Merry Christmas!

Its the time of the year again, and I want to you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! How would you be spending your holidays? For me its propably a chance for friends and family gatherings, and those important people aroud you. A lot of catching up to do! How time flies as we begin to bid farewell to the year 2008 and welcome, hopefully, for a better year in 2009! Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Cheers!

Bokehman

She

More to be updated soon...

Customised Megatron Transformer

All shots taken with the Tamron 90mm F2.8 DI Macro lens.

Customised Transformer

Transformers... More than meets the eye... Transformers... No money to Buy! Haha! Just kidding. I helped a colleague take some pictures of his transformer toys that he customises and will be planning to sell online. Here is a simple set up shot I took with the Nikon SB-800 flash in Wireless Mode. More of his artworks can be seen here.

Nikon D700 Picture Controls

Tested out the D700 Picture Control "D2XMODE1" mode with friends as subjects in the evening sun yesterday, similar to the Chinese Garden conditions taken a few days ago. What a difference the mode makes! The colour rendition is like of a different camera altogether. No more "Cooked-prawns" or "Drunken" reddish hue in the evening sunlight, even in Auto White Balance! Just lovely warm and natural looking sunlight and skin tones. I seem to see more blue now in the colour histogram. It seems like my favourite Picture Control mode for portraits on Asian skin tones now. I am unable to post some sample picture as my friends are rather shy!

Prime Time stroll in the Chinese Garden

Today was one of the few days recently where it did not rain in the afternoon. I took this opportunity to have a short photoshoot with my prime lens, starting off with the Nikon 85mm F1.8 at F2.8 aperture for these shots. I followed up with the Nikon 180mm F2.8, all shot at F2.8 full aperture. It is one of my rarely used lens but since getting into full-frame, it can hopefully see more light of day. I ended the day using the Nikon 50mm F1.4, a lens that I felt tended to flare when used at full aperture. By the time I shot with it though, the sky was slightly dull and overcast, hence I used it at full aperture and it performed better than I expected. No worries at all! I used "Portrait" Picture Control setting, and it looks good, though I found that the white balance during the warmish light of the evening sun tend to make pictures taken using Auto White Balance rather reddish. Its a learning experience for me and my new camera, so I would have to explore more to use this camera more effectively.

Thoughts on the Nikon D700

Having been busy with work as usual the past few weeks, I did not have much time to try out my new camera and find out its strenghts and weaknesses. My initial impressions were that full frame lens now suffer more from vignetting due to light fall off in wide/big aperture settings. Focussing is much improved, being both faster and more accurate, even in low light! Lens calibration function is a God-sent to me. Details are great and of course not forgetting the class leading low light performance as of now. Colours are punchy and accurate, except for the reds which I find too saturated for portraits of Asian skin. I need to post process the colours for asian skin tones to make it less reddish and magenta. I do not know if its the white balance setting which I set to Auto but I doubt it, because the white balance seems to be quite accurate most of the time. I have read online about the reddish hue due to the more saturated reds. For portraits I needed to set to "Neutral" Picture Control Setting to get more accurate skin tones. Even at "Standard" the skin tones are too reddish for my liking. But I believe I have the solution to this inconvenience. I just downloaded from the Nikon webpage the Picture Control Curves for "Landscape", "Portrait" and the various "D2XMODE" to replicate the colour balance of the Nikon D2x. Initial tests around the house shows promising results, having a more pleasing colour balance in my opinon. I would be doing more personal thorough testing of these promising Picture Control options soon. Its like having a new camera everytime you change with the different settings!

Rediscovering the Nikon 50mm F1.4

Today, as usual for the past few days, has been a rainy day. The song by Guns N' Roses "November Rain" is starting to fill my head! Unable to scout my usual haunts to take pictures because of the weather, I decided to try taking some pictures around the area I stay. My online friend has been most obliging by actually agreeing to be my model for this gloomy and downcast day! I am most grateful for her accomodating nature. As there was practically nowhere to shoot because of the rain, I did some closeups under the HDB blocks around my area. All these pictures were shot with the unassuming Nikon 50mm F1.4 lens. Here are a few of the pictures taken at either apertures F1.8 or F2 from today's limited number of shots. Cheers!

Outram Park

First test shots last saturday!

This is the first time I am using a Full-Frame DSLR! Pardon my amaturish skills, hope you can bear with me these shots taken using the Nikon D700, and the Tamron 17-35mm F2.8-4 and Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro DI lens. As usual, cloudy weather was the order of the day! All taken wide open at F2.8, hence testing the lens at the most extreme aperture and condition! The tamron 17-35mm F2.8-4 exhibits quite prominent vignetting, so I guess I will have to step down to F4 next time to try it out again on full frame. Should be able to solve it in photoshop too though I am too lazy to try it out just yet. The tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro is just wonderful even at F2.8 on full frame, I have no issues with its sharpness or colours at all! The last 2 pictures , taken the day after, were of my buddies horsing around! Anyway both lens were very sharp even at wide open, thanks to the ability for me to self calibrate the lens on the camera body.

Salutations!

Hi People! I have not been writing for some time now, the reason been that I have said goodbye and sold my Nikon D200! But no worries, during that time, I was saving up for the D700, and the time has come, the time is now! Hello Glorious Full-Frame Glory and Low Noise High ISO Picture! Of course, picture will be posted as and when they are ready. Hope to see you people soon. Have a Nice Day!

Bokehman Down On The Bollywood Farm