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Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 800, f/1.7, 1/25 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on

Another shot from the Centrifuge Bar at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas while I was enjoying a beer and winding down from 3 days at the PMA show. In this shot I simply opened the aperture all the way up and with the camera on my lap played around with the manual focus (using the distance markings of the focus ring on my manual 50mm f/1.7 lens while estimating the distance) and let my Pentax K10D do the rest. It took 3 or 4 tries to get the framing right but using this technique saved me from getting down on my knees in the bar- something I try to avoid these days. This picture is essentially straight out of the camera with nothing more than my Lightroom default import processing of the RAW file. White balance was set to auto and has not been adjusted. Doesn’t get much easier than this!

March 11th, 2009 | Tags: 50mm f/1.7 SMC-A, Adobe Lightroom, bar, beer, bokeh, Casino, Centrifuge, foam, glass, head, lacing, Las Vegas, manual focus, MGM Grand, Pentax K10D, PMA 2009, rim, Robert S. Donovan, Sierra Nevada, travel, www.booleansplit.com | Category: photos | Comments Off

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

Speak to me…as in little green men from outer space ;-) This image makes me think of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Taken in the bar at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas. The Centrifuge bar (as it is known) is designed around a central cylinderical tower covered in tiny color changing LED or fiber optic lights. I was sitting about 12-15′ away from the bar when I took this relaxing from 3 days of walking the show floor at PMA. I simply manually set the focus on my 50mm lens (at f/1.7) to around 3′ and let the camera do the rest. Shooting bokeh is really one of the easiest things to do once you understand the technique. The hard part becomes making an actual composition out of the bokeh. In this case the arrangeent of the lights themselves was all I needed. Tomorrow I’ll have another example shot in the same place.

March 10th, 2009 | Tags: 50mm f/1.7 SMC-A, balls, bar, black, blue, bokeh, Casino, Centrifuge, dark, hotel, Las Vegas, lights, MGM Grand, out of focus, Pentax K10D, PMA 2009, Robert S. Donovan, square, technique, travel, www.booleansplit.com | Category: photos, technique | Comments Off

Pentax K10D, Pentax SMCP DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL @ 18mm, ISO 100, f/16, 30 sec, +/-0 EV, IS off

Benihana Japanese Steak House, Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino.

I had lunch today in the noodle shop in the back of the Benihana restaurant. The main part of the restaurant was closed and I was leaving I was struck by all the decor all lit up for nobody. I stopped, switched my camera to manual mode, dialed in f/16, ISO 100, and 30 seconds of exposure. I set the self timer to the 2 second delay and set the camera on a flat top of a wooden handrail support post. I didn’t compose the shot with the viewfinder (due to the low height of the railing) nor did I review the shot after taking this single exposure. Later, in Lightroom I dialed back the exposure -0.42 EV and set the white balance to tungsten. Not bad for a “snap shot” :-)

March 5th, 2009 | Tags: asian, bamboo, Benihana, blue, Casino, empty, Hilton Hotel, Japanese, Las Vegas, long exposure, motion blur, Pentax K10D, PMA 2009, red, restaurant, Robert S. Donovan, rocks, SMCP-DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL, Steak House, travel, water, waterfall, wet, www.booleansplit.com | Category: photos | Comments (1)

Pentax K10D, Pentax SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 (manual focus), ISO 800, f/1.7, 1/13 sec, +0.7 EV, IS on (hand held)

Bouchon, The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV

I have to say, this shot would not have been possible without my Pentax K10D’s in-camera shake reduction. I mean, they didn’t have IS 20 years ago when this lens was made ;-)

March 4th, 2009 | Tags: 50mm f/1.7 SMC-A, Adobe Lightroom, bar, bokeh, Bouchon Bistro, chairs, DoF, empty, french, hand held, Las Vegas, Pentax K10D, PMA 2009, restaurant, Robert S. Donovan, stools, travel, www.booleansplit.com | Category: photos | Comments Off