www.slo-foto.net fashion photo workshop

The workshop took place on a sunny day on may 13th 2006. We had 7 models and two sports cars. The practical part (shooting) was in Metelkova mesto, a place for alternative culture, art and music. There are many interesting places to shoot, endless walls of graffiti, staircases and sculptures. I'm going to show you a few of my photos (again I didn't take that many shots, since I coordinated the workshop and assisted photographers by holding reflectors). I wanted to put a link to the workshop coverage on www.slo-foto.net, but unfortunately all the photos were hosted on shrani.si, which deletes the photos after a few months (only text is left...).

On this image, behind/below the sexy model, you can see a Porsche Boxter S (a part of it really), which is no ordinary Boxter S. The owner RSR motorsport exchanged the engine with Porsche's 911 and tuned it up to 367 horsepower (over 100 more then the stock Boxter S), suspension and rims were changed and carbon body kit was added. Unfortunately I didn't take pics of the cars (there was a turbo charged 315 horsepower Audi TT roadster as well), since other photographers did. As mentioned before I can't link it to the workshop coverage, since the photos was deleted from webhosting site shrani.si.





. ... . . . Fetish?

3rd session with Tisa

That's the third session with my favourite model. We've had 5 so far and she was a model on a portrait workshop that we organized on slo-foto, but I didn't take many photos with her since I was one of the project managers (I was too busy with other things). We've waited for a long time, for this session, since the winter was so long, so we had this session on 22nd april 2006. I could say this was a breakthrough session, she's an excellent model since then, I always get many good photos (for my level, ofcourse) when shooting with her, many more then with most of the other girls.

This one was on the cover of ONA magazine:

Having fun with Sigma 8 mm f3.5 EX DG Circular Fisheye

Last week I had this lens for a test, so I had some fun with it. I took a few funny portraits of my friends. I'm going to get it back soon, together with Canon 1Ds, so I'll do serious tests later. I'm not sure how serious, because I'm not sure what you can shoot besides photos of skateboarders and funny portraits, which I already did. I heard it's also usable for astrophotography and for paragliders (if they shoot during the flight, they really get everything in the picture). And ofcourse for panoramas.

All the photos are taken in a bar at ISO 400-1250 (800 pushed for 2/3 stops):




Shot wide open at f3,5 and ISO 1250 (800+2/3 stops in Rawshooter). As you can see, sharpness in the center is excellent.

My last session

I had my last real session almost 2 months ago. I was shooting together with my boy Matjaž aka Matias. He's a photoreporter and a semi-pro fashion and portrait photographer, you can see his works on billboards all over his hometown Celje. We were supposed to have two models, Andreja and another girl. At the end only Andreja came, because the second model had a mood swing, and changed her mind right before the session. Working in pair with one model sucks, but we still managed to get a few good photos from this session. I've decided to keep my future posts short&sweet (my previous were way too long for most of the visitors of my blog), so I'll get right to the photos.




This one is going to be on the cover of ONA magazine in january.



Here's the link to the photos taken by Matjaž aka Matias

Sigma AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro Review

In this post I'm going to write down my thoughts and experiences with this lens. I was testing it for around ten days. That's supposed to be enough to get it all done - but I had 4 more Sigma's to test at the same time (70 2.8 Macro, 10-20 f4-5.6, 18-200 f3.5-6.3 and 50-150 2.8 - review already posted a few days ago), besides that weather was really bad most of the time, either cloudy or it was raining. So it was a full time job. But I enjoyed it, while it was exhausting walking around with two full photo bags (I had two bodies, since 70 2.8 had Nikon mount).


Ok let's get to the lens itself. Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 DC MACRO is in a pretty busy segment. It has a lot of competition, because it's the type of lens that everybody needs on an APS-C camera. That's why it was also highly anticipated, after it was announced. It's a DC (Digital Camera) lens specifically designed for the reduced image circle of today's APS-C DSLRs where its field of view is equivalent to 27-112mm on classic full frame SLRs. The lens is available in Canon EOS, Nikon and native Sigma mount. I tested it on Canon EOS 400D. The optical construction is made of 15 elements in 12 groups with 2 aspherical and one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) element. The aperture mechanism features 7 aperture blades. The minimal focus distance of 20 cm resulting in a maximum magnification of 1:2.3. The Sigma has no floating elements for close focus correction so don't expect wonders at extreme close focus settings. The lens extends significantly during zooming reaching its maximum length at 70mm. It measures 82.5 in lenght and 79 in diameter. It weights 455 g. Built quality is good, not like EX class, but better then most (or even all)of kit lenses. It features a standard micro AF motor, which is not that slower than HSM AF motor (it's surprisingly fast, at least at the center AF point), but it is noisier (but not to the extend to be annoying). Focus accuracy is good too. The front element does not rotate so using a polarizer remains easily possible. Filter size is 72 mm. A petal shaped hood is part of the package.

Sharpness is very good in the 17-50 mm range, when stopped down (1 stop or more) , average at 70 mm (even stopped down, it doesn't get much batter). The distortions are average, it suffers from barrel distortion at 17mm, it's quite pronounced. Vignetting is visible also at 17 mm at f2.8. Stopping down 1-2 stops helps to reduce vignetting down to a normal degree (making it hard to spot). I could say the same about CA.

Let's get to the test shots. Unfortunatelly all the photos were taken at ISO 400 (except for CA test), the light condiotions were really bad (I mentioned it before). I've added two crops under each photo. All the shots were taken at 70 mm. As you can see, sharpness is below average. I accidently erased shots taken at 17/24/35/50 mm, they were all better regarding sharpness. Please take this into account because this lens is pretty sharp in 17-50 mm range if stopped down for 1 stop and very sharp if stopped down 2-3 stops.

F4.5, 1/400, ISO 400




F5.6, 1/250, ISO 400




F8, 1/125, ISO 400





All the images below were taken at 17 mm at f2.8-f8(the first sample at f4) from top (f2.8) to the bottom (f8) . Crops show sharpness at various aperture settings, CA is visible on the first crop, on the others you can barely spot it or you even can't spot it.








In this standard CA test Sigma 17-70 performed excellent. I've posted a sample on which CA is most visible, on the other shots I didn't spot it.

F3.2, 1/640, 23 mm, ISO 100


Macro sample (there's a watermark with a www.slo-foto.net sign, don't be alert, I'm the author of the photo as well as author of the text - here's link to the review in slovenian http://www.slo-foto.net/reviews-120-page3.html )

F5, 1/80, 40 mm, ISO 400


Pros:
-sharpness when stopped down a bit (1 stop or more)
-almost no CA
-price
-built quality (at that price)
-fast AF (for a non HSM lens)
-large aperture (at least at the wide end)
-min. focus distance

Cons:
-sharpness wide open
-vignetting wide open
-sharpness at 70 mm at any aperture

What equipment do I use?

This is a valid question, that might be going through your mind. Ofcourse, I'm a photographer, I can't do nothing without my equipment. Ok, let's start with what I own:
-Canon EOS 350D body
-Canon EF-S 18-55 f3.5-5.6 (kit lens)-I use it only when it's necessary, on events, where you need a wideangle zoom lens
-Canon EF 75-300 USM - I'm not using it anymore, it's a "dust collector". I went to the ZOO in the spring a few times, but I almost exclusively used Canon EF 85 1.8 for taking photos of big cats. Quality of the 85 is just so much better, you can do Min Dof portraits with it and most importantly, you really get in touch with these majestic creatures (1 or 1,5 away is really close;))
-Canon EF 50 1.8 - I use it only when, 85 1.8 is too long. Not that it's not good, I used it all the time for portraits etc, untill I bought the 85 1.8. Which is so much better regarding sharpness wide open (from f2.8 there's not a lot of a difference, they're both very sharp, 85 is a bit better), colours and contrast is much better and AF is better with 85 1.8 (faster, silent, doesn't miss and works excellent in low light conditions). But 50 1.8 is still by far the best value lens out of all, not just Canon's. It cost around 80 euros, for that money I don't think you can even get a lens. And this one is sharper then 99% of the zooms, I don't then there is a zoom that can beat it in sharpness, it can only get equal (at least in the range I use it mostly, that is f2.8-f3.5).
-Canon EF 85 1.8 - Now that's a gem! It's on my camera 90% of the time. I use it whenever it's possible. Sharp, fast and has nice saturated colours (those things are most important to me). Built is very good too, not like an L class, but as good as it gets for a non L lens (and built is not that important to me, since I'm not a reporter). It's size and weight are perfect for handling, filter size is 58 mm (they're cheap). I used it on FF a few times, it performes well, no visible sharpness drop on the borders etc.
-battery grip BG-E3
-Canon EX 430 flash unit

Now let's get to the equipment that I use, but not own. I wanted to dedicate a few posts just to describe the cameras that I use, but I won't bore you with that (i'm gonna keep it short). The second reason for not doing so is, that I want to use the photos with them for other posts (about models, friends etc), I don't want to post the same photo twice. So let's get to the cameras that I used. It's really the complete Canon DSLR lineup from EOS 10D on (over 3,5 years old, so it was on the shelves before I even begain doing what I do). I didn't take many photos with it, just tested a couple of lenses on it. There's really nothing much to say about it, it's pretty old (ofcourse it still can make excellent photos, the photographer is usually more important then equipment anyway). Body design is my favourite, if it has a battery grip on, it's almost perfect, better than Canon's 1 pro series (they're too heavy). And better then it's successors, 20&30D. I used Canon 1D for about ten days, had a session with it and did some testing. Body is the same as all the newer models (1D mkII and 1D mkII N). When you look at the picture, it's obvious that the sensor is way out of date, the dynamic range is not even close to newer models (I compared it with my 350D at that time), noise is also higher. AF speed and built are ofcourse pro grade, but I don't need fast AF since I do portrait photograhy, so that's not a big plus for me. I'd never change it for my 350D (if I'd have to keep it) although it's still worth more. Then I tested it's succesor 1D mkII. The same body and AF, but a new sensor - it makes a whole lot of difference. Not just because the pixel count is doubled (8 mpix), but more importantly (for me) it had much better dynamic range and lower noise. Controls, battery and everything else is the same, I also tested it as 1D. 5D is the next worth mentioning, it was the first affordable (Ok I'm not super about that) Full frame DSLR. The body is sligtly better then 20D's (30D wasn't available at that time), controls are the same. Image quality is excellent (Canon users are used to that) and it still has the lower noise levels of ALL DLSRs on the market. ISO 1600 is just awesome, comparable to ISO 800 on 350D (and 350D is a good performer regarding noise). Ufff, you're probably bored by now if you're still reading (I really intended, to keep it shorter). The next was the top of the line 1 Ds mkII, not much too say excepet that it's a beast. 17 mpix, pro body and AF (same as 1D's). But I'd still go for 5D, which is worse if you look at the specifications, but its lighter, not that bulky, controls are easier to use (on 1 series you always have to hold a button and scroll the wheel, or push 3 instead of 2 on 5D or 10/20/30D). This finger gymnastics really bother me, it means slower, instead of faster control, which pro's need (series 1 is made for pros). Pros will object to that, saying the controls are excellent once you get to used to it (I did and I still don't like 'em), that you can't erase anything by mistake etc. The last from the Canon line is the 300D, which is pretty old, but can still produce great pics. Dynamic range is a bit better on 350/400D, noise is a bit higher on 300D, 6 mpix is still enough if you don't crop (too much, it depends on the size of the print). What really bothers me is the slow processing.

I did make a few shots with Nikon (D70, D2X, D200) and Olympus DSLR Cameras (E-1, E-330, E-500), but not enough to give a constructive opinion. Out of these I'd point out Nikon D70 which is still a nice camera to use (although it already has 2 successors) and D200 with it's big viewfinder, good low light focusing and it felt great in my hand.

But I really think that a good lens effects the quality of the photo, the end result, much more than the body. At least if your're shooting portraits etc, more or less static objects, where's no need for fast AF.

I won't write about which lenses I using in this post, I'll put interesting ones (and those that I have long enought to do a complete test) in new posts. You can already read a review of Sigma 50-150 2.8 EX.

My magazine covers

In this post I'm presenting you my magazine covers. There aren't many since I've began submitting my photos to Ona and Polet magazines at the beginning of last summer. And because other magazines in Slovenia don't buy photographs for magazine covers from freelance photographers (they all employ their own). Anyway, I hope there will be many more in the future.


Click on the image to enlarge