Seasonal greetings

DSC_0109, originally uploaded by gugs.

Happy new year to everybody !

A neighbor, on the local frozen lake, shot with a 70-300VR on the Nikon D7000.

Pigeons

mf-25, originally uploaded by gugs.

A pigeons' friend in the center of Warsaw in Poland. Picture taken with a Nikkor 24-120VR (the old one) on a good old D200.

Medium format

mf-1, originally uploaded by gugs.

for the real afficionados, an old (well not that old) Medium Format Pentax camera, with all the modern technology you can dream of in a standard film camera (AF, exposure compensation, A, S, P priority modes, excellent viewfinder. Only drawback (compared to a Hasselblad for instance) is that the backs (magazines) cannot be exchanged in the middle of a film roll.

Lighthouse

france 2010-149, originally uploaded by gugs.

An interesting view inside a lighthouse on the French coast. This picture has been shot with the consumer grade 24-120VR lens (first version) on the full frame Nikon D3 body.

Sun light

france 2010-66, originally uploaded by gugs.

Shot on the atlantic coast in France. I liked the evening light on the wood...

180mm 2.8

gear-6, originally uploaded by gugs.

A not so well known Nikon lens, a compact alternative to the 70-200 zooms with excellent image quality even fully open. That lens is not too popular because of the old AF design (no AF-S, needs a camera body with motor) and the fixed focal length. It is however among the best portrait lenses on FX format, with a creamy bokeh and nice transitions to the out of focus area. Highly recommended.

Sekonic L-358

I have been using a simple flashmeter mainly for studio photography: the Gossen F Digipro. While that flashmeter perfectly satisfied my needs, I recently discovered another reasonably priced option: the Sekonic L-358, a more high end option. This flashmeter has a number of significant advantages like possibilities to record info but also, and that's a very interesting feature, the possibility to add a wireless module to drive, for instance, Pocket Wizards, making it a very useful tool for any "mini-studio" photographers using standard flashes piloted with Pocket Wizards.

For people in Europe, you can find the Sekonic over here:


And the wireless extension module over here:

Samyang fisheye

DSC_6087, originally uploaded by gugs.

A very interesting alternative to the Nikon fisheye (or other brands if you are using Canon, Pentax, Minolta, Sony...). This lens is ridiculously cheap and actually delivers better pictures than the much more expensive equivalents. A more detailed review is available here:

http://www.techniphoto.com/wiki/index.php?title=8mm_fisheye_Samyang 

the lens is available under different brand names, among others here:

Flash in the sun

DSC_6018, originally uploaded by gugs.

An interesting effect: using a flash full power on a sunny day to "kill" the sun. This shot is outdoor under the sun. The background was dark and has been darkened a little bit more in Lightroom (3.0 Beta). Shot with the small D40x camera, and a remote SB-600 flash using an iTTL cable.

Effect with flash

DSC_5994, originally uploaded by gugs.

A simple special effect with an SB-600 flash connected to a D40x camera through an iTTL cable. The flash is positioned on the left to get the colored shadow on the wall.