Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Photography fun: Lens play

We headed up to Seattle last weekend and I rented the 85mm f/1.4 to take with me. It's fun but I think I prefer the 105mm lens I rented when I shot the roses. Quite honestly, the main difference I notice is that with the 50mm (the lens I normally shoot with) I have to get up real close to get an up close shot and with the 85mm lens I have to step back - way back! - to get the shot. I didn't notice a huge difference with the blur (bokeh) but I'd need to be much more scientific in my approach to make any solid conclusions.

Anyway, our Seattle friends are expecting twin girls in a couple of months so Anya deserves major props for keeping up with our wee one and his limitless amounts of energy. We packed a three (four?) hour trip to the zoo - with a picnic, a trip to the beach, shopping, and brunch into two days. We also ate a lot and Hen had his first backyard sprinkler experience. Did I mention we brought Beauty the wonder dog with us? Yeah, a road trip makes for one happy canine. Of course, there were pictures...
Shutter 1/400 Aperture f/2.0 ISO 200 - What I notice, besides the morning-after-a-haircut hair, is that you can see the color of Henry's eyes.

Shutter 1/100 Aperture f/1.4 ISO 320 - I'm shooting through a chicken-wire type of fence.

Shutter 1/2500 Aperture f/2.5 ISO 500 - (Yeah, I didn't really need the ISO set so high.) Rick and Anya, who is busy growing two humans. Two!

Shutter 1/2000 Aperture f/3.5 ISO 500 - Beauty the wonder dog

Click here to see the rest of the set if you feel so inclined.

6 comments:

Megan said...

I can't wait to see Henry's hair cut. It looks cute in that picture, but I feel like I am not seeing all of it.

Perhaps you and Henry would like to join us on Friday afternoon. The G kids will be coming over about 2:45 and staying for the night. We'd love to have you and Henry over, too!

Oh, and I believe D and I will be heading to not one, but two movies on our date night on Sunday night should you care to join us for either/both. I think he really wants to see Crazy, Stupid, Love and I want to see The Guard (if it's playing in PDX).

See you tomorrow night (well probably tonight when you actually read this message ... unless you're awake like me, which is not unlikely).

Shawn and Becky said...

LOVE Hen's haircut! Where do you rent your lenses? Great photos as always!

Christie said...

M- I do want to see C, S, L so I may just take you up on the offer. Although I have a nagging suspicion there is something going on. I'll let you know.

B-I rent from Pro Photo Supply in NW. (It's also where I usually buy my gear.) Next up is the 24-70mm!

Amber said...

The cut looks great in person, but I think it makes him look *so* much older.

Rachele said...

why do you prefer the 105mm over the 85mm? I've only played with one so I have no basis for comparison. Just curious. :) The photographer doing our pictures this summer also loves the 105mm, though she hasn't bought it yet.

Christie said...

Right now, the preference for one over the other is solely based on my liking the shots I got with the 105mm better than the shots I got with the 85mm. That said, I've been doing more reading on portraiture shots, and it sounds like I might need the 300mm f/4 for shooting inside and the 135mm f/2 DC for shooting in the field. When you get too close (like I have to do with my 50mm) the face is distorted and that totally explains why my kid looks so funky most of the time. It's not him making weird faces on purpose, it's the distortion from the lens. That said, if I could have a budge of about $10K to spend on lenses, I'm pretty sure I could burn through it pretty quick and be very, very happy. (Not that I'm not happy now, of course.)