The reason I bring so much glass to these informal shoots is to further familiarize myself with the strengths and weaknesses of various gear in my toolset. While almost anything can be used to make an image, we each have our own opinions as to which are the better tools to help us achieve the look or feeling that we’re trying to convey.
Standard strobist style shot, 17-55mm 2.8, color processed afterwards.
105mm Micro VR, probably my most favorite “portrait” lens.
This wind was created by the AC unit behind the shop. Any place works, trust me…
Image above from a 50mm f/1.8 Canon, image below from the more modern 17-55mm f/2.8 Nikon. Both good in their own way. Some might object to the pentagonal out of focus elements and harsh bokeh in the old lens but they have their place in certain situations.
Simple dragging of the shutter and trip the shutter+zoom techniques (though perhaps I should have used rear curtain sync).
These last strobist images are right before my second SB800 speedlight died (the one used in the background as a hair light). Sigh…..more money down the drain. I’ve dropped my own stuff, lots of times. I’ve had a 50mm roll down Stone Mountain, I’ve had a 70-200 snap off the lens mount of a camera body, lots of random drops on pavement and concrete. Other people have dropped my gear too, seems to be contagious. Not really mad at any of that stuff, but having to replace something expensive and treat it like a consumable doesn’t make me happy. To further add insult to injury, after the shoot the lady at Checker’s left out one of my hamburgers, of course charging me for both. It’s little things like that…
