the last remnant of the party

the last remnant of the party, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

the last remnant of the party

Full blown magic bubbles

Full blown magic bubbles, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

Full blown magic bubbles

Snowball tree

Snowball tree, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

Snowball tree

Best buddies ever

Best buddies ever, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

Best buddies ever

Sunset without wires

Sunset without wires, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

Sunset without wires

Darth Malgus

Darth Malgus, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

Darth Malgus

rule of thirds

rule of thirds, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

rule of thirds

nexus on a trip

nexus on a trip, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

nexus on a trip

Rollercoaster in green upholstery

Rollercoaster in green upholstery, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

Rollercoaster in green upholstery

Suburban Starfish

Suburban Starfish, a photo by Alejandro Ramírez on Flickr.

Suburban Starfish

Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch
Originally uploaded by Alejandro Ramírez

St Louis is my new home (again), and hopefully this time for good. I wasn't into photography the first time I lived here so this time it's rather cool to rediscover the place I once called home through a fresh new look.

Peek-a-boo!

Peek-a-boo!
Originally uploaded by Alejandro Ramírez

This is my 9th photo that makes it to the Flickr Explore page. This one ranked # 247 on August 24, 2009.

My favorite part of this photo is first, the pose, second the eyes of the wasp, I think they are very expressive.

Behind the scenes: "Please don't shoot me"

Tonight I was able to get my 65mm lens out and shoot a bee portrait.

I found a dying bee by my door step and tried to save her only to find her dead shortly after. So I decided to take some shots before long.

This shot is my favorite "behind the scenes" shot, it's as if the bee is begging for me not to shoot her -photographically speaking.

The Setup

* Tripod

* Macro sliding rail

* Canon Rebel XTi

* Canon MP-E 65mm Macro lens

* 100W tungsten lightbulb on lamp

* 40-60W tungsten kitchen lamp above

* No flash

* F8 - F16

* Exposure 10" - 30"

* Custom function: Mirror Lock

* Wireless infrared remote control with 2s wait

And the result:

"Determination" by Alejandro Ramírez © 2009 All Rights Reserved.

(Click on the photo to visit my Flickr Photostream)

Sex sells photos

About a week ago I attended the 2009 Summer Solstice Parade in Fremont, WA to take photos with the Seattle Flickrites. In case you don't know, the main attraction of the parade are the naked bicyclists that join the parade every year with their colorful painted bodies as a way to display their joy for freedom, and openness.

I took 500+ pictures and spent 2 days reviewing what to post, what not to post. I ended up posting close to 100 pictures (yeah, I know), because it was so much fun!

But the most interesting fact was the stats on my Flickr account:

1,471 views in the first 24 hours!!!

Sadly, the number of fav'ed photos and comments wasn't as favorable, but I can understand. Nobody wants you to know that they were looking at pictures of naked people -sigh-.

So I told my wife: "honey, from now on I am only photographing naked people."

Peace :-)

To visit my Photostream follow the link in this photo:

"Cheerful Days" by Alejandro Ramírez

© All rights reserved.

Canon MP-E 65mm

I finally got this lens, and it is simply amazing!

Their physical size is somewhat deceptive when they are at 1x, because once you zoom in, the lens are really long. 

They are also quite heavy, so hand-held shots are complicated because of cramps.

What you get in the box:

• Lens
• Lens cap
• Tripod ring
• Manual

What didn't come in the box (but should have):

• Carrying Pouch
• Lens Hood

What must be used:

• A filter to protect the lens because of the narrow space between the front of the lens and the subjects, to avoid scratching it. (58mm)
• A macro ring flash.

Here is my first set test shots going from 1x-5x magnification:

1X: This is where my Tamron 90mm Macro 2.8 stops. 

 

1st Shot: Tamron 90mm; 2nd Shot: MP-E 65mm at 1X magnification 

Behind the scenes shot:

2X: Getting closer to the subject

Behind the scenes shot:

3X: Losing light, need to move the lamp closer to keep the exposure happy.

Behind the scenes shot:

4X: Getting really close to the subject, using slider a bit. Turned on mirror-lock to prevent camera shake.

Behind the scenes shot:

5X: Less than 10mm between lens and subject, micro-adjustments throw the shot off focus. 

Behind the scenes shots:

Equipment used:

• Tripod
• Macro sliding rail
• 3 external lights (2 above, 1 on the side)
• Wireless remote control
• Canon Rebel XTi

365 Days, v. 35

I restarted my 365 days photo "challenge". After the birth of my son it became harder and harder to keep up at the beginning, but now we have some more chances of taking photos.

So here it goes, once again. Here are number 1 through 9 so far:

# 1/365: April 24 - Birthday Hair

# 2/365: April 25 - Cat's Ear

# 3/365: April 26 - Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley, WA

# 4/365: April 27 - Succulent Macro

# 5/365: April 28 - Yellow Tulip

# 6/365: April 29 - Three Buds

# 7/365: April 30 - Aztec Calendar (Keychain)

# 8/365: May 1 - Mobile Upload of Tulips in the wild

# 9/365: May 2 - Dog Paw seen at 4X macro

Macro shots on Canon 30D vs Rebel XTi

I repeatedly heard from different sources that shooting Macro on a Rebel XTi has its advantages because of the smaller sensor on the camera. 

Honestly I don't know much about sensors so I decided to take similar shots and let the results judge.

What I expected to see:

• I thought that the sensor difference will result in more cropping (less image area) in the XTi than the 30D.
  
• Better quality in the XTi due to its 10 mega pixels, compared to 8 mega pixels in the 30D.

What I actually saw:

• No cropping; same image size.
  
• Better quality in the 30D despite the mega pixel difference.

The Experiment

Two shots taken with the 2 cameras, using a tripod and a Tamron 90mm 2.8 macro lens.

I used the maximum length on the Tamron lens, same exposure setting, 2.8 aperture, and 1/4 shutter speed.

Myth # 1 busted: As you can see, there is no visible cropping, the area covered is practically the same.:

In this comparison of their levels curves, you can see how the 30D has a "richer" set of levels, whereas the XTi has a more limited one. This results are noticeable in the next shot.

Myth # 2 busted: Here, I zoomed at 400x in Photoshop and notice how the XTi shot looks a little "burned" and the 30D's colors look a little bit warmer (capture of light working better?):

(Click on the image to see it in large size)

Verdict:

Unless you zoom to 400%, you won't notice the differences, and you will be able to compensate any issues with good ol' Photoshop.

So the verdict is: I still like my Rebel XTi for its compact size and its comparable quality to the "xxD" family. :-)

Bad CF card or camera problems?

I just purchased a PNY 2GB 266X Compact Flash card, and noticed that every now and then I get shots that get some weird noise in the very same spot:

And another shot on a different day, same card:

Both photos were taken with my Tamron 90mm lens. Has anybody experienced this problem? Card problem, camera problem, lens problem?

It's usually the last photo of a batch.

Mine's bigger than yours: My wife's MacBook Pro vs. my MacBook

Benchmark Results

Bottomline Geekbench Scores: 

MB 3208, MBP: 2656

I downloaded Geekbench 2.1.2 and ran it on both Macs to compare the scores. The chart above was created using Excel.

TECH SPECS

1) MacBook Pro (17-inch)

• OS: OS X 10.5.6
• CPU: Genuine Intel T2600 (Core Duo) 2.16 GHz
• Cores: 2
• Bus Frequency: 664 MHz
• L1 Instruction Cache: 32.0KB
• L1 Data Cache: 32.0 KB
• L2 Cache: 2.00 MB
• Memory: 2.00 GB
• Memory Type: 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

2. MacBook (Late 2008)

• OS: OS X 10.5.6
• CPU: Intel Core2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz
• Cores: 2
• Bus Frequency: 1.06 GHz
• L1 Instruction Cache: 32.0KB
• L1 Data Cache: 32.0 KB
• L2 Cache: 3.00 MB
• Memory: 4.00 GB
• Memory Type: 1067 MHz DDR3 SDRAM

February 2009 in retrospective

This month's over, and looking back at the stats, it was very obvious that I had my hands full taking care of and loving my newborn son.

Not too bad, considering that one of my photos made it to Explore.