Changing Lanes

The widest lens I’ve been shooting with lately after losing my Ultra wide angle (UWA) (i.e. Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5) has been the Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8 L. Even though that is UWA territory even for a crop sensor camera like the Canon EOS 7D; it just isn’t wide enough for quite a few situations (read: corporate group shots, interiors, branding etc). Furthermore this lens belongs to SJ and therefore isn’t at my disposal every single time. Keeping this in mind, somewhere down the line I’d decided to buy myself a decent zoom lens that was wide enough for most jobs. Now I do own an Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OS but honestly it’s ineffective on my camera as it’s unable to resolve the high megapixel count the camera sports. The widest lens after that was either the Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro or the Canon EF 50mm f1.8. Neither of them good enough because they’re just too long on a crop sensor (80mm to be exact) and you don’t have the ability to zoom. So there was a need for a lens and that’s where the problems began.

Canon makes a normal zoom lens for crop sensors in the form of an EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS. Perfect aperture but not enough zoom cause by then I’d gotten used to a Canon EF 24-105mm f4 IS L (borrowed from SJ) which seemed like the perfect lens with plenty of zoom though a little short on the wider side. Priced at around a thousand dollars, it was cheaper than the 17-55mm and was full frame compatible. It made total sense but then I tried the Canon EF 24-70mm f2.8 L(borrowed) and loved it. Priced beyond my budget, I was settling down for the 24-105mm. But then I did this...

I seemed to have then eliminated the need for a zoom because I could borrow a zoom lens from SJ for events and use my prime lenses for anything else. It made perfect sense. I was still lacking a UWA and a second hand 10-22mm on the market for around five hundred dollars was tempting. Instead I bought this...

Moving on, most people know I'm a sucker for shallow dept of field and bokeh. I try to slip it in even when I'm shooting for a client just to make life a little more likable.

Last weekend I was asked to photograph half a dozen musicians on Al Seef Street in Bur Dubai. With no crowd in sight and a lack of any substantial branding, most of my time was spent photographing only the musicians. After the initial experimenting with bounce light, I started looking for creative ways to do my job. I started by focusing on the instrument or the hands instead of the face which is a cliché way to do things but it was progress. In the process of doing that, I realized I could use the lights hanging from the shade to add colour to my pictures and to make my bokeh a lot more interesting...
Camera Model : Canon 5D MKII
Shooting Date/Time : 16/2/2011 19:04/20:55 PM
Tv(Shutter Speed) : 1/100
Av(Aperture Value) : f2.8
Metering Mode : Evaluative
ISO Speed : 1600
Lens : Sigma 70-200mm f2.8
Focal Length : 200/159mm

Love the results as it makes the picture more than just a point and shoot effort. I had to get down on the floor and shoot up which was a piece of cake though I ended up attracting more attention than the musicians themselves which was kind of sad but this is how Dubai works oddly. In the end, I’m proud of myself for taking it further... *pats self on the back* ^_^

One a side note, I wonder what was up with the east european/russion companion. At least that's what it looked like...though I may be mistaken (not!!).

124 floors high yet again on a clearer day unlike the haze that was last time. Stayed there for around 3 hours just chilling out (literally) as my cameras were busy snapping up a timelapse (will post later). Here’s an unintentional panorama of three different panoramas that surprisingly stitched together quite well (38 pictures in total). A bit of a fluke… ^_^
Camera Model : Canon 5D MKII
Shooting Date/Time : 08/2/2011 18:55:31 - 18:57:03 PM
Tv(Shutter Speed) : 1/15-20
Av(Aperture Value) : f2.8
Metering Mode : Evaluative
ISO Speed : 1600
Lens : Canon EF 24-70mm L
Focal Length : 24mm

8 months late, I get birthday gifts in the form of 3 speedlite modifiers and a mount from SJ. Talk about being late but the wait was worth it. She got me an Interfit Strobies Beauty Dish, Snoot, HoneyComb and a Flex mount. Did a few quick test shots with the Beauty Dish and I’m loving it. Nice soft light with plenty of contrast to boot.

Currently covered by a bunch of swelled up mosquito bites. This is what happens when you loaf around in a sewer pipe. Just one of those wild things I end up doing with SJ. Talking about SJ, ended up going for ‘Dhobi Ghat’ with her a week back when both of us were too tired to do any work. Decent movie though could have done more with it as SJ pointed out (being the Bombay person she is). Need to do a short write up/review on that for my IMDB account. Another write up I need to do is for the movie ‘127 hours’. Saw it in Abu Dhabi yesterday on my own (my first) as I waited for SJ to come from Dubai after work. A well made movie that is a little gruesome in the end. No wonder it had the 18+ rating which as usual led to me being asked for an ID... ^_^

Last Monday was one of those typical winter hazy days with sand thrown into the mixture, not the ideal weather to end up 124 floors high. This was the view towards Sheikh Zayed road.
Not the prettiest of picture you might have seen from the observation deck. With a bit of post processing, I can manage to get some detail out of it....
....but I like the hazy version more because of WYSIWYG.

Now you might think that was AED100 (entry ticket cost) wasted. Well not really because my ticket was one of those immediate entry ones which cost AED400. That’s literally a 50mm f1.8 down the drain but frankly it was a freebie because it was for a client (government agency) and most likely they’d be sending me up there again to get a clearer shot... ^_^

For the complete lyrics click here.