Tag: photo

The temptation of a province without a provincial sales tax proved to be too much for me this past weekend as I decided not to wait for the increasingly expensive 5D, but instead upgrade to the more realistic Canon EOS 50D. This is a fine camera, and to go along with it, I ended up purchasing the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens which is one of the nicest, highest quality, non L-series lens Canon makes. It apparently contains the same high quality optics, it just lacks the red stripe and the weather sealing.

This one is quite a bit heavier and bulkier than the last one, but it feels right—very solid and even the sound the shutter makes is more satisfying. I have updated my gear page with the new acquisitions and an updated wish list.

At work this past week, there was a need for someone to take some photos around the office with some of my coworkers as models. Long story short, I ended up being asked to help out with the photos. So I brought in all of my equipment which included my off-camera flash setup (light stand, umbrella, PC-sync cord, etc.) in order to a somewhat professional job of it. At the moment I have a long cord which I run between my camera and my flash unit. This isn’t a problem when I have things setup in my apartment as I tend not to move my stuff around all that often, and when I do, I am not in any hurry.

However, when shooting people in an office environment, it was somewhat inconvenient to have to connect and disconnect my cord all the time to move around. Most of the off-camera strobe people tend to advocate the use of wireless triggers for their flash work. The big player in this field is Pocket Wizard, but they are a tad pricey with the receivers and transmitters all being over $200. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some cheap triggers known as the eBay triggers which work in the same way, only not as reliably. I decided that I wanted to go wireless too, so I compromised with something in the middle, the CyberSync from AlienBees. When I was ordering those, I realized that I would need an adapter between the receiver and my flash unit. Their site recommend FlashZebra for all of my cord needs.

And I’m glad they did. It is like a flash cord mecca. If you need any sort of lighting cord or adapter imaginable, then they likely sell it or can get it for you. And above all, their customer service is great. It is a small startup company, but it delivers great quality cables at a great price—quickly. Definitely recommended.

I’m skipping a day. Not that it matters, since I’m writing about it a couple weeks after the fact, but since I have the photos online from my aquarium visit, I will talk about that first. I went to the aquarium—this time with Chris. And my camera. The first time I went I experienced and saw the exhibits as a person. This time I was there as a photographer and it was a much different experience. The dolphin show was the main difference. I didn’t see one the first time I was there, and although it wasn’t a long show, everyone enjoys dolphin antics. And they make interesting subjects of photos.

The hard thing about taking photos at an aquarium is that most of the time you are going to be shooting through glass—or plexiglass which is even worse. Reflections, light abberations and various spots and scratches can make your well intentioned photos look a little bit underwhelming. You want to get as close to the glass as you can to minimize the reflections, bearing in mind that the angle at which you shoot can also affect how the light plays. For the indoor tank photos, the light is usually one stop away from awful, so you will want a fast lens and perhaps a higher ISO. I was lucky to have my f/1.8 50mm which, while limiting my focal range, allowed nicer photos without resorting to a grainy ISO.

It was a good day, the aquarium being the highlight with a nice photo taking session in Coal Harbour before hand. After the aquarium we tried out Stanley’s Park Bar & Grill. The food was a bit below average I’m sorry to report. At least on our visit. They were out of Diet Coke (seriously) and salsa for our nachos. I had the chicken burger which was a little over-charred. The location is nice in the park, but the restaurant doesn’t provide its own washroom facilities instead relying on the public washroom nearby. Trough urinal… classy. Definitely wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

How would you like to see this guy at the top your stairs in the middle of the night? Peering at you with malevolence.