot, or sit and fiddle for hours…)

I hate learning curves. It's probably the reason I don't play an instrument—I hate to practice.

I have good beginner's luck, though. Fourth shot off with the new lens:

Then I get cocky and think "I can do this!" and I start to play around and it all goes downhill from there… [Ask me about the one and only time I tried downhill skiing.]

But from the first 68 attempts I managed a few keepers, some technically-okay-but-not-interesting, a few near misses, and a few dozen I'm not even going to bother to post. (Ouch. Reality Check.)

Missed the exposure and focus by a smudge, dang it. Photoshop (Elements) to the rescue! I know how to lighten, darken and sharpen…

Ta-da!

Yeah, fudged that one a bit, too.

And these… Two shots with nearly the same composition but with different exposures making the color saturation come out markedly dissimilar. Kinda like the effect myself; it conveys two totally different moods of what is, essentially, exactly the same photo…

Eh, I think one out of twenty or so shots is a good average for the first time out with a new gadget. And I'm so very grateful for the digital technology--I would never have started to shoot if I'd only had film to work with…

I am also very grateful to have such gorgeous, patient and captive models on which to practice. This one is my Cassandra. A real handful much of the time (gotta love that torbie cattitude!), but she sure knows how to vogue...

What, exactly, does the creative lens do? Compare a normal shot from one of my "regular" lenses, an 18-55mm zoom set at 36mm and f5 with the Lensbaby shot (Sweet 35) set somewhere around f4 or f5.6 (the lenses don't communicate with the camera body, so I have to be more diligent about start recording what settings I'm using)...

Of course the new toy had to be returned because I received duplicate lenses in the kit instead of the two different ones it was supposed to contain. Argh. Sigh. At least the snow that had followed a few hours behind the UPS truck (easily 7 inches, probably more) meant I had a day to play (because I was sick of clearing off the truck and the wind was too nasty to want to go out in yet more snow).

But B&H Photo had a new kit in my hands exactly a week later.

Naturally, we are currently trapped in that horrible in-between season where it is no longer Winter (I can't believe I'm saying that) but Spring is being a bit timid about appearing (can you blame her? Every blooming thing out there is waiting for Winter to reappear, say Gotcha and laugh evilly)... So what does one do when one needs to practice and is tired of annoying her cats? Why, sit outside on a sunny afternoon in that still-low, glowing light and just start shooting whatever is on hand. Like a rock. And a piece of that wow-it's-already-green moss. And a marble. And oh, I have those cool ceramic mushrooms in the house...

Still life!

This is a learning curve I might enjoy...

OOPS.

Truly, I do not know what I'm doing with this new camera. These photos are not what I intended to take when I hit the shutter button…


I was aiming for the name tag.


I was aiming for the camera.

*sigh*

Ah, well, I hate to practice anyway.

(If anyone knows who the nice man with the neat camera is, please let me know!)

LEARNING A LESSON: Exposure

Thanks to an all-too-rare-this-time-of-year clear sky, there was a rather incredible waning-crescent moon rise on Monday. (And although Venus has a good lead on the moon these days, it can yet be captured in the same frame.) Still don't have the tripod within reach for these spur of the moment and fleeting photo opportunities, nor do I yet have a handle on aperture settings or how to get a basic little lens to focus on a relatively small, very distant point behind many detailed objects, but I did have a chance to play with exposure.


This is what the camera saw when allowed to set its own exposure time. Wow. What I was actually seeing with my relatively good night vision wasn't anywhere near close to this… (Trust me, there's a sliver of a moon hiding alongside that very straight-trunked tree on the left.) Because sunrise was in fact a bare hint on the horizon, the camera left the diaphragm open a good long while and the circuit board soaked up as much light info as fast as the wee little processors could handle. (It is also amazing how in-focus this shot is given the long exposure and my very shaky grasp on the camera.)


Whoops, not enough time to let the pixels percolate. (That's the moon, not dust on your monitor!)


Ah-ha, that's closer to what I was actually seeing. (Ok, as dark as this is, I had to cheat and lighten the exposure. Reducing the photo and posting it darkened it up considerably from what it looked like straight out of the camera.)


Still to be learned: (1) Figure how to shoot on a tripod out this window, and make sure the tripod is in the house when it's needed to shoot out this window. (2) Work on learning about aperture settings, because the tripod doesn't bear the sole responsibility for clear focus.

WAAAAHHHHHH...

Argh. So close...

1. Pay attention when you have the fleeting thought "full moon--check rising time" so that you can be prepared.
2. Prepare for full moon rises by learning how to photograph the moon with the new DSLR.
3. Remember that you had the fleeting thought "full moon--check rising time" early enough so that you can get to the beach on time for it (whether you are prepared or not).
4. Curse Murphy's Law that states the sky will be cloudless for moonrise when you aren't prepared for it (and the corollary that it will be cloudy when you are).