HOME | DD

Description
Yo. It's been a while since I've seriously posted photos. After the retirement of my old camera, there was a serious break.
In a way, I wanted to make a pause, to give myself time to learn photography anew, so to speak. The trick to making truly good shots is not just to have an awesome (and expensive) camera, but once you have it, to know it well and master its awesome capabilities. So I devoted a long time to that, reading the manual pedantically, as though I never held a camera in my hands before, and experimenting a lot with its many many functions. I also learned some more on image processing and tried new techniques. In fact, I reworked my entire process some and came up with new practices to get me closer to what I really want from my photos. So you will see some improvement here as that new work unwinds.

But let's see what I've been up to those several months since

I'll start with some generic shots I made actually in the office the day I got the lens for the camera.
To introduce it properly:

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 24-70 mm f/4L IS USM

The camera is second hand but in good condition, and Hell, was that a jump, from 550D directly to 5D (in Canon the smaller the number the higher the class - so 550 is a hobbyist camera, but 5D is a full-fledged professional). Usually people go from 500-550 through 60, 40, 30, 7, etc., but nope. I skipped all those middle steps and jumped right into the deep with the 5D. Always wanted to, to be honest, and now that I actually could afford it there was nothing to stop me. Besides, I was aiming for a full-frame (which I need since I am largely a scenery photographer), and if you're going for full-frame you're jumping in the class of high prices anyway. By the way, if you google full-frame vs. crop sensor you'll find a whole bunch of articles trying to convince you that the evil super-expensive full-frame only gives you a whole lot of excess space in the image which makes your subject small in the cadre and which you don't really need, but in fact only showing how little they really understand artistic photography. But that's my own opinion. I remember that feeling, when I first looked through the viewfinder, expecting the familiar view, but seeing the wider angle, a dramatically different scene that simply captures more. Then there are purely physical specifications which make the full-frame sensor simply.... superior, with much better physical qualities. So, for scenery, full-frame is a must, it's simple as that.

As for the lens, that was a difficult choice since there are so many and there is no such thing as "the best" or "the most universal" choice because every lens, in order to be good in what it does, must be specialized and therefore does not do so well in other areas. I shoot mostly sceneries AND floral macro, which are two dramatically different genres which have fundamentally different requirements for lens specifications. Not to mention I also want to do some nocturnal photography (for which full-frame is also a definite must, for the already mentioned totally physical reasons). Having a single lens suitable AND good for both is a challenge (and I want it to be single a) because I hate changing lenses and b) because good lenses for full-frame cameras are also pricey and buying two at the same time is too much even for a childless game developer who lives in his own family's house like me). However.... I found one (thanks to a friend) which simply seems to have been designed for me. It is a very good scenery lens, with a good focal range and a decent aperture, it is high class / high quality and it does have a bit of handy zooming. However, it has a switch which allows it to zoom further and go into a macro mode, which makes it lose the infinity focus (which you don't need in macro anyway), while it gains very decent properties of an actual macro lens, while keeping the same decent aperture of f/4. I know this and that of lenses and how every highly specialized quality comes at a price and compromise with all other capabilities. Somehow Canon managed to put seemingly conflicting properties together in a single lens. That must have been some advanced engineering. Of course, it also comes at a price - and compromises with all those qualities: it isn't super wide-angle, like 18 or 14 mm, it doesn't have super-large aperture like 2, 1,8 or less, in macro its focal distance is a bit small and in maximum zoom it can be problematic in low light. But after all, in all situations I've tested it so far, the results I get are very satisfactory and VERY high quality; only nocturnal photography is of somewhat lesser quality (still decent), but that is expected with a f/4 lens. A quality lens is a quality lens regardless, and this one may lack the capabilities of all the highly specialized lenses, but it is a single lens to answer pretty much all my needs excellently.

In conclusion, that was a pricey upgrade, but I've been shooting with this camera and lens for several months already and I am very happy with both. End of story.

And soooo. After nerding around a little on photography technicalities (which probably nobody really cares about, lol XD ), sit back and enjoy some nice trial shots from my first days with the 5D.
By the way, this cyclamen was shot in said macro regime in shade, with a rather suboptimal amount of light available. And yet I got a clean image (from free hand), and you can see some pollen grains :3

Oh yes, by the way, the cyclamen belongs to my team lead (and friend). She got it as a gift and panicked at first because she's not good with plants and cyclamens are not among the easiest to grow. However, with my help, we've managed to keep the little beauty alive and happy for a couple of years already

Featured:
Tag, You're It! - Macro

Description
Yo. It's been a while since I've seriously posted photos. After the retirement of my old camera, there was a serious break.
In a way, I wanted to make a pause, to give myself time to learn photography anew, so to speak. The trick to making truly good shots is not just to have an awesome (and expensive) camera, but once you have it, to know it well and master its awesome capabilities. So I devoted a long time to that, reading the manual pedantically, as though I never held a camera in my hands before, and experimenting a lot with its many many functions. I also learned some more on image processing and tried new techniques. In fact, I reworked my entire process some and came up with new practices to get me closer to what I really want from my photos. So you will see some improvement here as that new work unwinds.

But let's see what I've been up to those several months since

I'll start with some generic shots I made actually in the office the day I got the lens for the camera.
To introduce it properly:

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 24-70 mm f/4L IS USM

The camera is second hand but in good condition, and Hell, was that a jump, from 550D directly to 5D (in Canon the smaller the number the higher the class - so 550 is a hobbyist camera, but 5D is a full-fledged professional). Usually people go from 500-550 through 60, 40, 30, 7, etc., but nope. I skipped all those middle steps and jumped right into the deep with the 5D. Always wanted to, to be honest, and now that I actually could afford it there was nothing to stop me. Besides, I was aiming for a full-frame (which I need since I am largely a scenery photographer), and if you're going for full-frame you're jumping in the class of high prices anyway. By the way, if you google full-frame vs. crop sensor you'll find a whole bunch of articles trying to convince you that the evil super-expensive full-frame only gives you a whole lot of excess space in the image which makes your subject small in the cadre and which you don't really need, but in fact only showing how little they really understand artistic photography. But that's my own opinion. I remember that feeling, when I first looked through the viewfinder, expecting the familiar view, but seeing the wider angle, a dramatically different scene that simply captures more. Then there are purely physical specifications which make the full-frame sensor simply.... superior, with much better physical qualities. So, for scenery, full-frame is a must, it's simple as that.

As for the lens, that was a difficult choice since there are so many and there is no such thing as "the best" or "the most universal" choice because every lens, in order to be good in what it does, must be specialized and therefore does not do so well in other areas. I shoot mostly sceneries AND floral macro, which are two dramatically different genres which have fundamentally different requirements for lens specifications. Not to mention I also want to do some nocturnal photography (for which full-frame is also a definite must, for the already mentioned totally physical reasons). Having a single lens suitable AND good for both is a challenge (and I want it to be single a) because I hate changing lenses and b) because good lenses for full-frame cameras are also pricey and buying two at the same time is too much even for a childless game developer who lives in his own family's house like me). However.... I found one (thanks to a friend) which simply seems to have been designed for me. It is a very good scenery lens, with a good focal range and a decent aperture, it is high class / high quality and it does have a bit of handy zooming. However, it has a switch which allows it to zoom further and go into a macro mode, which makes it lose the infinity focus (which you don't need in macro anyway), while it gains very decent properties of an actual macro lens, while keeping the same decent aperture of f/4. I know this and that of lenses and how every highly specialized quality comes at a price and compromise with all other capabilities. Somehow Canon managed to put seemingly conflicting properties together in a single lens. That must have been some advanced engineering. Of course, it also comes at a price - and compromises with all those qualities: it isn't super wide-angle, like 18 or 14 mm, it doesn't have super-large aperture like 2, 1,8 or less, in macro its focal distance is a bit small and in maximum zoom it can be problematic in low light. But after all, in all situations I've tested it so far, the results I get are very satisfactory and VERY high quality; only nocturnal photography is of somewhat lesser quality (still decent), but that is expected with a f/4 lens. A quality lens is a quality lens regardless, and this one may lack the capabilities of all the highly specialized lenses, but it is a single lens to answer pretty much all my needs excellently.

In conclusion, that was a pricey upgrade, but I've been shooting with this camera and lens for several months already and I am very happy with both. End of story.

And soooo. After nerding around a little on photography technicalities (which probably nobody really cares about, lol XD ), sit back and enjoy some nice trial shots from my first days with the 5D.
By the way, this cyclamen was shot in said macro regime in shade, with a rather suboptimal amount of light available. And yet I got a clean image (from free hand), and you can see some pollen grains :3

Oh yes, by the way, the cyclamen belongs to my team lead (and friend). She got it as a gift and panicked at first because she's not good with plants and cyclamens are not among the easiest to grow. However, with my help, we've managed to keep the little beauty alive and happy for a couple of years already

Featured:
Tag, You're It! - Macro