01-20-2014 Random Photos

 The Christmas Tree came down today and the Christmas drapes were converted to Valentines drapes.

We are getting a new gas line on our street and we are in the process of getting connected to the new line.
                                             
 I love pine trees , late afternoon light, and the narrow depth of field that a 50mm lens will give when shot close to wide open.

Heading to Pangburn with the in-laws to watch Jalen and the Wildcats play the conference championship game.  Unfortunately, the Wildcats lost.

Flowers and Cameras

I have recently posted a few photos of my Crocus that I took with my iPhone. The above photo was also taken with my iPhone with the help of the Best Camera App. iPhone photos can amazing but sometimes you need to use a real camera, in this case a Nikon D200 and a 50mm F1.8 lens. If you own a DSLR you should really consider getting a 50mm lens.



My Crocus bulbs are starting to fade now but my Violets are going like gang busters.

Clementines

We love Clementines at the Montgomery house. Josie and Jalen and I at least love them. They are small and very easy to peel and they don't have seeds. Whats not to like.

Photo Note: This is the first blogged photo with my new Nikon 35mm F2 lens. Note the extremely limited depth of field. Since I went completely digital in 2002 I have always missed a fast normal lens like my trusty Nikon 50mm F1.8. On the D200 the 50mm lens acts like a sort telephoto at 75mm but the 35mm acts like a 52.5mm lens. I was seriously tempted to get the Sigma 30mm F1.4 like my student photographer Noah has but it is a digital only lens and would not work on a full frame digital or a film camera. The 35mm F2 is a full frame lens so it works on both film and digital cameras.

Grandaddy Long-leg

I got this Granddaddy Long-Legs photo at my in-laws house in Mississippi. The boys and I were shooting bb guns at paper plates and I was sitting on a stump being the adult supervisor and marksmanship coach. As I was supervising, Josie announced that I might want to leave my perch due to the fact that a huge spider was crawling up the back of the stump. I agreed and I found the would be spider to be this Granddaddy Long-Leg.

Photo Note- I always shoot holiday photos with a different camera. This Thanksgiving Break I chose one of my old film cameras the ruggedly awesome Nikon F100. I shoot only B&W film and this week I had three rolls of C-41 process Kodak B&W film. I used only a Nikon 50mm F1.8 lens and a Tamron 28-200. I love both of those lenses. The 50mm is so much fun to shoot with and the fast aperture really allows you to control depth of field. In good light, the Tamron 28-200 is a great lens as well. 28mm is wide enough and 200 is reasonably long enough for most general shooting and as you can see from this photo the 28-200 focuses fairly close as well. Speaking of film, I love the latitude you get with negative film. Some days I miss shooting film.