Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, ISO 320,  f/1.7, 1/100 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Well, the two weeks of spring in Alabama are over and now it’s pretty much summer. Time to start greasing up!

This image was shot with my Pentax K10D and old manual focus 50mm f/1.7 lens. The RAW image was uploaded to Adobe Lightroom for processing. First off I had to correct the white balance as my K10D has never been able to make heads nor tails of our comact flurescent lighting in the bathroom. One click of the WB eyedropper tool on the white portion of the bottle in focus did the trick. Next, I dialed in a tad of positive exposure compensation (+0.17) and then tweaked the Tone Curve by bumping up the Highlights and Lights and down the Darks and Shadows. The resulting S-curved tone curve created the high contrast image seen here. Lastly, I added in a bit of vignetting to further darken the edges of the image and add depth to the shot. To me, the super saturated colors and high contrast feels like a summer beach scene…all from a quick snapshot taken in my bathroom.

Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, ISO 320,  f/1.4, 1/60 sec, +.3 EV, IS on

This photo was taken while waiting in line at Moe’s in Auburn, AL. It was shot from the hip without being composed in the viewfinder. The composition turned out OK but I had to apply a fair amount of post processing in Lightroom to get to this point. Here’s the original unmodified as-shot image:

As you can see, it was a bit underexposed and the white balance was a little out of whack due to the mixed lighting conditions. After playing around with various white balance settings I settled on “Auto” as the best choice. Next all I really did to fix the exposure was jack the Exposure up to +1.42. While I was at it I also dropped the Blacks level to 0 and dialed in more contrast to darken things back up a bit without loosing shadow detail. Finally, I added in a touch of saturation to bring back up the color that was lost when I cranked the exposure.

Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, ISO 100,  f/1.4, 1/125 sec, +/-0 EV, IS on

Shot this through the iron gate of a closed nightclub in downtown Auburn while I was on my way to lunch. I really like the way the skylights illuminate the dance floor in the background. The space heaters hanging from the ceiling seem almost alien. I opened the 50 f/1.4 all the way up, focused on the nearest table and let the lens do the rest (including the green halos).

Post processing in Lightroom required a little tweaking of the white balance (I used the eyedropper tool on the top of the table to get the best feel). I also backed all the way off of the black slider and then darkened the shadows back up by increasing the contrast. This revealed more shadow detail but still gives plenty of richness to the shot. I could have acheived the same effect with the Tone Curve tool but this worked well so I left it at that. Finally, I upped the Recovery a little to recover a little highlight detail in the rafters and bumped the Vibrance up a touch to make the image pop in a browser a bit more.

Pentax K10D, SMC Asahi Takumar 135mm f/2.5 (manual focus), ISO 100,  f/2.5, 1/250 sec, +2/3 EV, IS on

Playing around with my “new” Asahi Takumar 135mm f/2.5 I picked up from KEH for $60. This is a very cool little lens. It’s fully manual but I’m finding that if I shoot it wide open I can use Aperture Priority mode and still have simple control over exposure compensation. I’m planning on playing around a bit with stop-down metering in manual mode using my K10D’s Green Button.

Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, ISO 125,  f/1.4, 1/60 sec, +2/3 EV, IS on

Been playing around a bit with a Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 lens I’m borrowing. This shot was taken almost directly into the late afternoon sun streaming through the windows on the front of our house. So far I am finding the FA 50 to be a bit soft for my taste wide open (as you can see here) but the autofocus and extra 2/3 stop advantage over my old A series 50mm f/1.7 are nice. There does seen to be a fair amount of purple fringing in a lot of my shots but I have yet to really test the lens with anything more than some plinking around. I don’t think I’m going to do my usual full-on User Review for the FA 50. I’ll probably just do some anecdotal comparison to my old 50 f/1.7 for those people who either have an older manual focus lens and are thinking of upgrading or for those people who are considering their first fast fifty.

BTW, this image was imported into Lightroom using my standard import settings for my K10D. I then selected “daylight” for the white balance and nudged the blacks slider up to 16 to dial in a bit more contrast. Lastly, I cropped it square and rotated it slightly clockwise to adjust for level on the left side of the frame.

Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax-DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1600 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Heavily processed in Lightroom. Started with the Direct Positive creative preset then poked and prodded for a few minutes until I got what I wanted. The detail however, is all from the lens. I’ve got the review worked out in my head but just have to find the time to put it all together.

Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 125, f/1.7, 1/100 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

This time shot with my old manual 50mm and heavily cropped to get the macro effect. Processing was limited to some WB and saturation/vibrance tweaking and the addition of some vignetting. This crop is basically a 100% magnifcation of the original 10MP image. Note the slight purple fringing around the droplet from shooting wide open? That’s how you know this image is real ;-)

Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax-DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Continuing to test the 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited this weekend. Shots like this are clearly where this lens shines. This image was cropped slightly in Lightroom before I applied the Direct Positive creative preset. I then tweaked the white balance to give it more of a warm and sunny feel. Finally, since the background was a bit flat, I added in the vignetting to “frame” the subject.

One thing I’m learning about this lens is that if you go walking around with this lens you’re going to end up with a wet knee:

]]> http://www.booleansplit.com/?feed=rss2&p=681 0 http://www.booleansplit.com/?p=632 http://www.booleansplit.com/?p=632#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:39:03 +0000 Robert http://www.booleansplit.com/?p=632

Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 100, f/1.7, 1/800 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

While my wife was doing a little shopping I wondered around 18th street in Homewood, AL and took a few photos. I used to work at the bike shop right down the street from here.

Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 100, f/1.7, 1/100 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Pentax K10D, SMC PENTAX-DA f/3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL @ 55mm + SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (reversed), ISO 800, f/8, 1/30 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

This tulip was shot hand-held with a DIY super macro set-up. Lighting was via a nearby window:

The title of the photo comes from a portion of a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne called Atalanta in Calydon:

For winter’s rains and ruins are over,

And all the season of snows and sins;

The days dividing lover and lover,

The light that loses, the night that wins;