Gangsta

Gangsta
Originally uploaded by DrkMage

Public Self vs Private Self. ...

We all do it. This is my nephews public self it's not how I see him at all. I look at him and I see a ready smile and a big full laugh.This is his public self.

I believe that portraits have to show that public self and that self we want to be seen as. I still see the smile in his eyes.. he's a great kid.

Flash!!!!! It's Photography.

I take a lot of available light shots. I hate the way the flash makes my photos look. It's like taking a bucket of white paint and splashing it all over the Mona Lisa or something. It's just ugly to bath everything in white light and create a unnatural bluish tint. I prefer the soft shadows and the natural look of available light. Give me a wide aperture and available light to shoot my shot. Give me an f/1.8 50 mm over any F/3.6 - F/5.6 zoom lens any day. I'll get nice DOF and the right look. Nothing like a portrait with the face in focus and the fall off behind the ears. I love that look.

The truth is I never really knew how to use a flash on the camera. I started taking photos like everyone else. A little point and shot 35 mm that my grand mom got for me. Use the flash inside she'd tell me. Use the flash it's night. And I always got . . . Well you know what I always got. Those vacation shots a lot of people have. Those family snap shots of Aunt June or who ever. Yuck!!!

So I'm looking at Adorama at the Pentax K20D. I'm going though the Pentax flash on the site and they explain it, all of it. I learned a lot. Why all my photos looked unnatural. I learned when to use the flash even in Sunlight. it was great.

What I learned is that light has 3 qualities. Of course I learned this over time. Some times my photos look warmer (photography word) due to the light. You call that color quality. Some times you use a single light source (AKA Lamp) to create shadows and drama in an image. The definition of direction. Light has a 3rd quality called intensity simply put how bright it is. I have 2 real problems in my past flash photos. Simply the range of the flash is about 3 feet for optima and 15 feet to be out of range. My problem is I put things to close or to far. I need to take my photos at about 3-4 feet if my prime source of light is my flash. I also need to use auto white balance when I'm going to flash. it doesn't take on a blue look of being cool.

I need to remember that due to the direction straight at my target there will be no shadows in my picture. I need to make sure that the other the other sources of light compliment this. This is called fill flash you do this on a sunny day when the sun is at your target's back. You use this to remove unwanted shadows and dark areas.

I'm going to go and take some cool photos now that I learned this and look up the range on my Canon.

Cold War anyone?

Photography is a place with a lot of rules that only seem to apply when you want them to or when they seem to work. Let's look at the rule of thirds. When do you apply it? Well when it works. When do you apply narrow depths of field? When you want to. There seems to be one rule that seems to apply constantly. That rule is the camera cold war.

We've all seen the Camera cold war and some of us even fight it. That's what happens when a Nikon user sees a guy happily shooting his Canon or vice versa.People judge the lenses you choose to use. The tripod isn't microfiber or it's made by the wrong people.

This is really the worst part of photography. I like to take the photos. I like to show them to my friends and my fans.I just hate comparing my equipment to someone else's. There is always more expensive and better stuff. The photo is the only thing that matters.

Since the photo is all that really matters anyway. I've seen good photos taken with the cardboard box disposibles.I've seen excellent pictures taken with point and shoots. it's not really the camera it's the photographer.

My life be like

I like photography. I really like photography of all kinds. I take cityscapes and I take portraits and glamour shots. I take pictures of the miniature games that I play and historical monuments. I take pictures of my kittens and my friends dogs. I have taken about 1000 pictures that I show people.

I'm only known for one type of photography though. I'm known for the glamour shots of models and less the other pics I take. Seems like I take a photo of a woman in her underwear and everyone views it. and I take a photo of my niece and no one looks..

What I'm known for	What I Want to be known for

5 Of My Photos Which Need To Be Seen

Not all of my photos get the same amount of attention. So I decided that I'll show the ones that I believe need to be given more love that I personally like. I figure the others will be found by the people looking for them.

&MoreCandles
Mom
12th Street
Becki OverExposed
2 Street Lights

What's In My Bag Now??? A Way Point.

One of my first blogs here was a repost of my fantasy photo equipment. I said I never really made it but I keep trying again. Well I simply love my current kit and I figure that since the my thinking has changed and there has been some changes I'll key you in.

DSLR

• D30 DSLR yea I got it.. cheap with all the extra's


• 30D DSLR I wanted spotmetering and the higher speed

Lenses

• Canon 50mm F/1.8 I haven't upgraded yet I decided to keep it when I do


• Tamron 17-50 F/2.8 better reviews then the sigma and cheaper I love it.


• Quantaray 70-300 F4-F5.6 bought on a whim to see what I needed and F4 is the way to go

Looks like I made a good dent and I don't have far to go. The telling thing is the things not in my bag. I'm still debating the 24 - 70 lens as I wonder if I really need to over lap my lenses for my shooting. The film body and the point and shot are just extras and I need to upgrade the film body to maybe an elan 7e or a 7ne. I won't be happy with a classic canon and mostly because ebay is shitty in the idea of camera sales.

So that's where I am.

My Other Camera is a Pentax

I have a really cool Flirkr friend. Her name is Steph. We talk from time to time and we're really geeky into photography and taking pictures. I'm truly a big fan of hers. I love her self portraits and her cat pictures.

One night we're talking about lenses and fantasy stuff that we want to buy. She tells me about this classic Pentax glass. Asahi Pentax Takumar Super multi coat Lenses. she wants like the 50 F/1.2 and some others. Steph knows her glass and she's talented. So it's not that I don't take her word or nothing but I really do have to look at this stuff. I mean to try and buy something from 1972 in the Y2K+8 it's gotta be special right.

I cruise over to flickr and do a quick search. The photos taken with this glass is amazing. They're clear and the colors are brilliant. They're fast and manual focus. There is a group devoted to them and ppl are mounting them to all kinda digital SLR's. She tells me about her Camera the K10D and the feature set. and I'm thinking I paid what for my 30D.

So I start thinking in about a year or so I can buy a used k20d or so used. Pentax always go cheap mostly because ppl not in the know want nikons or canon's because they are "Better". I can then shark them and get a cool camera and some of this rare glass. I think that the collecting and the hunting will be the most fun of this project. I mean it is possible to have 2 camera kits and figure out what one you like the best. Let's call this learning.



After taking pictures for 4 years I've come to the conclusion that it's not the name or the camera or the serial number it's the person be hind it that makes the photos memorable.