Old Bahia Honda Sunrise

Just had a 3 day stay down in Key West for Memorial Day which consisted of plenty water, sun, and beer. Luckily I was still able to operate the camera the next mornig being that I had to drive back to Miami at 6 in the A.M. and had quit drinking saki about 8 hours prior. This is the old Bahia Honda Bridge right after sunrise.

Empty Glass

Another great example of the fisheye lens. Empty wine bottles on my bar. This was taken about 2 inches away from the main subject. Nikon D200 1/60th @ ISO 800.

Flats Night: Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 AF DX Fisheye Review

After careful consideration, I thought I needed one more lens for my arsenal. I needed something outside the normal feild of view. Macro was my first choice, but shooting relatively still objects can get monotonous. I went with the new DX format 10.5mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor-Fisheye. This lens is a whole lot of fun packed in the tinniest piece of glass i've seen. If focuses very fast and accurate, mainly because its depth of field is so great. It has a 180 degree field of veiw. This is one thing that takes getting used to. When positioned in portrait, it is almost impossible not to get your elbow or feet in the photo. Its that wide! This is not a normal circular fisheye. It focuses as close as 1.5 inches from the front element. You really have to be careful when looking through the veiwfinder. You can easily hit something with the lens because you look so far away. I usually just hold the camera below me. You can't miss the picture with 180 degree angle. If you're considering it, its worth every bit of $600. But don't get me wrong, its takes getting used to. I took over 400 shots in 2 days just with this lens.
This is one of the photos fishing for Tarpon at night with Aaron Snell. Don't try this at home! I took this going about 35mph standing on the bow of the boat. The effect created from the fisheye is like none other. Nikon D200 Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 DX ISO 1600 @ 2.2 seconds with slow rear sync SB-600 flash.

Opportunity

Congrats to Richard and Gianna Reyes who's wedding this photo comes from. Not knowing anyone at the wedding but my date I thought it would be good opportunity to take some pictures. People at the wedding were looking at me a little weird until they had seen the pictures I took, which is a good thing. Antique grayscale wine glass from our table and my girlfriend Daphne with me before the wedding. Enjoy.

Its not as Low as I thought.

I never thought I would say it but...uh umm...I went fresh water fishing. I know, I know, saltwater is real fishing. But its actually not that bad. The lake behind the construction office where I work is filled with these Peacock bass which actually fight surprisingly well. Anyhow, it should keep my adiction at bay till I can get to Key West again.  

Shrapnel Clouds

Shrapnel Clouds
Originally uploaded by tryzatt7.

Sunset coming in to Key West, i'm not sure what key I stopped to take it. This was taken with my old Pentax *ist DS and 18-125mm Sigma. Although this came out decent not a day goes by I regret trading that thing for my D200. Anyway, this was sometime in late spring last year and never noticed its impact till it was processed. Better late than never.

The Catch

The Catch
Originally uploaded by tryzatt7.

This is the same Tarpon shown below. This was also taken by Aaron Snell. This was turned to direct positive in Adobe Lightroom.

Fluorescent Flowers

Floro Flowers
Originally uploaded by tryzatt7.

After some quick work with Adobe Lightroom, I instantly decided it would be my software workhorse. As far as post-editing images Lightroom is by far the fastest and easy workflow i've tried. Combined with DXO optics, that I bought this week, I will have a very fast and easy workflow that is more tailored for photography than Photoshop CS. DXO is a software system that if purchased by picking the camera and lenses that the photos will be taken with. After uploading the pictures to DXO the program can run all the photos automatically to correct for Barrel Distortion, Chromatic Abberation, and sharpness of the lens. It will also cancel out noise and artifacts and adjust color and curves for the camera/lens combo. To me this is a life saver. I don't have to play with numbers for every picture, with every lens, at every focal length - its done automatically. This followed by Adobe Lightroom will be my major editing tools. Now just to find a good filing system...

Eddie Motion

Eddie Motion
Originally uploaded by tryzatt7.

This is my little cousin Edison in full motion. A technique I just learned that is rather difficult at first. It took about 20 shots but the result is very gratifying. This was done with rear slow flash sync at 1/15th of a second. Just follow the moving subject and camera does the rest. Only kicker, you must keep the front element dead on the subject to get it anywhere near sharp. Enjoy