Finally the darkness of winter has passed and sun is shining. On the other hand we had a snow storm a few days ago. This means that until it gets warm we’ll have nothing but sleet and mud. Sunshine makes up for all that though. The morning after the snowstorm was a nice opportunity and I took it. Added a few b/w images to the gallery. I did buy a Speedlite 580EX II and I cannot describe how pleased I am with it. I could ask nothing more of a camera mountable flash. I’ve been using it only for casual photography so far. Taken pictures of friends at poker table and such. Right now I’m trying to figure out my filter strategy. I’m leaning towards Cokin Z-Pro series but I’ve unable to find them in Estonia.

Some time has passed since I last wrote. I did buy the extension tube set and I’m very pleased with it. Well at least as much as there is to be pleased with. The build quality is ok, auto focus doesn’t work correctly which was to be expected and there isn’t much else. I’ve tried the tubes with all my lens and looks like the 70-200mm and 50mm fix are the best choices for macro work. I haven’t gotten any flashes yet so I bought a few very cheap 150w and 500w lamps which will have to do for studio/macro work until I get my Speedlite 580EX II and probably later too. I said studio but what I really mean is a table with pieces of colored cardboard and the subject in the middle. I’ve tried this setup out with a few shots of a splashing drop of water and the retro-looking shot of electronics but overall I haven’t been very active recently. I blame the weather and the lack of time but I’ve been lazy too. Hopefully we’ll see some nice snow around here soon. Right now it’s all muddy and gray and really not that inspiring at all. Macro work proved to be much more difficult than I expected. I haven’t taken a single satisfying shot yet but as time goes by my skills will improve and my inventory will expand. Perhaps the Christmas will bring some inspiration and I can move forward.

I started doing photography more seriously a little over 2 months ago when I bought my first dslr camera: Canon 400D kit + 4gb card. Unfortunately I didn’t know about the flawed (18-55) kit lens which I used for a few days and I haven’t touched since. A few days later I ordered an extra battery and Canon 50m f/1.8 which many people suggested as a replacement for the 18-55 however the 50mm didn’t impress me at all either. So I took a closer look at my financial situation and decided to go all out and buy Canon 70-200 f/4L IS that I could not be happier with. All the pictures currently in my gallery have been taken using that lens. Obviously I started feeling very limited immediately and started craving for a wide angle lens. I was planning to buy Canon 17-40 f/4L but I should have waited maybe up to 2 months and after reading reviews about Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 I decided that the tiny quality difference wasn’t worth the wait and the money so I started thinking about buying the Tamron. Yesterday I found a person in my town selling that lens for a bargain price so I called her, we met and the deal was done. The lens is new, less than 2 weeks old, nothing wrong physically and I haven’t tested it much yet but the shots I’ve taken look ok. Today, when I was buying an uv filter I asked the clerk about extension tubes and I was surprised to hear that he had used them with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 and gotten very good results. So I have something to look forward to. Of course that and a bunch of other stuff that I need to buy in the future. I think I’ll buy the extension tube set next month and then I’ll start saving for a flash.

Hello! If you have been here before you may notice that the site has changed a little. I felt that just a plain gallery isn’t enough anymore so I integrated WordPress blog engine with my site and looks like it works! Most probably I won’t be blogging about my day-to-day adventures in the cubicle jungle. Instead I’ll use this thing to describe a picture or two that I have posted and brag about my photographic equipment purchases. Also now visitors can leave comments which wasn’t previously possible. Enjoy ;)