Maniac With Camera Blog: July 2010

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Saturday, July 31, 2010

Day Out At Coal Harbour and Gastown

Yesterday, we went out to Vancouver because we wanted to hang out in the Coal Harbour and Gastown area to take photos. I wanted to pull the D50 out and ended up taking Heather's instead. She used the D300s. Most of the time, I put the 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII on the D50, which noticed a marked difference in the sharpness of the shots.

We started off in Coal Harbour where I got these shots:

Seaplanes © 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved

Over all, Coal Harbour and Canada Place yielded some interesting pictures; including a picture of a Pelagic Cormorant.

An iconic view of Harbour Centre's Revolving Restaurant...that restaurant is a landmark in Vancouver immediately identifying Vancouver's skyline to tourists.

Various Street Scenes of Water Street...

Looking East

Looking West

Corner of Carrall and Water

The infamous Blood Alley

Gassy Jack Deighton's Statue stands on the corner across the street from his pub that he founded.

Evidently, he stares down the street right beside the Hotel Europe which is another Vancouver Icon being the only triangular building in the entire Gastown district. Triangles are good.

The Gastown Steam Clock goes off every fifteen minutes for the enjoyment of tourists and to the annoyance of everyone else. After all, how often can you enjoy an off-key rendition of "Westminster Quarters"? Not that I don't like the Gastown Steam Clock. I just wish it wasn't so prolific in it's spouting off. How about every half hour...actually how about every hour like an ordinary clock?

From there we went to Science World (sorry, now known as the Telus World of Science). We hung around the False Creek area for a while taking some images there.

The "unique"-ly (where have I seen this design before...on the Millenium Bridge in London perhaps) shaped Olympic Village bridge...

The iconic Vancouver Skyline as viewed from Olympic Village

The easily recognizable Telus World of Science (there...I got it right this time)...

Sunset on False Creek...as the summer sun dips behind the buildings, I took the final shot and my wife, kids and I turned towards home...

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Eerie Creek (Bear Creek Park) - Scene Through a Twisted Mind

Sunday, July 18, 2010

New Lens? For Wildlife Photography

I've been vascillating between getting the Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 or the Tamron 200-500mm f/5-6.3. I've looked at comparisons online and found that the Tamron is slightly sharper on the 500 end and with the application of judicious retouching...I can get rid of the chromatic aberration that seems to be prevalent in lower end superzooms.

Some examples

Sample Photos from the Tamron 200-500mm taken by other photographers.

Sample Photos from the Sigma 50-500 (the Bigma) by other photographers.

Keep in mind though that the examples shown here were posted up by these other photographers after some retouching (even more so on the Sigma).

To me though, with wildlife and aviation photography as my stock photography forte, I need something with solid, tack sharp imaging at the 500 end...and all the unretouched photos seemed to give the edge at 500mm to the Tamron. So that's the 300-500 range lens that I'm going to go after.

The Bigma (Sigma 50-500)

And the Tammy Long (Tamron 200-500)

At least this will give me the edge and the focal length to go after the birds and the other fauna that I can't usually get close to enough to use my 70-200mm f/2.8 or my 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G

Since wildlife and aviation photography are strees-relaxer genres for me I like have the opportunity to shoot with a long lens and make the day out at the wildlife sanctuary or zoo worthwhile.

This lens will be the stop-gap lens (the interim lens) between the saveup and acquisition of the AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR and AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR.

AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR

AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR

I've come to the realization that anything closer than 400...I can manage handheld with either a 1.4X, 1.7X or a 2X teleconverter on my 70-200mm f/2.8

Monday, July 12, 2010

Personal Photo-Walk 07-12-2010

We had a nice photo-walk this morning. I went with Jamie after dropping the kids off at summer school.

I don't know what this orange flower is, but I hope that someone might be able to find out for me. Unfortunately, I'm no horticulturist.

There was a bunch of daisies by David Brankin school, so I had a chance to get in close and photograph the flowers.

Most people who know me know that I'm sarcastic by nature. No Exit...REALLY??? OK...maybe for vehicles.

Saw a lot of dark clouds today.

The thistle that I saw just up on 128th Street.

I finally managed to nail a shot of the Red Winged Blackbird. It wasn't exactly the shot that I wanted because I wanted the red splotch on it's wing to show up too...but that was as much as that "damned bird" was about to cooperate.

Friday, July 9, 2010

A Morning At Holland Park

Maniac With Camera Blog

This is my personal photography blog; the one that I keep separate from my corporate photography blog. This is where I keep everyday photography that I do. Whenever I go places I take my camera (either my DSLR or my point & shoot) with me. In that way, I have a way of documenting stuff at all times. Like it's said...people always wish that they had their camera with them when something happens. Well...if I keep my camera with me at all times, I'll never wish I had it when something does happen. ~ Hugo Chikamori, Maniac With Camera Blog Owner

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YOU MAY NOT DISTRIBUTE, COPY, PUBLISH OR USE THE IMAGES OR ANY PART OF THE IMAGES IN ANY WAY WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER. YOU MAY NOT ALTER, MANIPULATE, ANY PART OF AN IMAGE WITHOUT CONSENT.

All images included herein this Internet Web Site publication are the copyright and property of FalconRose Photography. COPYRIGHT NOTICE WARNING: The entire contents, as well as all individual parts, of this website are copyrighted by its creator and author, and are protected under the laws of the United States of America and member treaty nations. These laws impose substantial penalties for infringement, and violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The use of any images or other materials included herein, in whole or in part, for any purpose other than for the private purpose of the user, including, but not limited to, copying, reproduction, publication (including on Internet Web Site including third party web pages by any means, including "hotlinking", storage in a retrieval system (other than internet browser), manipulation (digital or otherwise), or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, is expressly prohibited without the written permission of Hugo (Haruo) Chikamori. All artistic and moral rights of the author are hereby asserted.

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Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

Due to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and its ramifications world-wide, FalconRose Photography has ceased doing business with all American-based suppliers. FalconRose Photography will patronize Canadian suppliers and retailers of photographic equipment.

Also, this will result in sales of images to United States purchasers treated as if the purchase had taken place in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, and that all such provincial and federal sales taxes due will be paid by the purchaser (due to the complicated tax process involved, point of sale cannot be specified at location of purchaser.) Purchaser is responsible for payment of all US federal and state use-taxes as we will not be collecting those for the United States Government.

We are a small Canadian company and as such, we have had to take measures to protect ourselves (by removing all stain of US tax presence - being treated as a US taxable person; we are Canadian) from United States Taxation and its complicated methods of filing taxes under the United States Tax Code.

We are also boycotting any United States shooting locations and will proceed to shooting schedules in Canada only. Canada is a vast and beautiful country and there are plenty of places to photograph without having to step outside it. We look forward to continuing to bring beautiful images of Canada's wildlife and landscapes for your viewing pleasure.

Edit: upon further research into the confiscatory practices of the US Internal Revenue Service; FalconRose Photography recommends that any US based company requiring images refer to many of the talented photographers based in the United States. FalconRose Photography will not do business with US buyers.

I Do Not Critique Other Peoples' Images

I have had people ask me to critique their photos. Unfortunately, photography is a very subjective field. I don't like to give out critiques because invariably it involves "my opinion" which pretty much carries the same amount of weight as everyone else's - a very negligible weight.

I find that most photographers either want one of two things: They want me to a) praise them so that they don't feel bad about the photography that they are outputting. b) they want to be offended by minor criticism so that they can write the critiquer off as some hack photographer. So it doesn't matter how I give critique, it's a no-win situation.

If I am impressed by your photography, I will say so on my comments at your site: Flickr, 500px, or whereever you may be placing your photographs. If not, I will more than likely be silent. Remember the old adage of mothers everywhere? "If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all."

Your photography is your photography, I cannot tell you whether or not it's good or not. If you wish instruction, I would suggest looking up a certified photography instructor. There are people out there who have dedicated their careers to training others. Unfortunately as a working photographer who is doing wildlife stock photography and getting his business off the ground, unfortunately, I do not have the time to do so on a gratis basis.

Above all, photography is essentially the way YOU see the world, not through being filtered by other people. So the only person who can really critique your images is yourself and if you are true to yourself, you will be the hardest critic of your own work.

The only people whom I've ever critiqued images or helped by instructing them on occasion are people whom I've gone personally to school with and they already know who they are on my friend's list on Facebook. So please do not send me your photos to critique, because invariably you will not hear from me.

About Me

Haruo Chikamori has been shooting photography in some shape or form since 1984 when his late father got him a Mamiya Sekor TL500 35mm manual focus SLR. Since then he has taught himself the basics of exposure, shutterspeed and aperture...and has progressed from the basics to running his own freelance photography business.

Hugo has had numerous cameras from point and shoot and SLR 35mm cameras to digital cameras (both point and shoot and DSLR). He now prefers to work with Nikon 35mm film and DSLR cameras.

Currently his photographic arsenal includes a Nikon D300s body, a Nikon D50 body, AF-S DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 lens, AF 50mm f/1.8 D lens, a AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VRII lens and a Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4 D ED-IF II lens. He also has a SB-600 flash.

In the future, he hopes to get the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens, the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, a Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VRII lens, as well as a Nikon D700 FX (full-frame) body and a Nikon F6 (35mm film) body