Gentle reader,
A Merry Christmas to all! And if that phrase offends you, you are free to read someone else's blog. My wife is truly the love of my life. Is our life perfect? No, whose is? She GETS me. She listens and remembers.
This was demonstrated today when I opened my Christmas gifts from her. Two in particular are ones that I have wanted for decades and cannot explain exactly why. Both cost more than I wanted to pay so I did without.
She found a way. The two "always wanted" items are this: A Frederick Remington statue and a Jack-A-Lope. I cried when I saw what she'd done.
Naturally, I took photos of them and used two cameras: They are ancient in
digital camera terms,a Fujifilm FinePix S7000 and Nikon
D70S digital SLR. Both are just over 6 megapixels. Yes, only SIX. I
posted one photo of each gift on Facebook. Here is a shot of each below. If you are viewing this on a real computer, not a device, these two photos are full sized and should measure 14 inches wide. They are both REDUCED in size from their original un-cropped size. So, as you can see, more megapixels isn't often needed. I can only print 8.5 by 11 inches. For viewing on the Internet images are usually way smaller than the originals.
I am 60, but did not have anything more of a camera than a JCPenney 110 film camera until April, 1995 when I visited a pawn shop (first time!) and picked out an Olympus OM-10 SLR with 50mm lens and a generic flash for it. I knew NOTHING about cameras then.
I refuse to have a "smart" phone. I see too many people that seem to have it surgically attached to their hand. For they are never without it, and always seem to be using it. I do like to have a camera on me, so I carry a compact but capable Panasonic Lumix camera which has a Leica lens. In fact, I heard my son-in-law say, my when daughter and granddaughter were posing yesterday, "Wait, Scotty has a really nice camera!" So that I too could get photos of them.
Since then, and if you follow my blog, you have seen that, I have learned a few things about cameras and making photos. I got the Fuji camera, actually, my wife bought me that too, because it has amazing macro capabilities. It will focus as close as 1/2 inch from the subject! I have made so many images with it, that the counter had to start at zero again.
Unfortunately, it only has built in pop-up flash and a hot shoe but no TTL capabilities with that shoe, so adding an external flash doesn't work well. However, since I wanted photos of each right away, I used it as-is. Then I got out the Nikon, put on the 18-55mm kit lens and a really good TTL flash which flash head tilts and swivels. This allows me to point the flash many directions. I control where the light goes, not the camera or smart phone's tiny straight ahead flash. I pointed it to the ceiling, using it as reflector to eliminate the harsh shadows.
Nikon above, Fuji below. See the shadows?
Less obvious in the photos below because the angle of the shots. Again, Nikon on top, Fuji is below.
And the final three of Jack-A-Lope:
Faint shadows above from the Nikon's reflected flash, but light falls off below. While in each of the Fuji's shots the subject, is brighter, the shadows are hard and harsh. Had I approached each shot with more time and thought I could have achieved better results.
My wife really loves me. Note that those are real antlers. So many of these are sold with plastic ones. This was hunted in the Dakota Territory, in fact possibly on the Lakota reservation. It came in a HUGE box with lots of newspapers for padding. All are from the Native American newspaper:
Now, to the Frederick Remington statue. I was born and raised in the West, not moving to Virginia until after high school. I of course played cowboys as a kid. Roy Rogers had a TV show on TV and I never missed an episode. (Note, he was a singing Cowboy actor. The restaurant bears his name.) Even as a child it puzzled me why they had cars and trucks on the ranch. Yet, I have NO desire to ride a horse nor attend a rodeo. It is purely coincidental that one of my most favorite pieces of music is Aaron Copland's score to Rodeo. That was commissioned as a ballet that took place in the West. Without further silliness, I present the photos of the statue. It is cast bronze from a mold pulled from an original. I absolutely love it! Oh, that is not a whip he holds. Lariats were and are made of braided raw hide. Well, so are whips. I only know this because I've been reading a LOT of Westerns lately. I suspect it would have been difficult to make a lariat stand up and look real.
Nikon shot on top, Fuji shot below.
Nikon shot on top, Fuji shot below.
Nikon shot on top, Fuji shot below.
And finally, only used the Nikon for this one.
So, the statue's images show much more dramatically the difference direct and indirect light makes when shooting with flash. Wikipedia or other Internet sources can show you more information on the subject. Any comments you leave will be answered once I have noticed them.
Thanks for looking,
Scott
