hdr versus non-hdr with d700

while leisurely talking to george today at work, i noticed the sun quickly fading and the lights of the genzyme building lighting up, quick chance to grab camera and grab an experimental shot with d700. to hdr or not to hdr - that's what i was wondering and how the camera would process colors.

stock image straight out of the camera (iso200, f/7.1 1/6sec shutter, 0ev)



same image run through photoshop, +40% saturation, +2.5% contrast, +2.5% brightness, +10% gamma



now here's the same image, same settings, bracketed +2/3ev and -2/3ev into hdr:



i actually happen to like the non-hdr version better (processed, not sooc) ... might need to go a little lower iso, testing will continue, this was a 5-min test.

time lapse on longfellow bridge boston ...

catching the sun, always catching the last rays of sun. setup camera on westbound side of the longfellow pointed at the zakim bridge just as the sun was setting ...

before, during, and after ...

headlight with last glimpses of light ...

this was one of my most favorite photos of the weekend, it's a headlight off of a harley parked on the corner of arlington and newbury streets, sun was setting and caught bits of the chrome.

shot with d700 with f/2.8 70-200mm @ iso200, magical how well that sensor works with the fleeting light ...

two musicians playing at sunset ...

playing within about 50 feet of each other, two musicians in the common as the sun was starting to set ...

mini protest in boston commons ...

while trekking around boston yesterday with the gear, amidst the komen walk, abortion rally and other random happenings around boston, quietly near the part street t-station was the weekly gathering of chinese americans protesting the communist regime and humanity issues ... this woman just stood there quietly for quite a while, had to snap a photo ...

got some more ...

decided late last week to get an additional body, ordered a d700 and thanks to adorama camera it literally was delivered the next day without overnight shipping. not much to say, hundreds of reviews out there ... i just need to say the shutter sound is just awesome and matted to my nikkor f/2.8 70-200, it's just perfect (aside from a bit heavy)



(shot with my d300)

first attempt @ time lapse photography video ...

i've seen numerous videos on flickr etc and that are composites of multi-framed shots combined into a video. sure i can use a video camera or have bought a dslr with video capability, but frankly i'm not a huge fan and that seems - too straight forward/easy for my geeky-self?

went out in boston today, my first attempt at composite/elapse photography video, picked the corner of the copley plaza hotel pointing at boylston street and the boston library. this was 606 frames shot over a period of 30 mins at 3-second intervals.

all settings were maintained at iso200, f/12, with the d300 @ 18mm on a tripod. i shot in aperture mode, left the shutter speed to the camera as the light conditions slightly changed with passing clouds, etc

no post processing of the images themselves, they were sent into imovie to be combined at 1/10th of a second/frame, here's the result (original files were not re-sized, imovie imported them as-is 4300+ pixels each, quicktime movie file is much higher quality) ...



couple of lessons learned ... not touching the camera, I did a few times - be it with my foot touching the tripod, hand resting on the neck strap or whatever ... need to bring a stop-watch, was using my iphone that proceeded to get very hot ... going to try some night photography with this instead next time, but i'm content with my first pass results.

catch up blog post: caprese salad ...

as part of the kitchen doorknobs end of summer challenge with tomatoes, i subsequently made a variety of things with the tomatoes pictures below. caprese salad was my favorite, because who doesn't love very fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil and a tangy balsamic vinaigrette on a muggy hot summer afternoon ... gratuitous close up makes you hungry picture ...

non-photog post, my thoughts on os3.1 for iphone ...

it all started about 2 or so weeks ago, i downloaded the latest version of itunes 9.0 because with all apply hype, i liked the new interface, family sharing and the other bells and whistles the smoked in my face. yeah, that's when it all started. downloaded the package and started the install, all went fine (my iphone was plugged in at the time) when my iphone made some wonky noise. i looked at the screen and i can't remember what it said, but it clearly just had some icon, subsequently it had the "plug your iphone into your laptop to sync or you're fried" icon. i did that. nothing. i tried again, nothing. grumbling and a few hard re-starts, nothing. at this point i didn't really have a choice except to recover my iphone back to factory settings.

very annoyed, thinking i would be losing everything on my iphone, i was partially right.

itunes recovered and reverted my iphone back to its factory settings. there was no personal data on it. luckily i recovered from an iphone backup. still annoyed. it recovered my data, but had to re-install all my apps.

45 mins later. it's still installing. it finally finished about 25 mins later. finally have my phone back. slight bit of relief, but still quite annoyed. and now i've got itunes9 and iphone os3.1; i thought all was well aside from the minor inconvenience.

had to take a hop to the west coast, iphone starts to act wonky again, a bit sluggish, re-boot it twice, it seems ok - false hope. phone proceeds to freeze ... i.e. pushing the home button does nothing. did i mention nothing? pushing the home button repeatedly does nothing. pushing the top screen on/off button does nothing, absolutely nothing. after trying a few more times, i give up. 30 seconds later the screen lights up ... what's going on? swipe the slider and everything seems ok ... that is until i push the mail icon, screen freezes again, nothing. try to push the home button and the camera sound goes off, it's taking a picture, of what? nothing. do it again, camera sound goes off again, whiskey tango foxtrot. lather, rinse, repeat. come to find out i took 25 screen shots of my phone without using the home/top button combination. finally able to get out of it, so i shut it down and reboot it. all is well, for the time being. of course this happens again and again.

i'm not sure what is up. it hasn't happened for about a week - seriously what's up apple with os3.1, seriously. questioning whether or not to download the mms upgrade, i havent been this annoyed at this phone, but i am. rant over.

#1 animal style ...

I can't really complain ... it's been odd that the last few trips to LA I haven't fed my In & Out addiction ... well I decided not to pass it up this round before the awful flight back ....

Sent from my iPhone

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