Point and shoots and model trains

A lot of times when I go places I like to travel light with my camera gear. Even times when I have my D200 with me I will reach for my point and shoot. One such occasion was the Tri-State 26th Annual Model Train Railroad Show at Greenbo Lake in Ky. I love trains of all sizes and hadn't been to the model railroad show since I was a child and thought it would be a good opportunity to do some macro photography. I packed all of my gear as usual but opted for my point and shoot once I arrived at the show. A long as you take your time, plan your shots, know the limitations of the equipment and allow for the shutter lag you can come up with some pretty nice stuff. My point and shoot is an older 5 megapixel Canon SD400. I love it. Right now it does everything I need it to do. It is beginning to show some battle scars but is serving me well. Check out my favorite pic of the trip below.

Don't neglect your lenses

I have been shooting quite a few senior photos lately and while shooting the other day realized that there was one very un-used lens in my bag. Everyone always raves about the quality of the 50mm lens and says that it is a must have lens for any photog. I would be inclined to agree. Mine unfortunately had been sitting un-used in my bag for quite sometime until a couple of weeks ago. I must say I am sorry I had neglected it. I always carry it with me but use my zooms more often than not. I forgot how great the shallow depth of field of the Nikon 50 f/1.4 can be and the great contrast if gives the photograph. I finally dug it out for a few shots on my last senior shoot and am glad I did. Below is an available light shot with my Nikon 50mm f/1.4. If you don't have a 50mm in your kit yet, pick one up. If you are short on cash then go for the f/1.8, even a used one. Nikon, Canon, Pentax, whatever you shoot, it's a must have. Those of you who have one already. Please don't neglect it.

Photography close to home

With rising gas prices many of us won't be traveling far this summer. That's no need to give up photography though. There are many things to be photographed close to home if we look close enough.

With some time on my hands and the weather starting to get warm, I've spent more time outside the house lately. Watering and weeding flowers and just general stuff that has to be done. While wandering around in the yard and checking on the flowers I noticed a wasp hanging out on the peonies. Bugs and other critters can sometimes make very willing portrait subjects when people aren't as willing.

I grabbed my Canon SD400 and set it to digital macro mode and moved in as close as I could. Luckily this little wasp wasn't easily spooked and made a very willing portrait subject and amused me for several minutes.

The images were cropped slightly and sharpened in photoshop. I also did a minor adjustement to the levels on the final images.

Enough for now! Time to get back out in the yard to see what else I can find.