Adventures of a Quantum Cowboy

Photos from a sunrise climb of Mt. Waterman in Angeles National Forest, as well as 4 rolls from backpacking on the Channel Islands, should be posted this weekend. Safe travels everyone!

Finished off the roll of Fujicolor Superia 100 with the sunset from Barrel Springs, just on the south end of Palmdale.

Andrew and I decided to hit the lake last Saturday for some relaxation. He spent the day exploring the many mountain biking trails in the area while I hiked into the hills surrounding the lake and played photography. I took a small notebook this time to keep track of my settings for interesting shots.

Camera: Canon EOS Elan 7ne 35mm
Lens: Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM
Film: Fujicolor Superia 100

Many boats and jetskis use the upper part of the reservoir. Being an easy drive from LA as well as the AV, this place is pretty popular. We were almost alone when we arrived (~6:00am) but by mid-morning the upper lake was roaring with engines. Oh yeah, and one really annoying waterskiing group that was blasting music loud enough for me to rock out over a mile away and roughly 500 ft above in elevation.

A feather fallen on branches. I’m glad I caught it before the wind picked up and blew away the photo opportunity.

About half an hour after sunrise, looking over Castaic Lake.

Interesting color balance on this one. I think its the scanner, because the print doesn’t have the weird blues at the top… I’ve noticed a weakness in differentiating blues on some others as well. I may pull back the cyan saturation and lightness in PSPXI and repost later.

There are many shaded groves up in the hills, which provided a welcome respite from the heat once the day got going. I caught this interesting light pattern on the rocks next to me… the blur may be a bit much here, I had it opened to f/3.5 intentionally to get some blur in the background, but it may actually almost have worked better with more of the rocks in focus. (shrug).

Picked up an HP Scanjet G3010 for around $100. It’s not the most professional scanner in the world, but it easily gets me the resolution I had with the XTi in about 20 seconds per 4×6 print (3600×2400 pixels, scanned at 600dpi). The max is a 4200dpi scan! Though that max setting takes more RAM and time than I care to use… and seriously, a 4200ppi image? For what, like a 20 ft print? Oh well, will try out the new toy soon.

I recently had the privilege of practicing my portrait photography on Danielle for the second time. After a few drinks and catching up on old times, I tried out the first full roll of film with my new Elan on my model friend. These are with the Elan 7ne, on Kodak Portra 160NC.

Exposure #1. I almost didn’t even realize that I took it, the Elan is so quiet. I had to look at the exposure counter twice before I believed it. The camera operates so smoothly that I found myself having to actively refrain from blasting away on fully automatic.

Apparently she’s found something interesting…

And as for the circular effect, holy vignetting Batman! This is not a post processing thing, but a result of a really wide aperture and really wide focal length. I was very surprised to see this. I know that certain lenses are designed for the smaller digital camera sensor cross-section, as opposed to the 35mm frame. My Sigma is one of them (the whole DC series is like this). However, I was not aware that this lens was anything but a normal Canon EF mount, and the Elan manual just says “Not Compatible with EF-S lenses”. It’s actually a neat effect, though I didn’t intend it here. What I suspect is the case is that due to the difference in size between the 35mm frame and a digital sensor, focal lengths mean different things. I seem to remember reading somewhere that there is something like a 1.6 factor difference in effective focal length for digital SLRs. So my 28mm lens on the 35mm SLR is actually 17.5mm lens in the XTi world… essentially almost a fisheye in the terms in which I’m used to thinking. I’ll have to be careful.

I couldn’t tell what it was at this point, but it turned out that she found a bright blue rock, and was rather fascinated by it.

I thought it was a bead or something when I first saw it, but upon closer inspection it really was a very cool, natural pebble.

Beaches are fun (clearly). I really like how this one turned out, though I’ve received the suggestion that her right arm should not have been cut off. I also think that the vignetting does not add to the image in this case. Oh well, the shot was quick and the moment was fleeting. I’ll try and compose better next time.

It works here though, IMHO.

The film worked out well. I like the low contrast and soft tones, it works well with people. I think maybe the Kodak Portra 160VC film may be better next time, over the NC… especially with that yellow top, some more color saturation would have been nice.

And all in all I’m definitely in love with my new camera… wonderful world of film, here I come!

At long last I have gotten around to setting up an ExposureManager gallery. If you would like to see what I feel are my best photos and to order prints, check it out:

Adventures of a Quantum Cowboy: The Gallery.

My parents recently moved to El Dorado Hills, a small community outside of Sacramento. Here are some photos collected over multiple visits during the last several months.

My mom likes roses… could you tell?

You may recognize this birdhouse from previous bird shots in NorCal.

Backyard Effects.

A path fit for an emperor.

Roses inside against the light.

Dragonfly.