Archive for the ‘SAL-16F28’ Category

Wider Than Wide

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Experimenting with my panorama setup. The first photo is 8 shots taken in portrait mode with the Zeiss 24-70mm at 24mm while the camera is mounted to a Nodal Ninja pano head.

Living Room

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Living Room

The above panorama is known as a single row panorama. It is comprised of several photos, each take side by side while moving the camera a short distance between each shot. This next one isa bit more complex. It is a multi-row panorama and is comprised of 45 separate shots in 3 rows. The camera shoots a series across while angled up, a series across while angled down and then again along the horizon.

The House

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The House

Click any of the above images to see a larger version.

And for fun, another 360 degree panorama of the reading room shot with the Nodal Ninja and the fisheye lens. Comprised of 6 shots around and one zenith and one nadir shot. Click your mouse inside the picture and hold the left button down and you can then spin the image around and up and down to see a full 360 degrees.

Full screen, ultra-high resolution version (10 meg file) available here. Will take some time to fully load, but is VERY interesting!

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile

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Oscar Meyer Wienrmobile

I was running a quick errand to the H.E.B. to pick up some postage stamps and lo and behold, the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile was parked out front. I don’t know exactly why, but I get kinda silly when I see this thing. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me since it was a quick errand. I went ahead and bought the stamps and then ran back home and asked Cynthia if she’d be interested in taking a whimsy break.

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile

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Oscar Meyer Wienrmobile

I grabbed my camera and we headed back over to the H.E.B. and had a nice visit with the drivers of the Wienermobile who are known as “Hotdoggers.” It was really quite fun and silly, but we learned quite a bit about the ongoing Oscar Meyer marketing campaign and some facts about the Wienermobile.

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile

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Oscar Meyer Wienrmobile

They still give away little plastic wiener-whistles!

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile

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Oscar Meyer Wienrmobile

*Photographer’s Note*
The first two photos were taken using the Lensbaby Composer mounted on the the A850. The Lensbaby Composer creates the selective focus effect you see in those images and is a fully manual lens. The third photo was taken using the 16mm fisheye and the last photo was taken using the 100mm macro lens.

Copenhagen – Happy New Year!

Friday, January 1st, 2010

We had heard that there would be fireworks in the City Hall Square, but had no idea what to expect. There’s not an organized display. Instead, citizens (and I would assume tourists as well) armed with any number of different pyrotechnics roam the city and detonate at will. As the midnight hour approaches, more and more fireworks can be seen and heard about the city.

Every now and then someone sets something off in City Hall Square.

Cynthia is skeptical that there will be much activity. Copenhagen dies down after 8 or 9 pm from what we’ve seen over the last few days. I explain that new years eve is a global party and I bet her there will be a ton of people and a ton of fireworks.

The people DO in fact start gathering and before long the square is surrounded by people. Some waiting to watch fireworks, others there to actually set them off. Our hotel balcony gives us front row seats to watch the event. Here is a video I shot from the balcony about 30 minutes before midnight

Fireworks in Copenhagen from baldheretic on Vimeo.

My fish-eye captures some of the excitement.

Copenhagen Day 5 – Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

We’d heard good things about The Glyptotek but were apprehensive as Cynthia and I are not big fans of sculpture museums. They tend to be dim and crowded. The Glyptotek was a huge surprise. Everything is open, well lit and nicely displayed. I also discovered that my fisheye lens is great for shooting this type of setting and used it for about 50% of the shots.

Interesting to note, the museum was named after Ny Carlsberg, the brewery owned by the founder, brewer Carl Jacobsen. He added the word Glyptotek, ’a collection of sculpture’, to indicate the pride of place taken by that art form and in recognition of his debt to the older namesake, the Glyptothek in Munich.

One thing I really liked about this museum was the lockers where you could stash your coat and other cumbersome items, making for a much more leisurely walk about the museum

The first thing you see is The Winter Garden, a huge open space with plants and trees and a fountain.

Designed to attract more people into the museum, I could see myself visiting regularly just to sit on a park bench all day long.

The rest of the museum is just spectacular. Cynthia and I had a wonderful time exploring all the rooms and walking amongst the sculptures.

There’s even one of the over twenty casts of the sculpture “The Thinker” by by Auguste Rodin.

If you are ever in Copenhagen, I heartily recommend a visit. What follows are some of the better photos I took while visiting. I know there’s a lot, but it’s only a small portion of what I got during this visit. I have never enjoyed photographing a museum more than this one, and I have been to a LOT of museums!

Copenhagen Day 5 – The Rundetårn

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

We headed off this morning to climb The Rundetårn (The Round Tower) which is not too far from the hotel. Cynthia really likes to climb things when we travel. Fortunately, the tower had a mildly sloping ramp that winds up most of the 130 feet to the top. There is a set of small stairs at the very top which are tight and difficult to manage when there’s too much two way traffic.

The fish-eye lens made for some really good photos inside the tower.

About halfway up we found this little alcove. The sign says Kissing Corner in Danish and there’s a piece of missletoe hanging from the ceiling.

Once to the top there’s a pretty spectacular view of the city

Another successful adventure!

Balloon Over Houston – At Night

Monday, December 21st, 2009

I had so much fun with the day time balloon ride at Discovery Green Park I decided to try it again at night. A whole different view!

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon Over Houston

Monday, December 21st, 2009

There’s a tethered balloon at Discovery Green Park. It goes up 350 ft and back down again. The ride lasts about 10 minutes. A unique photo opportunity, not to be missed. Unless you’re petrified of heights.

George R. Brown through a fisheye lens

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

The George R. Brown via the Sigma 12-24mm.

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Discovery Green Park viewed through the center of the gondola. Notice the ice skating rink. Also a fisheye shot

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Minute Maid Park and two more via the 24-70 Zeiss

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Nearby construction via the 70-300mm G.

Balloon At Discovery Green

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Balloon At Discovery Green

Via Colori Pano

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Interesting challenge trying to put together the components of a panorama with the subjects in motion. This was done at the 2009 Houston Via Colori.

Via Colori

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Via Colori

Click your mouse into the image and hold it. Then move the mouse around to scroll through the scene:

Click here for the full sized version

Notice that I have managed to edit out the tripod in this one.

Panorama

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Received my Nodal Ninja pano head on Friday. Stayed up much too late last night sorting things out. This is the 10 shot stitched 360 panorama of my front entryway. Click to see larger version.

360 pano

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360 pano

This is 8 shots around the 360 horizon combined with one shot up (zenith) and one shot down (nadir). You can see the tripod squished along the bottom of the image.

Taking this into another program I was able to generate this 3D interactive panorama. Click your mouse into the image and hold it. Then move the mouse around to scroll through the scene:

Click here for the full sized version

I’m having way too much fun!

Photographer As Road Hazard

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Houston Pavillions

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Houston Pavillions

Standing in the middle of Fannin near Dallas looking straight up at the crosswalk of the Houston Pavillions. Shot with the A850 and the Sony 16mm fisheye. Had to move quick, the light at the intersection doesn’t stay red for long.


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