In the winter I posted some shots of the boats on a hillside above the river in Swimming River Park. I went by today and got these two shots. Love the trees growing in the boats. I am planning to print one of these as a gift for someone and am wondering if there is a perspective preference among the group.
Also, this was my first day out with a 1960 Tokina/Vivitar 5.5 300mm prime lens. It is not an easy lens to get used to as it is totally manual. Not sure what I think about it yet. Anyone familiar with one of these (or similar)? I'd love suggestions.
Great shots Ruth. I'd be interested to hear your own gut feeling on which is best.
I love the first - I feel there is a better balance between light & dark, and a better (grass) base for the subject. I also feel the light area in the second image draws the eye to the right of the frame, making that side visually 'heavy'. (I think this may be improved a little by flipping horizontally as attached.... what do you think?)
I come from a history of using totally manual lenses. I think I'd actually prefer them for this type of (static) image as the manual aspect forces you to fully consider settings. It may take more time and effort, but I think it's good to take control over from the camera
I do like both versions and the way you have created such an interesting night shot.
Thanks for the feedback Alan. I always find your input helpful. Also interesting thoughts about the lens. It is a birthday gift intended to be for birding but i am having trouble focusing it fast enough. We'll see how it goes. I always shoot on manual but even then you have inout from the camera. Having this manual lens has gotten me to refocus on some technical aspects that i think will be helpful to revisit.
Thanks again!
For anything moving I think you basically have to pre-focus on a point and work within that.
As you will presumably be shooting something in the distance you may get enough DOF, or perhaps have the opportunity to make some quick focus adjustments . Definitely a new skill set to learn.
On my monitor, these look like they were shot at night as there is no detail at all behind the boat. You may not think this is a problem as you do your flowers with a black background, too.
I'm not certain as to exactly what you mean by "totally manual." There were not a lot of SLRs around in 1960, and some of the terminologies have changed since then. My Nikon AI lenses (circa 1980) are considered full manual lenses today but were not when I bought them. Of course, we assume manual focus, but how do you set the aperture? I can still use my old lenses in Aperture-Priority mode (nothing to be done about autofocus.)
Thanks for the input!
As for the lens, everything, including aperture is actually set on the lens. It
needs an adapter to mount to my pentax k3. The pluses are that it is really nice glass and that it is a 300mm prime. The downside is that the camera doesn't recognize it much more than to trigger the shutter and all settings are actually on the lens itself. It might be worthwhile or not. It takes some pretty amazing shots of stationary things. We'll see about surfers (which most people here don't know that i do surfer shots for local surfers on the side - no active surf groups here though).
Great images Ruth - perhaps you should start an 'Action' group!
I like the light and the mood (and of course that plant!) in both, Ruth. I prefer the composition in the first, and the light in the second, where the boat looks jammed in. To my eye, the boat could be more off-centre in the first image. It looks sort of plonked in the middle. I'd probably have it at left, so the brightly-lit side faces into the image, with the implication that light is streaming across the whole image to reach the boat. The plants have grown recently, unless you've photographed a whole lot of marooned boats.
:) just these boats. Trees are weedy ones and are new. This lens i was playing with is so long that i couldn't get far enough away to give the boat some space! Interesting dilemma!
I prefer the composition of the first. I would like the second as well if the boat were more centered. Using a manual focus lens must have been challenging at night (or at least it is for me).
I like these shots. the first one I like better.
I thought maybe it would look good If you made a shot looking strait down the boat from the front, if you get what I mean.
but maybe it isn't possible with a lens that long
Thanks to all for the feedback on these!!