Quick Trip to Lafayette

I went up to Lafayette last week to meet with Jacklyn and Jarad about their wedding photos and while I was there I got to stay with some friends I haven't seen in a while.

This, this is Kevin and his "Hey guys
I might switch to Canon" face.

Firstly, my good friend Kevin is moving to Los Angeles in about 2 days from now to start his career path towards becoming a world-renowned Director of Photography.

So if any viewers out there in the LA region have a job that needs to be filled - hit him up.

Best of Luck Kevin, and remember, Orange on Teal = Summer Blockbuster!

Triathalete? Check. Photographer?
Check. Ph.D.? Sooo close...

Next up, I hung out with Andy quite a bit. I do have to say one of the best things about Andy (aside from his personality, open couch, and a bunch of other stuff) is that he's got a bunch of fun toys and is willing to let me mess with them. So this weekend I took a 1d mk3, 100mm IS macro, and 24mm f/1.4 out for a spin in the woods. Here are the results:

[Click images to view larger]

Self Portrait. Hand held, f/1.4, 4lbs of camera - not easy or
comfortable for that matter.

Seriously, the 24/1.4 was made to be shot wide open,
its not worth the price tag for anyother use.

I think I have fallen in love with the 100mm IS macro.

No, seriously, its sharp, its a great focal length for
macro as well as portraits (Kevin's pic - look at his eye!)

It's ridiculously sharp.

Did I mention IS, because it has 4 stops of it...

Oh and it's price tag won't break the bank
clocking in at just under a grand before tax/shipping.

Because who doesn't want to get closer to this guy...?

One more thing about the 100mm IS Macro - the IS is killer when shooting video. Don't believe me? The video below was shot with the 100mm hand held (with a viewfinder). The only issue I have is when you start to pan it lags, but just once, before it recognizes you aren't just shaking.

Canon 100mm L IS Macro Handheld Test from Michael Carney Media on Vimeo.

a quick 2 shot test of handholding (with viewfinder) the Canon 100mm L IS Macro lens on my 60D. I think I've found a new object to drool over....

Back to Taking Pictures

I've been doing lots of video. It felt weird to take stills again.



I went shooting at night with Kevin, didn't like anything I "shot" though.

We sat down in the Union for a while, kevin got a bit tired.

and then we both got a bit bored.

And That's When I Tried to Make Toast...

felt like having a bit of brekkie today - but the kitchen was guarded by this fearsome beast (sitting atop his pot-lid-like-throne!)

Martell 2

hangin' around Martell after "lab," lol.

Mint-Henge

yeah, I was bored and read a Flickr post in the Nikon Digital Learning Center - a challenge to find something in the room you are in make it look interesting. Here you go - total distance moved (including to and from the computer) 10 feet.

Happy Hollow Park

Well, its Sunday. That means its time to go for a walk. Since I'm living at a new place this year, I needed to find a new place to shoot (since the other park is now about 2 miles away). I went to Happy Hollow Park, its very - shall I say - Linear. It is basically one walk-way that follows a seasonal stream. not a lot of variety, but still more interesting than my room.

With that said, I really need to get a macro lens (I'm shooting for the Nikkor 105mm with a set of extension tubes).

some girls don't like cheap bastards, but some may love their photos...

Hopefully (fingers crossed)...

Anyway, today I tried a technique I have heard of before, but never tried. In order for a photo to be truly "macro," one must make the image appear larger than life on the film/sensor. Now, one way to do this is to go buy a fancy-pants macro lens with a ratio of 1:1 or better (1:2,5,3*10^45, whatever). two other alternative methods exist to create this magnification as well.

The first method is to use an extension tube (which can be bought or made) and put a reversed lens on the end away from the camera. Another method (the one I used) is to throw a reversed lens in front of a normally mounted lens and voila! This is what you get:






and with a DoF like this, one can't resist an easy photoshop merge!!!