PHOTOMATTER NEWS
Old Glass for old glass - December 2012
My acquiring old Nikkor lenses has mainly concentrated on the ais versions of
their old wonderfully constructed manual focus lenses. The generation of lens
before "ais" was simply known as "ai". Generally, ai glass is indentical to ais
with the exception of different lens coatings, and a longer focus throw. This
beauty (the 35mm f2.0 ai pictured) is also different optically to the ais - with
an 8/6 vs 9/7 (lenses/groups) optical lens formula.
The crystal decanter in the left hand photo is well over 100
years old as is the tantulus in the background. The lens
used to photograph the decanter is about forty years old.
It seemed fitting to use one for the other.
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< Smokin Hot Coffee Beans - November 2012
I have used lots of different sources for smoke. This one is unique
in that it is the first image I took using a magic liquid. You mix 2
liquids and the reaction makes smoke. Also, it lasts quite a while
which gave me more time than I was use to - to set up lighting.
Gallery crosses 1.1 million views! >
My offsite photo gallery on Fredmiranda.com is still
growing. See close to 975 of my photos. This shot
of the Milky Way was taken with the Tokina 17mm
f3.5. A larger version is in the gallery.
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< Trees - October 2012
The second to the third week of October is the perfect time to get fall
color photos. This one is from a series titled "Yellow Wood". You can
see more like this in my Fall Colors gallery.
...and later in October >
Late in the month when the leaves drop and expose the amazing
architecture of the trees leaves one with a sense of awe. Here is
an ancient massive black walnut tree - in the wild. The base of
the trunk was about five feet in diameter.
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Butterfly Milkweed - September 2012
Asclepias Tuberosa [latin] or Butterfly Milkweed grows right by my
house. It is a favorite of the well known Monarch Butterfly during it's
long migration to and from Mexico.
It was at John Ball Zoo that first heard about the diminishing Monarch
habitat in both Mexico and the US from Holli of "The Michigan Butterflies
Project". The project goal is "Increasing the monarch population through
habitat restoration and education..."
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Parked Wizard's Hat - August 2012
Going beyond normal macro lens territory via a reversing ring. An
interesting fact is the wider the lens (shorter the focal length) has a
correspondingly greater magnification. This particular image was
created with the famously sharp Nikkor 28mm f2.8 ais, and the
Nikon BR-2 reversing ring. Reportedly, this combo is capable of
producing images at 9x-10x.
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Abstract - July 2012
An experiment with milk and dyes to create an abstract swirl of colored
changing patterns. The reactions between colors was very swift leaving
very little time to photography it. I was suprised at the reactions strength.
