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Last Two Recipes from Lola

For Sale: Nikon D300, 50mm f/1.4D and 85mm f/1.4D

9Aug/10
12 Comments

Before putting up the ads on Ebay and Craigslist, wanted to see if any of our readers are interested in purchasing some used Nikon equipment from us. We are getting rid of the following gear:

  1. Nikon D300 (US version) – our backup body that we no longer need. Lola has been using it for her recipes a little, but it has been gathering dust mostly, so we decided to sell it. I purchased it from B&H about three years ago and have never had any problems with it. The exterior has normal cosmetic wear with a couple of scratches on the bottom right side. On the right hand side under the memory card door, a small plastic part got broken off. No idea how it happened, must have hit the camera with something before. The LCD always had two covers on it – an LCD shield and the regular Nikon plastic cover, so it is pristine without any scratches. No dead pixels on the LCD either. Number of actuations: 43147, so it has a long way to go… I will make sure that the camera chamber and sensor are both clean before shipping it out. Asking $850 for it.
  2. Nikon 50mm f/1.4D (US version) – after we got the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G, it has also been gathering dust and needs to go. The glass is pristine with no dust inside the lens, works flawlessly. The exterior has some cosmetic wear, but nothing major. Will give the B+W F-Pro 52mm MRC UV filter for free! Purchased from B&H about three years ago. B&H is selling it for $330, I’m asking $250.
  3. Nikon 85mm f/1.4D (US version) – have some seconds thoughts about selling it, but it also needs to go. The new 85mm f/1.4G is going to be twice more expensive, but I know that I will buy it anyway :) The lens is like new and there is no dust inside the lens and no marks, dents, scratches on the lens exterior. Bought it last year from B&H for weddings. It is currently sold at B&H for $1,225 and I’m asking $1,000

All items come with original packaging, cables and manuals.

If you buy all three, will lower the total price to $2,000 even. Will negotiate. Will only ship to US, shipping will be through UPS, insured. Buyer will have to pay for shipping and insurance. I can accept pretty much any method of payment, including checks, money orders and Paypal. Local pick-ups are welcome.

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Filed Under: News and stuff Tagged With: , ,

Sunrise Reflection

8Aug/10
6 Comments

I have so much gear to test, that I’m having a tough time to get out and shoot. Last week I woke up early for some birding at a nearby park and saw this sunrise on the way:

Sunrise Start

The sky redness you see in the above image stood for several minutes before the sun started coming out of the horizon. After taking a couple of shots, I enjoyed the moment of tranquility and as I was getting ready to leave, found this wood piece close-by:

Sunrise Reflection

Too bad there were not any boats around, since it is a small lake…

Captured with Nikon D300 and Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens.

Filed Under: Digital Photography, Landscapes Tagged With: ,

Telephoto Lens Focal Length Comparison

7Aug/10
6 Comments

Although I have already done a focal length comparison from 12mm to 500mm focal length before, I decided to do it once again for telephoto lenses. I receive quite a few emails from our readers, asking about telephoto lenses and focal lengths, specifically whether a focal length of a lens is going to be sufficient for bird and wildlife photography. The below images should give you a pretty good idea about field of view when using particular focal lengths, from 70mm all the way to 1200mm:

70mm-400mm FoV

600mm-1200mm FoV

The above images are not cropped in post-production and represent equivalent focal lengths relative to 35mm. The longest field of view of the 1200mm shot was captured with the Nikon 200-400mm f/4.0 + TC-20E III TC @ 400mm (800mm effective) on a DX body, which is equivalent to 1200mm. The shortest focal length was captured with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II at 70mm.

Filed Under: Digital Photography, Guides and Howtos, Miscellaneous Tagged With: , ,

Best Nikon Lenses for Wedding Photography

6Aug/10
19 Comments

What are the best Nikon lenses for wedding photography? This question comes up so often via comments and emails from our readers, that I was first going to include it in our Photography FAQ section, but then decided to write a separate article and elaborate on the subject a little more. Specifically, I want to not only write about what lenses I think are the best for weddings, but also why and in which cases we use a particular lens. Please keep in mind that the information I present below is a personal opinion based on my experience so far. If you have a favorite lens of yours for wedding photography that is not listed below, please feel free to add a comment on the bottom of the page with some information and pictures (if you have any that you would like to share).

1) Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S

The first on the list is my (and Lola’s) most favorite lens for wedding photography – Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S. We like it for four main reasons: it is sharp, colorful, lightweight and the bokeh it produces is outstanding.

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, Lifestyle Photography, Miscellaneous, Weddings Tagged With: , , , , ,

Chase: Senior Session

5Aug/10
6 Comments

Chase is a young man with a lot of potential to become a very good model. Although that may not be what he wants to do with his life, all of us enjoyed working on his Senior Session pictures.

We used couple of flashes for some of the images. If anyone is interested in the techniques we used, please let us know, so that we can shed some light on the subject :)

Chase e-session #1

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Filed Under: Lifestyle Photography, Portraits Tagged With: , ,

Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II + TC-20E III

4Aug/10
21 Comments

NOTE: I have recently posted the detailed Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR II Review.

I have been super busy performing tests on over 12 lenses (more on that later), including the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and the new Nikon TC-20E III. It was very painful to find the TC-20E III, but I got one on my hands and I have been extensively testing it with the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II. I have also been comparing the results with my Nikon 200-400mm f/4.0G VR, so I will soon publish some very interesting findings for those, who are interested in high performance telephoto gear for sports and wildlife photography.

For now, here is a sample of the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II with the TC-20E III at 600mm:

Coyote

And here is a 100% crop:

100% Crop

Amazing sharpness and contrast, I am truly impressed. Here is the same coyote caught in action with the same lens combo:

Coyote eating Vole

More to come!

Filed Under: Animals, Digital Photography, News and stuff Tagged With: , ,

How to Properly Sharpen Images in Lightroom

3Aug/10
16 Comments

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom comes with powerful tools to sharpen images during post-processing. Located in the Develop module of Lightroom, the “Detail” box contains both Sharpening and Noise Reduction tools that allow Photographers to enhance their digital workflows by fine-tuning images and getting them ready to be published and printed in a quick and efficient way. Since I have already covered the noise reduction part in my Noise Reduction Tutorial, in this article, I will show you how to properly use the Sharpening tool instead.

1) Problems with Sharpening Images

Sharp images look aesthetically more pleasing than soft or blurry images. Because of this, most photographers try to sharpen their images in post-processing applications, which can result in all kinds of problems such as:

  1. Over-sharpening – when too much sharpening is used, it results in harsh, visible lines on edges and around objects. Over-sharpened images often look too “textured”.
  2. Too much noise – using excessive amounts of sharpening can add a lot more noise to an image. The worst result is when an image is already shot at high ISO levels and sharpening is applied on top of the digital grain, resulting in even more noise.
  3. Zigzag lines – straight thin lines can get converted over to zigzags and circular shapes can get cubic transitions when excessive sharpening with a large radius is applied.

Here is an example of an over-sharpened image:

Over-sharpened Image

Over-sharpened Image

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, Guides and Howtos, Software Tagged With: , , , , ,

Giveaway: Nikon 50mm f/1.4G Lens

2Aug/10
325 Comments

We are very excited about this giveaway, because it is for our favorite lens that Lola and I use the most. The Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S lens is a true marvel, an inspiration for many Nikon photographers. We are giving away this bokeh gem to our readers and we want you to be a part of this great opportunity and participate. Here it is, brand new, just taken out of the box:

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G Giveaway

We would love to reward you and thank you for your participation and ongoing support – you inspire us to create beautiful images and motivate us to continue writing articles on photography, something we love doing when we have time!

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Filed Under: Giveaways Tagged With: , ,

Sunset Storm

1Aug/10
14 Comments

Seeing a storm during a sunset is a rare event. As I was driving from a nearby park home with the family, I saw a small rainbow on one side of the sky:

Rainbow

And the below image just a couple of minutes later on the other side:

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Filed Under: Digital Photography, Landscapes Tagged With: ,

Isadora: Portraits

31Jul/10
3 Comments

Here are some of my favorite images from the last shoot with Isadora. The first image was taken in a shady area and I had to use off-camera flash (umbrella with a single strobe) as fill-flash to brighten up her face and get rid of raccoon eyes (shadows under eyes). The flash was positioned a little higher at approximately 30 degrees, to my left:

Isadora #1

This image was shot with natural light, early in the morning in the beginning of the session:

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Filed Under: Children, Lifestyle Photography, Portraits Tagged With: , ,