Panasonic – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Texture iii, BW

Black and white can be very difficult if not done properly – contrast has to be there, whether long scale (lots of grey between the blackest black and whitest white) or short scale (little grey between black and white). Long scale images may never reach black or white, and may not work at all. Certain colors work better in b&w with a filter. So much more stuff, it seems to me, needs to be learned when shooting in b&w! I struggle with it. Above is longer scale; below is shorter scale. The red leaves were really difficult to render.

Hit Man for the Nikon Mafia

Ok, there really is no hit man. More of a pitch man. “This is why you need a Nikon. Look at what you can do with a Nikon. You really should get a Nikon. Nikon is always ahead of everyone with their technology.”

I am giving myself several months to choose a DSLR with interchangeable lenses. Right now there are so many new offerings just out, or out soon (just in time for the winter holidays), that it doesn’t make sense to buy one now. Later, the reviews will be in, and the prices should drop. Of course, there will be newer things as well later on.

My thoughts on cameras run in all directions. Buy good glass, and not be too nutso over the body. Buy small cameras which are easy to hold, and have good lenses. Buy something that feels good in the hand with both large and small lenses. In other words, try the camera on for size.

Nikons are what my friend who lent me his keeps telling me to get. I think he has been using them for forty years! Or, as a second choice, he says, get a Canon.

All well and good, but part of me just doesn’t want what everyone else has. I’m rather ornery that way. I was drawn to the micro 4/3 system when it first came out, but to date it does not seem as if any of them are really having superb lenses to go with them. Nikon does have excellent lenses, as does Canon; not too sure about Sony or Olympus or Panasonic in their smaller cameras, though I do believe Leica lenses can work on the Panasonic. There is argument, though, for and against the Japanese-made Leica glass versus the German-made Leica glass. Eek!

One which has caught my eye very seriously is the Pentax K-5. I like its really, really solid construction. I drop things and spill things all over the place, so it sure does have appeal that way. Another especially attractive element is the fact that the K-5 is backward compatible with all K-mount lenses.

An attractive smaller camera is the Panasonic Lumix GH2. I really love my little ZS5 – it takes some really great pictures, and it is what has gotten me really interested in the DSLR world more seriously, especially using manual exposure factors. For a point-and-shoot camera that fits in your pocket, it is phenomenal as far as I am concerned.

Sony is also interesting. The Alpha 55 looks like it has a lot going for it, especially in size. Good reviews are coming out about it, although opinions of its lenses vary.

Price is also a factor. A good, used Nikon may be had, but there is always part of me which likes to buy something new. However, that seems sort of silly at times – people are always selling off perfectly good techie toys because another model is out. And, seriously, this may be the route I take, but I think I need to make a choice of camera itself (brand) before I buy lenses. And that is where Sigma is interesting – it makes third-party lenses for most major camera manufacturers!

I’m willing to spend on good equipment – things made to last, that work well, that don’t become unfashionable in a few weeks time – all appeal to me. I’m doing my research! In the meantime, I am very lucky to have a Nikon D70 to play with.

Sparkles

I am a magpie at heart – I love shiny objects. As a kid, I used to drive my mother nuts because I liked rhinestone buttons on my dresses and gaudy costume jewelry. These days, I am more conservative, or at least demonstrate better taste, than I did when I was five years old as far as clothing. But, I am still irresistibly drawn to sparkles – splashes in water – spider webs in the morning light – flickery sun in dark shadow.

Today, I returned to the local botanical gardens. Autumn is settling in. The sky has a different quality of blue, the light is cool and intense. The scent of pine needles rises up with the heat of the day. With me came my Lumix ZS5, and the Canon QL17 GIII. I took a few pictures with the Canon, and oodles with the Lumix. This is the luxury of digital – 60 pictures without the cost for processing.

The path I took this morning was one I haven’t taken before. I always head uphill for some reason, but today I deliberately went downhill. Here, the garden is more of a woodland, with large California oaks mixed in with other native plants. The colors are more brown and green in the woodland area of the garden than up the hill, but there are little bright spots here and there of sunshine and shadow, along with lingering flowers and autumnal berries.

What I looked for today, very deliberately, was the contrast of light and dark, of sun and shadow. I stopped the camera down to -1/3 EV, to keep the camera from making all the light areas washed out. In the shadows, this creates a bit of drama with contrast. Compositional elements were a bit more studiously considered as well, such as movement of a tree branch across the picture, a pathway, a stairway. Some shots I framed with foliage, others I attempted to focus on a specific part, such as a tree leaf, and open the f/stop as much as possible with this camera (which is not more than f/3.3 manual), to blur out the background.

The set on Flickr for today contains images as they came from the camera. Most of them need some help, I think, but a few of the ones of the oaks are interesting and successful as they stand, I think. The one below has been cropped.

I am always in conflict about post-processing images, yet it has been done since the early days of photography. Images have been manipulated by time and f/stop, airbrushing out of unwanted characters who have lost political importance, handpainting. Processing of film images also influences the final product.

Why should digital images be any different?