Different view point

Canon 6D with 85mm

selfie stick with smartphone

I've been meaning to do a comparison of DSLR Vs selfie stick photos for some time. It seems that selfie sticks became the norm for couples and travelers but can photos taken by them be as good as a DSLR?  When I saw Christine taking a photo by the Main river in Frankfurt I thought it would be a good opportunity to find out.

A full frame camera and small tele lens is bound to have a bit better background separation and blurry bokeh even when stopped down on a bright sunny day. In both pictures the sky is blown as shooting towards the sun. In general the DSLR probably is sharper and looks better to my eyes but I wonder if I keep doing selfie comparisons, will any particular situation favour the selfie... To be continued!

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Peedy

I have passed Peedy a number of times going in opposite directions but he always seemed busy so I didn't want to disturb him. It's no wonder, I found out he is a personal trainer and is a push up monster. Luckily, he was walking on Tuesday so I got to have a short chat and take some photos.

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Nilu - like all dogs makes for a difficult model as dogs never keep still and it's really easy for their long noses to distract your camera's AF points and put the eyes out of focus. One or two shots focused on a dog's nostrils is ok but not when you want to nail it right on the eyes and capture their emotions.

I have my camera set to switch to one point AF on the central focus point and go for servo focus to get the focus where I want it and adjust to small movements. It might help to say "sausages" too but results are inconclusive.

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A beautiful day for being out in the sunshine

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Sometimes I struggle to find someone to take a photo of. One day I might feel less confident, other days I can't find the person who is close enough to the image I have in my head, and sometimes a person walks past and it takes a couple of seconds before I realised I actually did want to ask if I could take that person's photo, but by then the moment is gone...

Banking style

But when I see someone this sharply dressed, there's no hesitation! The only downside being after taking a photo of somebody this stylish, I look at what I'm wearing and cry inside.

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Maria Anna

This morning I found the perfect spot in town where the sun rises between two tall buildings and is reflected in the windows of another. This creates a massive natural golden urban reflector at just the right height for only 5 minutes before the sun is too high. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone suitable for a photo before the light had gone. I was just about to head off feeling cold and disappointed when I noticed Maria Anna was walking just behind me so even though I had lost the perfect moment, I decided to ask if I could take her photo. Well, at least, I tried to ask but she didn't understand what I was saying as she only spoke Russian. After some poor attempts at communication, she graciously let me take her photo. It was only then I realised walking round in the cold without gloves didn't help with keeping a camera steady. Luckily, after taking a couple of photos I asked if I could take one more, and this one (above) wasn't a blurry mess! I guess the moral of the story is never give up and don't dwell on missed opportunities... But always wrap up warm.

Little red rooster

Onibi

Fires are set by local communities and families who work on the rice fields in the hope of a good harvest for the coming year. They stack up large bamboo bonfires for a few days before lighting them and roasting sweet potato, rice mochi and drinking hot drinks or beer in the cold winter air to keep warm.

Vaping

Portrait-ified

http://www.v-d-blokk.de

Was lucky to go to an indoor Christmas market this weekend and get a quick family portrait done which is really cool and unique by V.D. Blokk.

The artist at work! 

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Magnetic personality

Mike was fishing in the Main river but unlike everybody else he was hauling out metal with thick type instead of fish. This time, he'd caught a rusty bicycle, an empty safe and a skateboard. He said he'd caught hand grenades and other weapons from world war two in the past so I was glad there wasn't any explosives when I took his photo!

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Frank

Bon Odori

A group of Japanese dancers with taiko drum performing various regional Bon odori festival dances in the middle of Frankfurt today. The drum beat and atmosphere took me back!

Between takes

There was loud music playing somewhere near my place this evening so went to have a look what was going on. A crew of Harley Davidson bikes, black Benz's and entourage of muscle men were making a music video. They had two camera men, a drone, a crowd of onlookers and some perplexed residents who were not able to get past the spectacle for 20 minutes or so. They must be pretty famous and important as the police came... Then went with a smile. Although they were against people taking photo or video I got this shot during a quiet moment. If only I knew who they were... 

Ring of fire

The bee's knees

It's been a while since I got my macro lens out. A  dark rainy day and nothing much to do was a perfect recipe for testing out bouncing on camera flash off a white umbrella (regular one, not photographic). 

what are you looking at?

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Amin and a profiterole tower

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Does anybody like good music?

Soul music