One of the photography forums I read has a little running joke.  When someone goes out and buys a new lens it seems the first images they take are of ducks.  I imagine the reason for this is two fold.  Ducks are usually easy to find and most spouses and children have about had it with a camera being pointed at them.

There is a lesson in that.  When you get new equipment it is important to go out and learn how to use it.  All lenses have their quirks.  Learning them before you need to rely on them should be a top priority.

A Prime Lens is defined as a lens that has a fixed focal length.  These lenses were the staple of photography for decades.  The drawback is you have to move your feet and carry more lenses with you.  Zoom lenses allow you to carry one lens but the tradeoff is image quality.

This last weekend I got a chance to try out my new prime.  It is a 50mm f/1.4.  The same lens that used to come as a basic lens with film cameras.  This lens on my digital because of the smaller sensor is actually a short telephoto.  It is also razor sharp.

Todays post is about ignoring what your camera thinks is the perfect exposure and shooting for maximum detail.  Camera meters are getting better with every generation but they still get it wrong.  Camera sensors are also not very linear.  They capture far greater detail in the upper half of the brightness than in the lower.  Many consumer grade cameras like mine tend to substitute shadow detail with noise.

  One of the first disappointments with digital was the apparent lack of sharpness.  The problem is compounded by the fact that I have high resolution eyes.  No, really, I do.  Not quite as good as they used to be but still better than most people with corrected vision.  You combine that with years of using medium and large format film and digital was just a bit lackluster.

  In researching I found I'm not alone.  Apparent sharpness seems to be one of the biggest complaints.  It is also the easiest technique to screw up.  A consumer grade digital SLR should be able to produce images at least as good as a point-n-shoot film camera!

 Seems like everyday there is some aspect of professional photography that is coming under attack.  The latest casualty is photo journalism.  An article titled "For Gods Sake, Somebody Call It!" is causing quite a stir.

I suppose we should have all seen it coming.  Kodachrome has gone the way of the buggy whip.  While film still has a loyal following it requires the vast consumer market to stay viable.  Kodachrome has long been the favorite of those wanting bold color and fine grain.  As hard as we try nothing in digital can quite match the layers of color that Kodachrome gives us.

When I first bought my digital everone advised me to shoot in raw mode.  Being new to digital I shot raw, brought them up in the conversion tool and they sucked.  Colors were dull and everything appeared soft.  What I saw on the back of the camera was not what I was getting on my computer.  So for a long time I shot raw+jpg and just filed away the raw

I managed to work my way out to the autocross track on Sunday.  I had a couple friends that were going to be out there running and figured it would be a good time to test out my panning skills.

Ok, I'm spoiled. Medium format film cameras make shooting in the sun easy.

Normal M.O. is grab some Ektachrome 100S, meter for the f-stop to be F8. Set the dial on the trusty Vivitar 285 on red. Increase the shutter speed by one stop. Done. Every shot perfectly exposed with the background 1-stop down.

The start of my 52 week project.

 The plan is to go out and relearn photography. I've put off making the switch to digital and decided it is time to go out and practice.

 Don't expect fine art. Each week I will post something I find during the week that I found photo worthy.

 The first attached photo was taken during a -2 tide at Penrose Point State Park. The young lady in the photo took the opportunity to snag herself some dungeness crabs for lunch. Most were hiding under rocks. She said it was a lot of work but worth it for fresh crab.

More photos after the bump.