Most of the pictures are taken using a Nikon D50 digital SLR. Generally this camera will have a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 prime lens attached. For whatever sadistic reason, I usually have the camera set on full manual mode and for spot-metering. My guess about my preference for spot metering is that I've read one too many books about Ansel Adams' Zone System, and want to know the basis of the exposure I'm using (note this doesn't lend itself to quick picture taking).
I'm not a big fan of flash photography (though I did recently get a Nikon SB600 speedlight). This dislike of flash probably what most defines the photos on the blog. That, and that they're almost all taken at the same focal length (but these two facts are related). If you don't like flash, you pretty much have to have a fast lens (fast = wide aperture = small f/#). Most of the zoom lenses that come in the DSLR kits from the major vendors are relatively slow (f/3.5 on the wide end, f/5.6 when zoomed). On the other hand, prime (or fixed focal length) lenses with wide apertures are more common. This means you can let in a lot of light and shoot without a flash in many situations that would otherwise require one.
As an example, I extracted the aperture settings from the ~1100 photos that I've taken with the D50 so far this year. The histogram below shows the clear tendency to wide open apertures.
The lens I mainly use is a Sigma 30mm f/1.4. It was not expensive, but not really cheap either. Both Nikon and Canon (and I would assume Pentax, Sony, etc.) make 50mm f/1.8 lenses that are relatively high-quality and inexpensive! I used to have a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 and really liked it. The only downside is that on a digital camera body, the 50mm focal length gives a field of view that's pretty tight (you end up backing up all of the way across a room to get a photo of a group of people).
Anyway, I guess the whole point of the post is "Go Fast Primes!"
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3 comments:
Michael, Thanks for this information - your photos are beautiful. My camera is the D40, so I am going to try to figure out what all of this means for me, and how I can start to approximate the great shots you get (I love the way you use natural light!). I'm not sure what lenses I have (I have 2 different ones), but with this information I might have to consider a new lens. Let me see what I can figure out on my own, and I might be back for more advice - would that be okay? Thanks! Erinn,
The D40 doesn't have an internal autofocus motor, so the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 won't auto focus on your camera. However, Nikon recently released the AF-S 35mm f/1.8 which will work correctly with the D40. It's ~$200 (which is 150% of the cost of the 50mm f/1.8) but still reasonably priced... if you can find it.
I'd also add that it is important to spend lots of time looking at master photographers, training your eye to learn what makes a great photograph. Find artists whose work you admire and figure out why you admire it.
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