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I made a parody TV advertisement commercial for Pentax DSLR cameras. Why? I thought up the idea a few days ago and though it would be fun to make. Titled: “PENTAX CM もじり ペンタックス・コマーシャル” Check it out on Youtube ( watch it in 720p ): 冗談、けどPENTAXは素敵なカメラ物ですね。　www ビデオの日本語が悪い、ごめんなさい。 This is a parody video “CM” commercial with Pentax as the subject. My initial idea was a lot more involved, but this idea came after and was a lot more manageable yet accomplished the same thing for the most part. Text and voice from the video: Pentax system: ペンタックスシステム Digital SLR: デジタル一眼レフ prime lens: 首相レンズ (wrong Japanese) Transforming system: 変換システム Weather resistant: 耐候性システム Rugged system: 堅牢なシステム Shake resistant: 抵抗性の振る Wonderful system: 素晴らしいシステム Small system: 小さいシステム Special system: 特殊なシステム Historic system: 歴史的なシステム Portable system: ポータブルシステム Convenient system: 便利なシステム Cosplay: コスプレ All of the video and sound was made by me. Video source: Pentax K-7 and K-5, intentionally blown out in post processing ...

Went on two small shoots this week with a friend. The first was just a survey of the location an the second we had a subject to photograph. I tried to stay out of the way as he was the one who rounded up the model. I used the DA* 55mm f1.4 SDM for both. As you can probably tell, the weather is getting bad around here. It’s quite cold outside and the conditions are usually dreary. Although I look out my window today and see a blue sky…

As I mentioned in my previous post, the K-5 was returned from service. For my initial test I took some macro photos and also too a few photos of two cats. The conditions in this case were dark with tungsten lights, so ISO was pretty high at 2000-3200. It’s funny how quickly I start taxing the K-5 in situations I usually wouldn’t bother trying with the K-7. The gray one is a female and the black one is a male. They were born in the wild and spent a good deal of time as feral cats until it got too cold the winter they were born.

Today I went out to a local park for the nice weather and to get some practice. This time I used two lenses that don’t get as much usage as some of my others. The 100mm f2.8 Macro and 10-17mm Fisheye lenses. Here are a few photos: A small photo can’t do justice to just how sharp that photo is at 100% detail. It was taken with the 100mm f2.8 macro lens. The K-5 and 100mm lens can achieve high vibrancy: A nice flat field: Bokeh is great with this lens: If you are looking for a lens to create epic feeling images, the 10-17mm Fisheye should be a contender: The 10-17 would be useful for unique one-man videos: The 10-17 has the ability to focus very close: I’m a sucker for photos like this: Not your normal architecture lens:

Continuing on with my studio practice, I decided to try my hand again at macro photography. The camera rig! Equipment: Pentax K-5 Digital SLR Camera Body Pentax D-FA 100mm f/2.8 Macro WR lens Kenko Pz-Af 1.5x Teleplus SHQ tele-converter Custom Brackets flash bracket with a Sigma EF-530 DG Super flash, the Sigma acted as the trigger for the other flash units. 2x Yongnuo YN460-II flash on Flashpoint light stands Slik Pro 700DX AMT-Alloy Tripod Legs with a Smith Victor BH2 Metal Alloy Ball Head Here is a quick video of the setup in action (sorry for the *pop* *pop* sound, it seems that the 25fps videos have an issue when directly uploaded to YouTube): https://youtu.be/exzUoxZEpUo My artistic goal for the session was to create top-down images of texture and detail. Things we see everyday, but when viewed up-close they are very different than how we usually perceive them. Intricate networks of connection and amazing textures abound… Here was my first subject, stale matcha (finely-milled Jap...

I decided to do more practice with the two off-camera flash units. This time I was using a single apple with a sheet of glass (glass from a simple picture frame) to play around with reflection and flash placement.  The equipment: Two Yongnuo YN460-II set in S1 mode at 1-3 bars of power. They were mounted on Flashpoint stands. Camera was a K-5 and DA* 55mm f1.4 lens. A glass picture frame as well as a plastic container. First off I just tried photographing the apple on the picture frame. The frame came with a matte black background:  Apple I had to clean up the black area on the left a bit by “burning” the blackness to make it less reflective and showing imperfections. I had first started off by using the healing brush, but it wasn’t enough.  Apple Next up I decided to get some spacing between the glass and table by using a plastic container. I also put one of the flashes under the glass to provide some floor lighting:  Apple on glass. Apple reflected I noticed a...