*OFFICIAL* Snapshot of the Day (one image per post please) #2

[M_Six]

And 500 Boylston behind it. Three shots vertically stitched. Shot with the EOS-M and 22mm.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by ddk632

^^

Nice, I like the perspective from the grassy area.

I thought about going on the grass for some foreground but with a 17mm lens, I felt that getting closer to the building would have filled in the frame more.

No day shots for me as I was in the office all day

I have to say, religious or not, or whatever, that Trinity Church is a beautiful building!

That was the TS-E 24mm 3.5 II. Boston is prime for tilt-shifts.

[ddk632]

I am so spoiled man, after seeing the TS-E shots anything else with leaning verticals just kills it for me. Boston is definitely prime for TS lenses - pretty much the only lens I had on at all times except for a few shots here and there with the fisheye. Never even took the 24-105, 70-300, or Pancake out of the bag - just dead weight!

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by ddk632

I am so spoiled man, after seeing the TS-E shots anything else with leaning verticals just kills it for me. Boston is definitely prime for TS lenses - pretty much the only lens I had on at all times except for a few shots here and there with the fisheye. Never even took the 24-105, 70-300, or Pancake out of the bag - just dead weight!

I used my TS-E heavily as well. Although when I went on long walks, I took just the EOS-M and 22mm. It was well into the 90's when I was there, so there was no way I was going to lug too much gear around.

[Icy J]

USA. | Chevrolet Corvette C6 Convertible by - Icy J -, on Flickr

first and only modern corvette i've ever seen.

[efrainruiz]

[ddk632]

That's one thirsty tree!

[ddk632]

Another fascinating and beautiful building in Boston's downtown area near the Northeastern University Belvidere and Christian Science Plaza is this Christian Science Church.

Shot early in the morning as the blue light of dawn was peaking through behind me and the moon, obstructed by clouds yet still visible, was setting beyond the church making for a nice scene overall.

I can't find a specific name for it other than the Christian Science Church - hopefully that's correct

Purposefully kept the white balance on the cool side because honestly with the early morning light well before sunrise barely cracking, and the cloud cover, the building had this bluish tint to it. The sky might be a bit oversaturated, though, again due to the white balance I chose to keep.

6D + TS-E 17


Christian Science Church, Boston by ddk632, on Flickr

[M_Six]

Nice shot, David. I have a ton of those two buildings as well. The thing that sucked about that plaza is that gawd awful ugly building to the right. Horrible Stalin-esque architecture. I think with the shot you have I might have cropped into a portrait orientation to get that building out of the picture. The church shot is awesome, though.

[IRide]

David, I like what you do with that lens. Well done!

[Billup]

I really enjoy seeing each of your work. I have really been slacking as far as getting out and capturing for a while now due to the unanticipated nature of my life at this time. I hope to get back out soon and to start contributing again.

[efrainruiz]

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by IRide

David, I like what you do with that lens. Well done!

Thank you, I appreciate it!

Originally Posted by M_Six

Nice shot, David. I have a ton of those two buildings as well. The thing that sucked about that plaza is that gawd awful ugly building to the right. Horrible Stalin-esque architecture. I think with the shot you have I might have cropped into a portrait orientation to get that building out of the picture. The church shot is awesome, though.

Thanks Mark, yeah I actually like the ugly building

When I was there in May, I went to the same plaza and ended up discarding all of my shots because they were horrible. Bad composition, wrong time of day, etc., so this time I went there on a mission to get some good shots. And I've already discarded a bunch from the new set as well. I'm going for quality over quantity now and really trying to only keep the very best (subjective of course) shots and discarding the rest.

Now if it has an African Safari or something similar that is once in a lifetime I might be more conservative with erasing shots! but knowing I will likely be in Boston a bunch more times I'm ok with it.

I actually discarded all of the sunrise shots because I had been walking around in some neighborhood and while there were beautiful trees with red leaves and a nice sunrise with purple and magenta clouds almost the whole sky, I couldn't get to a decent location in time and ended up rushing all my shots where the good elements in the scenery that day just didn't click together in any of my photos.

--

And for the snapshot a little bit of fun with the fisheye while walking around Boston

6D + 8-15L @ ISO 12,800 handheld


Warped Doors by ddk632, on Flickr

[M_Six]

Next time you go to Boston, there's a great camera shop (Bromfield Camera) right around the corner from the best deli you'll ever find (Sam LaGrassa's). Last time I was there I had a pastrami sandwich that made me cry because I knew I wouldn't have one that good again until I got back to Boston. I also picked up my 70-200 f2.8 IS at the camera shop. Here's a pic. Corner of Providence and Bromfield St.

[ddk632]

Thanks, I emailed myself that map to have handy next time. Will probably check out the deli first... priorities and all, you know!

[Itsed65]

Pt Reyes National Seashore

Drake's bay by lennycarl08, on Flickr

[happos2]

My first contribution. Just got Lightroom and have absolutely no idea what I am doing. However, I do notice I need a tripod because the blurred the picture trying to take a longer exposure.

[ddk632]

^^

Definitely need a tripod for this type of shot but nice going on the smooth silky long exposure water.

Lightroom is pretty easy to learn, you'll be good with it in no time.

And, welcome to the photography subsection!

[M_Six]

Wow Ed, those cows freaked me out. When I first saw that image my initial sense of scale was way off. The cows looked enormous. Then they brought my eyes back to the proper scale. Weird how that works. Great shot, though.

[Itsed65]

LoL, "The Giant Cows of Marin County!"

[inChargeOfIT]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Another fascinating and beautiful building in Boston's downtown area near the Northeastern University Belvidere and Christian Science Plaza is this Christian Science Church.

Shot early in the morning as the blue light of dawn was peaking through behind me and the moon, obstructed by clouds yet still visible, was setting beyond the church making for a nice scene overall.

I can't find a specific name for it other than the Christian Science Church - hopefully that's correct

Purposefully kept the white balance on the cool side because honestly with the early morning light well before sunrise barely cracking, and the cloud cover, the building had this bluish tint to it. The sky might be a bit oversaturated, though, again due to the white balance I chose to keep.

6D + TS-E 17


Christian Science Church, Boston by ddk632, on Flickr

Really nice. Can't believe how sharp it is in the corners. I have been wanting to rent a TS just to play but I am afraid the learning curve would cost too much. I also do not think Nikon is near Canon when it comes to TS.

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by inChargeOfIT

Really nice. Can't believe how sharp it is in the corners. I have been wanting to rent a TS just to play but I am afraid the learning curve would cost too much. I also do not think Nikon is near Canon when it comes to TS.

Thanks.

The learning curve isn't bad for using the Shift function - you can rent one for 4 days and get on with shift relatively smoothly.

Tilt is a different story. Aside from the miniature effect or moving DOF plane creatively, I'd say in the year or so that I've owned this lens, I've got one (1) shot that properly used the Tilt function to make a subject in sharper focus, while using a wide open aperture and having sufficient background blur.

I don't know anything about the Nikon versions but the Canon TS lenses are highly regarded. The shot you quoted used maybe 3mm of shift, so the corners of the frame are still well within the large image circle of the TS-E 17, which accounts for the sharpness in the corners.

At maximum shift it tapers off slightly but is still ridiculously sharp.

The only problem with this lens is it's made my other lenses feel like junk because they aren't up to par

But I'd say to hell with it, rent one and make sure you have some tall buildings to go practice with!

Edit:

This is the one shot I was talking about. I used a small degree of Tilt to get the whole bike looking sharp, without causing distortion or unwanted OOF areas .. essentially the actual purpose of the Tilt function... I actually would love to take a class or workshop to work just on that skill, using Tilt with a TS lens. Shot at f/4 which is wide open on this lens, if you click the Flickr link you can see the trees and most of the BG is bokeh'ed out.


Beauty and The Beast by ddk632, on Flickr

Edit 2:

One more thing that really helps is having a gyroscopic / multi-axis level. My camera (Canon 6D) has only an electronic horizontal level that will detect left/right imbalance but not forward or backward lean. To get perfectly straight verticals with a TS lens, the camera has to be pointing exactly straight, even a touch forward or backward leaning will create perspective distortion. I just threw out a couple of shots because of this today! A simple bubble level will do, and I have one but didn't bring it with me on this last trip.

For you 5DIII guys you have it built in, something I wish 6D had as well!