December 31 2010 - Photo Jottings

December 31 2010

12/31/10

While I was busy bad-mouthing the Sony A33, I forgot to mention I made some money off it before I sent it back!

A Realtor called me one day last month and asked if I could get a good shot of an empty lot that was up for sale.  It just so happened that It was a week-end, I had the A33 with me, and I was close to that location, so I drove over to check the lot out.  It was mostly cloudy, but I figured I’d give it a try.  As I walked the lot, I quickly came to the conclusion the lot itself was nothing to look at, and very steep with almost no vegetation.  There was no value in photographing an ugly lot, so I decided on another angle.  About that time there was a break in the clouds, allowing the sun to shine through, which was just before sunset.  I started shooting, and decided on a panorama of the Santa Catalina Mountain range as viewed from the potential house site.  A minute later the sun was gone, and the shot below was the only one that had any “pop” in my opinion.

The Realtor thought the picture was great, which is the most important thing.  I charged $125 for the panorama image and another unrelated business shot.  The full size image shows some problems with the in-camera pan stitching, and some softness from the sides of where each individual shot would be, most likely caused from the CZ 16-80mm being used at 80mm and all the way open at F/4.5.  I think the picture looks good when viewed small, but it wouldn’t pass my standards if enlarged.  Next time I’ll do the pan stitching manually, and take a tripod.  This image shows none of the color fringing issue I talked about here, but I would still rather use the A700/A900 for all paying work.

December2010/OVpanhp2.jpg
Click for larger version
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