Transportation

Well not too much has happened this month
I bought a new camera (D300s)
I bought a new lens (17-55 f/2.8)
I bought a car (Oldsmobile Intrigue)
I need a job :/

Okay, so I guess I have done some stuff this month. I started 2010 off well with a portrait session with Courtney and some save the date photos with Jimmy and Thea.





I made a quick multi-media segment with the D300s during the Purdue Outing Club Adventure Race. (Click the link to watch it in 720p HD!)

POCAR 2010 from Michael Carney on Vimeo.

And this last Saturday participated in a Strobist meet-up in Indianapolis (again with Courtney). Yeah, that's a P-51 Mustang ;D




And this evening I'm off to a Women's Basketball game.

Man, I wish I could get paid for this stuff!!!

First Impressions: D300s, 17-55, MKE400

D300s - coming from a D300 there isn't much of a change. Bonuses: center selector button and dedicated Live View make things a bit quicker. Quiet shutter mode - definitely works, but makes 3 clicks per shot instead of the standard 2. Video quality is amazing! rolling shutter is not as big of a problem as I expected and it handles the audio quite well.

MKE400 - Much smaller than I imagined, fits in my palm with no problems. I like that I can choose between super-cardioid and lobar pick-up patterns (lobar works great for sit-down interviews) and the cord is just long enough to reach the D300s input jack without too many problems.

17-55mm f/2.8 - I'm so glad I chose to go with this instead of a third party lens. Everything about it from build quality to IQ is amazing. Thanks Laurie for working with me on the sale and thanks Joe McNally for selling it (yeah, I've got Joe McNally's lens - gaff tape and all!).

First First Impressions

I am going to start a new sub-series here called "First Impressions" where whenever I try something new, I'm going to report my, you guessed it, first impressions on the subject. Keep in mind I am not a professional critic of anything and thus, don't plan on going very indepth with some subjects (such as this first one).

Sushi



1) I tried sushi for the first time today. It was a combination meal of king salmon and teriyaki chicken. I've always heard people complain about the texture, but I really didn't find it offensive at all. I was not real impressed with the salmon - mostly because it lacked flavor, however the chicken was quite delightful.

2) I used a few new-to-me post processing techniques with this photo. Neither really have a name, however they both work together to add punch to the image. The first was one I stumbled on while lurking through Flickr. I added a copied layer, desaturated, blurred, and changed the layer mode to overlay - really gave some color punch IMO. The second technique was the hand dodge and burn the highlights and shadows respectively to really add contrasts and give it (dare I say) a more DaveHill-ish look (I thought to use this after reading Scott Kelby's post about it a while back).

3)Finally, this (along with the previous pictures from the trip) were all taken with my new-to-me Canon G9. I do have to say, this is the best little camera I have ever used - kudos Canon.