Dave Johnson's Photography

Photos & Thoughts


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Playing with a 50mm!


 

Quite a number of years a go I bought the cheap Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens for my Canon Digital Rebel (my first dSLR). I barely used it at first mainly because if I wasn’t paying attention and the ISO was set to 100, the camera would automatically open up the lens. This would often result in photos that were out of focus or the focus point was not on the subject. Recently, I have found that having such a fast lens is fantastic for taking pictures of the children, particularly where I don’t want to use flash. However, recently I have decided to use my flash more and so I am now using 2 pieces of kit that were bought and forgotten about.

I don’t really have an eye for the shallow depth of field photography, or Bokeh style, so I am having to readjust my eye to looking around my surroundings more. I couple of photos taken yesterday are posted below where I thought the narrow depth of field would work- what do you think?

Another reason for digging out my 50mm lens and the flash is that my sister-in-law is getting married in May and they have asked me to take some of their wedding photographs as they aren’t having a professional photographer- so they get me instead! Naturally this has resulted in lots of google searches for the best lenses to use at weddings, flash techniques and so on, and so on. One idea I have (which I haven’t discussed with the happy couple), is to set the camera up on a tripod and to make a time-lapse movie of the wedding and subsequent wedding breakfast. I’m sure they will be happy for me to post some pictures post scrutiny!

On a totally separate note, I have been listening to the new album by Lana Del Rey constantly for the last few days. If you haven’t heard it I would definitely recommend buying it or finding most of the tracks on YouTube! Try this for size…

 


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Vermont


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A Day at the Beach

These photos were taken on Saltburn beach one late summer evening. As I was processing the raw files I was amazed at how dirty either the lens or the sensor were at the time of taking. One thing that Aperture does particularly well is ‘cleaning’ up photos of spots, dirt, people(!), or whatever maybe in the picture that you want removed.

In fact, I reckon that if I’d left the dots/spots in, I could have joined them together and made a picture which probably would have turned out as a lion or elephant just like the in the join the dots books you had as a child!

You’ll be pleased to know that since the photos were taken I have mastered the art of cleaning a sensor on a dSLR, although it is not a job I particularly like doing; I am always worried I’ll break the camera!!!


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Road to No Where

During the summer of 2005 Lou and I had this fantastic trip planned that included New Orleans and exploring the Deep South. Before we even got to the part of booking flights and hotels we found out Lou was pregnant with our first child! Although we decided not to go on our Deep South trip, we planned a road trip to Shenandoah National Park staying at various campsites along the way. On the face of it this sounded like a good idea, but unfortunately we forgot about the intense humidity which made the tent into a personal mobile sauna!

Despite the mileage we covered, starting in NYC and going as far south as Tennessee and Kentucky, it was one of the most relaxing holidays we have been on. The only downside was the everyday occurrence of loading and unloading the car. However, to make up for it we often went to bed early, followed by a lazy morning enjoying the peace and tranquility of being in the great outdoors.

If you haven’t had the chance to visit Shenandoah NP and the surrounding area then I would definitely recommend a visit. I imagine it is a magical place in the autumn when the bright, bold hues of red orange and purple leaves transform the landscape into a striking colour splash!

Road to No Where

Round the Bend