The new Voigtlander 12mm Ultra-wide Heliar lens I had ordered arrived today for my Leica M9.  It is the widest full-frame lens in the world.  I couldn't resist trying it out.  121° angle of view with almost no distortion -- exceptional.

Originally, this was the only shot I planned to do for the blog today, but it suggested an optical theme so I added ...

...this shot of a telescope with some financial props to add an extra concept.  I also did the telescope alone.

Next I moved on to a magnifying glass with a further theme of stamp collecting.

And finally, I did this closeup of the lens on an antique microscope.  One of the ancillary benefits of this project is how  planning to do only one photo a day can blossom into a number of conceptual variations. 

I'm tired of the snow and wanted to do something completely different.  So I picked up my Leica M9 with the 90mm Macro-Elmar on it and set about doing some still life images of antique cutlery.

Working with the Leica is always a pleasure in post-processing because the lenses are blazingly sharp, and it is nice to see the fine detail in a subject like this.

I also add some selective focus shots because the out-of-focus areas work well for designers who want to add type or a product over the image.

...and it snowed again in New York.  This time it was a heavy storm.  We had to cancel the shoot planned for today.  So I picked up my Nikon D700, put the 80-400mm Nikkor zoom on it, and walked around the city for a few hours.

The snow was sticking to everything, which made it easier to grab graphic images like this one and the one below.

I also looked for "inclement weather" concepts.

It's snowing again.  Went out with my camera and found this little guy trying to eke out a living for himself in the cold -- probably was a stock photographer in another life.

Our studio work flow today called for shooting stock photos of ice cream all day.  This is a very time consuming process for the stylist, which leaves me with a lot of extra time.  On days like this, I usually set up another still life project in the studio and work on it while the stylist is prepping the ice cream.  Because this series is within our normal work flow I am not including these images as part of the blog project.  I only include extra images -- those that are not my our normal work flow -- in the blog.

So for the blog project I did some shots of soap bubbles in between the ice cream takes.  Here are a few images from that series.

  

Usually, soap bubble shots are done in a very colorful manner, like this.  Although I like this strong, colorful graphic, it is not the most marketable way of treating this subject.

Less colorful shots like this are more marketable because they are more practically applicable to industrial product usage.

Ever feel like this about your stock photo sales?

It's a very cold weekend in New York and I don't feel like going outside to photograph.  Instead I am creating my blog photos in Photoshop from elements I have been collecting.  This image is a composite of a sky I did last summer, a TV screen/monitor I did around the same time, and a world map I drew and digitized several years ago.  I keep the elements in a computer folder I call, "visual props".  I work with it whenever I have nothing else to do.  So here you are -- another version of cloud computing and global connectivity.

Today I put together another combination image using the sky shot from the blog post of December 29th.

Canon has a 60mm MP-E Macro f/2.8 lens that is really more than we normally think of as a "macro" photography lens.  It starts where other macros leave off at reproduction range of 1:1, and it extends out to 5:1, which is five times life size.  This is more akin to a low power microscope lens.  On an APS sensor the magnification is magnified 1.5 times more for a range of 1.5x to 7.5x.  The photo of a pill capsule above was done with a standard 50mm macro to show you where I started.

Here is the same situation as above but done with the Canon 65mm Macro lens set at 1.5x.

  

A typewriter key of a dollar sign at about 3x magnification with the Canon MP-E 65mm Macro and a Canon 550D (Rebel T2i).  The image below  has the same technical data as this one.

  

I do a lot of extreme close in macro photography and the Canon 65mm macro is one of a kind, and the main reason I still keep a Canon camera outfit around.  The lens is far easier to use than mounting a lens on a bellows extension, which is the alternative with other camera manufacturers. 

This is one of the reasons I love the Nikon D3s.  When shooting models I like to have them in motion and showing a lot of energy.  This couple was shot in available light with a 105mm lens at f/2.8 for a very shallow depth-of-field.  In a situation like this the models are moving rapidly in and out while they are laughing.  That is a tough situation for a camera to capture, particularly at this close distance and wide open aperture.  The D3s allows me to shoot at 9 frames per second, and with its incredible ability to track focus all the results were tack sharp.

A couple watching TV shot with available light, late in the day so the ambient light would be dark and have a bluish cast.  The TV light was simulated by a direct tungsten lamp with no color correction placed just beneath the lens.  I balanced the light close to the tungsten to achieve the blue shadows from the daylight.   I wanted the models to appear active, involved, and animated.

Shot with a 50mm lens at f/1.4 for selective focus to keep the top half of the image very soft and light.  An area like this is perfect for a designer to later put type.

I wanted to set up a situation of tension where both the viewer and the model know something is about to happen and are caught up in the anticipation of the outcome.

Here the question is about what will happen when the clock hits 5:00.  Will the worker be relieved because it is quitting time, or will she have to continue her work over-time?  Photographed with a ring light to give a hard graphic look.

The models eyes are riveted to the match.  It is decision time.  Will she ignite the full pack of matches and cause havoc, or won't she.  Shot with a 105mm Nikkor lens wide open for selective focus.  Even out-of-focus, the models eyes and their proximity to the lit match tell the story.

In my post of December 29th I mentioned that I would use this sky that I took from the plane window to make a conceptual image.  Well, here it is in its first variation  -- "cloud computing".

I decided to take a break from shooting and create an image in Photoshop.

Mid-January in New York and wishing I were on a warm island in the Caribbean.  Photographed using back-lit window light, a Nikon D700 with 60mm macro at f/2.8 for shallow depth of field.  

I have been noticing how the faces of people are lit up at night with a bluish glow when they use their cell phones.  To recreate the effect I back-lit the model in my studio with tungsten light.  Christmas tree lights provided the out of focus blurs in the background.  The blue tinted light from the cell phone was created by having an assistant illuminate the models face with an led flashlight.  Nikon D3s at 1250 ISO and a 135 defocus Nikkor lens at f/2 to give the circular bokeh to the background lights.

Let's keep all this just between us.

Sometimes the shot is literally right outside your window.

An extreme close-up of a computer CPU chip.  Shot with a Nikon D3x and a 105mm macro on a Nikon bellows extension.

This close-up of a finger print was done by mounting a microscope lens on a bellows adapter and a Nikon D7000.  I used the D7000 because it has the smaller APS sensor which diminished the vignetting normally caused by a microscope len.

I caught my first cold of the new year today.  It inspired me to do this shot.

We packed up the studio Christmas tree today and put away the ornaments.

My wife loves hearts and cooking so I made her a 2011 calendar today that incorporates these subjects as a theme.  In the process I picked up a dozen new stock images.  Here is a brief sampling.

The bottom of the world.

These are actual tools from my toolbox.  They have a nice worn patina that I wanted to preserve so I shot them in a stark, simple light that enhances the details.

 

When it started to snow today I planned on going to Times Square at dusk to grab a shot of the falling snow with the city lights.  The snow stopped falling and started to melt so I went to the park instead where I did these macro studies of melting snow.

Both shots were done with the Nikon D7000 and the Nikkor 60mm macro.  I chose the D7000 because I wanted a longer focal length and my 105mm macro is at the studio.  On the D7000 DX format the 60mm lens is equivalent to 90mm on FX,