A brief visit to Minneapolis for the 11th annual Creating Change conference. Hours of meetings, miles of skywalks, thousands of queerlings…good people, good work, and very ready to head home to the babies and my family.

Am playing with Adobe Photoshop Express and like it.

My biggest beef here is the lack of primary focal point. Shooting with one of the sharpest lenses on the market, the fuzziness of the beer foam in the foreground is a technical failure. A reminder to 1) finally set my vision impaired compensation settings on my camera, or 2) wear my frakkin’ glasses when focusing. Lame.

Secondary annoyance is the way blown out window in the background. I tried adjusting in PS, but there’s only so much I can do.

On the upside, I like the curves in the foreground and the skewed reflections in the coffee beer.

Anyhow, I thought I’d link to the long promised “sample shots” from the Nikon 35mm, f/1.8 lens.

In my humble experience, this lens works as advertised: fast, warm, light and captures well in low light and indoor settings.

A fixed focal length/prime lens demands nominal physical movement: moving in and out, round and about, up and down to capture optimal light and perspective on a subject. It’s occasionally frustrating, but mostly a rewarding challenge. Since it’s no fun to ask your friends and family to freeze indefinitely as you twiddle with manual settings, until you figure things out, I do suggest carrying back-up point and shoot to capture quick Must-Have moments.

As for the much anticipated focal length/”cool depth of field”/bokeh factor of this lens, it’s good times all the way. The lens delivers on shallow DOF for portraits and street shots. That said, methinks f/1.8 is too shallow for portraits and most landscape/cityscape pictures, but nice for macro-esque shots. The sweet spot is a slightly bigger aperture and of course, a subject willing to hold a smile or suspend blur inducing motions.

I was too cheap to shoot with anything other than the stock Nikon D70 DSLR lens for nearly 6 years and invested in a 18mm-250mmlens about 2.5 years ago. If the Older and Wiser Lunamania could say one thing it’d be…frakkin’ drop the ~$200 for this lens.

I’m curious to know if others have found the tones to lean a bit towards the warm side? The orange and red tones in tungsten light are quite saturated. Then again, that could be about the processor/camera?

As always, I recommend photo gear purchases from reliable vendors like: B&H and Adorama.

Check out the photo album here.

Catherine, my dear friend and photo cheer leader, gave me an opportunity to liberate some pixels from the hard drive when she let me know of the Bay Area Video Coalition’s “5 Blocks” photo contest. The only requirement was that the photo be taken within a 5 block radius of your home.

Last night was the opening reception and you can see photos here. My entries appear in the last photo in the post–kewl.

I’m sheepish about displaying my printed photos, but it was fun to see creative takes on different neighborhoods and the winner inspired me to learn more about flash photography. The show is up at BAVC through April.

My entries are also posted at Photoweenie and you can see them here. The first is from a series I took at the Oscar Grant rally in Downtown Oakland. The middle one is from a street corner down the block. The final image is shot from my bedroom window. Click on the thumbnails for a larger image.

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome!

Where is the stuff that is actually useful? Certainly not on this blog, but I can point you in the right direction–or so that’s what my friend Vivian thought when she asked me for some online photography resources.

I’m not an expert and these aren’t “insider” camera weenie sites or anything, but I chose them for: quality of content, clear writing and usefulness to both beginners and more advanced photographers. I’m not proposing this as an exhaustive list, but as an invitation to offer your suggestions for your favorites.

There’s a lot out there so I’ll split this into multiple posts. This first entry is for general resources: how to take a picture, camera and lens reviews and where to purchase gear without getting scammed.

Digital Photography School: A one-stop shop for tutorials, weekly assignments, critique forums and gear reviews. The recent re-design makes it a thousand times easier to navigate all the goodies. The “For Beginners” and “How to Photography xyz…” series are good starting points. The audience spans newcomers to professionals and the general vibe is one of a friendly after-school photo club. Not that I was ever part of one…having no formal training myself, I appreciate the care taken to write even the most technical articles in an accessible way.

I haven’t ventured into the user forums, but if anyone has used them, I’m curious to hear about it.

Photojojo: A more zany “do stuff with your photos” site. The writing style and content have a Lifehacker feel where emphasis is less on geeking out on the best sharpening technique and more on how to make evil button eyes like Coraline’s Other Mother. They also have creative projects for your pictures that actually make it off the monitor and onto (gasp!) photo paper.

Gear reviews: (a topic, not a site–I reserve the right to be inconsistent)Friends often mistake me for someone who knows something and ask, “what kind of camera should I get?” It really depends on your budget and camera needs. But if they are comparing specific models, I direct them to DP Review. The most thorough and geeked out camera and lens review site–ever. Beat that. They also have a well-informed user forum where you can get advice from knowledgeable amateurs and pros. Some friendly advice, when asking for camera gear advice on a forum, it really helps to post your budget and specify what kind of photos you want to take (architecture, landscape, pictures that make people look like tiny toy models, my cat, water drops, all-in-one etc.)

Ken Rockwell: A bit of DP Review, DP School and Camera God all rolled into one. In addition to stand alone reviews and photography tips, Rockwell offers extensive comparison testing between Nikon and Canon lenses and bodies. If you’re still debating between the two brands definitely check this site out. I’ve consulted here before every gear purchase and have not regretted it. Rockwell will also help you find the best type of lens in a particular category–digital wide zooms, for example. Warning, it’s not the easiest site to navigate, but well worth the poking around time.

Making Good Photographs: I have a couple of books I’d recommend on this (for a later post), but for resources online:Robert Berdan wrote this helpful overview of points, lines, planes, colors, texture—you get it, the fundamentals of design and composition. Bryan Petersen authored a series of excellent photography books, Understanding Exposure helped me well…understand exposure. He also has an good online resource.

Where to buy: There are a lot of shady places, I can confidently recommend Adorama and BandH. Great prices and you can feel good supporting businesses with real photography expertise.

Coming soon…resources on specific techniques: HDR, flash, tilt-shift, etc.; books–yes, those things with paper and a spine; and photoblogging resources.

What are your recommendations?