Dave BenhamTom | Dave Benham

50mm Challenge – Aftermath

Dave — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:57:38 +0000

Nikon D700, 50mm f/1.4, 1/30 at f/1.4

I just thought I’d post the aftermath of my challenge at the weekend. As I managed to get my month old son covered in soot (no, not up the chimneys yet, it was a steam engine – honest) it meant a bath was running almost as we walked in the door. A little later Tom was lying gazing out into the twilight and I had a f/1.4 lens on the camera. Available light – fantastic.

Nikon D700, 50mm f/1.4, 1/30 at f/1.4

The narrow depth of field shooting at f/1.4 is something else – check out the shot above. I was aiming to get the eye closest to the lens in focus, and even with him being so small Tom’s left eye is blurred. I was lucky on the first shot in being able to move myself into position so I was roughly parallel.

Next lens challenge – 70-200 I think!

50mm Lens Challenge

Dave — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:35:57 +0000

Over the Easter weekend I set myself a challenge – instead of using my 24-70 f/2.8 or 70-200 f/2.8 zooms I had to stick to a single fixed focal length – my Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4 lens.

As nice as it is to travel light (and it is much lighter than my other zooms!) I was a little apprehensive as we approached the minature steam fair at Sammy Miller’s motorcycle museum, near New Milton. I was envisaging close cropped portraits of grizzled steam enthusiasts, and detail shots of their lovingly restored engines. How would I cope with the 50mm alone?

Harry helped me out here in a strange way. He was spooked by a little pocket steamroller shooting past us and decided the safest place to look at the steam was from within the playground. So against the fence we waited while he soaked up the atmosphere a little more. There’s nothing like a climbing frame to inspire confidence, and provide a few photo opportunities!

Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/250 at f/6.3

Harry watches the steam engines from the safety of the playground

Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/1000 at f/2.8

Confidence increases in direct proportion to goes on a slide. Fact.

Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/500 at f/4

I’m used to tweaking zoom lenses to frame my shots rather than just using the extremes, so I found myself constantly moving around to get the shots. Certainly more excercise than normal with the 24-70. Also I kept moving close in to the subject only to find myself within the 45cm minimum focusing distance of the lens.

One of the hazards of a steam fair is the amount of soot around – poor old Thomas found himself in the firing line! However this ended up working to my advantage later with some nice post-bath shots.

Nikon D700, 50mm AF-S f/1.4, 1/50 at f/10

And if you were wondering – I did take some shots of the steam festival! The most unusual sight? A steam powered bike that could get up to over 20 mph. Any regrets? There were grizzled faces to be featured but I didn’t have the confidence to get up close. Next project will be a longer lens version.

Catchup time

Dave — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:32:43 +0000

D700 and 24-70 @ 66mm, 1/60th @ f/4, ISO 250

I’m convinced that having a second child is more difficult than the first – you may know what to expect yourself, but your other kid needs so much more from you in this time. It’s tiring but you wouldn’t swap anything for it. Except possibly sleep.

It’s fascinating to look at other people’s reactions to your child, even when they’re not directly related to you. The shot above is Tom being held by Susannah, my brother’s better half. Broody? I’d be worried if I was him!

Some updates to catch up on:

Highly recommended – check out Joe McNally’s guest blog spot on Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider blog. Loving his work, especially the skyscraper shots!
New blog alert – my friend and colleague Neil Potter has launched his Digital Agency Blog. Well worth a bookmark if you like to follow the social media scene

I’m now a certified MacBook owner as well. I like to think of myself as a bit of an expert in the IT field but I’m ploughing different furrows now. Still, it’s pretty and I can watch DVDs on it.