1.19.2011

Walking around, looking for trouble.

These are all handheld images taken this afternoon (after a long day of commercial shooting) with the Olympus EPL2 and the kit lens or the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens.  This is what I do to relax after a day at work.....
I knew I would get in trouble when I posted this afternoon's blog.  Apparently, I just didn't understand that, while the red dot might not affect me personally, it would render the EPL2 ineffective for skyline shots at night.  This is the Frost Bank Tower.  At twilight.

And this is the Frost Bank Tower about 35 minutes after sunset.  Wicked flare from the street light....

Funny what you'll find in a typical parking lot in Austin, Texas.  Kit lens.

I love the clouds in the winter and I love the view from the pedestrian bridge.  You could tell we had a nice 60+ degree day in Austin because the downtown hike and bike trail was packed with runners, walkers and bikers.  Sorry, no HDR....  Just good timing.

We Austinites are fascinated with high rise buildings.  Especially condo and apartment towers.  I guess it's because we had so few in the city until recently.

 I tried some more dot photos.  I didn't get the red dots but I froze the pigeon near the center in the bottom third of the frame.  That's gotta count for something.

Someone questioned my last test with the sun over to the side.  "What would happen if the sun was in the center of the frame?"  they asked.  This is what it looks like with the sun in the center of the frame.

Pretty Sky.  Softlight.  Fresh Cookies. Sumatran Coffee.

 Gosh.  I couldn't even get the street light to misbehave.

I've lost my chance to show the red dot at sunset for today.  But I was already out walking and the camera felt so good around my neck I just kept going.

 There's so much energy in downtown Austin these days.  The W Hotel just opened and everyone is hanging out at the bars.  I dropped by to get a Bloody Mary but it was too bloody crowded so I decided not to stay.

 The IS has its mojo working.

 If you want skies to do this neat color thing then chuck the AWB and keep your camera on "daylight" as the sun sets in the west.  It's really cool and warm at the same time.

I thought I got it.  I thought the dot showed up.  See the street light on the left?  Look about one third down from the top and the same amount to the left and there's a soft, white dot.  On further inspection it's really the light on top of the moon tower in Clarksville.  Foiled again. But nice OOC black and white...

I walked from 5 to 7:30pm and then it was time to go home.  Dinner.  An interesting one.  Lentils and rice with a yogurt sauce and grilled onions.  A salad of fresh avocado and grapefruit slices with a drizzle of oil and vinegar dressing and fresh shallots.  


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kirk, I think we can admit it. The epl2 is a great camera. The epl1 is also a great camera (especially since you can buy one now, brand new, with 2 lenses, for not a lot over $550. If red dots show up in your photos, I'm guessing a couple steps left or right might help. I'm loving my epl1. Thank you so much for convincing me to get it :)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you can't take no pitchurs with that thang when there's any laight in da sky.

Bill Millios said...

No picture of dinner?

*disappointed*

Pseudo Boethius said...

What beautiful photos! Are these all JPEG's straight out of the camera? If so, Adobe is going to be losing market share... :-)

Alan said...

I have hundreds of red dots that I don't use any more. You're welcome to have some since I don't need them to mark my slides anymore...

Now that you mention the tall buildings, there were none that I remember when I was last there in the 80's. The Bank Tower is a nice one.

Steven Alexander said...

+Can't wait til April when I'll be in Austin and hill country. Your pictures make me home sick for Texas.
Great dinner, too bad you missed the bloody-mary

Frank Grygier said...

I don't want to add to "dot" uproar but did you notice the fine white line in the sunset photos. Olympus must find some way to eliminate the dreaded modulated contrail distortion. It must be over -+15.8%!!!