Category: photography

About taking pictures

Carts

Photo from March 14, 2015

Carts
Carts
Costco
Concord, California

Sony DSC-RX1
1/100sec @ f/5.6 iso 100, 35mm

I just was feeling the giant row of carts receding all the way into their garden center.

When Marie was shopping, another shopper was indignant, “I can’t get at [a free sample] because your cart is in the way.” I think if you can’t deal with giant-assed shopping carts, you might want to shop somewhere else.

Shopping at Costco in the ‘burbs is always a study in small contrasts:

  • There they are using new shopping carts that are cut lower in the front and are much quieter than the old metal ones in the City.
  • I also noticed that a shopper had left a half-eaten resealed bag of beef jerky in the book and DVD aisle. You’d think with all the free samples, they could have not been so cheap. Especially since I noticed that there are far more free samples here than in the city.
  • I found a term used by the Costco employees who gather the carts: “leave behind.” As in, “Dude, there’s a whole pizza leave behind back there.”
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Terry’s Backstreet Photography

Photos from January 24, 2015.

A weekend away from it all was also an opportunity to try to shoot again with my Leica. I haven’t been doing any photography for a long time, especially with this camera — just having it with me was a minor success, even if I left it in the bag almost the entire time.

Finally, while we were eating a quiet lunch in St. Helena, I got the courage to take the M8 out and to start shooting. It’s frustrating to realize that you have to relearn how to focus and expose manually — even more embarrassing is forgetting to take off the lens cap before pressing the shutter button! But then you remember that photography is about learning how to see, and there is a small joy in experiencing that again as a beginner.

Marie, waiting for food

Marie, waiting for food
Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, St. Helena, Napa Valley, California

Leica M8, Cosina-Voigtländer NOKTON 35mm F1.2 Aspherical
1/125sec, iso 160, 35mm (47mm)

Continue reading about some photos I took with my Leica M8 and iPhone 6 after the jump

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Holiday on the beach

Photos from February 15, 2015.

I turn the ever-boring “Stretch-X” workouts in P90X on the rest days into excuses to go running. On some days, the time and place fall in line with a holiday, in this case President’s Day weekend on a beautiful late-afternoon in San Francisco.

Holiday on the Beach

Holiday on the Beach
China Beach, San Francisco, California

iPhone 6
@ ƒ2.2, ISO32, 4.15mm (29mm)

How lucky I am to live in such a place that I see this on my weekly run!
Continue reading about this photo after the jump

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Don’t die without a few scars

I’ve used my break time to start repairing the decades of neglect I’ve heaped on my body by being the stereotypical 90 lb weakling. Being an introvert, that means runs and DVD workouts. And, after many false starts and almost-but-not-enough’s, I finally completed a full cycle of P90X3.

My reward for that was going to be buying and going through P90X2, but after my weight dropped to a level not seen since college — on a scrawny person like me, that’s not exactly a good thing1 — I decided I should probably stick to a simpler workout that might build a little muscle on my skin and bones. So instead, I decided to reward myself with new workout clothing and shoes:

Don't die without a few scars

Don’t die without a few scars
San Francisco, California

Sony DSC-RX1
1/80 sec @ f/4, iso 1600, 35mm

I took this photo right before Kenpo X, a workout notorious for being too easy.

Continue reading about my crummy fashion sense after the jump

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f/8 and be where?

I was reading Tim Barribeau’s [excellent article on µ4:3 lenses][m43 lenses], when I was taken aback:

> The oft repeated creed of the photojournalist is “f/8 and be there.” You can set this lens to infinite focal length, and anything more than 6 feet away will be in focus, making it great for candid shots.

This goes against my instinct. A 4:3 sensor with a wide-angle field of view, should do better than f/8.

Being anal, I had to check [DoFMaster][dofmaster]. Inputs: (E-P3, E-P2, E-P1), Focal length: 15mm 30mm equiv), f-stop: f/8, subject distance: 6.2feet

Hyperfocal distance: 6.2ft
Near limit: 3.1ft
Far Limit: Infinity

Translation: If you set this lens correctly (to six feet, not infinity), then everything from 3 feet to infinity will be in focus to within the ability of the sensor to resolve (any m4/3 sensor: at f/8 we’re at the diffraction limit of them all).

Now this bodycap doesn’t really have focus or a focus scale, so it is conceivable that the article statement is technically correct. But since this thing only has a focus lock in two positions — .3m and infinity — I have a hard time believing that the infinity focus is actually locked at infinity and not the hyper focal distance, giving it an extra 3 feet of focus room. If it is really set at infinity, then there should be a click stop somewhere at the hyperfocal distance.

I don’t have this lens so I can’t verify. But if the infinity lock doesn’t lock focus at 6 feet (focus down to 3 feet), I’d be surprised. (If it actually is an infinity lock, then I guess the recommendation is to lock at infinity and pull back a bit.)

grass

wheat… grass, really
China Camp State Park, Marin, California

Nikon D3, Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D. Canon 500D, handheld
1/250 sec @ f/8, iso200, 85mm

One of the dangers of “f/8 and be there” is that depth of field is very dependent on distance. When doing macro photography, even f/8 can not be enough. (Unless buttery bokeh is the effect you are intending, like in this photo.

[m43 lenses]: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-first-micro-four-third-lenses-you-should-buy/ “The First Micro Four Third Lenses You Should Buy — The Wirecutter.”
[dofmaster]: http://dofmaster.com/dofjs.html “Online Depth of Field Calculator—DOFMaster”

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