Night Photography in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Gabe organized a fun outing to Red Hook for some night photography fun and invited Mike, Angelia and I to come along.
View Larger Map GPS coordinates from one of my first shots in map above. Interesting: Google hasn't updated their satellite image to show IKEA yet!
After a really cold, snowy winter, we had a warm night. In fact, Mike and Angelia were removing layers before we set out from Gabe's place. We shot for over four hours near IKEA, where the old cranes were left in place around the campus. We were totally alone and got to rock out on the long exposures. We had a variety or digital and film gear with us. Alas, my Mamiya 7 battery flunked out on the first exposure :( Bad planning, dude. [gallery link="file" columns="2"]
I was testing out the Nikon 14-24mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. Unfortunately for me, I fell in love with all of them. Interesting things to look out for - at f/16 ~ f/22 with the 70-200mm, I got 16-point stars from the aperture blades. And on the 14-24mm, I guess due to the extreme aspherical element on the front, light sources that would be off-angle to other lenses caused flare. I didn't remove them, as they are part of the photograph, and this isn't an assignment. But I'd keep a watch out for it if I were out on a job.
Dobbs Ferry Nights - Frozen Hudson Edition
After a night of shooting with Gabe, Mike & Angelia in Red Hook (more to come on that soon), I came home, tired and decided I had some battery left, so I headed down the the river instead of going home. It is warm'ish and the ice is breaking up. The tide was coming in as I left Brooklyn, so the river was flowing north, and the ice was moving pretty swiftly along the edges of the river. How fortunate, that's where I was ;) [gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="ID"]
Williamsburg with the Lensbaby Composer
I was itching to try out the Lensbaby when I got the email from Gabe that it was Burlesque night, and the crew was going out for food and good cheer. I was curious about how I would like manual-focusing in low light. Meh. I've been doing it my whole life. How about manual focusing with tilt adjustments. Meh... almost. The D700 has a bright viewfinder, but it ain't like using a 4x loupe on a 4x5 ;) So my initial shots with the double glass lens and an f/2.8 aperture disc were just getting used to focusing:
The plastic lens has the most amazing attributes - look at the crazy aura around the light source on the left top side. I've also noticed that it's great for softening skin...
And the Zone Plate/Pinhole had interesting results, too. It's interesting to be able to emulate the effects of film-based plastic cameras like the Diana, pinholes and Holga, with the added benefit of plane of focus control. And digital chimping, too. It does take away some of the feelings of, "Did I get it? I can;t wait to process the film!" but in exchange you get the assurances of "yes!" and "next!" Personally, I like that for my current process.
After having a few drinks and friends headed home, I took a tour around North 6th street with the Lensbaby. Swapping out lens elements, aperture discs and hand-holding everything. Thank goodness the D700 is soooo very good in low light.
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Verdict: I'm hooked on my Lensbaby. And that last shot knocks me out. Williamsburg indeed has a heart.
