I, of course, am all excited about the 40D, and as such, I am looking for any possible opportunity to use it. Well, there was a nice sunrise on the way to work this morning, so I decided to take a minute or so to try and capture it with the new body. I didn’t have long since I already left late for work, but I did what I could… Here it is…
Canon 40D (gripped) w/ Canon 85/1.8 – All Natural Light – 1/8K – F/3.5 – ISO800
So yes, I did it again, and made another trade. Last night I said bye-bye to my faithful 30D & Siggy lens, and picked up a Canon 40D. No money exchanged, straight trade, as usual. This morning when I left for work, I decided to bust it out of the Crumpler (7MDH) for a few minutes.
These were taken about 6:40′ish this morning, all with the new body. I am not all that happy with them, but I thought I’d post anyway since they are the first few shots with it.
Stats: Canon 40D (gripped) – Canon 85/1.8 – Varying Exp. Times – ISO 800 – Natural Morning Light
Here are two shots from tonight that I would like to share.
This was taken on the back-roads of Elgin TX, across a field.
Canon 30D + 85/1.8 – 1/500 – F/2.8
And this is a shot of my daughter. Lighting was done with a small halloween toy. Also, I did a bit of strategic desaturation… 
This is rapidly becoming part of my PP’ing style (in select situations)…
Canon 30D w/ Siggy 24/1.8 – 1/50 – F2.2 – ‘natural’ light…
When I got home from work last night, I found my wife and kids about to carve a pumpkin. Those are ALWAYS fun times, mostly because they are slimy, messy times! My favorite thing to do with my camera is to shoot candidly, so of course I did. (Pardon the mess, we are in the middle of something)
These are all with the Canon 30D and Sigma 24/1.8.
Strobist: What Strobist? These are all with ‘natural’ light, in the kitchen, after dark.
I had to share this. I took it with the Canon 30D and Canon 85 F/1.8. This is almost a %100 crop (just under %100 to fit in this blog neatly) from a bigger shot, and I am amazed at the quality at full res. Wow!
Session 3 last night, and grabbed a few pics. I thought I’d share. These are all taken by me, as usual, and with the 30D + Sigma 24/1.8. All are wide open @ F/1.8 as well… On to the pics…
Last time, I showed you the needle that I dubbed Godzilla, which was actually 13 needles in one structure, used at the same time. A pretty hardcore needle. Well, this time we took it up a notch. This is “King Kong”, 23 needles at one time. Very, very hardcore…
These are some of the inks that Rock just got. We used the red last night, and blue will come soon…
Rock:
Now on to some random action and what not. All we used all night was King Kong, so these are ALL with that 23-mag ‘needle’…
Last night on the way home from work, I had a bunch of errands to run, and I was pretty stressed out. I needed to calm myself a bit, so I decided to stop and take some pics, as holding my camera seems to smooth me out. There wasn’t really anything substantial to shoot, and I pulled off in the middle of nowhere (between Elgin and Manor, TX), so I tried to make due.
Usually, when there are flowers or small objects involved in my shots, it’s my style to make them a large, almost overpowering force in the capture. I wanted to do something a little different (for me), so I took a stepped-back approach to these. While some little aspect of shot still holds a main attention/focus point, I tried to let it blend in to the pic more, rather than stealing all the attention. I have grown to be a HUGE fan of Bokeh, almost more-so than the in-focus area, so I went out of my way to let this lens do what it does well, and include a hefty amount of Bokeh.
This is what I came up with…
Al shots in this series: Canon 30D with Sigma 24/1.8, wide open @ F/1.8, ISO500, natural light…
The more I use the Sigma 24mm F/1.8 on my 30D, the more I love it. I am pretty amazed at how close I can get to a subject, as well as the %100 crops I get wide open @ F/1.8. I took a few at my desk, just so I could share this.
These are taken very close to the ’subject’, and wide open @ F/1.8… Here we goooo….
The NFL logo on my Vince Young jersey…
And %100 crop…
My Longhorns Hat. (Hook Em!)…
%100 Crop.
Shelby.
%100 Crop.
So, I made a trade with a (now) buddy of mine that is a tattoo artist. Thus far, we have done 2 sittings/sessions, and we are almost finished (one more time for some color work). You know I HAD to take some pics!
These were all taken with my 30D (gripped), and most with the Sigma 24/1.8 from the last post. Almost all of these, if not ALL, were taken wide open, and I didn’t use a flash all night, just some good ‘Ol natural light (read: bright lamp). And yes, the vast majority were taken with a needle in my arm, including Godzilla, whom you will meet soon. Couple that with a 24mm Lens on a 1.6 crop sensor, and narrow focus line at F/1.8, and it was pretty tough to get the few (17) shots that I kept. Also note, 17 pretty good shot out of 101 popped off, is a pretty freakin good ratio, especially considering the situation.
Normally, I let the pics speak for themselves, but I think I’ll do a little ‘walk-through’ with this set… Anyone who knows me, will know just how much these fit my style. VERY contrasty (when you have enough, add more!), lots of great Bokeh (LOVE this lens), and fun perspectives. +3 Style Points, please?
I have lovingly named this needle, “Godzilla”. It’s a 13 mag, meaning there are 2 rows of tips, 6 on top, and 7 on the bottom. It’s pretty hardcore. Personally, and NOT bragging, I don’t mind it at all, but I hear that most people have problems with it. I’ve heard stories of people having to be forcefully held down/still, crying, and just plain walking away from the tat altogether. The point? Again, it’s a hardcore needle.
This is Rocky’s new gun. He build this from the ground up. That’s an 1800’s (sorry, can’ remember where it’s from) coin. I don’t really know much about the guns themselves, but in my opinion, this one is VERY cool. As my camera is to me, this is his baby, and after hearing what went into building it, I understand why…
Godzilla…
Liner…
Let’s just move to some random stuff…
Concentration…
More…
Notice the sideways action? The needle digs in hard. East Coast Style…
The custom gun, one more time… Notice that my focus point is on the coin, not the needle. Yes, this was purposefully done…
And last, but not least, Godzilla Returns!
So, the 70-200 is gone. Can she please get a moment of silence? ……………
Ok, now. In her place, I now have a Sigma 24/F1.8. I am trying to stick with primes, which is partially where this decision came from. I didn’t really need the 70-200L (although I loved her), but I could use a moderately wide prime. The 24/1.8 is wideish on the 30D, but will be super wide (for a prime) when I finally get a 5D, so there is a tad bit of preemptive thinking here. So…
I had to knock off a few shots w/ her last night, as is expected, so I thought I’d share a few of them. They are all taken of my beautiful wife, Sarah. EXIF should be intact for those care to look. They were all taken on my 30D with a bounced flash. Even the stophen couldn’t quite contain the light in an all white room, so in most of these, there is also a New Balance sock pulled over the flash, and they are bounced behind me. The lighting was horrible, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? Almost all of them were taken with the 24/1.8, however, for the last few, I threw on the 85/1.8, which is my favorite lens of all time… I processed these to get the contrasty effect that I like so much, which I think is obvious. I like them a lot.
Again, impromptu with no prep, all handheld, and I haven’t gotten the hang of the new lens yet since it’s the first night with it. I will say, however, that I am in love with it. I’ll throw in a %100 crop to show you why. My favorite shot, with it’s crop, will be last…
Here is the %100 crop. That is freakin AWESOME! Completely SHARP, to the point that you can see my reflection in her eye. To make that a little more impressive, this was WIDE open @F/1.8!
