Hejdå fotograf, tjänare ingenjör
Då igår började universitetet för mig och det var en jätte stressärande dag. En ny etapp börjar i mitt liv, var jag ska studera Master's Degree och jobba tillsammans. Jag måste dela tiden och det finns ingen tid kvar till fotografering och inte heller till musik, vänner, gymet, osv. Nu fråntid blir jag ett ingenjör student igen, minst för två år.
Och varför skriver jag detta inlägg på svenska? Så jag ringde Peter Stenius (från Helsingfors Amatör Fotografering Klubben) denna veckan, för att vi ska träffas på 19. september och åka tillsammans till Vasa, var finns en tävling av naturfotografering. Peter var snäll och sade till mig att jag får åka med i sin bil.
Men igen nu, varför skriver jag på svenska? Så jag märkte hur bra jag klarade mig i samtalet med Peter, och då tror jag att min svenska har förbättrat jätte mycket. Jag vet att min ordlista är liten, och därför försöker jag ibland skriva och tala på svenska, så jag får öva språket.
Men tillbaka till mitt liv, så jag är nu ett heltid student och jag kommer att sakna sommaren och fotografering hobbyn, men universitet kommer först, sen annat. Jag hoppas att jag kan försätta ta fotografier och dela med er många bra bilder, men vi får se. Önska mig lycka till, jag ska behöva den detta år!
Sigma 50mm f/1.4
Yesterday was an expensive evening for me. I decided to give back my almost new Sigma 18-250mm and buy the Sigma 50mm f/1.4, a professional lens for portraiture photography. I gave back my previous lens just to get a refund, in order to save some money. At the same time, I bought a multifunction printer (the Canon Pixma MP990), which is capable of scanning 35mm film rolls and print photographies in photographic paper. The expensive evening seems, after all, to be rewarding.
The main purchase was the Sigma 50mm f/1.4. The equivalent for a 1.6x crop is 80mm, but the quality of this lens is such that I wanted it no matter what. The light coming now to my 550D's sensor is just gorgeous, and the bokeh provided by its shallow depth-of-field is just miraculous.
The built-quality is excellent (8 elements in 4 groups) and it provides full-manual with ultrasonic motor, which is very handy. Yet the most important property is its f/1.4 aperture, with which I don't have to worry about shooting indoors or when shooting fast-moving subjects. Here are some test samples:
One of my motivations towards this lens was Lorena, who is using the same lens on her Pentax K-10. With that lens, I obtained very nice candid portraits and the light was just excellent. I can't wait to test my lens with new faces and see its actual potential at full.
If you may notice some change in my photographs, I just found better settings for my 550D. I turned off the light optimizer and customized my own shooting mode, thus obtaining better (towards pale-like) colors and tones. Previously, I was abusing of contrast curves and saturation, where photographs tended to look plastic. I prefer more realistic tones right now, that's why my pictures look different from previous ones (actually, I try to achieve the results obtained with my Canon AE-1 using my dSLR 550D).
To completely kill my credit card, I bought the Canon Pixma MP990, which is a wireless multifunction printer, including scanner for 35mm film rolls (one of my favorite features). I just connected it to my wireless AP at home and voilà: it worked! Xsane recognizes it without any driver nor configuration, everything over the network. Cups also detects the printer and it just works. Everything seems to be nice these days on Debian GNU/Linux.
Shooting portraits
Last Wednesday was quite productive, photography-wise. I had my second meeting with Lorena Arance, a very good friend and a photographer that is helping me out with the principles of photography and the seek of my own inspiration. The afternoon was going to be about informal conversations and fun, yet the evening turned out quite different, as we found ourselves shooting professional portraits at her parents' house.
Raquel Arance is Lorena's sister. She's been posing for Lorena several times now and she knows what is like to be in front of a camera. Lorena just wanted me to see her parents' house (a very nice rustic house in the inner Mallorca, a village named Es Capdellà). She introduced me to her relatives, including her brother and sister. Once Raquel was there, Lorena asked her to pose for us.
After an hour of trying out different setups, and tired of using harsh light from the burning sun, we waited for the sundown and Raquel started to dress properly. Right then, we started to shoot portraits and trying to squeeze the hour and a half of candid light that the sundown was going to provide us with.
Lorena gave me her camera, a Pentax K-10 with a Sigma f/1.4 50mm, and I started shooting Raquel, Lorena and Carlos (Lorena's brother). As the light was dimming, the portraits were getting better and better. Lorena was explaining me the position, the light and the composition of every photograph. She was also helping with the framing and other hidden aspects. I was getting confident with myself and the camera I was holding.
After shooting against the sundown on the balcony, we moved to the swimming pool, where Raquel chose a white dress, she was laying and I was shooting. I also used my Canon AE-1 film camera to immortalize several shots. The light was just perfect, and the model was excellent. It wasn't the first time Raquel was posing for a camera.
At the end of the evening, when I was going through the material, I realized how many good shots I had taken and Lorena was giving me her personal and professional opinion, thus feeding me back with knowledge. That session was extremely helpful and enriching for me, and I feel much more confident now with portraiture photography. I can't wait to give back my Sigma 18-250mm and buy the Sigma f/1.4 to start shooting real photography.
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