So I was off work today and decided to go shoot some new stuff. I packed my Canon 30D with my primary 50mm f1.4. I really like working with the "Nifty Fifty" as it is a great all around lens. For those of you that don't know, a fixed focal length lens (one that only has one zoom setting) is sometimes called a "prime" lens. In my experience, they are usually sharper than variable lenses since the light has to move through fewer pieces of glass. The downside is that you have to use your feet to zoom in and out. The upshot to all of this is that the 50mm I'm using is pretty fast at f1.4. I should be able to blow out some backgrounds nicely with it.
Along with the 50mm, I'll bring a 18-55mm kit lens, a 60mm macro lens and a 55-250mm zoom. That should cover me for most things I'll come across. I've got myself covered from 18mm all the way out to 250mm along with a nice macro lens as well should something really small pop up.
So I've planned out some of the shots I plan to take for the day. It's good to start out with a plan sometimes. Going out with a camera and a purpose has a way of returning results. If I just head out with a camera for a walkabout I don't know what I'm going to come back with. Planning out my shoots means I should come back with what I planned to shoot.
I've planned to go take some exterior real estate shots at a favored place of mine. Portraits work well with some of these buildings as a bonus. I'll shoot some wider angle if needed, but I plan to hit the 50mm as much as I can. Maybe I'll see some nice details on the buildings and use the macro for the close ups.
Next I'll head to some softball fields to set up some stock photography shots. I planned to use a glove, ball, bat and mask for the setups. I just have to be sure to leave the branding out of the shot or I'll have to fix that in post. Maybe I'll grab a little stock footage with the GoPro while I'm at it.
So that was the plan. You know what they say about plans.
I got to my shooting spot and I've got the place all to myself. No one to worry about. I decided to warm up with some industrial photos of on old tractor. Try as I might, I just couldn't find any good lines or anything interesting with the tractor. It just wasn't working for me. I found another piece of old agricultural equipment there and got to work on it. The lines were a little better, but still not that interesting. I even shot macro just to look at the photos and find them disappointing.
I moved to the first residential-ish building on the location. It was bright yellow with a dark brown deck and wraparound patio. Oh, did I mention that it is overcast and about to rain so the sky overhead was bright and easy to blow out. I tried with my 50mm and found I'd have to stand in the parking lot to get all of this place in there. Swapped to my 18-55 and I went to work. Just for comparison, I shot it with an iPhone 11 Pro as well. I shot the exteriors of three more residential building while I was there, all light colored buildings which was playing hell with the light meter on my Canon 30D along with the overcast sky. I shot a couple more shots of farm equipment and headed out. I wasn't even sure what was on the memory card yet. So I headed off to the park to take a few shots of the softball equipment I hadin the car with me.
Well, I never made it to the park. Let me rephrase that, as I arrived at the park I found it to be closed and the gates locked, thus foiling my attempt to shoot some photos there. Some days everything swings your way and some days you just get...bad luck. So off to the house I went to see what images I had that were worth mentioning and to work up the close enough images to see if they could be worth something. I got three that I think work.
I am still learning the game and if I can come away from a leisurely shoot with a couple of nice images, then I am learning something.
I hope you are doing well. Sign up for alerts when my blog is updated and follow me on social media for more. My images are for sale at my website and all proceeds help to keep the learning process alive, both with photography and with learning all this web and social media stuff. Until next time, go shoot and learn!
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