Countdown to Tanzania – 12 days left

This was an old bull that came walking through some bushes next to the road while we were traveling in our jeep. You can see that he’s old by looking at the shape of his skull. You see those sunken parts at upper part of his head? The deeper they are the older the elephant is. At least that’s what our guide told us. You can also see that he’s old by all the wrinkles (not really).

Settings pic 1: F5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 200, 200mm
Settings pic 2: F4.7, 1/400 sec, ISO 200, 97mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm F4-5.6 OIS
Camera: Olympus E-P1
Adjustments: Camera Raw

Countdown to Tanzania – 13 days left

Here’s a whole bunch of shots of nyala antelopes that were very close to our lodge in a national park called Mthetomusha Game Reserve. These are actually all youngsters and females. The males are much bigger, darker and with twisted horns (antlers?). We never got see a male nyala, which was a shame, but you can see how one looks here.

Settings: F4.8-5.6, 1/125-250 sec, ISO 200-400, 78-200mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm F4-5.6 OIS
Camera: Olympus E-P1
Adjustments: Camera Raw & Photoshop

Countdown to Tanzania – 14 days left

Just two weeks to go! Here’s a young elephant from Kruger Park. We met and saw a lot of elephants in South Africa, both large herds and massive lone bulls, but I could never get tired of them. Fantastic and beautiful animals.

Settings: F5.6, 1/160 sec, ISO 200, 200mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm F4-5.6 OIS
Camera: Olympus E-P1
Adjustments: Lightroom

Countdown to Tanzania – 15 days left

In just a little more than two weeks I will leave this frozen city for safari and relaxation in Tanzania. We went to South Africa last year, so for my countdown to this year’s safari I’ll post photos from our previous trip. First up is a lizard that was enjoying the sun at Table Mountain looking over Cape Town. I’ve always wondered why he was looking so smug…

All shots from our trip to South Africa was shot with the Olympus E-P1 with Panasonic’s 45-20mm zoom lens or the 20mm prime.

Settings: F10, 1/400 sec, ISO 400, 200mm
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm F4-5.6 OIS
Camera: Olympus E-P1
Adjustments: Camera Raw

Olympus E-P1 with Canon FD 85mm F1.2 lens pt 2

One more pic of the setup from the previous shoot. I should probably add that I actually don’t use the 85mm lens on my E-P1. Since the lens is MASSIVE it’s a bit too big and heavy for the E-P1′s small body, and I don’t like using the manual focus lenses without a viewfinder. The 85mm lens is a much better fit for my GH2.

Settings: F2.8, 1/40 sec, ISO 800
Lens: Nikon AF-S 50mm F1.4G
Camera: Nikon D700
Adjustments: Lightroom

Olympus E-P1 with Canon FD 85mm F1.2 lens

I was home alone yesterday and didn’t know what to do, so I decided to mess around with some camera gear I haven’t used in a while. Said and done, I attached the Canon FD 85mm F1.2 lens to my Olympus E-P1 (using my Canon FD to micro 4/3 adapter) and took the shots with the Nikon D700 and my brand new 50mm F1.4 Nikon prime lens. I used F1.4 for all three pics, which is the 50mm’s max aperture, but I should probably have gone for F2.8 or something like that in order to get a more crips result. I guess it’s just easy to get caught up in the moment when you have new gear to play around with.

I’ve used a GorillaPod tripod for the top pic, and for the other two I’ve used a technique I’ve been fiddling around with lately to get the object to appear to be floating without any support. Not going to spoil how that’s done just yet.

Settings pic 1-3: F1.4, 1/160-200 sec, ISO 400
Lens: Nikon AF-S 50mm F1.4G
Camera: Nikon D700
Adjustments: Lightroom

Girl in the box

Yes, I know she looks like a zombie in a couple of the shots, but it’s actually her photo face. As soon as she sees me pointing the camera in her direction she scrunches up her face like that.

Settings: F5, 1/15 sec, ISO 1000, 32mm
Lens: Nikon AF-S 28-300 ED VR
Camera: Nikon D700
Adjustments: Lightroom

Mom and niece

Julia and my mom a couple of days after new year’s eve.

Settings: F5, 1/5 sec, ISO 1000, 62mm
Lens: Nikon AF-S 28-300 ED VR
Camera: Nikon D700
Adjustments: Lightroom

Bored lights

I was a bit bored and snapped a copule of shots through our livingroom window.

Settings pic 1: F1.7, 1/40 sec, ISO 800
Settings pic 2 & 3: F1.7, 1/15 sec, ISO 400
Lens: Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7
Camera: Olympus E-P1
Adjustments: Lightroom

Chelsie + new preset

Using a pic of Chelsie for trying out some new presets.

Settings: F5.6, 1/6 sec, ISO 1000, 300mm
Lens: Nikon AF-S 28-300 ED VR
Camera: Nikon D700
Adjustments: Lightroom