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Ξ March 8th, 2011 | → 1 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ Famel, Moto, Photo |

Pirelli Calendar 2011

Ξ January 9th, 2011 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ Calendar, Fashion, Pirelli |

The Pirelli Calendar for 2011 was photographed by Karl Lagerfeld, who portraited Greek and Roman “Mythology” figures. As usual, the photographies are amazing…

The images of the making of are also amazing. Here’s how the photography session went…

My Fetish: Voyeurism

Ξ February 16th, 2010 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ Fetish, Photography, Voyeurism, Zoom |

Your mind was automatically directed to sex, wasn’t it? Admit it. With a title like that, everything point to the sexual fetish that is Voyeurism. If you search the web there are lots of sites (there it goes again, the mind floating to those sex ideas) that define this clinical psychology called Voyeurism, but today I’m here to talk about things other than sex. Let’s talk about photography (for a change).

After buying a Nikkor AF-S DX VR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED and taking it for walk and a couple of shoots, I’m fascinated by this lens. This lens has an excellent zoom and allows you to capture really nice photos without interfering with the natural behavior of the subject. Sometimes having this huge lens extended in some direction generated some awkward by the people close to you, but I must face my natural shyness and if necessary explain what is the intention (no harm, no foul).

 

In fact, and here comes the origin of the title, I liked so much the ability to take “distant” photos that I’m considering investing in another tele-zoom lens after making the most of 200 mm. The Nikkor AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED is an excellent candidate, and will be in the shortlist when time comes. Here is an interesting review. As you can see in Nikon’s lens simulator, the zoom at 300 mm is amazing.

Pirelli Calendar 2010

Ξ February 15th, 2010 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ 2010, Calendar, Making of, Pirelli |

Fashion photography is sometimes not well understood, specially by me, but the Pirelli Calendar is always very artistic.

RAW Images in Ubuntu

Ξ February 14th, 2010 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ file, Photography, RAW, Tool |

A while ago, I became aware of the potential of using RAW files after reading some very interesting articles [1][2] on the subject. Since then RAW is the everyday choice unless speed between shoots is important or, more frequently, when the memory card is starting to fill-up.

Using Ubuntu (and GIMP) to setup a workflow, I found a very useful tool to transform RAW files into JPEG. Simply,

and you’ll install a very useful standalone (ufraw) GUI tool, that also can be used to batch process in the command line, and the gimp support to import RAW photos.

If you don’t want to lose post-processing time, most digital cameras have a RAW+JPEG mode in which they store the final JPEG image while retaining the ‘negative’ RAW file. I find this the best compromise… when I have lots of memory space available.

Spring Cleaning

Ξ February 7th, 2010 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ Articles, Blower, Cleaning, Sensor |

Sooner or later, you’ll need to clean the sensor of your DSLR. Here are some resources that I found interesting:

• Thom Hogan’s Nikon Field Guide and Nikon Flash Guide
  (on Cleaning your Sensor)
• Cleaning Digital Cameras
• Sensor Cleaning

Although the articles above describe several more or less intrusive methods to clean the sensor, all I used was the Giotto’s Rocket-air Blower in the photo, and it did wonders.

Exit

Ξ February 5th, 2010 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ B&W, Exit, Photography, Work |

“I need an Exit..”

Monthly DOC

Ξ December 15th, 2009 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ Boat, DOC, Old, Photo, Sinking, Water |

Portugal: A Detail

Ξ December 13th, 2009 | → 2 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ Hawk, Hunter, Portugal |

Peculiar and Extraordinary

Ξ September 20th, 2009 | → 0 Comments |
∇ Photo | ∇ Calendar, Fashion, Photography, Pirelli |

One of these nights, I was doing the usual zapping and by chance I stopped at Fashion TV to watch something that seemed to be somehow out of place for this channel. After a minute, it became clear that it was the making of for the Pirelli Calendar for 2009. The pictures are awesome, but the photographic session progressed in a very bizarre manner.

As any amateur photographer, I would love to participate in something like this but I don’t believe I’ll ever be that lucky. Again, although I still don’t understand why do the models submit to such a treat, I must admit that the results are extraordinary.