Panorama with my 50mm

For the last several years, I have been delving into the world of panorama photography. The main lens I have used has been the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 . This is an amazing lens, and you can get broad-sweeping panoramas with it at 14mm. However, lately, I have been using my 50mm f/1.8 . While I have been very unhappy with this lens' performance in a studio setting, it has served me well in landscape photography.

Below are a couple of the panoramas that I recently shot with my 50mm lens. Immediately below is a petroglyph that can be found on the McConkie Ranch outside of Vernal, Utah. I was just several feet away when I snapped this panorama. It's a 60-photo, 49-degree (FOV) HDR panorama. Just a side note: It's a quick trip to the ranch from Vernal, and it's a great place to see ancient rock art, if you're into the natural history gambit. I am.

The next pano I shot was of Independence Monument, located in Colorado National Monument. This gem of park can be found just outside of Grand Junction, Colo. While I was a few feet away from the rock art, I was several hundred feet back from the rock monuement. Both are panoramas but the distance from camera to subject make for a dramatic difference in the photo composition.

To see what I use to shoot my panoramas, go... here!

Battling the "OS"

I guess it's that time of the year again... when I clean up the cobwebs that reside on my blog and update it. I guess that also means I'll be in the mood to update this space for a month before it goes stagnant for an undetermined amount of time!

Today... I'd like to talk about image stabilization, my experience with it, and ultimately what I've decided to do in the short-term.

Living in Salt Lake City, while that phrase alone harks upon numerous stereotypes and assumptions, has some incredible photo opportunities. One such opportunity came about two weeks ago when US Speedskating held the US short-track championships were at the Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah.

It was a two-day competition, free for spectators, and on the first day, I took my Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 (old-style, no VR) and my Sigma 120-400 f/4.5-5.6 which has image stabilization. I used the Sigma exclusively both days, finding that it was netting me the journalism-style images I was looking for:





However, when I came home and dumped the images on to my server, I felt that a lot of my shots were decent but more soft that I had first thought. At the behest of a friend, I turned off the image stabilizer on my Sigma lens on the second day of competition and found that my success rate went up. I felt like I got sharper photos and that the focus was more consistent:





This afternoon, I decided to try shooting nature shots with the Sigma lens, sans image stabilization. Again, I was a lot happier with the results. I ventured to the Farmington Bay Bird Refuge because in January and February, it's a popular hunting ground for the American Bald Eagle. I decided to use my Sigma lens again, since birds of prey tend to avoid high-traffic areas, and to use it with image stabilization off.

While I wasn't able to capture solid shots of Bald Eagles, I was able to get some nice photos of raptors hunting for some lunch:

My overall assessment: use image stabilization only in dire situations. I find that I get more consistent results if I mount the lens on a monopod and work the old-school technique of stabilizing the camera to prevent camera shake.

Ghost Town: Scranton, Utah

From time to time, I go ghost town hunting... to satisfy all of my photography, outdoors and hiking joys all at once. I'll post about my escapades, in hopes that it will help other ghost town hunters/photographers.

Last weekend, I went to Scranton, Utah which is a short-lived mining town in what I believe is in the Tintic Mountain range. From what I found, it was settled in 1908 and grew to about 100 people. It mined zinc and lead, and it pretty much dried up by 1918. So the structure in the photo is at most 100-years-old!

It's exact GPS location is on the Wikipedia page, or on the last link, that takes you to the Google Maps page.

I had read several different accounts of what was left. There were housing structures still standing in several accounts, like the old one here on ghosttowns.com. However, rest assured, those aren't there anymore. It seems a fire may have laid waste to any of the actual residential portion of the old town.

However, what remains are one structure (which seemed to be a part of the mining production), several open mines (which were covered with rebar), some old mining equipment and a lot of tailings.

While there isn't a whole lot left of this town... it's a gorgeous area. It's a steep, narrow canyon that opens up to a nice prairie where Scranton used to be. It was a nice a drive and fun hike!

The rest of my photos from Scranton are in my set on flickr. Feel free to check them out!

Back from the Dead... Maybe? (PART DEUX)

As my last post noted... I also participated in a studio lighting extravaganza through Photwalking Utah! It was a tremendous learning experience.

I liked that it got me access to studio set-ups and models. However, it was a show up, plug in, and shoot type of gig. So, there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity to learn the behind-the-scenes set-up of a studio shoot. Be that as it may, it was a great opportunity to work with models... because if you think talking to models and getting them to personify the pose you see in your head is easy... YIKES!

Here's my all-time FAVORITE image from the Photowalking Utah studio meeting:



This image featured rotating models in a shower rig, standing in a wading pool. The water was like 40 degrees, and it was mid-February. So, it was was an unenviable task!

Others I liked:



The above photo featured constant lighting... meaning the light didn't "flash" when the camera was triggered. It's the type of lighting you see on video/movie sets.



Above is 100% natural light. Light from large picture windows was the key light... bouncing it off reflectors provided the fill light.



And lastly, above was a two-light set-up... a key light directly to photo right and a fill light directly to photo left.

Feel free to stop by my flickr page and check out the rest of my model shots. OR... Click here for the complete set...

The "Big" Picture

I have gone pretty much my entire photography life not having known the joys of a wide-angle lens. I mean the last camera that would've had any type of wide-angle lens that I used would be something like this

Once I moved into middle school and high school, I really got into SLR photography and into shooting sports. So, I got obsessed with zoom lenses, leaving wide-angle photography out of the mix.

Needless to say, successful wide-angle photography has become quite elusive to me.

Last week, the The Tour of Utah claimed the streets in and around Salt Lake City. I broke out the old Nikon D70s and mounted my Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 to try and get some nice wide-angle shots of the bike race.

Here was my first attempt:


(Photo info: 15mm, ISO 400, 1/125s at f/2.8)

I was mildly okay with the results. While I liked the motion blur, I felt the focus point was off, centered on his back and shoulders and not his face.

The final stage on Sunday, I gave it a whirl again. I upped the shutter speed, set the aperture small, turned off auto focus, and set the focal distance to infinity.

Here were these results:


(Photo info: 16mm, ISO 400, 1/750s at f/16)


(Photo info: 16mm, ISO 400, 1/750s at f/16)


(Photo info: 16mm, ISO 400, 1/750s at f/16)

I think I made progress on it and am happier with these results from Stage 5 than I was from the Prologue.

Then I got to thinking, to the difference between telephoto and wide-angle photography. With zoom lenses, you're trying to make the subject "fill the frame." However, with wide-angle lenses, you're trying to capture the big picture... capturing the subject AND its surroundings.

Here are some of my telephoto shots that "fill the frame":





and