Nikon D700, 17-35mm AF-S at 17mm, 1/400th at f/8
Local hotel and restaurant Sway Manor hosted an event for the local Morgan sports car owners club last weekend. One of the most fantastic things about these cars is their individuality – no two are the same. It was a fantastic opportunity to give the AF-S 17-35mm lens a bit of a run out.
It’s the first time I’ve had a lens wider than 24mm to try on full frame, and it does quite literally open up a new raft of challenges. You’re potentially including so much more in the frame and composition needs to be careful and considered. The light will be varied across the frame so the exposure may have to be metered from several areas. And there’s the small matter of distortion – creatively intended or otherwise!
Nikon D700, 17-35mm AF-S at 24mm, 1/60th at f/14
To avoid vignetting I took off the UV filter and fitted a new Hoya Pro1 circular polariser. As well as being low profile the polariser brings out the colours of the cars, and helped balanced the bright sky. Obviously I could include all the cars in group shots, but the uneven lighting made this a little problematic – fortunately the 17-35 will focus very close to the subject (28 cm) so getting in close for some impact shots on the unique details of each car was possible.
Nikon D700, 17-35mm AF-S at 17mm, 1/40th at f/16
This was my favourite shot – a close crop if the front grill. There was a red Morgan parked just to the right which gave a red flash across the chrome, and even with the polariser on I could stop down to f/16 handheld in the bright light. Should I have cropped it a bit in the top right corner? Possibly – but I like the way your eyes follow the chrome lines.
