mission

I know. This is becoming the Lensbaby Spark Blog... Or the Mission Blog. Anyway, out and about again in the Mission.  First of all, I'm kind of obsessed with the building that will be the new Alamo Drafthouse and the adjacent Giant Value building which is also going to be updated to condos. Cool interior shots of the theater here.  Some pictures from today below. It was a little too bright when I was out for getting a picture of the tall New Mission sign.

See? Too bright.

Also nearby, more 99 cent theme... 

 And this near Bruno's...

I have also been going back to the Mission Hotel to work on focus with the Spark. Hotel originally posted here, with some out of focus-ness that was giving me heartburn.

And in color:

And some more walking around scenes...

portrait session - Jen V

So a friend of mine did that thing you always think of doing: she quit her day job to follow her real passion and start her own business. Jen left management consulting behind, got educated and certified in skin and beauty treatments, and is now open for business. I was super happy when she asked me to take some pictures for her social media presence - twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. etc. The pictures below were taken in and near her Presidio Heights treatment room. Since then, I had a makeup consultation/lesson with her and it was invaluable! I learned so much and she is so knowledgeable and passionate about skin and beauty. If you need a facial treatment or a makeup session, look Jen up!

(415) 503-9017
http://www.jvskinandbeauty.com

 

lensbaby spark - horse

Here are some pictures I took of a horse. Lensbaby Spark again.

lensbaby spark

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that my existing EF-S lenses are left behind with my upgrade to a full frame Canon 6D. Fortunately, the 50mm lens I've had and loved for years still works... but I definitely need something with some more reach for portraits, and something to go a bit wider. So I stare, and stare and stare at the Canon Lens lineup page.  I read every customer review between the 85mm and 100mm on Amazon (currently leaning towards 85mm). And then go back and forth on a 28mm or hey, why not just buy another camera?

And what do I do after all that? I buy another 50mm lens. But wait, it's sort of justifiable! I went to a demo for the LensBaby Spark at Calumet and figured it might be an inexpensive way to get more creative. This is an odd little lens that you focus by pulling on and tilting the accordion shape body. You focus on only one area and there is a nice blurred effect on the edges. So, for less than 100 bucks I have a new lens to play with. I'm going to go ahead and give it a thumbs up.

The below are from my first day walking around with the lens.  Focusing is a bit of a skill to be mastered. I do have to say it makes you think more about composition because you only are going to have one area in focus. Also important to note, it's fixed at 50mm and at f/5.6, so not incredibly versatile, but I haven't run into problems with that yet. This gets me all kinds of excited about taking more photos around San Francisco and the Mission. It is haunting me that the TEL in Hotel are not more in focus in the first shot, I'll have to go back (UPDATE: I did).

panoramas

Panoramas are fun and easy in PhotoShop. You just launch PhotoShop and select File/Automate/Photomerge...select your images (I leave defaults - layout to Auto and keep Blend Images Together checked) then...wait for it...wait for it... done.  Hopefully afterward you are pleasantly surprised/clasping your hands in joy. The key is to have your original images overlap by a good measure. I aim for about 50% so that there's some fudge room. And be sure not to peter out near the edges/top or bottom or you'll end up with a skinnier or shorter final picture than you expected.

Here are some that I've put together... Clicking on the images should enlarge them.

NYC skyline from the boat to Ellis Island (which has an amazing museum, btw, which I believe is so powerful because of its use of historical photographs). Ten original photos.

The view from the High Line in Chelsea with the Empire State Building, also NYC. Eleven original photos.

Big Sur on a beautiful hike

View at base of Mount Diablo. I like this one.

And some views from Mount Diablo, these are old, and I can't remember why they turned out so blue/green

starburst!

I've always loved the look in photos where sources of light shoot out rays like multi-pointed stars. I've always thought, wow, that photographer knows what time of day to catch the sun just right like that... or there must be some special filter I don't have. When really, I needed someone to say "let me google that for you."  Recently, I got wise and did go to google. Turns out, it's a function of aperture. Who knew? This guy did. The "sweet spot" is between f/8-f/11. On a recent trip to Tilden Park I tried it out and voilà, starbursts! The three below are taken with my 50mm lens set to f/8.0.

new york city

The camera upgrade to a Canon 6D has been a bit good news/bad news. Good news: new, amazing camera! First bad news: Lightroom 3 doesn't work with a 6D, gotta upgrade to 4 (or install a free DNG converter and build a more complex import routine). It is a particular kind of bummer if you haven't realized this until you and are ready to upload your first shots with your new camera. The second piece of bad news is that the EF-S lenses I use with my Rebel won't work on the 6D because it's a full frame camera. This lens issue is more complex to solve and has led to a ton of internet research. Or really, just hours and hours of my staring at this web page.

In order to find out what's next for me, lens wise, I've been going back through photos and seeing what focal length I typically use, given my existing lenses cover 18 - 250mm. On a Fall trip to NYC, the winner was the 50mm f 1.4 (which is fortunately EF not EF-S so still works on the full frame). However, I did make use of the full zoom of my EF-S 55-250mm. Lens search: to be continued...

First, caught in a downpour in the Garment District, with the 50mm:

Then, more building pictures using the full 250mm zoom of the EF-S 55-250mm lens. (My poor man's Michael Wolf impression).

And back with the 50mm...  my hostess and dear friend's cat, Harlow.  An East Village Himalayan.