tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23652683959647933432011-07-07T21:14:49.283-07:00Where I blog about all things photographic.Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-36289986131127374602011-03-31T09:23:00.000-07:002011-03-31T09:24:25.144-07:00

You can find me at http://jstevewhite.tumblr.com

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-43643703773940874702009-07-28T10:06:00.000-07:002009-07-28T10:10:51.134-07:00

Been too busy to take many pictures lately. Got a new camper - Airstream Argosy (the painted ones). Finally wedged it into our driveway:The shell has a couple of dents, but seems very watertight - gullywashers last night, and no water to be found inside, despite the dent in the back top.I hope to get the chance to take some pictures soon. I've been mostly concentrating on nature type stuff, but

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-79704562080213098842009-07-22T20:07:00.001-07:002009-07-22T20:10:22.534-07:00

BigmaBirdOriginally uploaded by jstevewhite So I broke down and bought a Sigma 50-500 zoom lens, known in many circles as "Bigma" because it's a four pound monster of a lens with a vicious zoom and a cult following.So far it seems the cult following is warranted. I've spent quite a few hours on pixel-peeper.com looking at images from long lenses like this, and the Bigma is head-and-shoulders

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-91086949943505739392009-07-14T12:11:00.000-07:002009-07-14T12:59:00.810-07:00

The primary creative task that a photographer engages in as he pursues his art is seeing. This may seem like a prosaic observation worthy of a hearty "Well, duh!", but I assure you that seeing isn't as easy as it sounds. Seeing, you see, isn't just looking. We all do that. And every one of us looks at scenes, every day, day in and day out, that would make beautiful photographs, but we don't see

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-72028228389185765862009-07-06T23:49:00.001-07:002009-07-06T23:52:27.317-07:00

Love, 4th of July StyleOriginally uploaded by jstevewhite I had to get out and try my hand at that photographer's coming of age act, shooting fireworks on the 4th of July. Of course I've done it with film, many years ago, in a different life, but I had to take a stab at it with digital. I gotta tell you, shooting with digital is MUCH easier, folks. POP! - check image and histogram; too hot,

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-90825874197017753442009-06-29T07:46:00.001-07:002009-06-29T07:49:42.697-07:00

KC SunsetOriginally uploaded by jstevewhite Many of the most interesting outdoors photographs you've seen in magazines all your life were shot in the hours of dawn +/-1 hr and dusk +/- 1 hr. There are a few reasons for this. For nature photographers, it's a requirement; many - even most - animals are most active during those two time slices. Fortunately, those hours also provide the most

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-21628898483138816702009-06-21T21:25:00.000-07:002009-06-21T21:53:05.072-07:00

So I got my old Pentax-M macro sold on ebay, and made a profit on it. I took that money and a little bit more and bought the Samsung Schneider-Kreuznach D-Xenon 100mm Macro for Samsung and Pentax DSLRs - which is a re-badged Pentax D-FA lens. I couldn't wait to try it out.What I discovered right away is that 1:1 isn't for wimps. If you're going to work with magnifications that high, you just

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-87931738424542030902009-06-17T16:50:00.000-07:002009-06-17T17:39:23.014-07:00

That's a buncha alphabet soup, eh? I just happen to be upgrading from the Sigma to the Pentax, and I thought this might be a good time to do a quick head-to-head test. First things first, though, the significant differences in the lenses. The Pentax is weather resistant, the Sigma is not. The Pentax is SDM, the Sigma is screwdrive (noisier). The Pentax goes two millimeters wider - which wouldn't

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-2112669182479286092009-06-12T21:51:00.000-07:002009-06-12T22:05:00.846-07:00

I just got my Metz 48 AF-1, and was looking for something to test it on. So I stuck a buncha Velcro on it, attached my Lumiquest 8x8inch softbox, pushed the head down to -10 degrees, strapped on the 100mm f4 Macro at maximum (1:2) magnification, and went hunting bugs or other interesting stuff that's tiny.This lady was flitting back and forth in some vines, and every time I got close, she'd bolt.

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-47739903035929578122009-06-02T19:19:00.001-07:002009-06-02T19:19:59.657-07:00

Furry Friend Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteA couple of years ago I found a huge brown spider in my bathtub. I photographed it, and examined it carefully. Threw it in a jar and got out the loupe. Sure enough, loxosceles reclusa - the infamous Brown Recluse. It was a female with a body about the maximum size quoted by the various online .edu sites, approximately 3/4" long. Doesn't sound like

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-32213517633027436822009-05-25T13:59:00.000-07:002009-05-25T14:22:40.710-07:00

Finally I got a chance to break out the camera and wander around the yard with my macro rig in place. I'm sure I look strange enough to the neighbors - an old fat guy with a big ass camera rooting in the weeds and flower bed taking pictures of stuff so small you can't see it. No matter, it was a fruitful day. I got three or four images I consider "keepers". Here's my favorite - a little spider

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-56608063968871368622009-05-20T08:22:00.000-07:002009-05-20T08:37:03.177-07:00

There are a lot of places you can read all about the K7 - not the least of which is Pentax's Website. I'm not going to do a rundown of the feature list - you can get that everywhere. There are a few things I am very interested in here, and I have some questions...We got no bump in resolution here. The specs of the sensor seem the same as my 14.6Mpixel K20D. This isn't an extremely disappointing

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-74967377991399014202009-05-20T08:04:00.001-07:002009-05-20T08:12:05.864-07:00

Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteI love spring. I love images of flowers - although, oddly enough, I'm less impressed with them in person than in image. In any case, the Daughter brought this green been plant home from school, planted in a small milk carton with the top cut off. It's growing very fast - I need to get it in the ground soon.I like the colors and the sweeping curves created by the

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-51047158315456094492009-05-20T06:17:00.001-07:002009-05-20T06:17:27.267-07:00

Fly Away Home Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteI took this picture some time ago in my back yard. The yellow background is my daughter's slide. I believe this was my Pentax-M 100mm f4 Macro lens, handheld. She kept turning her back to me, but this time I got her.The image is considerably off-color when viewed via Firefox without the color space extension. In Safari, it looks the same way it does

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-50718314891815145072009-05-19T09:29:00.001-07:002009-05-19T09:29:15.452-07:00

Pink on Green Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteThis is a photo from my new Pentax 50-135 f2.8 DA* lens. I love the lens already. It could be a little longer at the long end, I think, but the image quality is exceptional. I wandered around in the yard for a bit, shooting this and that. It's no macro lens - minimum focus is on the order of 3 feet or so - but it still does an admirable job of

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-56668919196943238552009-05-18T12:30:00.000-07:002009-05-18T13:01:47.946-07:00

So I finally broke down and went with the Pentax long zoom after spending months agonizing over the choices. In the forums I have read that many people have had focus problems with the Pentax cameras and both the Sigma and Tamron long/fast zooms (70-210 f2.8). I debated the merits of manual focus vs. autofocus. Finally, I found a very good deal on the 50-135, and the Pentax brand won out.The win

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-18400120268158422582009-05-17T08:33:00.001-07:002009-05-17T08:34:48.803-07:00

PeonyOriginally uploaded by jstevewhite There's an ant in the very center of this peony. We've got a bunch of 'em (peonies, not ants) in a small, rock circle in the front yard.Woot! Got my Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 back from repair. Took 'em a month, but they seem to have done a very good job. It's not quite as contrasty as the 24-60 I sold my cousin, but it's pretty sharp and contrasty enough. It's the

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-83706446094956089422009-04-22T23:02:00.000-07:002009-04-22T23:05:25.872-07:00

This is what it looks like when you have an internally contaminated rear group on your brand-spanking-new 18-50mm f2.8 lens. See the flare around the plane? It wasn't even that bright. In pix where, say, an LCD TV appeared in the image, it was blown completely out - haloed like mad, with complete loss of contrast anywhere near the TV screen.The repair facility for Sigma doesn't stock groups,

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-17752289040689146142009-04-19T21:55:00.001-07:002009-04-19T22:34:40.517-07:00

My brand-spanking-new Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 is away at Sigma getting fixed, and I've been jonesing for it. So yesterday evening I was out in the yard with the daughter, and I snapped a couple of images with the iPhone. This made me think about the whole gear vs talent debate. Is it really the hardware? Are good images actually good images by dint of the proper exposure and sharpness and color

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-69062027004506175162009-04-18T12:49:00.000-07:002009-04-18T13:00:15.107-07:00

So way back in the 80s, my wife and I went to the zoo. We were without child then, but were both animal lovers just the same, so off we went. I took my T90 and canon FD lenses along so I could shoot pictures along the way.This poor llama had just given up on life, I think, and resigned her(or him?)-self to the amorous advances of the warthog. I thought this was such a clever metaphor I had to

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-19165155724779724132009-04-06T07:43:00.001-07:002009-04-06T07:43:55.495-07:00

Little Pink Flowers Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteFor some reason, I have always loved taking pictures of flowers. I know I'm not alone - there are lots of such pictures to be found on Flickr. But the common nature of such images hasn't reduced my fascination one bit. I tried for days to get this image. I know, it seems fairly simple, but the flowers are under the roof on my back porch, in

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-65816589009451431302009-04-02T22:28:00.001-07:002009-04-02T22:28:22.324-07:00

Beetle Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteMacro photography is probably my favorite type of photography these days. back when I was younger, it was glamor photography, but things change. Anyway, I came across this beetle - he was about 1/4 inch long - and popped off a few caps of him. I didn't even know until I got the image on my iMac that his shell was transparent. I'd have taken more pictures

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-6333586189011229012009-04-01T22:13:00.001-07:002009-04-01T22:13:56.038-07:00

Reflections of Mortality Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteI hate spiders. A LOT. I hate them the way slugs hate salt. And of all the spiders I'm ever likely to meet, I hate Loxosceles Reclusa the most. They're just evil. You can tell in this picture just how evil they are. The discovery of a big mother brown in our bathtub led me to cruising the internet looking for information on this beauty.

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365268395964793343.post-91136894316586183162009-03-31T13:25:00.001-07:002009-03-31T13:25:05.492-07:00

Intensity Originally uploaded by jstevewhiteI shot this image back in the 80's, when the Missouri Raptor Center ( I think it was the group ) would bring these big, beautiful birds out to the Renaissance festival to show all the wannabe falconers what their birds would have looked like back in the day.I shot this image on Ektachrome. For you youngsters, that means FILM, and SLIDE FILM, to boot. I

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04987506828944406168noreply@blogger.com0