Andriy Zolotoiy Photography Blog

Occasional writings from Toronto photographer

Archive for July, 2011

Jul-28-2011

Expressions

I find it fun to randomly look at these. They cause some emotions, I’m just not sure which ones.

20090402_ContactSheet

Posted under portrait photography
Jul-28-2011

Nikon 70-300mm AF-S VR F4.5-5.6 for portraits

While some might say that this lens is no good for portraiture I will disagree. Certainly, it’s not razor sharp as 70-200 VR2 but you can still get good subject isolation at f/5.6 and pretty decent sharpness.

Jaynee N McKenzie

Jaynee N McKenzie

The lens is flare resistant, shooting against setting sun didn’t cause any issues.

Jaynee N McKenzie

Posted under gear review, portrait photography
Jul-26-2011

Nikon D700 sync speed override

There is an option in D700 (and many other Nikon cameras) to set flash sync speed to 1/320 sec. While originally intended to be used with built-in flash it works for me with Alien Bees / Einstein and Cybersync triggers. Getting to 1/320 sec. allows to cut significant portion of bright daylight without closing aperture too much. While I was shooting outside under midday sun I could still see a little bit of darkening beside one edge of the frame but nothing too serious to even crop it. I’ll try this next time with D300 and see if APS-C size sensor makes any difference.

Posted under gear review, photography
Jul-24-2011

New website design

I’ve updated main website and this blog color scheme and made some small changes in the layout. Up until now I’ve had black and dark gray color schemes which seemed good at the time but eventually I got tired of them therefore goes white. Photographers’ portfolios are usually restricted to only neutral backgrounds that do not interfere with image viewing. Some say that black is the best background as it helps image to stand out, some say it’s white since everything looks cleaner. Anyways, change is always good.

And to wrap it up, the shot of beautiful Mina. Used SB600 with umbrella to balance daylight from the window.

mina_20110705_122755_3258

Posted under photography, website
Jul-12-2011

300 emails in one day and counting

That’s what happens when one single picture gets onto Flickr Explore. Suddenly bunch of dormant photos that’s been there for months or even years get a lot of attention. That’s Internet fame, read all emails and accept  good wishes.

Posted under personal work, portrait photography
Jul-1-2011

Happy Canada Day!

And Stop the Seal Hunt! This photo is couple of years old, I stumbled upon it accidentally when going though archives. Anyways, the cause is right, kudos to Healing Heart Designs for making amazing dress for the campaign.

Stop Seal Hunt

Posted under fashion photography