Author: Gabriel Biderman

Macro

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narcissus 3 narcissus 2 narcissus 1

I’m not a flower guy.
I just wanted to get that out of the way first!

Friday afternoons I get off work at 1pm. Do I go to the Armory Show to get inspired by amazing photos or do I go home to create some? Well, a good friend and fellow photographer, Andre Costantini (who works for Tamron), just happened to stop by. He lent me one of the best macro lenses ever made – Tamron Telephoto SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Autofocus Lens.

When I got home, the diffused light in the house was looking good. The paper whites, or narcissus, that Nancy always plants at the beginning of the year were in full bloom. It was settled – Macro assignment!

I’ve always liked macro photography and all of those digital ‘point and shoot’ cameras do a damn good job with that little flower icon feature. However, nothing beats a dedicated macro lens on an SLR camera! With a macro lens you get a 1:1 ratio, or lifesize reproduction, of your subject matter. You can move in super close to your subject and really select your focus. I chose to compress the depth of field and limit my focus from 1-2 mm.

I love how the green stem in the distance of the first image becomes so delicate. I shot for over an hour, with the slightest adjustments in focus, producing totally different images. The Tamron Macro Lens really was a joy to work with and a whole new way to interpret the world. I’m gonna have to think really hard about giving it back to Andre!

Wait a minute, maybe I am a flower guy after all.

dang!

Lensbaby Baby

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ollie closed ollie open

Which baby do you like?

This is my little nephew, Ollie. I took these pictures on a recent trip to San Francisco. It was a week before his 1st Birthday and we had some serious guy bonding to catch up on. Lucky for me, Ollie likes cameras. He was very intrigued, as most people are, when I put the Lensbaby 3G on my Nikon D2Xs camera and moved in close. For those of you not familiar with what a Lensbaby is and does, it is pretty simple. A Lensbaby is a specialized lens that you can buy for any SLR camera, cameras that have interchangeable lenses, and it creates a sweet spot while defocusing the surrounding area. Lenbabies can add a very dreamlike quality to your images, and can be very addictive, as they open new doors of creativity…new ways of seeing. As a photographer, I can definitely appreciate that.

So my question to you readers is which picture do you like best:
Ollie eyes closed? As we try to figure out his thoughts and dreams…or
Ollie eyes open? The recognition of something/someone familiar…

Photo of the Week (Feb 18-24)

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frozen hudsonWelcome to Gabe’s first Photo of the Week! The parameters of the POTW are that the image must have been taken or processed in the last week. Sunday will be the post day so that all you people stuck in cubicles will have something new and fresh to look at as you sip your coffee and eat your bagel.
This shot is an 8 second exposure of the frozen Hudson River taken from the Rhinecliff dock. Yes, that barge was stuck in the river for at least 14+ hours and yes, the sound of crunching and moaning river ice is cool.