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One of a series of portraits I’ll eventually be posting, made at the place where I work for my assistantship at the University of Missouri as the photojournalism sequence’s equipment manager. This is the “window” where students come to check out photo gear to supplement their own to complete assignments and personal projects.
This is the view that greeted me as I pulled into HyVee last evening to pick up a couple of groceries. I thought it a fitting tribute to our picture story class’ ongoing exploration of the street that connects so much of the city.
We had a wonderful sunset tonight in Columbia, and I can only hope that’s a good sign for the projects that lay ahead.
Today, while walking out of Broadway Brewery from an early dinner–sans $5 pint glass that I paid for, because those are even easier to leave on the table than a to-go box–with John and Chelsea, I let them walk ahead of me because I could sense that something weirdly endearing was about to happen. Here’s the advantage of Aperture Priority, folks: I dialed it up to f/4 and bumped the exposure compensation to +1 EV because I knew that the cloudy sky would fool the light meter into thinking the situation was more neutral than it really was.
Could I have retained some detail in the sky at +2/3 instead of +1? Possibly, but I’d rather have the shadow detail. The sky isn’t what matters in a picture like this. Furthermore, in post-processing in Adobe Lightroom, I added another stop, so I could have gone even brighter, but I had properly exposed to the right, so this was less of a problem than it sounds.
If I’d been in manual, I would have had to ratchet up my shutter speed very rapidly, and this is something that you don’t always have time to do. And when you don’t, you’re happy you know how to compensate for the whole scene, and get it right in the first exposure!
Yesterday, while working for my assistantship, I was trying to illustrate a point to a student in one of the more basic photography classes that is actually taught by a fellow graduate student, Phoebe Sexton, that while I could not equip him with the camera and lens that he wanted because of a lack of availability, even an old Nikon D50 and a basic 18-55mm lens can yield good images. It’s the experienced hand, not the equipment. Sure, the gear helps, but still. Now, if only I had checked the settings he was using before Josh Bickel assisted me in making my point, I would have told it not to add two thirds of a stop too much light…
I’ve also included a couple more images from last night, of my hosts for the evening, Val and Jamie, and some of my closer friends:
This was supposed to go up on Friday, Mar. 12. The best laid plans…
I’m also in a black-and-white kick at the moment. It soon shall pass, I’m sure.
I walked out of my apartment Thursday morning to head down the hall to get my car and go in to school when I discovered that the reason I thought I heard footsteps on the ceiling above me is because there were, indeed, people walking about the roof…and the folding ladder was (in)conveniently between myself and my destination. I took the back way, but not before making this picture…my only one on Thursday.
Today I have to return to Canon the 50mm f/1.2L lens that I’ve been enjoying so much. It is remarkable just how superior this lens is to the 50mm f/1.4 that I have been using for a few years now. Is it sharp? Of course, the 50 f/1.4 is no slouch, either. However, the contrast and the bokeh of the 50 f/1.2L are simply amazing. Am I buying one? Not right now, but it’s definitely on my “wish list” for the next couple of years! Highly recommended.
