Well, I planned for this to be Bug Week, and so strapped on the Vivitar 70-210mm, and put it in close-focus mode to facilitate bug-shooting, but it was not to be… too busy just not shooting, I guess. So it became just Close Focus week.
I shot some random man-made stuff too—a trashbag blowing across the parking lot at work in the wee hours of the morning, the spring on one of those grip-strengthening thingys, etc.—but decided the Nature bit would make for a better (and perhaps more appropriate) theme. (I won’t elaborate on the appropriateness at this juncture.)
Not much more to say. Everything was shot with the D7000 and Vivitar 70-210mm f/3.5 Series 1 (Kiron, I believe) in close focus (macro) mode, all in Aperture Priority mode, if memory serves. EXIF data available in the lightbox, if you’re interested.
On Monday, I was hard at work when I heard some commotion behind me. I turned, saw one coworker talking to another, and decided the scene might make a good subject for a square-cropped image, what with all the lines and angles created by the cubicles, the ceiling tiles, the window frames, and miniblinds.
So out came the phone, unlock went the screen, launch went the Hipstamatic, and I snapped a pic with whatever lens/film combo happened to be loaded at the time.
As I am a committed employee, I immediately turned and went back to work without even checking to see how the picture turned out.*
Some time later, a thought flashed through my head: “just use Hipstamatic and one lens/film combo for the whole week. Shoot a variety of scenes, and see what you can learn.” Ok… so One Camera; One Lens.
Or, in this case, One Camera (app); One Lens(/Film filter combo).
So what did I learn? To be honest, not a huge amount. I like this filter combo, and already knew that, as it’s in my favorites. I was a bit surprised at how well it handled warm tones, given the general cool cast the combo imparts. But beyond that, I expect I didn’t concentrate enough, or keep notes, or really study what I was doing to learn much of anything. Shame on me, I guess.
So…
iPhone 5. Hipstamatic. Wonder lens. W40 film. No postprocessing beyond downloading to the computer, kewording, exporting at ~1/2 size (probably closer to 1/3), and uploading.
And if you look close, you’ll notice I included a special treat! Due to the hour and my level of alertness, I was unable to edit down to 7 pics, so you get an extra! Aren’t you lucky…
aka “MF Week!” but I didn’t want to be ambiguous about it…
So I decided to only use old manual lenses this week. These included the Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 ai, the Nikon 36-72mm f/3.5 E Series, the Nikon 75-150mm Zomb-E Series, and the Vivitar 70-210mm f/3.5 Series 1 (Kiron, maybe). I thought about going crazy and including the Holga and some of the old screw-mount lenses, but I’m glad I didn’t as I really didn’t make that much time, nor did I have that much interest.
I think I got some nice pictures, though. Maybe.
Sunday was Vivitar day; Monday saw the Zomb-E; Tuesday had the 24mm ai; Wednesday and Thursday enjoyed the 36-72; and I didn’t shoot for the project Friday or Saturday (shame, shame).
Hummm… I thought I was going to write some more about these, but I’ve totally lost my train of thought. Oh well.
EXIF in the lightbox, if you care. The pictures shot with the 36-72 required quite a bit of post work, as that lens is a bit lacking in the color-transmission and contrast department. Thank goodness for Lightroom (and Aperture, and Shotwell, and other RAW converters and image developing softwares).
Not sure what I was working on that I ended up at the mall, but I was glad I did, since the GSV caught this gentleman coming out.
Looks like he nearly got hit…
Since the films and lenses don’t naturally show up in the LightBox, I’ve gone back and added them by hand. Say thanks!
FYI: I used the shake to randomize function and snapped maybe 25 frames to get these 6. (Hipstamatic is crazy fast on the iPhone 5, compared to the 4 anyway.)
Another week of not really thinking about the 7/52. I tried, I really did, but there was so much other excitement going on that I couldn’t really focus. I’m working on a new schedule for my not-working time that will allow for some quality photography time, and hope to implement it this week. My success or failure will be reflected in next week’s (and successive) 7/52s.
One thing that would help: clear weekly themes or projects, with some sort of goal beyond ‘get 7 pictures worth sharing.’ I’ll work on this too.
So. The lens of the week: the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G. I strapped it on last Sunday about this time, and there it sat. Monday evening, I noticed some groovy reflections and colors in the kitchen door, and grabbed a few frames, which set the theme for the week, mostly.
Wednesday, determination struck, and I tried to go out wandering with the camera, but I hesitated one second too long and social anxiety took hold, so I started shooting reflections around the apartment. I think there are some interesting things going on in a couple of these.
Friday, I was walking in from work, and spotted the little Roses in a pot. Out came the camera, click-click-click went the shutter, and the theme mashup was born. Oh well.
Everything was shot with the D7000 and aforementioned Nikkor. EXIF is in the lightbox, and the reflection pics got 40-60 seconds of post work in Lightroom, vs. the 12 seconds of work for the roses. Good times.
Another week of not-really-focusing-on-shooting, and with very, very good reason that I’ll share sooner or later.
I did manage to break off an hour or so on Wednesday, and another 15 minutes yesterday in order to make some pictures, and I’m thankful I got 7 that I found interesting enough to share. It would perhaps be better if there was a continuous theme (ie just cats, with no ‘not cats’ or, conversely, ‘not cats’ with no cats), but it is what it is.
Not much else to say, and I’m running a bit behind this morning, so…
D7000. Vivitar 70-210mm f/3.5 Series 1 (Kiron, maybe). EXIF in the lightbox (too lazy to look it up…). Mild-to-nonexistent post work in Lightroom.
Well, I definitely broke a cardinal rule of the 7/52 this week… I only shot for the project on one day. I could make excuses—and the ones I have would be convincing and you would likely give me a pass, given the terrifyingly fabulous week I had—but I won’t. Suffice it to say, I was simply lazy and allowed other thoughts to crowd my mind, and allowed this crowding to occupy most of my time.
Anyway.
I strapped the Vivitar 50mm f/1.8 (Cosina-made) onto the D7000 via a reversing ring late on Sunday, and then didn’t take the camera out of the bag until Wednesday afternoon, in an attempt to shed some of my worry and relax for a bit. I wandered around the apartment complex grounds, kneeling, stooping, and crawling on the ground, looking for various bugs. I didn’t find the expected ones, and so switched to flowers, but continued to keep an eye out for bugs.
Most of these received very mild adjustments in Lightroom, or a slight crop. The square-cropped one took the most abuse, but even it saw less than 2 minutes of slider play.
D7000. Vivitar 50mm f/1.8 (Cosina). ISO800, various shutter speeds (AP mode), all f/3.5ish (I think: ignore the exif on this, as the D7000 couldn’t see or feel the aperture, given the reversed nature of the lens, and anyway it’s an M43 mount lens).
