Is there an After?…..

Written by Fred Ritchin, professor of photography at New York University, After Photography presents the reader with what Ritchin sees as the problems and possibilities associated with digital photography.

What can be done with a digital image? For that matter what can’t be done with a digital image. The possibilities are endless.

Gone are the days when a photographer would have to return from the field to process their shots and prepare them for publication. Today their images can be sent the moment they are shot, the photographer can remain in the field and continue shooting or pause to do their own post. One of the many questions that Ritchin raises is: What do we lose when the person doing the post is not the one who was there capturing the image? How does the perspective change?

Another issue discussed is image manipulation. We all know that the beautiful image before us has had some adjustments made, but how much has been changed? There is no standard for tagging photos to let the viewer know how accurate a shot is. The definition of, say, a small adjustment, can be different depending on who you are speaking to. What does that do to photography’s ability to document things?

Ritchin raises many questions but answers very few. He does however remain excited about the possible uses of digital photography and presents many ideas in his book. For instance the possibility of using areas of a photo as essentially a launching point for further exploration of an issue or a part of an issue as proposed in After Photography certainly got me thinking.

My verdict? Well worth the read.

Anyway that comment got me to thinking and for some reason the scene where Robert Stack arrives at the airport from ‘Airplane – The Movie’ popped into my head. Anyone remember the one I’m talking about?

The scene is here on youtube about half way through the trailer if you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaXvFT_UyI8&feature=related

Then of course I had the uncontrollable urge to use the image as part of my 365….

Now all I need is to find me a copy of the movie…..

The lens that everyone is looking for showed up in our store today. Needless to say the majority of the staff had to take it outside for a quick spin, here’s mine… oh, yeah…all handheld and on the 7d.

Looks like it’s time to dig down and find that fourth gear that everyone talks about. You know…the one where you have to really stretch to meet your goal.

I suppose that’s a good thing really. After all this isn’t supposed to be easy. Not if you want to grow that is.

Now all I have to do is find my shovel….

I swear they know.

Nikon 80-400VR

Nikon 80-400VR

Nikon 80-400 on a monopod

The big advantage with the 80-400 is that without the collar it weighs in at just over 2.5 pounds. Add VR to that and you have a big lens that is not difficult to hand-hold. Try carrying a tripod through rough terrain or even using a monopod when you’re going after birds (or squirrels)  and you’ll soon see the value of being able to hand hold a big lens.

Nikon 80-400 handheld

Nikon 80-400 handheld

Nikon 80-400 handheld

I'm not sure what he's doing but it sure looks like it feels good....

I’m still checking out other big lenses but for me the portability makes this one worth a second look.

However, fisheye lenses are used mainly in astrophotography, hemispherical photography and also by photographers and videographers in action shots to show context.

Fisheyes have no filter thread, instead filters are inserted in the rear of the lens.

Impossible Bend

Sigma 4.5mm f2.8

Late Night and the Fisheye

Tilt Shift

Had a chance to check out Nikon’s 45 mm PC-E lens this past weekend.

Plane of Focus

Tilt shift lenses are used in architectural photography to correct for converging lines created when shooting up at a building.They are also useful in macro photography and to create an effect called miniaturization.

The tilt moves the plane of focus so it is not perpendicular to the lens axis. The shift moves the image circle relative to the sensor in order to correct converging lines.

Effectively you can take a thin line of focus and move it around the frame…

Tilt Shift

Tilt Shift

Check out these examples as well…

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/11/16/beautiful-examples-of-tilt-shift-photography/

Sigma’s 10-20 f 4-5.6 has been around for quite a while, in fact they’ve introduced a new version of this lens with a fixed f 3.5. The newer version hasn’t come into the store yet so I had to settle for the variable aperture.

Sigma 10-20 f 4-5.6

I have to admit that there is something about the wider perspective that is appealing.

Sigma 10-20 f 4-5.6 @10

Sigma 10-20 f 4-5.6 @11

Although to be honest I found myself shooting at 20mm more often than not.

Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6

The results from this lens are pretty impressive as you can see. Although the finish on the lens may not be like the  ’name’ brand versions the price is certainly attractive.

Miranda Auto Sensorex EE

The ‘EE’ stands for ‘electric-eye’, a new concept which allowed for through the lens metering. This allowed for both spot and average metering.

A unique feature of this camera was the removable prism which allowed for waist level shooting.

Miranda Auto Sensorex EE

Because of the design of the TTL system, metering was available even when the prism was removed.

Miranda Auto Sensorex EE