GoldenHammer's Digital Photography Journal

by

  GoldenHammer

An amateur photographer loves photography in all aspects. I started my digital photography in October 2001, my first digital camera is a Sony point and shoot Cyber-Shot DSC-F707. It is an amazing digital camera that changed my life style and brought me into the world of digital photography. I decided to capture the world class famous night scene - the Victoria Harbor view of Hong Kong, it took me 4 attempts to The Peak of Hong Kong with a hundred of exposures, I finally worked it out by the F707. This panorama is composed of 5 pictures that are selected from 3 sets of pictures at different exposures. Click the image to view a bigger version. I focused on the extension of the F707 for its wide and tele capacity, making a custom support mount for this super tele combo connection of the F707 and Olympus converters. This makes the F707 effectively becomes a 800mm f/2.8 tele lens. I really enjoyed the satisfaction when it was done. What an unique "Hunter's Gun" on my hands! Click the image to view the detail setup. However, this achievement also means the termination of my point and shoot style. With over 20,000 exposures in six months with the F707, I realized that the existing consumer class equipments can not provide further improvement on the photo quality and photography functions I need. I made an important decision in March 2002. I decided to invest on the top professional class equipments. This is my first SLR, actually should be DSLR, it is the Nikon D1x and two Nikkor prime lenses, AFD 28mm f/1.4 and AFD 85mm f/1.4. They form a complementary pairs at the focal length and at high speed that best fit my dynamic photography style. I still remember the day after office, I was in hurry to pick up my D1x package and the two Nikkor prime lenses, and hurry again home. I couldn't help and forgot to have my dinner but spending a hour of wondering around, put the Nikkor lens on the D1x, then I fired for the first shot. I was just so excited when I have the first picture download to my PC, which is a night shot through the window in my room, it is taken by the Nikkor AFD 28mm f/1.4 handheld in full auto mode and all default parameters. Wow.... it is sharp and the color tone is something I haven't seen before from my F707. I know I got it right, it is the camera I am looking for and I believe I can manage it well too. This is a completely new world to me, and I started my learning curve in the next two weeks, I shoot everyday after office, that's why my first gallery from D1x is night scene, all are in handheld at ISO400. The photos were taken at the Tsim Sha Tsui and The Central District, two famous business and tourist centre in Hong Kong which have many nice buildings and night lights. Thanks to the high performance of the D1x and the ultra high speed Nikkor prime lenses, I really enjoy this photography style, just walking around in the city, with the D1x on my hands, fire and hunt my targets. I also work on people portrait and some still life work by the Nikkor AFD 85mm f/1.4 which gives amazing background defocus region, it is just perfectly nice in this application, particularly under low light and non-flash environment. This photo is taken in a fashion show in Hong Kong, at ISO400, non-flash, handheld with aperture at f/1.4. Personally I am very impressed by the beautiful defocus region achieved by the wide open aperture here. I also like the high contrast lighting rather than fill flash in this picture, it better outlines the model and gives more impact to the reviewers. While both Nikkor AFD 28mm f/1.4 and AFD 85mm f/1.4 have done nice work and fit my initial photography requirement, I found myself need longer tele and wider angle capacity. That seems a good signal as it means I would do photography in a more wider aspects. With the existing quality produced by prime lenses, I naturally selected my third prime lens, a AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D IF-ED. I do wild life work of animal, flowers and far distance people portrait by this new tele lens. This is a capture of a bird's portrait "Hunter's Eyes" by the combo AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D IF-ED and TC14e-II at f/8 when I visited Kowloon Park at Tsim Sha Tsui, the biggest park in Hong Kong. I picked my fourth lens for macro work and to fill the focal length gap between my 85mm and 300mm lenses for mid to far distance portrait. Again, after some assessment, I selected a prime AF Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D IF-ED. The blue water lily was taken at the Chi Lin Nunnery in Hong Kong by the micro lens at f/5.6. The pink lily was taken at the Victoria Park flower exhibition in Hong Kong at f/8. My fifth lens is the Nikkor 45mm f/2.8 P, a light and compact but exceptional sharpness lens. It fills the focal length gap between my 28mm and 85mm primes and best for my requirement for close people portrait and general subject captured in the mid distance. It also becomes a default lens on my D1x and always in my camera bag ready for shooting. This is a close-up shot taken in Victoria Park flower exhibition in Hong Kong by the 45mm f/2.8 P at f/8. It is sharp and in rich details that tells what means simple is the best. It is an interesting occasion that I see some black and white wide scene photos, they are really impressive in my eyes, very strong impact to me and I started review my photography style. It is a new dimension of photography that I should have the brave to give up my favorite colors, some sharpness, static quality and present my idea in an ultra wide angle prospect. Here comes a new challenge, in September, 2002, I decided to go with a film base SLR, and an ultra wide angle lens to response my new discovery. They are a Nikon FM3A and my sixth prime lens, a Nikkor AF 18mm f/2.8D (check Black & White Photography in Ultra Wide Prospect). This makes sense to me as it not only serves my requirement but also protects my previous equipment investment, I can also explore myself in the traditional film base photography which was still a question mark in my brain at that moment. These ultra wide black and white pictures are taken by the Nikon FM3A and the Nikkor AF 18mm f/2.8D, it seems to me that they are somewhat more impressive than my previous pictures in colors. Don't get me wrong, however, I do still love photography in color mode, they are just different methods that I have to decide when to use for the best presentation of my idea, I don't keen to block myself by using a single way for photography. Actually the camera is nothing else but myself. I have to agree that I have spent more my attention on wide angle prospect, it is not only true for the wide scene but also portrait and still life, the Nikkor AF 18mm f/2.8D and Nikkor AF 28mm f/1.4D have become the most favorite lenses of mine, at least, it is true up to this moment. These two still life pictures are captured in the Hong Kong Museum of History that has a display of the history of Hong Kong. This is a very good subject for photography, since flash and tripod are not allowed for photography in the Museum, it is a real big challenge to shoot under this kind of indoor show room at extremely low lighting condition. The picture at left is done by the Nikkor AF 18mm f/2.8D at f/4 1/10s, the picture at right is done by the Nikkor AF 28mm f/1.4D at f/2.8 1/15s. In January 2003, I purchased a Apple PowerBook G4 GHz and build a powerful portable Digital Dark Room. I intended to focus on the quality of the photos itself and the post-processing work in order to produce real professional result. I found the Nikon EN-4 Ni-HM battery come with my D1x had not given a capacity to fit my photography style, it normally lasts for a 2-3 hours (half day) work, and it suffers significant degradation in performance under lower temperatures. In March 2003, I decided to do a homemade connection of an external battery for my D1x. After a few hours of work, I got a 5500mA Li-ion battery connected to the 3-pins connector on the EH-4. I expected the external Li-ion battery with an EN-4 will make the D1x for a sweet full working day and still with nice performance at somewhere getting lower temperatures.... interesting. In January 2004, I got the Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8 DX AFG Fisheye lens to extend my sense in ultra wide photography. After some initial trial run, I received many positive feedbacks and that confirms I am capable to manage the perspective for ultra wide photography in a please manner. The 10.5mm Nikkor is a compact and light lens with design optimized for Nikon's digital cameras, it, should be a perfect match for my D1x, has very fast AF and produces sharp image even under poor lighting environment with extreme low shutter speed. This photo presents a special composition for one of the top rated hotel in Hong Kong. Taken by handheld at f/5.6, 1/4s, iso 400. ... to be continued ...