mountains and more.

My family went down to Whitefish, Montana this Christmas Break, so I was able to take some pictures of the beautiful mountains and scenery. The view was just fantastic, however I do wish that I could have taken my camera up to the summit, as the view from up there was even more stunning. Alas, I did not trust my first-time-skiing abilities enough to bring my camera with me! So here are a few of my favourites...

 

As you can probably see in many of my pictures, I absolutely love capturing clouds in my landscapes. In my opinion, the entirely different texture adds to the pictures, more often than not.  I am also a big fan of the swirly grey background that clouds create.

I do love how the white snow is in such a contrast with the trees as well, giving it an (almost) black and white feel.

 

 

I also, as always, try to keep the rule of thirds going. This however, is more apparent in some pictures than in others.

 

 

 



 This last one would probably be my favourite if not for one thing: Those darn wires in the bottom left corner. I probably could do something about them if I was good at editing, but seeing as I cannot, there they shall stay. Ah well, if you squint you can't really see them, right? :p But the blues of the mountains mixing with the grey sky, and framed by the harsher black (or dark green) and white of the trees and snow? Beautiful.

Frosty pics

Yesterday the frost was just beautiful, so I decided to try out my new macro lens attachment again. I was very pleased with the results so here they are! I tried to keep the rule of thirds going, and I love how the sharpness of the subject has such a contrast with the blurred background.

 

 



Choosing

Well as far as buying a lens goes, I'm a bit behind schedule. However I have narrowed it down (finally!) to 3 main ones.

1.  AF-S DX Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 ED VR                                                           
    $649.95

 

 

 

This is the lens that I am leaning most towards. I am a bit hesitant because it is the most expensive out of the 3, but after doing a lot of research and reading hundreds of reviews this seems like it is pretty much exactly what I am looking for.

- The Focal length range is 18-140mm, which is nice and versatile. I was originally looking for a higher maximum focal length of around 200mm, but most of those lenses have a minimum focal range of around 55m which can sometimes be difficult when working indoors. Having such a high minimum also lessens certain photography opportunities such as some landscapes, etc. Since I want a lens that I can use for many things without having to switch lenses often, I really like the 18-140mm range.

-It has a metal mount, as apposed to a plastic mount. This simply makes it stronger, and able to resist small bumps, and also gives it more strength to hold different lens ends that I have. Reading reviews there are dozens of stories about plastic mounts simply breaking off of the camera, and as I plan to this lens for travelling, I figured the stronger the better! Better to pay a bit more now than pay even more later to get it fixed.

-Has vibration reduction. Most do, but I consider it very important! Especially because I am not going to always use a tripod.

-It is fantastic for everyday shooting, and good for wide-range photographic opportunities. Very versatile. Which is perfect for me, as I don't really stick to just one type of photography.

 

-Reviews are the best out of all the other lenses I looked in to. Obviously this is not what I base my research off of, but it is nice to know that others were pleased with it!

2. AF-S DX Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6 G IF-ED

$329.95

 

 -The price is a bit less scary for this one, which is nice.

 

-This lens has a focal length range of 55-200mm. I really like the maximum of 200mm. However the fact that the minimum is 55mm is a bit of a turn off for me, seeing as this would make indoor shooting, or other kinds of photography, difficult in some cases.

 

-Has built in vibration reduction.

 

-Has a plastic mount.

 

-It is a great lens, with a great price, and the reviews are not bad.

 

 

3. AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED VR

$379.95



 

 

-I am liking the price for this one as well.

 

-The minimum focal length is 18mm, which is extremely nice, and the maximum range is 105mm, which is good. Not as high as I had hoped for, so this one is probably my last choice out of the 3.

 

-Has built in vibration reduction.

 

-Plastic mount. Which I could totally be happy with, however as you know I would much prefer a metal mount.

 

-Reviews are okay, however there are many that say the plastic mount caused it to break off of their camera very easily.

 

 

 

So its pretty obvious which lens I like the most (lens #1). It is a fair bit more expensive than the other 2, but I will be using it very often and (hopefully) will not regret buying it. However as it is not set in stone that I am actually going to choose that one, I figured I would post all 3 just to keep my options open. So hopefully I will pick one by the end of this week! If you have any thoughts or advice for me, feel free to comment, I would love all the advice I can get!

Portraits...

Hundreds of photographs have been piling up on my memory card for quite some time now, so I figured it was time to post a few more. As you can see, these pictures have been taken before the snow decided to arrive, but better to post them late than never!

These portraits, like most of the ones I take, are of my sisters (they are easily bribed, and are usually around during a moment of photography inspiration :) ) For this first one, I really loved the sun spots and streaks, and for the most part the entire picture. However I am not a fan of the rather distracting background.

 

Looking back I wish that I had just altered my angle a touch, to avoid the busyness of it all, as it is rather distracting and takes attention away from Nicole. The various fence lines and angles don't help the picture very much either.

 

For this next picture I tried to learn from my mistakes, and tried to allow the background to complement the subject (Kyra, this time) rather than take away from her.

 



 

The clouds in the background are interesting enough to add to the picture, but not too busy to take away from the portrait aspect of it. Leading to an altogether more professional looking photograph.

 

 

And as for this next one, its one of my favourites, so I thought I'd share it!

 



More low lighting

Seeing as I had a lot of fun with using low lighting last time, I decided to experiment with it a bit further, this time using a macro lens attachment that my Grandpa gave to me. This allowed me to focus on things that were very close to the end of my lens. I'd say it turned out pretty well, and I loved experimenting with the ISO to get the perfect amount of light in the picture.

 

For this picture, I had the ISO set to 3200, with a shutter speed of 1/15 of a second.

 

A lot of photographers that I have read articles on, or know personally have very different thoughts on having light spots, or "sun spots" in their photography. As it is hard or impossible to control (at least at my level) I understand how some think they are a nuisance. Personally, however, I can't get enough of sun spots. I love how they add to a picture and give it a more artistic feel, as well as giving the viewer more to look at. The spots in this picture is one of the reasons I like it so much, it turned a plain boring old picture into something beautiful.