I know it is Seattle and I know I should not complain, but the rain gets to me. Especially this weekend again. It either looked like it would rain every second, but did not, or it looked like it would get nice and sunny and then rained ...

Was hard to find some time to go out and shoot pictures. So I spend some time inside to shoot some pictures of water drops of all things ...

The setup was quite simple:

• 2 black foam boards for background
• 1 old tripod to mount a flash on
• 1 new and shiny tripod for the camera ;)
• 1 old guitar stand
• 1 clamp
• 1 bag with a tiny hole
• 1 plastic bowl to drip into
• patience
• more patience
• even much more patience
• 1 pencil ( to focus on. Hold the pencil to the high point where the drop will bounce back to and focus on the pencil )

Easy enough to do, so get home and try for yourself! I should have used a lower angle though!

Finally posted some pictures from snoqualmie about 3 weeks ago. I visited the falls and the steam engine park with one of the most gifted photographers I ever met. Unfortunately for the falls it was just the wrong time of the day, so sorry for the blown out pictures and blown out contrast ...

The steam engine park I really enjoyed. It is great shooting old rusty things :)

Last night I finally got a chance to go up to Queen Anne's Kerry Park. It is a scenic vantage point with an amazing view of Seattle downtown and the Sound. I was planning on taing a few pictures of the Skyline at sundown. The moment I arrived there I was caught by the spell this place put on me. I must have just stood there and enjoyed the beautiful view for 30 minutes, not realizing how the place filled up and all the great picture spots were occupied ... well ok, I still found an OK place I guess. A little obstructed by some trees, but fair enough.

It was rather windy last night which made my flimsy tripod sqay a little, even with my backpack attached to it. Pictures therefore might not be as clear as I would want them.

Have a look at some of the pictures I took and leave me a comment.

Well it didn't take long till I had to have a macro lens after my Butterfly House experience ... Still I was not really prepared to pay the big bugs on a Nikkor MICRO 105 f/2.8 VR so I first looked into 3rd party lenses, but in the end came back to Nikkor. I just love the VR option. Yes, most Macro work probably is shot with a tripod anyhow, but still I love the possibility to shoot a little critter or flower during a hike with light gear and no tripod around.

Taken this into account there is really not muc out there. The new Sigma 150 with OS sounds promising, but in the end this is a pretty specialized lens for a DX sensor. I love the idea of getting lenses that help me in various situations and the 85mm for me is just more usable for portraits, etc. The f/3.5 is a little slower, than the real pro lenses, but in the end it is only half the price and for the price I am certain I bought an awesome lens. I would not have taken the lens into considerations, if not because of Simon Stafford pointing out the lens.

so be prepared of quite some macro shots in the time to come :)

Okay, I guess most of us know what DOF is and till today I was sure I would also know how to influence it. Up till today I thought there were 3 factors:

1. Distance to the subject
2. Apreture setting
3. Focal length

Thanks to Simon Stafford and this great explanation I learned that in fact the focal length has nothing to do with the DOF! It may seem like it has as it magnifies the scene more, but if you have the same magnification with a wide angle and a telephoto lens, the DOF will be the same, you will have just to be closer to the subject with your wide angle. The charts in the above mentioned link shows that quite well. I love learning and understanding new things :)

Well I guess it happens to most of us that we want a lens but can not quite afford it or do not want to spend all budget on a special lens we may only need for a certain occasion. I wish money would not be a restriction but in reality it is. So before I went to the Seattle Butterfly House, I went to a local camera store called Glazer's Camera and for the first time ever rented a lens. In this case it was a Nikkor 105mm 2.8 Micro VR. Boy what a lens! It was nice getting a chance to test this ~$900 for a small daily fee. Not only is it great for special occasions where you don't want to buy a specialized lens, it is also great for testing a lens before you spend the big bucks.

The lens was in perfect condition and I received it with a lens case, the lens hood and of course tha caps. The service was extremely nice and the staff was very knowledgable. It was a great experience and I am sure I will be back!

The only drawback that I discovered with renting a lens is, that once I used it I fell in love with a lens that I did not want to buy, but am seriously considering now :P

This Saturday I finally visited the Seattle's Tropical Butterfly House. It is part of the general exhibits of the Pacific Science Center. The butterfly exhhibit is about 4000 sq ft and features a nursery, several feeding stations, two small ponds and beautiful tropical plants and flowers. The 85F and the ~80% humidity take some toll on you, but in 3h I managed to get a good 500+ exposures.
Out of those only a handful made it through the selection, but still, I consider that a very worth effort :)

I put them into the butterfly album and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them. One thing is for certain, I will be back with a bit more planning soon. All images taken with a Nikon D90, Nikkor 105mm 2.8 Micro VR and some with a SB-600.