365.168 people dressed in plastic bags, directing traffic

(Unrelated)

Downloaded the new Aperture 3.3… It took ~30minutes to update my library, and a minute to get the RAW converter panel back.

Overall, I like the look, though some of the stuff has been dumbed down a bit (the extra sliders in Shadows/Highlights, for example). The new preview functions are a bit strange too: I run a large second monitor, and I liked having three thumbnails per line, as there was enough of a preview to get a pretty good idea if that shot was the One. Now, maxed out at 4 per line.

I played around with the auto enhance (not for this shot, and by ‘play around’ I mean I opened up a mediocre shot and hit the Auto button) and it took a photo from Meh to “Hum, I guess” so I suppose that’s roughly win for most people’s purposes, though maybe iPhoto would do as good a job?

*Fingers-Crossed* that iPhoto and Aperture aren’t on their way to merging, though I’ve been pondering switching to Lightroom when I finish the 365, or hit day 183, or at some random moment. It would be a pain to have to keep Aperture around just to have access to edits, so hopefully there will be a DNG export option in a future version to solve all of that with, and it might be worth it to have lens-correction at my fingertips. And I like the idea of diversifying my computing providers some.

So there are my first thoughts on the new Aperture. Maybe you find it useful; maybe not. Either way, there they are.

Anyway.

D7000. Sigma 30mm f/1.4, reversed. ISO400, 1/20th, f/1.4. Extremely minimal processing in Aperture 3.3.

365.167 some kinda fashion

Is there something wrong with listening to Shattered so many times that I can now understand most all of the lyrics?

Or does it matter?

D7000. Vivitar 70-210mm f/3.5 Series 1 (Kiron), in Macro mode at about 1:5ish, and handheld (that thing is heavy). ISO400, 1/20th (AP Mode… lazy), f/3.5. Minimal levels adjustment, and a boost to the blacks in Aperture.

365.166 Ohne Titel

So, a true macro shot finally coincides with Macro Monday, and I actually remember to tag it! What a pleasant confluence of events!

I was really looking for a good line from Shattered, but nothing really worked with the image, so the good old Untitled will have to work.

And if you hadn’t guessed, this is the mirror I broke a couple of days ago, but isn’t it pretty? I think so.

D7000. Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 G, reversed, and rigged up with a part from the extension tubes that holds the aperture all the way open, though I didn’t have it screwed on all the way, so it’s less than that. ISO100, 1/1.3 (AP Mode), somewhere between f/4 and f/8, more or less. Minimal levels adjustment to enhance colors.

365.165 ungh shaydoobay shattered shattered

Several months ago, I picked up a small vanity mirror at the grocery store for $1, intending to use it as a bounce for macro work.

I think I used it maybe three times, at the most. I couldn’t really find an easy way to set it up, and I couldn’t very well hold it, as I usually had one hand on the remote trigger and the other hand waving a flashlight around.

So it floated around the desk and macro stage for awhile, until it suddenly fell to the ground.

Actually, it landed on my toes.

No damage to the toes, and a broken mirror bounces light pretty much as well as an unbroken one, at least when macro light is concerned, and a broken mirror is much more interesting as a subject than a whole mirror, to be sure.

So… let the 7 years commence.

HA!

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO100, .8 seconds (AP mode), f/8. Some cropping, minor adjustments, and a vignette added in Aperture, but nothing too drastic.

365.164 prescience, perhaps

Not much to say about this. I think this would be much better as maybe 3 or 4 different photographs. Maybe just quarter it evenly. Or maybe some overlapping bits: take the lower right, up to a bit above that planet in the center right, and over to just before the vertical in focus strip on the left; then one that’s just that vertical strip and its explosion bokeh; then maybe one of the subtle variations in tone just below the lefthand vertical; and I could keep going.

But one thing’s for sure, this is too busy, methinks.

Oh well.

Also, I’ve come to the conclusion that the 24mm is a brilliant lens for getting up really close and personal, but it’s really a pita under certain circumstances, due to the severe and impossible-to-remove chromatic aberration.

It’s still a great lens, though. For sure.

And look at that… I said more about this than I did about yesterday’s shot, even though I had more to say about yesterday’s shot. Fun times.

D7000. Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 ai, reversed, on 100mm extension. ISO100, 1 second, f/2.8. Run though Topaz Labs’s Adjust 5 and B&W Effects, plus a bit of exposure and levels tweaking in Aperture.

365.162 the panic at the carnival

Another storm, another opportunity to play with long exposures while flying down the highway in the wee hours…

If I had more daredevil in me, I would’ve turned off the windshield wipers while the shutter was open, but I was nervous as it was, what with the wet roads and sprinkle and percentage of drunks on the road at that hour (shot was made at 5:20am), and had enough trouble negotiating the swerving, brake-happy fellow travelers while aiming the camera and composing throughout the exposure.

But I’m happy-enough with this, so GoGo.

D7000. Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 ai. ISO100, 15 seconds (AP mode), f/8, -2EV. Moderate post processing to deepen blacks and bring out some greens and violets. I even opened up the curves panel and played around until I got happy. Fun times.