I am currently designing a new theme for this blog, my galleries, and my website. Everything will be a lot more accessible and integrated. A new header image will be uploaded asap! The main ACP site is currently down until the weekend. The gallery link is currently linking to my main personal gallery. There will be a new gallery up shortly! So…bear with some funny looks until it is all finished and uploaded!
It’s that time again! Spring is finally here. Well…this weekend anyways. The World Wide Panorama Project “Diversity” has begun! This will run for the weekend. Diversity is the theme. I have begun planning out my shoot for this event. I will be posting my thoughts on this concept along with the work I produce and how I went about it.
It is 2009 and we are in a year of amazing resolutions! No, no, not exercise or painting the house…sensor resolution! Phase One has their P65+ 60mp medium format back, Nikon has the D3X @ 24.5mp, Sony A900 @ 25mp, and the Canon 5DmkII and 1DsmkIII @ 21.1mp. Even point and shoot cameras are hitting 15mp!!! Just a year or two ago, getting in the 20+ mp range would involve spending $20,000 – $30,000 US on a digital medium format system and lenses.
So, everyone knows this already. Why post about it? I have finally gotten a chance to experience this first hand. I have been using 5Ds since their release several years ago. I am familiar with what they can produce, how much I can stretch the RAW, and how much I have to work with in terms of printing large. The 5D is a serious workhorse that always impressed me. I’ve got my 5DmkII upon release in December 2008. It really felt like a modern and refined 5D. Fantastic quality in the images, amazing print size for a 35mm, and some great new features. Ok. Great! Until…yesterday.
I have begun shooting a new body of work this past week. When I loaded the work into Bridge, I was stunned. I myself have never seen work from my cameras that contained such detail. 21+ MP can really do some amazing things! I don’t remember shooting with other 35mm cameras that revealed such minute detail. Mosaic tiles, marble, columns, inlays, etc… all reveal themselves with intricate detail on these images! At the distance I am from these features, I am just absolutely amazed at how distinguished details can be resolved with good glass, technique, and these new sensors!
Here is one example, downsized for the web. This is a combination of 3 images left completely default in ACR and combined in Photomatix. This shot is using a 24-105L @ 105mm, f/13, 1.5s, 6s, and 20 second exposures. ISO 200, Highlight tone priority on, and all noise reduction is off, except for long exposure noise which is set to auto. I use a tripod with a spherical panoramic head. I shot with a cable release, 2 second timer, and live view on. (quick and easy mirror lock up!)
© 2009 Ancient City Photography
For a sense of scale, the table with the purple cloth at the center bottom of the image is approximately 4.5 feet high. I was a couple hundred feet back.
Here is a center crop @ 100%.
© 2009 Ancient City Photography
Here is a corner crop @ 100%.
© 2009 Ancient City Photography
I am sure sharpness would be even better with a fast exposure and an uncombined shot, but I am looking at real world results for the work I need to produce. I think this is simply stunning from a 35mm camera. Adjust contrast, add some sharpening for output, and it’s just awesome. So…I wonder what we will be working with in a few years from now! Some people spend all their time looking at 100% crops for sharpness and splitting hairs…but I am impressed no matter what.
These new cameras are simply awesome.
FINALLY! Canon has announced 2 new tilt-shift lenses. One is a 24mm and the other a 17mm. A 17mm shifting lenses is somewhat amazing and certainly a first as far as I am aware of. So they have now 17, 24, 45, and 90mm TS lenses available. (the 35mm was an FD mount)
The new lenses tilt and rotate separately from the shift and rotation function, a very welcomed update! Why am I so excited? Because I have been using Mamiya lenses mounted on shift-adapters on my Canon 5Ds. A medium format lens has a much greater image circle and works just fine as a shift lens on a 35mm camera. There is hardly any light falloff even at 12mm shifts. I think the widest rectilinear MF lens I have found so far is the Mamiya 35mm f/3.5 Sekor C. (See why I’m excited for this new 17mm!!)
I look forward to adding the new 24mm TS to my lineup. I prefer that to the 17 at the moment strictly for the 82mm filter thread. The 17 does not look like it will accept any form of frontal filter.
A lot of people seem to think Tilt-Shift lenses are a gimmick and used only as novelty by a few bored photographers. This is hardly the case. Camera movements are still king when it comes to image control. Many areas of commercial photography utilize movements extensively. There are several solutions for getting movements on a digital camera. The exotic stuff from Cambo and SINAR are great, but expensive and very specialized. (Especially if you want to play in the medium format digital range!) These are not always practical solutions. Who really wants to lug a 4×5 with a MF back and a laptop around unless completely necessary?
Another major benefit to using a TS lens is seamless panoramas without the need for specialty tripod equipment. Aside from the basic center-left-shift-right-shift 2:1 panorama, you can also do “super-resolution” panos.
Take a center image. Shift the lens all the way to one end. Take another shot, then rotate the lens 15 to 30 degrees at a time and fire off another shot. Continue this until you get all the way around. I get about 12 shots or so. Using Photoshop, PTGUI, or another panorama stitcher, combine the images. There will be no parallax errors since the camera’s nodal point has not moved at all. In fact, the camera hasn’t moved period! You will end up with one massive image!
Example:
My Canon 5DmkII
Single image file dimensions: 5616 x 3744 pixels or 18.72 x 12.48 inches @ 300 dpi
Fully shifted file dimensions: 8776 x 5851 pixels or 29.25 x 19.5 inches @ 300 dpi
5DmkII Image: approx. 21mp (Colored inside box)
5DmkII Shifted Pano: approx 51mp (Entire image)
So on just the 5DmkII alone, you can print almost a 40 x 60 inch print @ around 150 dpi WITHOUT needing to up-res the file. Can you imagine the new Phase One P65+ with this technique?!?!?! By my same calculations using the numbers on the PhaseOne site, that gives you a 135mp image with a 90 x 67 inch print at @ 150 dpi. Not owning a PhaseOne system, I cannot vouch for these numbers, however I am more than willing to donate my time and drive space to conduct the tests should a system be made available!!!
Then again…do we need 135mp images when we resize for the web most of the time? When most images are limited by the paper they are printed on, does that level of quality really make a difference if we aren’t printing at those massive sizes?
Being a panoramic photographer, a lot of my work is making 9:1 images…I guess i’m partial to these large scales!
What a great time to be in photography!
Without a doubt this is one of the most inspiring displays of new technology I have seen in a long time! Just thinking about the possibilities is amazing. Thinking about what applications this might lead to that people have not even thought of yet is even more amazing.
Making sense of mass quantities of media quickly and adding value through intelligent meta-tagging is simply awesome! This will make anyone who has access to the connected world part of a greater collective history. Our children’s world will definitely be fascinating.
Here is a link to the SeaDragon development in case you would like to play with this more!
Give love, give time, give silence, give sound, give patience, give understanding, give hope, give passion, give inspiration, give all, and be all.
The thought of “giving” is interesting. In order to give, we must have. So by giving, we are making a statement of having. Which in turn makes a statement that we have received. The inverse can hold here as well. By wanting to receive we make a statement of not having, which makes a statement of not receiving. That seems to place you in an endless cycle of want/not receiving. So why not always give? In order to continue giving, you continually have, so you will continually receive. The ways in this happens may not always be apparent to the naked eye, or to are minds at first. Experience it, be aware, and open yourself to the amazing power that surrounds us. What a mindset. Giving. By giving, you will eternally be supplied, and filled anew. There is no want in giving. Give love, give time, give silence, give sound, give patience, give understanding, give hope, give passion, give inspiration, give all, and be all.
Love All, Love Always.
Love unconditionally. Love with no expectations. Love with nothing required in return. Love the worst moments, and the best. Love those who love you, and those who hate you. Love yourself more than any…but love all others with that same passion. Love opens all doors and breaks down all borders. The greatest gift is the freedom to love and to choose your every moment. Love others, they are in the same process of choice and creation as you. How different a world should everyone wake up and love the process and everyone’s choice for what it really is. Divine.
You do not need to find love. You already are love.
Ok, so I have always loved Chinese Orchestra, but recently I just had to act upon it! I purchased a Liuqin recently from an awesome store in Singapore, Eason Musical Instruments. You can also visit their blog: Chinese Instrument Blog. Their service was fantastic. I conversed several times with the owner about the instrument I was looking for. Based on my desires, they recommended several instruments, some that were not featured on the website. I was sent video examples of each instrument to help my decision. Very helpful and informative. They really went the extra step to insure my instrument was the one for me!
BIG WARNING! If you ship stuff from Singapore…PAY FOR FED EX!!!!!!!! Everything came through customs fine with Fed Ex, but some strings going through standard mail got lost, and their replacements took forever! This was NOT the fault of Eason, but the mail system. It pays to use FedEx expedited!
So, here I am with a beautiful Liuqin made of Willow, Ivory and Jade! It’s so sweet sounding. It just sings! Perfect action and setup! I will post pictures in another post. (you can see it in my recent studio panorama however!)
So, does anyone else play a Liuqin around here? I would love to collaborate with some other musicians that play a Liuqin, or even other Chinese instruments! If you are in the DC / MD / VA / PA, drop me a line! Also, it seems finding resources or sheet music for the Liuqin has been quite difficult. (Maybe I should learn Chinese!) I will probably have to sit down and really transcribe some of this stuff! I will be posting recordings of my own compositions with the Liuqin shortly! It’s so inspiring to play!
The Liuqin is tuned G-D-G-D which is a pair of 5ths (intervals), but the center is 4ths. I have been experimenting with G-D-G-C with gives me a 5th and two 4ths. This eases the tension on the highest string slightly. It also allows me to run arpeggios and chords more similar to a guitar. Makes it easier for my mind to process for the time being. (and its only one step, so i’m not far from the traditional tuning should I need to adjust!)
I have provided YouTube clips for two songs that I love! Enjoy the awesome sounds of the Liuqin!
Fisherman’s Song
The Garden After Rain (totally rocks out around 7:10 or so!!!)
New Studio
Well, its done! My recording space has been upgraded and improved! The sound is fantastic! I guess this means I have no excuse not to post new music soon!
I recently spent some time shooting in Redondo beach. Interesting place with hundreds of Mexican and Thai restaurants all squished into a few miles. Since I had to be down by the pier every day, I figured I would walk around in my free time and see what was going on. Quite a mix of characters you find down there! You can see some of my photos here, and more by clicking on any of them to be taken to the full gallery.
Redondo Beach
It was fascinating, people would hang out on the pier fishing all day every day! There was never a quiet time on the pier. I guess nobody works in Redondo! This one gentleman was the only one having any luck. Not only was he catching fish, but the fish were larger than his children! (seen hiding behind the fish!)
The Fish
The Fisherman
One Day The Fish Will Come
Sunset On The Pier
Goodnight Redondo
Torrence Blvd: On My Way To The Pier
Redondo Beach
