men at work

men at work, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

so i was going to blog something christmas-y... but then i realized christmas was yesterday... boo.

anyway, these pictures were taken a little more than a week ago when the northeast was hit with a blizzard. i think 20 or so inches fell in baltimore? if im exaggerating, feel free to correct me.

youre looking at the top floor of the lexington market parking garage. picture can be viewed a little bit larger here. notice the two cars stranded on the deck... i wanted to catch the owners reactions but i dont think they even bothered until the next day.

i set my camera on an improvised tripod in my room, manual exposured it without considering the fact that these guys would take a pretty long time... plus they took a lunch break. so, towards the end of the series the pictures were starting to get underexposed so i compensated from the third to last frame on.... everything else was "auto-toned" in lightroom to compensate for the underexposure.

20 exposures taken roughly 20-25 minutes apart (i did this while studying).
iso 100
35mm
f/2.2 (i wouldve stopped way down but theres a screen in front of my window... did my best to get the screen out of focus)
1/4000-1/640s

christmas bokeh

christmas bokeh, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

in the wake of the snowstorm, i thought id make a christmasy post... im just glad that the semester is almost over... its been a rewarding but very draining semester... definitely need a break.

anyway, picture was taken at ricks place during this dinner... bokehed (out of focus) christmas tree lights...

iso 800
50mm
f/1.4
1/80s

apple murder

apple murder, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

an apple was harmed during the making of this photograph. it was delicious.

so i played with the lx3 a little more this weekend. here are some thoughts so far:

likes:
- lens. f/2.0 at 24mm equivalent is great for low light snapshots
- raw. compact that shoots raw. love it.
- macro. the macro af is quite accurate in my opinion, even in low light. a bit slow, but its tolerable.
- size/build. smaller than any dslr. all metal build is solid
- hotshoe. looks/feels a bit ridiculous with a speedlight attached, but it works.
- image stabilization. it works. shutter speeds of 1/low teens have come out sharp.

dislikes:
- high iso. id only use 800 if i have to. forget about 1600-3200...
- lens cap. attaches to the camera via a loop (provided). takes away from what is, in my opinion, a pretty esthetically pleasing design.
- menu. have to scroll through multiple pages to get to a setting sometimes... or maybe im just missing something.
- size. yeah i know i listed it as a like too, but the lens protrudes a good inch from the rest of the body... and its not quite small enough to be pocketable.

iso 80
12.8mm (60mm equivalent)
f/4.0
1/40s

oh boy...

LX3, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i received a pleasant surprise today... my lx3 arrived from amazon ahead of schedule. ive had my canon sd800 for 3.5 years now and it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of image quality... the 4/3 cameras are still too expensive (and not that pocketable)... the sigma dp1/dp2 is a good idea, but a mess (and again, too expensive). so, ive decided on the lx3. the selling point for me was the 24-60mm 2.0-2.8 leica lens... plus it shoots raw... oh baby.

since im so excited i thought id take an elaborate photo of it. sb600 subject left angled to illuminate the background... "gel"ed using two red tupperware lids. sb800 with softbox below and to the left of subject. highlights painted with led penlight.

iso 100
50mm
f/11
10s

a different view

a different view, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

my dschool peers will probably recognize the landmarks in this picture... albeit from a different perspective. i had a chance to photograph the alumni reunion and awards ceremony back in may... you can see some alumni and their wives from the class of 1959 on the left (bcds wasnt coed yet...). anyway, dean stohler used his special key and let us up on the roof of the school... i got to snap some pictures while we were up there.

unfortunately the final image is 34 megapixels... so flickr has graciously resized for the sake of internet viewing. heres the original if youre curious: click me

five landscape images stitched together in cs4
iso 100
f/11
1/250s

peekaboo

peekaboo, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

i was going to write a long and drawn out post, but i remembered this is a "no frills" photoblog... so, heres my cousins baby daughter the morning of our family reunion in california. very cute, no?

iso 400
50mm
f/1.4
1/60s

SLC airport

SLC airport, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

bonus post! two in one day!

on my way to and from los angeles, my flights stopped in salt lake city. it was my first time at the airport and i must say that the view is breathtaking. if the rest of utah is anything like the view from the airport... wowza.

my d200 was in my carry on and not readily accessible... at least without a lot of digging. so, in the spirit of chase jarvis' book, i took three images with my cameraphone and stitched them together. color correction and vignetting were also added.

three landscape photos taken using my e71 and stitched together.
no iso info available
4.9mm
f/3.2
no exposure info available

cinnamon rollssss

DSC_0002, originally uploaded by maximilian.lin.

as you may or may not know, im not a huge fan of sweets, but last night was quite the exception. i had the pleasure of sharing a meal with some fellow dschool peoples last night. along with a whole slew of cookies, one of the dessert options were cinnamon rolls. delish!

i havent had a chance to shoot much lately... hopefully thatll change. i can already see that im falling behind on the blog :(.

anyways, this is my homework, dan!

iso 800
50mm
f/1.4
1/125s