Here are some shots from our four days in London.
Category Archives: nikon
Ice Storm Engagement Session with Kaitlin and Sean and Alice
On the morning of the recent ice storm I had the pleasure meeting up with Kaitlin and Sean (and their daughter Alice) for an engagement shoot. We first had some fun indoors with some shots in the front window… thanks so much to Kaitlin’s family for letting me dismantle the entire living room (including all the perfectly arranged gifts) to make room. I shot natural light only and used the gold side of a large reflector propped up on a chair to add some fill against the extreme backlight.
After the indoor shots we braved the icy outdoors. These photos really don’t do justice to how absolutely treacherous it was and I give much respect to Kaitlin and Sean for managing to look so relaxed and natural while fighting to stay standing. Also for being so brave despite branches and trees falling in the near vicinity.
I shot with the D700 and made full use of the Sigma 35mm f/1.4, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and the Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.8. I even managed to squeeze in an icy Brenizer method pano.
Visiting TRIUMF, Vancouver – November, 2013
During my trip to Vancouver I spent the day at TRIUMF, BC’s Cyclotron particle accelerator. I’d worked at TRIUMF 10 years ago so it was naturally exciting for me to make my first trip back since moving back to Waterloo… and of course I had to bring my camera along. The main building at TRIUMF (the Meson Hall) houses the Cyloctron, under a stack of concrete blocks, and multiple beam lines feeding experiments. As you’ll see, the magnetic field from the Cyclotron is so strong that paper clips stand on end, aligned to the field.
D700 with Nikon AF-S 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 G and AF-S 60mm f/2.8 G Micro.
A Trip To Vancouver – November, 2013
I recently visited Vancouver, a city that I lived in 10 years ago while on an 8 month co-op work term. I found the whole trip pretty nostalgic and I took advantage of the excellent weather to check out my old house walk around the waterfront, downtown and Stanley Park. On my last day I joined fellow photographer Ilia for a and hike up Quarry Rock in North Van. Thanks so much to Fern and Dave, Lisa and Marianne and Rebecca and Andrew for the excellent dinners!
I took the D700 with me along with the Nikon AF-S 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 G and AF-S 60mm f/2.8 G Micro. Here are some of my favourite shots that resulted.
Quarry Rock
HDR of the view from Quarry Rock
Nikon 135mm f/2 DC Show and Tell
In my previous post I showed how the Nikon AF-S 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G filled my needs for a wide lens. As one of Nikon’s newest lenses it has a compact, light build and modern design. Needing a telephoto at the opposite end of the focal length spectrum I had the option of the brand new Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/4 VR, recently on sale for a reasonable price. What I really wanted was a nice, fast prime. I scoured online every once in a while and last week hit the jackpot. A used Nikon 135mm f/2 DC!
This is a highly regarded portrait lens and short telephoto. It’s one of the oldest lenses that Nikon still sells and has remarkable build quality with an all metal body. Mine is the non-D version (something I didn’t even notice when buying it) but that only limits flash metering. It’s somewhat rare, too, as it’s expensive when bought new. The cost of this used copy was much more reasonable.
‘DC’ stands for ‘Defocus Control’, something of a misnomer as it is actually a ‘bokeh fine tune’. A control ring at the front of the lens shifts a pair of optics to tune the spherical aberrations to optimize either the foreground or background blur as I’ll show shortly. Even without using the defocus control, the blur is spectacular. Truly.
f/2
f/2
f/2.8
Like I said… truly spectacular. And, thanks to the super-shallow depth of field when wide open, it’s great for Brenizer Method bokeh panoramas.
15+ shot Brenizer Method bokeh panorama at f/2
Now, while the autofocus is reasonably quick for a screw-drive lens, the accuracy leaves something to be desired. When researching this lens in forums and reviews, AF accuracy was the number one complaint. I’ll demonstrate below. Here is a shot at f/2.8 that took four tries to nail the focus on my dad’s face.
f/2.8
With focus nailed, it’s razor-sharp, but when it’s off you really notice! Here are a couple of crops. The first is of the image above while the second is from a previous attempt.
f/2.8 (well focused)
f/2.8 (slightly out of focus)
Now on the defocus control. The method for using this feature is as follows:
- Set the lens to the desired aperture.
- Turn the ‘Defocus Image Control’ ring in either the forward or reverse direction from 0 to the R or F number that matches the aperture.
- Turn to an R or F number that is greater than the set aperture and you get an unpleasent soft focus
Turning the control ring in the R direction improves the quality of bokeh behind the subject (but has a negative impact on foreground blur). Likewise, Turning in the F direction improves the bokeh in front of the subject (but noticeably hurts the background blur). Here is a demonstration, with three images of the same subject at f/4. The first is with the control ring at 0. The next is with the control ring at 4 in the R direction. The third is with the control ring at 4 in the F direction. Notice the subtle difference in bokeh at the foreground and background.
f/4 with DC ring at 0
f/4 with DC ring at R4
f/4 with DC ring at F4
Here are some crops to demonstrate even further:
I’m in love with this lens. I really am. However, I hope that I can figure out a way to work around the focus inconsistencies to really get the most out of it. I know it will take some work… and I’m looking forward to it!
I’ll leave you with some more examples, including mandatory cats and Mitzy.
f/2.8
f/2.8
f/4
f/2
f/2
f/4
f/2.8
f/2.8
f/2.8
f/4
f/2.8
f/2
f/2
f/2
f/4
Starlight 10th Anniversary Block Party
I had a great time this past weekend at the Starlight’s 10th anniversary block party in the parking lot behind the venue. Seven great bands, hundreds of people, great food and probably some beer too. I had my camera with me all day and these are some of my favourites from the 800+ photos I shot.
D700 + Sigma 35mm f/1.4 and AF-S 85mm f/1.8 G
A Trip to the Denver Zoo
The day of my cousin Simon’s wedding I took a bike ride to the Denver Zoo. I’m sure people found me pretty nerdy walking alone with a camera, backpack and baseball hat but I didn’t care. The shots here are with the D300s and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 and Nikon 85mm f/1.8.
Some Personal Work from the Past Month
It seems I’ve mostly be posting weddings and concerts lately. I thought it was about time that I put up some personal work that I’ve taken over the last few weeks. There’s no real theme to unify the photos, except they’re all with the D700.
Enjoy!
Elisabeth and Behzad’s Wedding – Steam Whistle Brewery
Elisabeth and Behzad got married in style at the Steam Whistle Brewery in Toronto this past July. My afternoon started at their fantastic apartment where I got to see the beautiful dress (that Elisabeth made herself!) and meet the super-fun bridesmaids. The makeup was exceptional, thanks to the talented Misty Fox, which made my work in post a breeze (where skin was concerned). Once I arrived at the Steam Whistle (after an unfortunate delay from the thousands of Blue Jays fans pouring into the streets after the game) I met the guys and set about photographing the wedding party. The weather was HOT and BRIGHT so I quickly whisked everybody to a shaded area. If you look closely at these photos you might spot the Leon’s store through the windows. The ceremony had many Persian elements, as Behzad and family are Iranian, and was quite beautiful. Thankfully the sun dipped had below the SkyDome just in time to not cook the guests.
This was my first time working with the assistance (and 2nd shooter skills) of Sylvia Pond and hopefully not the last! She did a better job than I could have ever hoped and I’ve included a few of her pictures here.
The cocktail-style ceremony provided all the candid photo opportunities that I could hope for and this is where the D700 and fast primes really shone. When things got darker I broke out the strobes. I placed the SB-700 on a stand against a pillar and either pointed it at the stage for speeches or into the crowd for dancing/party shots. I held the SB-900 in my left hand with Lumiquest Softbox LTz to work in tandem with the stand-mounted strobe. For the photo booth I set up the Alien Bee B800s with umbrellas outside against one of the large doors.
Big Country – Starlight, Waterloo – August 1, 2013
Scottish band Big Country rocked the Starlight in Waterloo a few weeks back. Lucky me got to photograph the incredibly animated 5-piece. The highlight for me was the HUGE sound that the drummer got out of his equally HUGE kit.
D700 (the replacement one) with Sigma 35mm f/1.4, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.8 G. All shots were with the lenses wide open at ISO 3200-6400.
Owen Cherry Photography 