29 September 2013

Pentti Sammallahti

Wow:










Finnish. Seems to be important. Found him on some tumblr photoblog. He does these fantastic, wide-format winter shots. Usually they're lived-in winter landscapes, not nature photography (not that there's anything wrong with nature photography). But these are photos of people getting through long winters:













Some of his stuff is too perfect-looking. Almost precious:












It's gorgeous, but it doesn't do anything for me. Compare to this:













I love this one. The two roads angling away. Bleak sky. The mass of bare trees. And then this drama unfolding, with the sprinting dog and the raven looking the other way. Also the tire tracks in the snow. This photo does a lot of things with just a few simple elements. I like his grey, almost uniform skies. There's just enough texture in them. Makes me want to try black & white this winter.


28 September 2013

Ester Dome

On the Equinox Trail again. Very overcast. Late afternoon. Not great. Took some photos of junk along the trail, including this car:


















f/3.5
1/80
ISO 400
50mm lens (~75mm equivalent)

I'm using the wrong lens for this. The junk is surrounded by brush, so I'm shooting closer than I want to with the 50mm. Lots of nice colors and textures on the car. Got a shot that I like of the gas cap:


















f/4.5
1/80
ISO 400
50mm lens (~75mm equivalent)

The moss or lichen or whatever on the body was a nice color green, but the light was too poor for it to come out. Did what I could in photoshop, but I'd like to go back with a shorter lens on a brighter day.

27 September 2013

GI Machine Shop

Dale let me photograph him while he drilled some holes. I think the machine shop has potential, but it's very cluttered. Fluorescent light, but lots of it. I did a poor job dealing with the backgrounds. Too fixated on the subject. A representative shot:


f/2.8
1/125
ISO 800
50mm lens (~75mm equivalent)

Too static? Dale is a good subject. Will try again some other time.

24 September 2013

Green Route & Red Route

Rode around with Sheehy and Coskey today. Shooting on the bus is hard. The light changes too quickly. Also, because you can't stand in front of the white line, you really just have one angle to shoot the driver. Still. A couple of shots that I like:


















f/4.5
1/125
ISO 100
50mm lens (~75mm equivalent)

It's nice because Steve looks sad and broken. Originally the window was bright and washed out. I was able to salvage some detail in photoshop. Also cropped out the front of the window. I like the contrast between his expression and the yellow "BUZZ" button.


















f/4.5
1/100
ISO 200
50mm lens (~75mm equivalent)

And here's Coskey. Again, the window is blown out. I like the hand, but the sunglasses are no good. Would be much happier if I could see an eye or two.

16 September 2013

Ester Dome

Took some shots of Scout on the Equinox Trail. Peak foliage. Yellow birches and lots of yellow-green aspen. Would tie Scout to a branch or tree and then take pictures from either side of the trail.

Using 50mm prime lens, often at F/1.8 to play with short DOF. Hard to get her just right. She moves around too much. Cloudy afternoon, not much light, coming from the downhill side and well filtered. Shot mostly at 400-800 ISO. Got just two decent shots:


















f/1.8
1/400
ISO800
50mm lens (~75mm equivalent)

Yeah, these numbers don't make sense. Why am I shooting at ISO 800 when I can get a good exposure at 1/400? I don't know. But it came out.


















f/2.0
1/100
ISO 400
50mm lens (~75mm equivalent)

It feels nice getting all of this pretty blur, but the more I do it the more it feels like a gimmick. Or at least, potentially a cheap way to emphasize a subject. Here I think it fits. Scout is an anxious dog, and that comes in these. She seems alienated from the background. Uncomfortable. I like the top one best. The contour of her face fits into the green-brown transition on the edge of the trail. Her eye comes through well, too.