Recently in Lensbaby Category

This marks the transition between old and new. Photos prior to this date were part of my old photoblog, photo.saroy.net. Photos after this date belong to salcantay.net. That's not to say that there's any particular difference between the two. Only that they belong to a different site that I made after a long hiatus. Read into that what you will.

We got taken for a ride at the Astros game last night. We were winning. Then losing. Then tied. Then losing. Then we lost. Sigh.

I bought this gargoyle years ago at the arts festival held each year in the park behind my parents' house in Charlotte. I believe I was a freshman or sophomore in high school at the time, and I loved his squinty eyes and the way his tongue stuck out. It encapsulated some of my feelings about life at the time. "Blehhh!"

I've carried this little guy with me though six years of postsecondary education and beyond. These days he sits on top of my TV. When I'm feeling down or grumpy, I look at his little face. "Blehhh!" he says. And I smile.

I'm currently single but I don't let it get me down. This year for Valentine's Day I bought myself flowers. They lasted for a couple lovely weeks. This shot isn't fantastic (the whites are blown out) and you can see that the blooms are starting to wither, but I like it anyway.

I've shot my Chinese lantern previously, but tried it again with my new Lensbaby. I used the f/5.6 ring this time, and focusing was easier than with the f/2.8 I used for yesterday's shot.

I have a few more shots from the auto show to post in the near future, but this morning I received the used Lensbaby I bought last week. It's a really intriguing little thing and I like the effect it produces, but getting the technique down is going to take a little practice.

By the time I got home from work and could put it on my camera, it was extremely overcast, foggy, and getting dark quickly, so I was forced to shoot in the relatively dim light of my apartment with the f/2.8 ring in the lens. It was hard to get exactly focused on anything, and the effect is pretty soft, as you can see (and as advertised). I haven't yet tried the other rings -- f/4, 5.6, and 8 -- and expect the focus with those to be progressively sharper, and the distortion more striking. Anyway, here's a first try.

This self-portrait was taken in my bathroom. I run a lot of local races, and hang the numbers on my wall as motivation.

P.S. I found this cool little Flash tool online, Postcard Viewer, and used it to make a page of my favorites from my five months (so far) as a photoblogger.