I've begun consolidating this blog with my Smugmug site. The old hampsonphoto.blogspot.com address will now forward you to blog.michaelhampson.com, and I'll be working on integrating the two more tightly over the next few days.
This is pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to having my own personal gallery.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Norway maple
Originally uploaded by mehampson
Another Helios-44-2 photo. Note the smooth, swirly bokeh and great color.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Japanese maple
Originally uploaded by mehampson
Shot with an old Soviet Helios-44-2, a clone of the Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2 lens. I'll write more about this interesting little lens this week.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Some backbone
Originally uploaded by mehampson
One small problem I have with studio macros like this is the lack of a good background. My blue-grey wall provides pretty boring bokeh... So while taking some shots of this capelin spine, I came across a new technique that shows great promise for providing interesting, well-blurred backgrounds: I took a large book with a good cover illustration, placed it behind the subject, and, magically, interesting bokeh.
Cheating perhaps. But much better than the wall.