Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

And I just can’t sleep.  I am head over heels in love with my Zeiss.  Been shooting a variety of things to get used to it and it is just amazing.  The performance on my D700 has been flawless and I am now saving to revise my entire line of lenses.  I plan to get the Zeiss 18, (have the 35), 50, 85 and 100 and do away with everything else I have.  All that will be left to buy is the ever so elusive D700x or D700s, then my dreams will be complete!

But I digress.

So, for some samples of my Zeiss shots to date, have a look at what I have been posting on my Flickr stream.  Trying to capture color, depth and detail with the different exposures here. There is much more to come, but this is a teaser sample:

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

And one last one in HDR:

Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2

85mm Cream Machine

I usually have something technical to say about my shots.  This isn’t one of those times.  It’s my 85mm f.1,8 on full manual (including focus) while laying on my back by the lake.  I’ll let the creamy colors say the rest!

Sailboat in the Fog

Getting up at the crack of dawn is an monumental feat for me.  The snooze alarm is my worst enemy in photography.  But actually taking that extra effort to roll out of bed (and stop dreaming of the D700x) can really pay off.

The shot above was taken just before 5:00am – about 10 minutes before sunrise.  Some refer to this as the “blue hour” as everything seems to turn a shade of blue.  Though, yesterday, it had more of a purple glow to it.  There are no color enhancements here and this is pretty close to how it was seen with my eye.  The blue hour is a very unique time of day – just like the warm glow of dusk that tends to be in shades of yellows and oranges.  But you need to drag your rear out of bed to catch it.

This shot had the added benefit of a beautiful fog lifting from the lake – very thick on the water, but thin enough to let some of the sky color in.  So, with this successful shot, I will try to get up early, more often.