Holiday Ornaments

For this Wide Angle Wednesday, A couple of captures from the Holiday Display at 1251 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), right across from Rockefeller Center. All of the below photographs were shot using the new EF11-24mm f/4L USM lens mounted on a Canon 5D Mark III.

One of the lenses I was debating before ultimately deciding on the one I chose was the 17mm Tilt-Shift lens. I thought I might like that for all the interior event setups I photograph for work, seeing as how it is very similar to architectural photography. I played with the 17mm TS lens at B&H Photo, along with a couple more. I decided that often times on site, I don't have the luxury of taking too long, which I felt would have been needed with that style of lens. If I need to do any perspective geometric correction, Lightroom seems to do what I need it to do.

The next photo in this post was taken, and then the correction was applied in Lightroom. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!

The following shot does not have any perspective correction, as you can tell since the buildings have the leaning look.

Lots of pedestrian and vehicular traffic near Rockefeller Center around the Holidays!

30 Rock visible from the street across from Radio City Music Hall.

Stella!

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Winter storm Stella hit NYC yesterday. I had to go to work in the afternoon. The train was deserted. Manhattan was empty of cars and people, very few people were out. I grabbed my camera and threw the 40mm pancake lens on with the intention of capturing some snowy images on my commute. 

Long Island Rail Road M7 pulling in
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/10, 1/320sec, 640ISO, 40mm

I didn't take my camera out of the bag until I got to the train station. The snow was falling, it was cold and breezy. My camera worked fine, I tried to keep it dry, but it did get a little wet. Putting it in my bag or jacket pocket after use caused it to fog up the viewfinder a bit, so some of the photos I was shooting were basically done blind, hoping that the composition and focused was spot on, and hoping the exposure wasn't blown out or too dark. 

Older style MTA Logo on the rear door of the F-350
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

The Joyce Theater
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/640sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Graffiti and Greek Food
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Clearing the streets
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Penn station was empty for a weekday rush hour time. I wish it was always so empty. 

Tuesday at 5:36p, usually very limited space to walk around the waiting people in the area
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/100sec, 320ISO, 40mm

When I got off the train at my station, the lens got some condensation on it, and I failed to notice until I reviewed the photograph of the station and train.  Oops.

condensation on the lens
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/160sec, 1250ISO, 40mm

My wife had sent me a text stating that the lights were flickering in the house and half the wall circuits around the house weren't working. And when I got close to home, I noticed a burning electrical smell, with lots of FDNY trucks present. Black smoke was pouring out of a subway grate (not for a subway though). FDNY left, then ConEd showed up with their emergency service vehicles. A manhole cover near the grating popped a short time later, I hear it as I was trying to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. Flames started shooting up, and a couple more pops. We ended up loosing all power a little while later, but ConEd was able to get it restored around 3am. 

Smoking!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/100sec, 2000ISO, 40mm

Fisheye Friday

The Revolution will not be televised!
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/25sec, 6400ISO, 8mm

Oh hello there blog. I seem to have forgotten about you. What has it been, three or four months? I'm sorry I have neglected you. You see, life got busy, then it was the holiday season, and next thing I know, it is almost March, and I haven't posted since October!

East River from Williamsburg Waterfront
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 15sec, 400ISO, 8mm

In my absence, I obtained a cheap, manual 8mm fisheye lens. It doesn't fill the frame on my full frame Canon 5DmkIII, and not quite an entire circle, but I am really enjoying using it and discovering how to shoot with a fisheye. I have found it pretty hard to nail the framing with such a wide lens, any slight movement of axis is apparent in the final image, and I love for things to be lined up just right. I also had to learn that the exposures seemed a little darker than original thought when shooting, so having to compensate for that. 

Grand Central Terminal Ramp
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/40sec, 3200ISO, 8mm

Without further ado, here are some of the fisheye shots! EXIF data is incomplete, as the lens is manual and doesn't communicate the aperture to the body. 

Grand Central Ramp Below
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/25sec, 6400ISO, 8mm

I used Lightroom's lens correction tool and cropping to fill the frame of the above shot. 

Empire Views
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/60sec, 800ISO, 8mm

Telephoto Tuesday

March left us, April came and went, and now it is the middle of May. The weather here in New York still feels like it could be March, as it has been cold and rainy.

The end of March saw my little family take a trip down to Washington, DC, and I took plenty of photos, some with the intent of posting here! Though my plans had been to post them in a little more expedient manner, life has a way of slowing down those plans.

Two Observation Decks Observed from One Observation Deck
Canon 60D, EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6, f/8, 1/1000s, 320ISO, 300mm

Today's post features three photographs I took from the 102nd floor of the One World Observatory. I had a friend in town, visiting from Canada, in April. This was the same friend that came about two years ago, mentioned here and here. This was also my daughter's first trip up to one of the observation decks. My favorite line from her 4 year old mind was "look daddy, we're higher than the helicopters!"

Looking at Midtown from Downtown
Canon 60D, EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6, f/8, 1/800s, 320ISO, 80mm

This second shot was captured with an old 75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM Canon lens. That skinny rod shooting up is 432 Park Avenue, which will only be slightly shorter than One World Trade.

Oculus Rift
Canon 60D, EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6, f/8, 1/1000s, 400ISO, 75mm

This shot is looking down at the transportation hub, Oculus. This image is a panoramic image composed of 9 individual shots merged into this one image.

The Seagram Building WAW

Before moving to New York City, my experience with most architecture was limited to what I saw in books. Arizona has some lovely architecture, and some high rises, but a majority of the buildings that have historical significance happen to be in other cities, especially New York City. One of these buildings in the Seagram Building, located at 375 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

Seagram Building
Canon 60D, EF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, f/4, 1/50s, 3200ISO, 21mm

My experience with this building is with one of the original tenants, the Four Seasons Restaurant. I have worked on many social events there over the last (almost) decade of working in the special events industries, from weddings, to bar/bat mitzvahs, movie premier parties, and corporate holiday parties.  I just worked an extremely long day there this past Sunday, but this photograph comes from November 9th of 2013. A little sad news as well: The Four Seasons will be closing in July, being forced out by the new landlords of the Seagram Building.

Seagram Building
Canon 60D, EF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, f/4, 1/50s, 3200ISO, 21mm

The lens that took this photo was an old Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. I inherited the lens from my uncle, who was a photographer before the digital revolution. Lots of post processing was used to correct the lines of the building, as the wide angle lens had some distortion, as well as the distortion from the lens looking up, causing everything to start to look like it was heading to the same single point way up past the frame.

Seagram Building
Canon 60D, EF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, f/4, 1/50s, 3200ISO, 21mm

Wide Angle One World Observatory

My job has its perks as I've said in the past. We recently were approved to work in the One World Observatory private event space, which is located on the 102nd floor of the Freedom Tower. So of course I was excited to take any chance to go up there. My first visit was for a site survey, and it was an overcast day. The second time I went up in December, it was also an overcast day. But finally, last week, I was able to go up on a clear day. And when you are that high up, you can see for miles. 

Uptown
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 320ISO, 15mm

The above photo is looking uptown from the north side of the building. The Hudson River is on the left, the East River on the right. The two tall buildings are the Empire State Building in the center, and to the right of it 432 Park Avenue, which will only be slightly shorter than 1WTC.  

Southward Gaze
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/40sec, 400ISO, 11mm

Looking south, you can see Brooklyn, from the Heights to Red Hook, and Coney Island. The large island is Governor's Island. The Verrazano–Narrows Bridge is barely visible, and if the lens was a little wider, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty would be just a bit to the right. 

Looking down at the World Trade Center Site
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/5, 1/50sec, 640ISO, 11mm

It is hard to capture the detail you can see up there. The reflections on the glass also present a challenge.  You can see some of the reflections in the third photo, but I was trying to capture the openness and crammed in feeling of the buildings below. I tried using my black coat to block reflections with limited success. 

Going up?
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/40sec, 16000ISO, 11mm

 There are a couple of things that fascinate me about the building. The first is the first 187', the area you see lit in green above, is the concrete base. No offices are located in that area, and no windows except at the four entrances, one of which you see above. The second is how much of the building's core is consumed with the support facilities, lots of elevators.

LIRR Entrance

I was starting to get better at posting frequently. But it has been a little bit since I last posted. So here is a looking up shot of the Long Island Railroad entrance to Penn Station off of 34th Ave. Holidays edition.

Going Down
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/30sec, 125ISO, 11mm

Empirical Wide Angle Views

Looking Downtown
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 100ISO, 11mm

Earlier this year, we did an event on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building. Usually, that floor has coverings over the windows, as it is a walk through space for the 86th floor observatory. But since a private event had rented out the floor, the coverings where removed. I was happy that I had brought my camera with me to the setup so I could take these photos. 

Slice of Southside
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 100ISO, 11mm

 

Looking Up Wide Angle Wednesday

Usually, in New York City, you can spot the tourist pretty easily as they are the ones always looking up while clogging the sidewalks. I do enjoy looking up, even after living here for 14 years. It amazes me that some of these buildings, which don't seem that tall in their place in the Manhattan skyline, but would be towering over other cities.

World Financial Center
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/40sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

I found myself attending a meeting at the World Financial Center, across the West Side Highway from the World Trade Center. Inside the World Financial Center (now called Brookfield Place), there is the Winter Garden Atrium, a place where palm trees grow year round. I made my way to the meeting, the sun was setting, but I didn't have the luxury of time to stop and take some photos. I had people to meet after all.

Winter Garden Atrium
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/40sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

When I left my meeting, I remembered I had my dSLR with the wide angle lens in my bag. I decided to take a couple of photos inside the World Financial Center, and one of the new One World Trade Center building. Since all the streets right next to the Freedom Tower are closed to through traffic, I was able to stand in the middle of the road to get the photo of 1WTC and 7WTC looking up. 1WTC is so tall, you cannot even see the top of the building from the base. 

Looking Up!
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/3.2, 1/30sec, 3200ISO, 11mm

Sightseeing Wide Angle Wednesday

Summertime! For many, summer means vacation. I haven't been shooting personal work with the wide angle lens recently, but having just played host to my sister and her two kids, plus my father in law the week before, I decided today's post will feature photos from a day that my wife, daughter, and I went sightseeing.
 

Concrete Canyons
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 320ISO, 16mm

My wife purchased a Groupon for a bus tour of Manhattan for the two of us and our daughter. It expired in June, so we took a day to play tourists. We got our tickets in the Times Square area, hopped aboard the downtown loop bus, and got ready for a full day of site seeing from the second story of the tourist bus. We got off the bus near Little Italy and stopped for some lunch. Boarded the bus again and finished the rest of the tour. 

Elmo, Mickey, McDonald's, DSNY, Bus
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 320ISO, 14mm

It was cool to see the city from the second story of a bus, but I don't think I would have done that for full price. Our tickets worked out to about $10/person. 

Flatiron Backside
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/1000sec, 320ISO, 11mm

Frozen Smoke

I have started getting in the habit of trying to take some personal shots on my way home from photographing an event. I'm out already with the gear, might as well take a little time and try to capture some great images.

Frozen Smoke
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 13sec, 100ISO, 40mm

 The shorty-forty lens was used to take this shot. I always grab it and take it with me if I have another lens attached to the camera; that's the benefit of the pancake design. The long exposure makes the smoke from the large chimney look frozen.

Watery Wide Angle Wednesday

 

Nightfall as viewed from the venue
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 2.5sec, 100ISO, 11mm

I have been photographing a lot of our company events, but have not done much in the way of photographing for my personal work since the new year. The first big snow storm of the year yielded a couple of action shots of my three year old playing in the snow, and I tried to get a couple of photos from one time when I was prepping dinner (the lighting from the kitchen window was too good to pass up).

This past weekend I found myself in Greenpoint, Brooklyn photographing a 40th birthday party. When I scouted out my trip there on the map, I noticed a public park just a block away called WNYC Transmitter Park. As the name says, there used to be a transmitter for WNYC located there, but now it is a park with a pier that takes you out over the East River. I decided that I needed to make time before I left the area and grab some shots for my personal portfolio.

After I was done getting the room shots for the event, I left and made my way to the pier. It was a cold night, though in the high twenties as opposed to the teens as it has been. The wind whipping off of the icy East River did not feel good though, so I stayed out there for maybe 20mins before I decided to pack it up.

Williamsburg Bridge linking BK to Manhattan
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 25sec, 100ISO, 11mm

Post Processing was done by tweaking the RAW files in Adobe Lightroom. I tweaked the white balance towards the cool side because that is the mood I felt these pictures convey to me, but it may be I am still frozen. I usually crop to the original aspect ratio or 16x9, but this time, I decided to do 2x1 aspect ration. These cityscapes just felt very wide to me and 16x9 wasn't wide enough.

Midtown
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 11mm

Wide Angle Wednesday Holiday Sight Seeing

Bryant Park Rink and Christmas Tree
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/50sec, 1250ISO, 11mm

Twas the night before Christmas, and my blog has been silent. Not a recent story had been posted. The pictures sat on the hard drive, all secure in their partitions. 

Patience Standing Guard
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/50sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

A month has passed since the last post. The city has been transformed into a Christmas Wonderland. Tourists flood the streets to see the sights, and my family and I joined them over a couple of nights. 

Rockefeller Center
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/50sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

It is a shame that the city isn't decorated with lights year round. I guess that is what makes this time of year special, is that the lights are only up for several weeks.

The Magic of Macy's
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/40sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

Wide Angle Wednesday

Grace
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 640ISO, 11mm

A wide angle lens really helps me capture the soaring nature of the buidlings of Manhattan. These photographs were all taken not too far from the base of each of these buildings. The Grace Building looks even more massive when you compare the tiny people to the towering structure it appears to be in the above photograph.

Between A Rock and a Rink
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/30sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

30 Rockefeller Center, above, is one of the sites in New York City that attracts visitors. The above photograph was captured one Saturday night in the beginning of August, right after the sunset and the sky was beginning to turn dark blue. The shadow of SplitRocker is visible as it was on display at the time.

Empire Views
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 1/30sec, 6400ISO, 11mm

Empire State Building as captured across 34th Street. I had to set my ISO to almost the highest setting, so noise is very present in this image. Aperture was left wide open and I set it on the lowest shutter speed I could hand hold and get a crisp shot. If I had a tripod, I could have captured a lower noise image, but having a noisy image is better than none at all.

 

Wide Angle Wednesday

The perks of my job is that I get to see different vantage points of the city. This past weekend I found myself in the old New York Times Building. Times Square is much more tolerable when you are 15 stories up (though technically 14, they skipped the 13th floor).

Old New York Times
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 30sec, 100ISO, 11mm