It was predicted for days and for once, the forecast was almost spot on. While the accumulation didn’t quite meet the 5″–9″ range, there was enough for me to 1. get up early, 2. grab a coffee, 3. secure the camera to a tripod and 4. get outside before the sun rose. I began the shoot with a fixed 28mm lens, and an ISO of 500. Then the coffee kicked in and I came to my senses–sort of and dialed down to a much more reasonable setting of ISO 100. Here’s the first shot:
28mm, f4 @ 1/8, ISO 100, WB Cloudy
The Christmas tree comes down on January 3rd so why not get a picture of it while it’s still in full holiday lights. As many of you will remember, there’s no post-capture editing in my world so I changed to the 80-200 f2.8 zoom to crop out around the tree.
80-200 f2.8 @ 86mm, f2.8 @ 1/3, ISO 100, WB CLoudy
For a cheap thrill, keep the camera/lens on the tripod and blur the focus with the lens at it’s max aperture. The colored circles will amaze and delight your friends and perhaps, even yourself.
200mm, F2.8 @ 1/3, manual focus w/full blur.