Gear testing and great company today

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Don’t worry, there will be at least two more posts about the warblers that we had here during this week. But before that I like to thank my photography friend Dave Updegraff for shooting together with me today and letting me test some photo gear that he owns. We used the gorgeous weather and just clicked away in our front yard. Birds were here again in abundance and I enjoyed exchanging thoughts, sharing our ways to make a photo, and discuss our workflows and other photography stuff. I had a great time this morning!

I thought this female Ruby-throated Hummingbird is worth a closer look because of the details in its feathers, and so for the first time I publish an image that has a higher resolution and size. If you click on the photo the larger version will open in a new window. I hope you enjoy!

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35/f2 ZF for today's self-assignment

Nikon D300s, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35/f2 ZF

I haven't done any still life for a long time and I guess it was time to do something different today. The recipe for this image was simple. I set this old 8 millimeter Univex cine camera on a rock with fossils, turned all the lights in the room off, and used two tiny LED lights as my light source. The background is a sheet of black foam board. Painting with light is something I wanted to try since I learned about it on a DTOWN-TV podcast. I thought a little alienation effect would look cool and so I tweaked the white balance in camera. The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 35/f2 ZF is a perfect lens for a project like this. It is tack sharp and with its smooth manual focus I can easily fine tune the focal point. I bought the 35/f2 several years ago mainly for my landscape photography but I love it also for still life photography and architecture. The D300s was mounted on the tripod, the remote cable release was plugged in, and the camera was set to mirror-up mode. All this is mandatory so you can handle the long exposure without any camera shake. I experimented with many different settings. Above image was made with 8 sec., f11, at ISO 100. I really had fun working on this little self-assignment. I'm sure it will not be my last one during the coming long winter nights.