We all went out on Andy’s boat for the 4th of July, great times all around! On the first run we went down and anchored at the Portland Oregon Safeway Waterfront Blues festival. There was some great music that was clearly heard from the water. From there we went back to Jantzen Beach to freshen up for a while. At about 9pm we headed out again for the fireworks at Fort Vancouver Washington. Watching the fireworks from the middle of the river was a great experience.
Julie and I took a trip to the Ridgefield Washington wildlife refuge. Incase you do not know where Ridgefield is… its about 30 minutes north of Vancouver Washington right off of I5. It is a very beautifull 5000 acres of grassland, woodland, and marsh.
Ever want to know a little about high end Digital SLR camera systems? Well here is your chance… My basic setup consists of two things. Bodies (cameras) and lenses. I use two bodies for a few different reason, mostly incase one stops working. This way I can continue to take pictures which is extremely important for weddings. I also use 2 bodies because I can use 2 of my 6 lenses at the same time, instead of switching back and forth continuously.
My main body is my Canon 1D MK II, the predecessor of the 1D MK III. The MK II can take pictures at high speed; 8.5 pictures per second! Great for sports, bouquet tosses, and many other subjects that require many pictures to get the “desired shot” due to fast movement. This camera is also weather resistant for those rainy days here in Vancouver Washington. 
My 2nd body is the 12.3 megapixel Canon 5D. This camera is great for night shots because of its great ISO1600 and 3200 capabilities. It is also great for wide angle shots because it is the only Canon DSLR that is full frame. This means that the image sensor is as large as 35mm film and your average point and shoot it is only a fraction of the size. This is good because a large sensor the better the image quality. If you want to learn more about image sensor sizes, crop factors, and focal length, click here.
Both of these cameras have interchangeable lenses. The body records the image, and the lens determines how wide of an angle you shoot. The wider the angle, the more people or scene you can fit into one shot.
All three of these lenses are from the Canon “L” series. These are the best of the best when it comes to lenses. They are great for weddings and portraits and are very universal. All three lenses are great at creating bokeh (background blur)
…especially the Canon 85mm 1.2L II. This standard portrait lens has an extremely fast aperture (F-stop). at 1.2 everything that is not in focus becomes blurred. This is also a great lens for night pictures because at F-1.2 it can let in light very fast. This way you do not need a tripod in dark situations.
My Canon 24-70mm 2.8L is my main standard zoom lens. It is great for wide shots for landscapes as well as portraits.
Canon 70-200 2.8L IS. This huge white telephoto lens is great for zooming in on people or other subjects that are farther away. It also has image stabilization which is great for telephoto because it helps with camera/lens shake.
I also have other lenses like my Tokina 10-17mm fisheye. This lens is great for super wide angels and distorted view, hence the name fisheye. This is an image I took in downtown Vancouver with this lens. As you can see it gives you quite a unique prospective in the world. This lens can produce some fun shots in certain instances.
The Sigma 150mm 2.8 macro lens is great for getting images 1:1 images. This lens will get extremely close to the subject such as rings, flowers, or insects. It is brilliantly sharp when as close as only a couple of millimeters from the subject.
I will keep adding more to this post as time goes by. Thanks for reading.
|
