Man, your shot of that wedding from the basilica of Santa Maria del Miracoli is fantastic - I remember trying to meter for indoors for old churches in Europe and without extra-high speeds and ability to crank aperture ridiculously wide open they can be impossible, which sucks since there's a lot to capture. This just reminds me that I really need to upgrade my lenses.
I didn't have a chance to buy a wide angle lens before I left. I had wanted to get a 14mm or 15mm - or possibly one of the Tokina wide angle zooms (I don't like zoom lenses, but people speak quite highly of them and they come in attractive ranges). On top of that, due to a mixup in communication, we left our walkabout lens (28-135 IS) at home.
That said, I've used my 24mm f/2.8 exclusively and its worked out really well. We bought this lens on a whim before our trip to Guatemala, but it's proven to be a very reliable piece of equipment. There have been a few places I've wanted a few extra degrees of visibility and a couple situations where I had to bump it up to ISO 1600 - but with the 40D the images are still well within an acceptable noise level. The 24mm is a well respected lens and probably the best value wide angle lens Canon offers so I'm not too surprised - although the Tokina 10-25mm f/2.8 would certainly open up some additional options photographically.
Ha! I wish I'd seen that before writing my post; I'd have just linked to it. Although, I wouldn't have succumbed to the American-guilt piece (bah) - but I'll post more about that later.
With regard to travel pictures, I've sold out. I've applied one of the built-in Lightroom filters to a number of these, with the result of increasing the contrast. I don't have the time or patience to do any detailed post-production but did add some eye candy (at the cost of some detail) in the export process.
Eh, I'm a purist - I get it in-camera or it wasn't got. I just use photoshop as a capture tool for my negative scanner, really, with occasional cropping, but no other adjustments. Then again that means with my current setup I'm far more limited by the abilities of the emulsion, so I definitely need to start compensating with better lenses.
I'm a purist only out of laziness - I like taking photos, not correcting them. By the time I get to the computer and finish rating and tagging my photos the last thing I want to do is spend time in Photoshop.
That said, while I share your view of Photoshop as cheating, it could also be argued that the same thing was possible (and done, often) traditionally by getting film weighted for higher saturation and/or contrast - such as Velvia - although, of course, true purists would also call that cheating (I don't think it's cheating, but I think it can be a cheap crutch).
I don't know as anyone I know has the same photographs as you do in your photosets - Even if they were taking pictures of the same things, you have an eye for framing a shot, and more knowledge of your equipment, than most tourists can lay claim to. So I hope you'll keep posting them, they're lovely.
I am still hoping you wind up in Prague so you can test the waters for me there.
The current plan is to go to Prague as part of our "Iron Curtain" trip, tentatively scheduled for the fall (when it's cooler here - since many of the Eastern Bloc countries don't have consistent air conditioning). That may be pushed to Spring based on Katie's school schedule, though.
Prague was originally high on my list until I realized it had become a popular tourist spot. We're still going to stop there, for sure, but I think we'll make it quick. Rumor has it that it's beautiful, but has also become a party town chock full of drunk foreignors.
Comments 21
Reply
That said, I've used my 24mm f/2.8 exclusively and its worked out really well. We bought this lens on a whim before our trip to Guatemala, but it's proven to be a very reliable piece of equipment. There have been a few places I've wanted a few extra degrees of visibility and a couple situations where I had to bump it up to ISO 1600 - but with the 40D the images are still well within an acceptable noise level. The 24mm is a well respected lens and probably the best value wide angle lens Canon offers so I'm not too surprised - although the Tokina 10-25mm f/2.8 would certainly open up some additional options photographically.
Reply
http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/07/22/rome/
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Eh, I'm a purist - I get it in-camera or it wasn't got. I just use photoshop as a capture tool for my negative scanner, really, with occasional cropping, but no other adjustments. Then again that means with my current setup I'm far more limited by the abilities of the emulsion, so I definitely need to start compensating with better lenses.
Reply
That said, while I share your view of Photoshop as cheating, it could also be argued that the same thing was possible (and done, often) traditionally by getting film weighted for higher saturation and/or contrast - such as Velvia - although, of course, true purists would also call that cheating (I don't think it's cheating, but I think it can be a cheap crutch).
Reply
I am still hoping you wind up in Prague so you can test the waters for me there.
Reply
Prague was originally high on my list until I realized it had become a popular tourist spot. We're still going to stop there, for sure, but I think we'll make it quick. Rumor has it that it's beautiful, but has also become a party town chock full of drunk foreignors.
Reply
Leave a comment