August is coming to an end quickly . . . . .

So here I am posting yet another lame picture . . . .

Enjoy.

Pentax K10D

DA 21/2.0 ltd

1/60@f/5.6

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Golf trip

No, I am not quite out of the slump yet, but I am getting ready for a golf trip of a life time. From 9/1 to 9/6, I am heading out to Bandon, Oregon for a all out golf trip that involves four fantastic golf courses that are out of this world.

Just cannot wait.

Pentax K-7

DA 40/2.8 ltd

1/125 @ f/5.6

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

I miss the rain - part 2

It is getting very hot around here, finally. It was 113 F yesterday. Just insane. But, the saving grace is that it is a dry heat. I have a friend just came back from Japan yesterday, and he called it the death heat, as the humidity was pushing 80% on top of temp well above 100F.

I miss the rain. We need it. I know that if it rained a lot, I would complain and say that I miss sunlight. No shame in that - just human nature.

Pentax K10D

DA 40

1/40 @ f/2.8

0 ev

ISO 400

RAW

Hallucination

Not because I am a speed freak or anything like that, but I spend staying awake hours on end at a time, sometimes up to 30 hours. At the end of the shift, when I come home, often times I think I am hallucinating because I see something like this, only to come to senses moment later.

Pentax K-7

Carl Zeiss planar T* 50/1.4

1/2000 @ f/5.6

0 ev

ISO 100

RAW

Salmonella and the curse of chickens

I don't know. I really don't. We breed these guys, and not only we eat them, legs and breast and all, but we also eat their eggs. It's a miracle that we don't eat their shit. Of course there will be consequences like salmonella. It is wrong to expect to get away with eating eggs of ugly birds.

Pentax K-7

FA 50/1.4

1/200 @ f/5.6

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

If you were a pilot . . . .

then you may not like this picture.

Pentax K-7

DA 40/2.8 ltd

1/60 @ f/5.6

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

I used to do this - not any more

Flying in the helicopter, that is. No I didn't pilot it, but used to fly out in it and pick up sick children and transport them back to our facility. This was years ago. Now I don't have to do it. I don't miss it. It was the requirement of the residency program that I was in.

The view is nice. Sure. But I don't like to fly in it. The thing flies like it does not want to. The moment you walk in that thing you immediately develop this intense desire to do nothing but get out of there. Let alone to buckle up in it, and to actually fly up and away is a complete bullshit.

But, every great once in a purple blue moon, there are patients that I would rather go pick up myself rather than letting resident physicians do it. This has happened only once in the last 24 months. This picture was taken then.

Very bad picture. It does show how nice the view can be. Why black and white?? Please don't ask.

Pentax K10D

DA 40/2.8 ltd

-0.3 ev

1/1/40 @ f/2.8

ISO 800

RAW

The moment before disaster - caught on film

The question really is why I was taking a photo, instead of supervising my child when mattered most.

I am not a good parent. That is for sure.

Pentax K-7

DA 15/4

1/250 @ f/5.6

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

I miss the rain

I am not kidding when I say I don't know when was the last time it rained around here. Being in mid August, I don't see rain coming any time soon.

Shit.

Pentax K-7

D FA 100/2.8 macro WR

1/250 @ f/2.8

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Abstract photography part 2 - I think

I am still not sure what abstract photography is for when nearly all observers will not "get" it. Sure, take your vision and aesthetics to the extremes, but do it for yourself and yourself only. Don't even consider showing it to others because what they think will not matter. They won't get it.

Pentax K-7

DA 40/2.8 ltd

1/250 @ f/4

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

These fingers

These fingers are partly responsible for all these awful pictures.

Pentax K10D

DA 35/2.8 macro ltd

1/1000 @ f/2.8

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Cool?

The word "cool" is used quite often to describe lots of things, including pictures. It is rather a vague term, as it does not indicate anything other than "not bad."

I think this picture is pretty bad. So probably not cool.

Pentax K-7

DA * 50-135/2.8

1/200 @ f/2.8

0 ev

ISO 400

RAW

No, this is not creative

Not by a long shot. Just took a picture of my little girl over a sliding window.

Big deal.

Pentax K10D

DA 35/2.8 macro limited

1/90 @ f/4.5

0 ev

ISO 100

RAW

Name this phenomenon?

Because I certainly cannot.

Pentax K10D

DA 21/2.4

1/2000 @ f/5.6

- 1.0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Burn out?

May not be just in photography, but with life in general.

Pentax K-7

Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50/1.4

1/3200 @ f/2.2

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Pentax FA 77/1.8 ltd

I used to own this lens, and got rid of it. For the longest time I had the seller's remorse. The reason I sold it was that I thought DA 70/2.4 was just as good.

People often talk about sharpness of FA 77 ltd. Well, the maximum aperture on this lens is 1.8. At any given condition, you will shoot with a faster shutter speed than a lens with less aperture. So naturally, the pictures will be sharper.

The color is another matter. I don't know what it is. This lens is just magic.

K-7's firmware was also updated, and now there is a picture mode called "reversal film." I like it with FA limiteds. I just may have to re-acquire it.

Pentax K-7

FA 77/1.8 ltd

1/20 @f/2.5

0 ev

ISO 200

Left over from San Diego

This was taken in San Diego few weeks earlier. DoF exercise.

Pentax K-7

DA 15/4 ltd

1/500 @ f/8

ISO 200

RAW

No, this is not a pint of Guinness, but

This one came out too good. I am in a slump here.

apentax K-7

DA 35/2.8 macro ltd

1/40 @ f/4

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

More very marginal bird photo

Messing with a frame ratio once again.

Pentax K10D

Takumar 300/4

1/40 @ f/8

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Worst work related photo

Something I use at work. A new model at that. It has really changed how I do things . . . .

Pentax K-7

DA 70/2.4 ltd

1/40 @ f/2.4

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

More tomatoes

These tomatoes tasted much better than what these pictures demonstrate.

I wonder if tomato plants can feel the pain. It was a bit of a pity cutting into them . . . .

Pentax K-7

D FA 100/2.8 Macro WR

1/250 @ f/3.2

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Artichokes

I guess I am into growing stuff these days. Even artichokes. I don't think of these guys as something sweet, but ants are all over them.

I try to get my photography done in the first and the last 30 minutes of each day. Essentially sunrise and sunset. Lightings are much softer, direction is more sideways and cast shadows that helps with contrast of the subject.

Something about sunlight though. Artificial lighting cannot achieve this.

Pentax K-7

D FA 100/2.8 macro wr

1/3200 @ f/4

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Grapes

I could have done far worse with this one.

Pentax K-7

DA 70/2.4 ltd

1/640 @ f/8

0 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Post processing (PP)

Here is amateur photography at its best.

A little while back I was in San Diego and took this picture because the sky was breaking. It was more or less a lighting exercise. I didn't pull it off.

With photoshop, or for that matter, lightroom or aperture can touch up pictures like this to make it presentable. Tone curve comes in very handy. It allows me to control tonality at different parts of the pictures. For example, I can lighten up the shadow contrast while keeping the lighting aspect unchanged. I tried to do that, so that I can make out the detail of the boat while not minimizing the accentuation of the breakthrough lighting. It didn't work.

Purists often question how aesthetically valid to touch up pictures after shooting. I don't see anything wrong with it. But, if it bothers you, then you ought to not do it. Because of the knowledge I gain from messing around, I am retouching it less and less these days, that is for sure.

I would say this though; every time I go to the beach I am reminded of how difficult to take a picture when water comes into play.

Pentax K-7

DA 15/4 ltd

1/4000 at f/4

- 0.3 ev

ISO 200

RAW

Something is wrong

Come to think of it, buildings don't look like that. I mean the sides of the building appearing to converge at the top. I don't mind it if it looked like this in real life, because it looks kind of cool.

There are ways to compensate for this.

More on that later.

Another bad macro photography

I am not sure if insects such as ants see their world in colors, but they must have very strange views, and so often they seemed much more entertained than you and I would ever be.

Here is another bad example of poor macrophotography technique. It is not bad, and rather close, but not quite there. What would have improved this picture immensely was a tripod. I am sure that some would like the ants to be sharper.

When I look at the picture, not from the technical standpoint, it looks alright to me, even though the ants are not the sharpest. This picture is not about showing details of ants. If I wanted to do that, I would have gotten closer.

Pentax K-7

D FA 100/2.8 macro WR

1/320 @ f/4

0 ev

ISO 400

RAW