My PhotoWeek 2013: May 5 - May 11, 2013

1) Different Types of Photography Explained - Zach Arias
2) Different Types of Portrait Photography - Zach Arias
3) Behind The Scenes Lighting Secrets - Drew Gardner
4) On Valuing Your Work - Zach Arias

Instant V-Flat

On another 10-minute lunch break photo session, I was able to enlist another co-worker, Robert, who was gracious enough to help me practice my portraiture by patiently sitting or standing in front of the camera.

A few minutes before the session I looked around his cubicle area to find a suitable background and found a plain, gray wall. As I scanned the area, I got a light bulb moment when I thought the end corner of that wall could double as an impromptu V-flat.

All Lenses Are Not Made Equal

Wanting to reduce the number of lenses I owned prompted me to consider one zoom that covered the focal length range of a couple of lenses. By gettng an 18-70mm, I could get rid of my old 35-70mm and the 18-55 VR kit lens. So I bought a used Nikkor 18-70mm 3.5/4.5 G ED. The only thing I would give up was the VR.

I didn't want to wait to get home to do test comparisons so as soon as I received the 18-70, I went and borrowed my co-worker's 18-200 and made test shots at 18mm, 55mm and 70mm. I was completely baffled by the results. I thought they would pretty much be the same. It appeared that the 18-70 had a wider angle of view at the same focal length as the 18-200.