Getting In Focus

A few weeks ago I had surgery to remove the lens in my right eye that had become cloudy due to cataracts.   I had been living with blurred vision in that eye for a few years and it had finally gotten to the point where it needed to be replaced.  My vision in my left eye was good due to the glasses I wear, but there was no corrective lens that could compensate on the right side.

My vision before surgery

The thing that made the situation so frustrating for me is my right eye is my dominant eye and the one I use when taking photos.   I tried using my left eye to compose my shots and focus but found it just didn't work for me.  It was like trying to sign my name left handed.  

I could no longer tell if what I saw through the viewfinder was in focus on not.   If I could put the camera on a tripod I would use the LCD screen on the back of the camera to manually focus to compensate, but there are situations that made this impossible.  

Within hours of the surgery, I could see a drastic difference in my vision.  As the days passed I was amazed by the difference.   Everything was brighter and clearer.  It was like going from an old 1980s TV to a modern ultra high-definition TV.  The thing I didn't expect was the color change.  My old lens had yellowed over time and gave everything a yellow tint.  My mind compensated for it but now I can see the difference when comparing my right eye to my left that is still yellowed.

I've failed to adequately explain the difference in my vision. It's just hard to describe.   Then I realized I have the tools to show you the difference.

My vision after surgery

This is a photo I took this past Saturday.   The really cool thing is I was able to look through the viewfinder and manually focus on the bird.   This was the first time I've been able to do that in years.   I was a great feeling to be able to tell that my shot was in focus when I took it.  

I highly recommend the surgery for anyone dealing with cataracts.  It was quick, painless and amazing.  I only wish my left eye was bad enough to have the same surgery on that side.

What's My Go To Lens?

24-105mm f/4 L

I was asked today what my "go to" lens is.  It was easy because I know off the top of my head which one I use the most.  It's the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L lens.  It's a great general purpose lens.  If I had to take just one lens with me on a trip this would be it.  It's light, small, has a useful focal length range, and can produce some really nice sharp photos.


But what about the other lenses in my bag?   I saw a blog this evening by Patrick Endres that showed how often he used his lenses and showed the numbers in a pie chart. His top lens was the 24-105 as well.  Since all my photos are in Lightroom it took me all of about 2 minutes to see how often I used each lens in 2014.  Only photos I have kept are included, but the numbers should be representative of how often I use each one.

So, my guess was right.  I used the 24-105mm for 54% of my photos last year.  I was surprised it was that high.  I thought I would have seen a more even distribution across the 5 lenses.   What really surprised me was that I used the 300mm for only 3% of my photos.  That's 1% by itself and 2% of the time I used the 300mm with a 1.4x teleconverter making a 420mm lens.

300mm with 1.4 Teleconverter

So, have my habits changed between 2013 and 2014?   The 2013 numbers show that yes, the lenses I use have changed.   I used the 300mm 17% of the time and the 24-105mm only 45% of the time.    When I look at what I used the 300mm for in 2013 wildlife was a small percentage.  I used it as a general purpose lens shooting everything from flowers and starfish to steam locomotives and civil war reenactments.   I didn't buy the 70-200 until September 2013 so those numbers were down that year.

What does all this mean?  One thing it tells me is I don't have to pack all my lenses when heading out on a photo outing.   If I take the 17-40, 24-105, and 70-200 I'm going to have most all situations covered.  I will probably take the macro lens on most hikes to capture wildflowers and small critters.   But what about that 300mm?  Is it a bad lens?  Absolutely not!  In fact, it's one of the sharpest lenses I have, even when I add the 1.4 teleconverter.  It's much lighter than the 70-200.  If I hope to photograph wildlife I'm going to take that lens along.  Being a prime fixed focal length lens it's just not as versatile as the others.

My numbers in 2015 will be different.  We are planning a big trip to Alaska this year.  You can bet I'm taking that 300mm with me with hopes of getting some wildlife shots.

Stop and Then Don't Stop

A few times each winter it will snow in our region of East Tennessee.  The rule of averages says 71% of the time it will snow on a work day.  Nothing like sitting in the office thinking about all the photo opportunities that are slowly melting away.  This weekend we hit the 29% and got snow on Saturday morning.

It was a bit too warm in Kingsport for any accumulation of the white stuff, but less than 60 miles

away is Carver's Gap at 5,550 feet and Roan Highlands.  It's usually 8 - 10 degrees colder and they can get a lot more snow.   

I've had some special times photographing winter scenes up there, but not this time.   It was in the low 20s and the wind was fierce as you can see in the video below.   At one point, my glasses fogged up then the fog froze into a nice layer of frost.  Nothing like trying to see through frosted glasses.  There was no cleaning it off without getting somewhere warmer.  

There were about a dozen cars up there with a few people hiking up the trail and a couple guys coming down after camping out the night before.   The strangest thing we saw was a young lady getting out of the car next to us wearing a fur coat with a red dress underneath and a crown if what looked like ice crystals on her head.  She and her photographer headed into the woods to take Ice Princes photos.  We stayed out of their way and didn't stick around long enough to talk with them.   I hope she had some thermals on under that dress!  I'd love to see how the photos came out.

On the way up we had passed a couple photographic opportunities that looked interesting.  Not seeing a good place to turn around and wanting to get to the top I kept driving and said we would get them on the way back down.   One was a bunch of Cattails that were covered with snow on one side.  By the time we got back much of the snow was blown off the Cattails.   As the blog title says, I should have stopped on the way up.  A little further down we stopped at the second spot. 

What we had seen was a field of dried up Coneflower stalks with the round spiked heads of the dead flowers covered with snow.   They looked like some kind of new ice cream desert - an entire field of candy balls on sticks dipped in vanilla ice cream.  Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in the Winter.  I got this first shot showing a bunch of the cold delights.

Coneflower Field

Of course I didn't want to stop there.   This time there was a gentle breeze and the temps were in the upper 20s.  Much more conducive to spending time and looking for other shots.

Getting in a little closer to the flowers, I could see the spikes left over from better days.

Snowflakes on Coneflower

Getting in even closer, I could see the individual snowflakes where the wind had stuck them to the flower head.   Be sure to click the images to get a full screen view where you can see the details.

I need to remember to stop when I see something I might want to spend some time photographing.  If I had listened to June we would have stopped on the way up (first rule of photography - listen to your spouse).  Once stopped I need to not stop at the obvious shots but keep looking for different angles, compositions, and photos that can tell a story.

Getting Out Of The Slump

Everyone has one from time to time.  That period where we are not doing our best and are having a hard time getting motivated to pull ourselves out of the slump.   Each year when winter rolls around I fall into a photographic slump.  I look outside and see brown and gray.   I don't see anything that makes me want to pack up my camera gear and head out looking for interesting photographs that might be waiting to be captured.   My camera can sit on the shelf for weeks at a time.

Today I have decided to do something about it.   I'm starting a weekly photo challenge put on by PhotoChallenge.org.  Each week the photo challenge authors will throw down a challenge in the form of a photographic theme.  The challenge is to go out and make a photo within the theme of the week.   The themes are designed to challenge photographers to try new things, get a bit out of the box, and best of all -- practice the art of photography.

I made my decision on day 6 of the first week so I had to move quickly.  The theme for this week is MACRO - KITCHEN.   I needed to quickly  make a close up or macro photo of something in our kitchen.   After spending about one minute looking around the kitchen this evening, I came across my subject for the week -- toothpicks.

Week 1 - MACRO KITCHEN - Toothpicks

These are in a little round plastic bottle designed so you can shake one out of the top at a time.  Taking the top off the bottle reveals a repeating pattern of miniture logs daid out in a spiral pattern.

I tried shooting this with my 100mm macro but the depth of field (DOF) was too small.  I couldn't get a photo with most of the toothpicks in focus.   I switched to a 70-200 zoom with a 36mm extension tube, which allowed me to focus closer to the subject.  This was taken at 200mm f/29 and then cropped down to a square image.

I'll learn what the next challenge is in the next few days.  I can hardly wait.   The slump is over!

My Favorites of 2014

At the end of each year, I like to go through my photos from the past 12 months and pick out my
favorites.

This year I have picked 15 and loaded them on my website - Favorites from 2014

These are my favorites, but probably not my best, photos of 2014. I picked them because they bring back good memories from the past year.  When I look back, all but one of these were taken while June was with me.  I always make better photos when she is with me because she has such a great eye.   It's why this is The Siggins Photography and not Richard Siggins Photography.   We may a great team and I wouldn't be half as good without her.

I hope you enjoy these.

The Early Bird

"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark."

Rabindranath Tagore

Indian Poet

The best time to take photos outdoors is the hour around sunrise or sunset.   If you want to avoid other people in your photo, dawn is the perfect time.  Few people will be up and about at sunrise.   It's my favorite time to make photos.

The problem with taking photos at dawn is I have to head for my destination long before I know what the conditions will be like.  Will the sun paint the clouds with brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows or will the sky be overcast and gray?  I have found that weather forecasts will give a general idea what to expect, but often the moment the sun breaks the horizon will be very different from the forecast.   I have to get up when it's still dark and see what is in store when I get there.

Blue Heron in Morning Light

On a recent trip to visit my family in South Florida June and I got up early and left the house while everyone was still comfortably asleep.   Our destination was Wakodahatchee Wetlands.  This is a favorite place to photograph birds in a natural setting.  Boardwalks snake throughout the wetlands, making it easy to get close to birds, gators and other wildlife.  On this morning, there were fewer birds than what we had seen in the wetlands before.  Mid-December is a few weeks early for nesting activities and brilliant mating colors that present many photographic opportunities.  However, there were still enough birds to fill all our available time and the rising sun bathed the scenes in a warm soft light, like the photo above.

We don't always have the gift of sunrise colors on every outing but if we didn't get up while it is still dark we would never get to experience the beauty of a sunrise and the beautiful colors of dawn. 

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” 

Corrie ten Boom

Calendar Chronicles - December 2014

The number of days left in 2014 is getting smaller and smaller.  Just a few more weeks left before it will be time to replace the 2014 calendar with the 2015 edition.  But, not yet.  

The photo for December 2014 is the road going from Carvers Gap on the TN/NC border up the mountain to the Rhododendron Gardens.   The only travelers on that road this day in March 2013 were cross country skiers.  It was a Saturday morning and I was able to get up to Carvers Gap just after sunrise before the road was plowed.  There were just a handful of hardy (some say crazy) photographers and skiers.  The snow was unbroken and beautiful.  The photo of the pines in the snow that is on the calendar page was  taken on this same day on the Roan Mountain Balds.

Taking photos of snowy scenes like this has special challenges.  You can read some of my suggestions from an older post here.

I felt very alone up there that morning.  The blanket of snow absorbed what little sound there was.  While I saw cross country ski tracks, I didn't see a single person on this side of highway 143.  It was like I was alone in the world.  But no matter how alone we my feel, The Lord is always in our midst.  I believe God rejoices when we are out in His creation, enjoying the natural beauty.  This was both a calming  and a joyful experience for me.  I am looking forward to more snow!