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Digital SLR / DSLR Camera Question / DSLR Thread 2

Gentlemen,

I must now address your attention to my favorite new photographer, Wayne Lawrence. Pick up the latest issue of PDN and you'll see they listed him as one of 30 "New and Emerging Photographers to Watch".

http://waynelawrenceonline.com/

Check out the Orchard Beach (Bronx Riviera) set, in particular.

I found his entire portfolio to be outstanding and inspirational. Not bad for a guy who was driving nails for a living a couple of years ago.

Some questions come to mind, from a technical perspective:

1. What kind of camera? Feels very much like photos I've seen from a 5d MkII.

2. What kind of lens? Judging from the bokeh, I'd say it's something excellent, but what focal length? I'm guessing fixed focal length, 35mm f/1.4 prime on full frame.

3. Is he using on camera flash or off camera flash? Some are ambient, but others really pop like a fashion photo.
 
Seriously, I'd appreciate it if someone can try to answer those questions.... it's driving me nuts thinking about it! There's no way I can recreate those photos with my current equipment.

What's the deal?

Some PP tricks?
Film??

Everything is razor sharp and the tones are flawless.
 
In case anyone was thinking about renting the Canon 50mm F1.2L lens at Borrowlenses.com, I think that it's gonna be unavailable for a while....

qUDOM.jpg
 
Yeowtch, Wannabe.

--

Just curious. Anyone use LiveJournal? I did a lot for a couple of years and fired it up again a few days ago and was reminded that I like the wide range of photos people put up there. Lots of Emo self-portraits, but too lots of very well done and/or fashion-type and/or with completely different perspectives from my own.

--

VeloceMoto,

1. What kind of camera?

I can't guess what the camera is beyond being an SLR. I'll guess that it's digital.


2. What kind of lens?

I've looked at less than ten of them but the look like they're shot with a either zoom or several different primes. They have different amounts of distortion.


3. Is he using on camera flash or off camera flash?

The flash is moving around. Sometimes it's within a 6" of the camera, sometimes it's about 2' away. It also looks like the flash output varies and prolly is being diffused in some way. Some of the portraits also have the flash focused more closely than others. With a couple I wonder if there are two flashes. If you wanna find where the flash is, identify the source / angle of the shadows: the strongest / most consistent & pervasive is from the sun, others are from the flash(s).

I dunno, but I think this could be done with a 17-55mm on a crop sensor. Don't think any of them look wider or longer than that.


I'm pretty sure the popping you're talking about is two things: pretty consistent overexposure (of the entire image) by 1/2 or 1 stop and tweaking the contrast of the images, more in the midranges and some, but less than that much, in the highs and lows. I think the exposure could be done like this either manually or by setting an autoexposure setting to set for just one point (rather than center-weighted or for the entire image.)
 
Baptistro said:
So Aris, what's with the next contest? I've actually been shooting. :teeth
Click to expand...



Sorry, Bap. I wasn't too excited by the turnout of the first one. I was hoping it would get people out to shoot, but it didn't happen. If you want to take over and do the next one, please feel free.
 
Rented a D300s for the wedding this weekend...love the images, but the slow mirror bugs the f@(K out of me. I swear, it sounds like you're shooting at 1/30th no matter what. I'm used to the D200 and 700 that both get audibly faster as you crank up the speed, and when shooting the 300 with a long lens I keep finding myself checking after every shot. Kind of a mental wtf that I really don't have time for during an event.

Frustrating really, because everything else about it really works for me.
 
cycle61 said:
Anybody trying out the beta version of Lightroom 3? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


After a quick pokearound, its okay, but a little underwhelming. The responsiveness seems a little snappier, a rare treat in an Adobe product. The new noise reduction is still pretty disappointing. They folded some new functionality into the gradient/swab local edit tools. Messed around with some of the tethered shooting and that stuff seems pretty solid, but that's not a function I'd have a ton of use for, so I can't speak too much of it.

My impressions thus far are that it won't blow your mind.

Can anyone recommend a good noise reducer for OSX that does batch processing? I really like neatimage on the PC but for the mac its only released as a photoshop plugin.
 
I really don't feel Lr3 is a major update. More of a polish. Now, Photoshop CS5, that looks nice... Should be able to get a student copy from my brother when it's released :D
 
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Can someone please tell me who this photographer is? For the life of me I cannot remember and it's driving me nuts.

He has a whole portrait series, even a book that are in this style.

agassi%20cover.jpg
 
I'm currently thinking about getting a f/1.8 lens for my D5000 purely on the hobbyist level and have a question regarding the following 2 lenses.

The Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens
51CnjgPJ%2BjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


and the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens
41CEOa4NmTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


Would someone mind explaining to a hobby newb what the differences/characteristics are between the 2?
 
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The 50mm uses an older design for the focus mechanism, which requires a focusing motor in the body and a mechanical interface to drive the elements in the lens. Your D5000 does not have this motor built-in, and therefore will not autofocus with the 50/1.8. The 35/1.8 uses a newer setup, with the focus motor built in to the lens.

The 35mm will also give you a somewhat wider (and IMO more usable) angle of view for normal everyday shooting. I've used mine quite a bit for shooting in low-light situations and it performs quite well. It's not extremely sharp wide open (at f/1.8) but is still much better than the kit lenses.

Both are very good quality for their modest price tags, but I think the 35mm will probably be a better choice for you. :thumbup

Couple of shots from my 35/1.8:

p377402503-5.jpg


p909324093-5.jpg


p758218401-5.jpg
 
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VeloceMoto said:
What about the Nikon 35mm f2 for $300? Does anyone know how it compares to the 35mm f1.8? Price is ~$320 @ B&H.

http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Camera-Lenses/1923/AF-NIKKOR-35mm-f%2F2D.html
Click to expand...

I've tried that one a couple of times, and never been at all impressed. It's an old design, and just doesn't do very well wide open. Stop it down a bunch and it sharpens up, but unless you're shooting full-frame and need f/2 for some reason, I'd skip it. :thumbdown
 
(more info / perspective, FWIW)

A 35 mm lens on a crop sensor (DX) is roughly equivalent to using a 'standard' 50 mm lens on either an full frame sensor (FX) or on a 35 mm film camera. (The D5000 has a crop (DX) sensor, right?) I.e. and IMO, it's generally a more useful lens day-to-day.

The 35 mm is a 'G' type lens and requires a body that controls the aperture with a command wheel.

The 35 mm is a DX lens and will fully image only DX sensors.

The 50 mm is a not a DX lens and will fully image DX, FX and 35 mm film.


For the implicit question of "Which of these two should you get?", unless you plan on getting an FX body or a film body, or plan on doing a bunch of portraits within a year or so, get the 35 mm, f/1.8 (even though it costs more). If I had to choose only one prime lens to use with a crop sensor, I'd choose a 35 mm.


BTW, did you see the stitched images I put in the Photo Tag thread? Two of them were taken with my 35 mm lens. Here are those and a few more:

http://homepage.mac.com/mosquito/2010-BARF-Photo-Tag-Big/large-7.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mosquito/2010-BARF-Photo-Tag-Big/large-8.html

http://homepage.mac.com/mosquito/2010-BARF-Photo-Tag-Big/large-1.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mosquito/2010-BARF-Photo-Tag/large-31.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mosquito/2010-BARF-Photo-Tag/large-32.html
 
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