Lightmeter: There's an app for that!

I've been known to bemoan technology at times. 

I routinely vocally berate my "smartphone" for bungling the words in my text messages, wiping them out altogether, or doing seemingly random and insiduous things on its own accord as it sits in my shirt pocket.  I tire of software bugs, and continual calls to "update" a piece of software or mobile application.  And I so often question the totality of these headaches when taken in the vein of the catch phrase "technology makes our lives easier."

There are those times however, when I am left in awe of technology, for the ability to look up the answers to my continually rambling curiosities on a device that fits in my pocket and for my ability to pair up lens hardware of the 1960's with digital sensor cameras from the present day.

And now this:

Wednesday Window to the World #6

This Week:

What: Operating Neon and Incandescent Sign

Classic Kodachrome Monday #8

Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:

This Week:

What: Little Lake Tourist Court Motel

Wednesday Window to the World #5

This Week:

What: Abandoned Gas Pump

Classic Kodachrome Monday #7

Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:

This Week:

What: Battle of Flowers Parade.

The Return to Film: The Seagull 4A-103 (Part 1)

It seemed the basis for the PERFECT article, if only... 

Time has a way of getting away from a person, only to make it's duration known at a later date, when a specific thought comes to mind.  For me, it was seeing some photos that made me realize that I had shot just 3 rolls of photographic film in the past 12 years!

It is pretty unnerving to look back at how quickly the world of photography changed.  In 1998, I was shooting entirely on film stock, mostly slides.  By 2002, my Casio QV-3000 3MP Digital and I were inseparable.  The ease of use, instant previews, and instant results were definitely something lacking in the world of film.  I can recall day trips in the 1990's where it was commonplace for me to shoot three rolls of film in a single day.  And then upon finding my groove in the digital revolution, an entire decade had elapsed, and there was a realization that I'd shot as much film as I'd have occasionally shot in a single day.  

Wednesday Window to the World #4

Here's a good way to keep the rust off! 

Since I'm spotlighting collected historical color photos each Monday, it seemed only fitting to complement this feature with a present day color photo of my own each Thursday.  Just as with the collected photos, I'll detail the Who/What/When/Where/Why and technical How from each image:

This Week:

What: The Supermoon

When Color Came Into the World

"Mom, when did color come into the world?"

Yeah, I said it.  I must have been 5 or 6 and was panning through a World Book encyclopedia, noticing how the photos from the 1920's were all in black and white, and there were photos from the 1950's in color.  Surely there must have been a reason why there were no color photos of the 1920's, and that surely must have been that the world itself was in mere shades of grey.

Classic Kodachrome Monday #6

Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:

This Week:

What: Tunnel Approach

Wednesday Window to the World #3

Here's a good way to keep the rust off! 

Since I'm spotlighting collected historical color photos each Monday, it seemed only fitting to complement this feature with a present day color photo of my own each Thursday.  Just as with the collected photos, I'll detail the Who/What/When/Where/Why and technical How from each image:

This Week:

What: Volkswagen Beetle.

Classic Kodachrome Monday #5

Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how(much) of the image:

This Week:

What: Streetcar crossing a trestle bridge over a river.

  

Bokehdocious! Through the Lens of the Helios 44-2

Bokeh is a lot like music, in one could say "there is no good or bad bokeh, just bokeh you like and bokeh you don't like."

But, I'm getting ahead of myself, as most people are not even familiar with the term.  In fact, Chrome's built in spell checker is flagging every instance of me typing the term "bokeh."

Bokeh is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus parts of an image.  In many cases, such areas will often simply appear blurry or soft, but, as been found with certain lenses, these areas will often exhibit their own characteristics that will, based upon the tastes of the viewer, either add or detract from an image.  Adjectives often used to describe the bokeh of an image range may include "creamy" or "swirly," "smooth" or "busy," or may even describe shapes evident such as "oblong" or "doughnut."

I for one tend to like to play around with a little lively bokeh, so when I heard about a certain popular Russian made lens being described as a "bokeh monster," I was quite intrigued.