Invitational

Usually I save a web-size (800x600 or so) versions of the photos that I think came out well in a directory called Web\K10D. And then of course I take a look at these photos every now and then. And so yesterday I noticed that most of the recent photos of mine are of the people whom I mostly know. And then the recollection came down at me...

I went to Prague to have a good time and also because the husband-soon-to-be asked me to take some pictures at the wedding. Then there was this company party and I was shooting again. Yesterday I had a nice walk in the park shooting my co-worker's firstborn.

People who know me are starting to ask me to come and take some pictures for them!

No, I am not charging money or anything of this kind. However this is really amusing.

As a side note, if you read this blog/message, please leave a comment so that I'd know if there are more than one person whom I happen to know in person ;-) reading my ramblings...

May the light be with you...

Prague, day 3 and day 4

As a matter of fact, I was rather exhausted on the next day after the wedding. I did not any pictures really worth showing, except may be the obligatory elevator mirror portrait.

During this trip something has clicked inside my head and now I tend to shoot with both eyes opened, not just the viewfinder eye...



On the fourth and the last day of the trip I had great pleasure meeting Frantisek Vlcek - a Prague dweller and a fellow photographer, formerly Pentax user...

Here is he wielding his Jedi sabre Canon camera...



Then I proceeded to Jan Saudek museum. It was quite a blast! It is good though that you could find most of the work presented in the museum in the electronic form on the above web site.

Then I just roamed the old town for quite a bit and these are the pictures that caught my eye:









And then unfortunately we had to head back to the airport...

P.S. All pictures were taken with Pentax SMC DA 21/3.2 AL Limited lens.

Prague, day 2

On the next day there was a wedding. The CEO of the company where I work was getting married. Of course there was a wedding photographer on site who kindly asked not to get in his way.

Then all the guests had the tour around the town.

Eventhough by the end of November most of the leaves have fallen, some still were there, naturally to be photographed.



Even in cloudy day Vltava is still very beautiful.



With a bit of contrast and clarity boost in post processing ;-) one can get a postcard like photograph.



The view of old castles through the late autumn trees is quite remarkable for the person who lives in ever green Middle East.



And then we had the feast of wedding celebration for which the newlyweds prepared their special dance.



P.S. All shots except last one were made with Pentax SMC DA 21/3.2 AL Limited lens. The last shot was made with Pentax SMC F 50/1.7.

Prague, day 1

I am just back from a long weekend in Prague. What a wonderful time we had, what a wonderful place Prague is.

It greeted us with chilly yet dry weather and a lot of beauty.



Prague is always good looking, such as at early twilight.



The people that you meet on the streets of Prague are very friendly but some of them (think - tourists) are very busy going about their (leisurly) business.



And of course beer is mandatory.



P.S. All shots were made with Pentax SMC DA 21/3.2 AL Limited lens which is an excellent lens.

Curious ergonomics or ergonomical curiosity

A friend of mine gave me his Nikon D80 to take few pictures the other day. Here is what I observed:

1. To change an aperture from the body I had to rotate the front wheel. On my K10D it is the rear wheel.

2. To delete a picture I had to press the "delete" button twice. On my K10D it is rather different and significantly more deliberate - you cannot delete a picture just because.

3. In review mode (yes, I chimp) rotating the rear wheel advances me to the next picture. On my K10D it will zoom in the currently shown one.

No, I am not saying that Nikon D80 has bad ergonomics or that my Pentax K10D is not good. In fact, I am passing no judgment here.

It is just that are so curiously different.

My new toy (lens)

Once upon a time I decided I needed a prime lens wider than SMCP FA 31/1.8 AL Limited that I have. I have some zoom lenses that are wider, but no prime. A long process of consideration and measuring my mileage ;-) ended up with decision to buy SMCP DA 21/3.2 AL Limited lens. And so it arrived today.

It is positively tiny with very odd hood. For now I decided to put the hood aside. I have an alternative solution thanks to the common for Pentax filter thread - 49 mm. Few test shots showed that this lens is very sharp. Also the quick shift focus meachanism is a charm. I wonder what kept Pentax from introducing it a long long long time ago.

Here is one of the shots that although does not fit as a test shot but still is quite pleasing. I used a polar filter this time.

Shuffling through the old stuff

It turns out that one of my favorite past times is to browse through my photo archives looking for interesting photos. Very often I would have not paid attention to a photo that later one appealed to me. Here is an example.



This shot has been taken 2.5 years ago and at the time I did not think of it too much... Now I have reconsidered...

One more Pentaxian

On Sept 2nd (slightly earlier than it should have happened) my daughter received her own Pentax Optio W30...



Here she is putting it to proper use.



And here is the photo that she took. Except resizing I applied no post-processing. I like what I see, given that she is going to be 6 years old in October

Beno Rothenberg "Photographed and Reported"

Today we went to Eretz Israel Museum (Tel Aviv). On display there was an exhibition of Beno Rothenberg "Photographed and Reported, 1947-1957". I daresay this man was somewhat like Henri Cartier-Bresson of Israel. He photographed and thereby documented great many events that took place in my country during the hard times just before and after the establishment of State of Israel.

I had no choice but to buy the catalog from the exhibition.

Here is the link to one of the articles that are included in the book from the exhibition.

This is external link and I couldn't know for how long it will be there...

Limited Lenses - Unlimited Choices

I am having a vacation. Well, it is coming to an end in a few days. My daughter will start her school studies...

During this vacation I decided to limit the contents of my photo bag to Pentax Limited (full frame) prime lenses (31/1.8, 43/1.9, and 77/1.8). It turns out that at least for me it does work. Limited lenses and limited focal lengths seem to once more give me more photographic freedom.

Here are some samples:



Tel Aviv, Rothschild blvd, SMCP 31/1.8 AL Limited at f/2.5



Haifa Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, SMCP 31/1.8 AL Limited at f/1.8



Haifa Carmel Park, SMCP 31/1.8 AL Limited at f/8



Tel Aviv Azrieli Towers Observation Deck, SMCP 43/1.9 Limited at f/7.1
I added some vignetting in post processing



Tel Aviv Azrieli Center, the bottom of the Round Tower, SMCP 43/1.9 Limited at f/6.3



Tel Aviv University Botanical Gardens, SMCP 77/1.8 Limited at f/3.5



Tel Aviv University Botanical Gardens, SMCP 77/1.8 Limited at f/2.5



Tel Aviv University Botanical Gardens, SMCP 77/1.8 Limited at f/5.0

All in all, it seems rather good vacation, don't you agree ;-)?

Tina Manley

Fulfilling the promise long overdue.

It has been my impression that most of the people who are involved in photo-journalism or street photography tend to concentrate on less pleasant motifs, to say the least. Indeed, the depiction of human distress can easily touch the viewer. However, I tend to believe that to photograph people in a way that will show how happy they are is significantly more difficult. We see happy faces around us very often. Now, to make a shot that will be both happy and will grab our attention is really difficult.

I think Tina Manley does that beautifully.

Be sure to take time and review her work. Her portfolio is most striking.

Where do I live, sort of

One of our favorite past time locations is Hertzlia Marina Mall.



It does have its appeal that makes us somehow return there again and again. This time I noticed this rather funny sign. Notice completely wrong spelling of the city where I was born.



There are other interesting photo opportunities there...

Autumn Mood

It is raining outside my window as I type this post. It is May 12th and I am sitting in the "office" room of my apartment just 20 km south from Tel Aviv. This is plain unbelievable. It cannot be. Yet it is happening. It is raining.

On lenses

The Holy Quest for the ultimate set of (D)SLR lenses seems to be really an eternal kind of question. Regardless of reasons why it is so, it seems an interesting thing to ponder. I used to think that more lenses is better just like a painter I thought would benefit from having various brushes - a special brush for each occasion. Currently the above idea seems quite incorrect to me. In fact, I tend to believe in rather opposite idea. The less lenses one has, the more completely one gets to know the lenses - the better the ultimate result is.

Currently I have more than a dozen lenses. I decided to sell at least half of them so that I will be left with my three favorite primes, one fast zoom and one (to be bought) super zoom lens in order to have wider and longer than regular focal lengths covered.

I wonder what honored reader would have to say.

One thousand more shutter clicks

It appears that acquisition of K10D made me significantly more trigger happy. I noticed that I crossed the 2000 frames mark already.

Park Sorek gallery is here for your enjoyment.

K10D, 1000 shots thereafter

I've crossed the 1000 frame count on my K10D. Pentax produced truly wonderful camera. The image quality is outstanding. I must say that compared to *istD, which was no slouch either, K10D is way ahead.

Here is a short gallery I compiled from my most recent trip to Haifa.

Pentax Image Gallery (Beta) is on line

It is here!. You can also find several of my pictures if you look under "Artists" for "Boris Liberman".

More K10D impressions

It is slightly less than a month that I have K10D. Here is a list of things that particularly impress me about this camera:

1. It is fast. Having finally bought SandDisk Extreme III x133 card I can attest to the speed of the camera. There is virtually no delay in any operation. It feels like a glove - fluently continuing my hand and eye.

2. AF seems to be really accurate on my sample. I made few shots of a printed sheet of paper and it seems that it focuses correctly. There is however one gotcha. My camera seems to prefer the middle lower and center sensors. This in turn usually results to front focus. It is not like front focus by millimeters but front focus on the object that is on foreground of the frame. Not a big deal if you ask me.

3. The auto white balance is really good and it is consistent!

4. My older AF200T flash only works at full power because camera offers no TTL integration. However given the speed at which it works it is not really difficult to find proper aperture number in fully manual (M) mode.

All in all, I am very happy about my camera. It is indeed a very big step or may be even a leap from *istD and its siblings.