Wide Angle Wednesday

Flying her BB-8 Kite at Jones Beach
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/250sec, 100ISO, 28mm

Last week I was lucky enough to obtain a new camera, a full frame Canon dSLR. The Canon 5D Mark III is the new body, and it is amazing compared with where I am coming from, the EOS 60D. A few of my favorite features from moving up are that the viewfinder shows 100% of what will be in the shot, the autofocus system is so much better, and the low light sensitivity of the full frame sensor is leagues better. I was shooting an event with the ISO set to 12,800, and the 60D, I'd be afraid of going above 1,600. 

I took the camera to the beach late Saturday afternoon to capture some shots of my daughter as the sunset approached. The photo above was shot at 28mm, which is wide angle on a full frame camera. On my 60D, a crop sensor body, the focal equivalent would 44.8mm, which would mean this lens at this zoom setting would not be a wide angle on the crop body. 

I'm looking forward to learning this camera and producing new work with it.

Sitting by the dock of the bay

Water Taxi Tiki
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/640sec, 1250ISO, 105mm

Shooting into the sunset, I captured this last week while working an event on the Hudson River far uptown Manhattan.

Museum Monday

Yesterday was my fourth Father's day as a dad. I had spent the day before working, and my daughter and wife are going out of town for two weeks without me soon. So I wanted to spend the day with her, just her and I.

I offered my daughter the choice of three places, the Natural History Museum, The Met, or the New York Hall of Science in Queens. At first, she wanted the Natural History Museum, I mean, what 4 year old doesn't love the dinosaur bones?! But the Hall of Science had a Brickfest, a Lego installation around the venue. So I was able to talk her into that since they had a bunch of stuff for the Brickfest that was only going to be there yesterday.

Woody
FujiFilm FinePix XP90 f/4.4, 1/25s, 200ISO, 7.7mm 

We traveled light, we took the LIRR to the subway, as I didn't want to deal with Mets traffic, and the kid likes an adventure like that as well. I chose to leave my DSLR at home, and brought a little Fuji XP90, a waterproof and shockproof camera. We picked it up recently to use in the water, and to allow our daughter to have a camera that is okay if it gets dropped.

She loves the "robot", a interactive version of the Mars lander. Kids can send a sequence of movements to the lander, and then watch it carry them out.  She also likes the interactive environment in the Great Hall, which is video that shows different climates. You can redirect the water on the floor, plant seeds, chop down trees.

Rocket Ship
FujiFilm FinePix XP90 f/6.2, 1/350s, 100ISO, 5mm

There was also free mini golf that day, the playground was open (where she wanted to spend a ton of time on the pyramid rope thingy), and free face painting. After our trip there, we ate at a Mexican joint in Corona I have been meaning to try. And ended our outing with some lemon ices from the Lemon Ice King of Corona.

Taco Quartet
FujiFilm FinePix XP90 f/3.9, 1/8s, 800ISO, 5mm

Wide Angle Wednesday

My thoughts have turned to Orlando this week, first Sunday morning when I learned of the mass shooting, and then again this morning when we learned that a two year old kid was taken by an alligator Tuesday evening at the Walt Disney World Resort. 

Main Street, USA
Canon 60D, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, f/9, 1/250s, 160ISO, 18mm

I feel for the family, as a Walt Disney World trip is supposed to be one of the happiest times in a child's life. My family and I had a great time there a little before our daughter's 4 year birthday last summer. 

Monumental Flare

Monumental Flare
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/1000sec, 640ISO, 13mm

Shooting into the sun can be tricky, but can be real problematic with a wide angle lens. Normally I would try to reposition myself to get the light source elsewhere, but I really liked the view as we approached.

The shot above was captured the end of March, it was a gorgeous, sunny day. We spent the day sight seeing around the Tidal Basin, and before my 4 year old was completely done for the day, I managed to talk her into going up to the base of the Washington Monument. 

Philly Wide Angle Wednesday

Gutter Punk
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/1000sec, 640ISO, 13mm

As stated earlier, we had taken a quick weekend trip to Philadelphia near the end of February. Cheesesteak was consumed while there, and a walk around the old areas near Independence Hall was the sight seeing for the last day there. I loved looking at the old streets preserved, with the gutter running down the center of the street.

Philosophical Hall
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/1000sec, 640ISO, 13mm

The Philosophical Hall had caught my eye when we were across the street at the Independence Square. It had a statue of Benjamin Franklin, which isn't surprising considering he was a Philadelphian. Research has taught me that this building was built in 1785-1789, though it took a large donation from Mr. Franklin. It is the home of the American Philosophical Society, and remains the only privately owned building in Independence Square. 

Unedited Shot

I also have posted the same photograph, straight from the camera without any edits to it. Since I shoot in RAW, every photo needs a little adjustments. If my camera was to record in JPEG, it would choose what edits to do, but I prefer to adjust the contrast, sharpening, etc myself. I also use the Lightroom Lens Correction to get my wide angle shots corrected, so the lines are straight instead of converging. A tilt-shift lens would correct this problem in camera, but they are the cost of a new camera body!