50mm Prime – Page 3 – Ryan Voigtman

18Mar 2017 by Ryan 1 Comment

Exploring Whiskeytown: Shasta Mine Loop Trail

I hiked Shasta Mine Loop Trail on February 24th, 2017. I had wanted to do this trail the last time I was out at Whiskeytown but the road was closed due to a storm that had passed through. At tis time everything was still quite soaked and saturated I knew this trail was mostly on the side of a mountain so I was hoping that the water would have drained off the trail for the most part. But that not how it went, I started at one entrance to the loop, and walked in about 1 1/4 miles until I reached a part of the path that was totally flooded. The water was about 5 inches deep, and stretched around the corner. Now I don't mind crossing a bit of…

16Mar 2017 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown: Oak Bottom Trail

Art, Series and Works

On February 10th, 2017 I went out to Whiskeytown to hike the Mount Shasta Mine Loop Trail, but a storm earlier in the week caused several rock slides to block the main road in Whiskeytown Recreation Area. So instead I went over and walked the Oak Bottom Trail, at least until the trail was flooded out. I also ended up going to my most photographed waterfall at Whiskeytown, Crystal Creek Falls. It was an overcast day, and seemed like it could have rain, but didn't while I was out. I went Panorama crazy with this set, and there are five panoramas with only three single frame shots. The vertical panorama of the tree is the one with the most images (23 frames), The Panorama of Crystal Creek Falls is the…

13Mar 2017 by Ryan No Comments

Exploring Whiskeytown: El Dorado Mine

Art, Series and Works

Now that the weather is getting nice, I've started to go on hikes, and walkabouts again. Mostly at Whiskeytown Recreation Area. I actually have some catching up to do on blog posts, so the photos here were shot on February 2nd. The weather was full overcast, with a very light drizzle that day. I actually went out to Crystal Creek falls that day as well, but I feel like the visit to the El Dorado Mine was the more productive of the two. I've photographed here many times before, but rarely was happy with the outcomes. This time I feel like the resulting photos are worthwhile. I was also offered the chance to review Sleeklens Landscape Adventure Collection, that review will be coming in a week or so. Most of…

08Sep 2015 by Ryan 1 Comment

Hiking in Lassen; Chaos Crags

Series and Works

Last week I hiked part of the Chaos Crags trail in Lassen, the trail follows Manzanita Creek at the start and then winds through the forest. At the end of the trail you have a good view of Chaos Crags, and possible a seasonal lake. My hiking partner wimped out about halfway down the trail after a really long day so we just turned around. Here are some of the photographs leading up to that point, and a Panorama Sphere of the turn around point. [caption id="attachment_160" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] A Panorama from the trail.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_159" align="aligncenter" width="666"] Some moss covered trees[/caption] [sphere 161] We parked next to the Loomis Museum and started from there and while messing around I made a quick panorama of the museum. The museum was built…

01Sep 2015 by Ryan No Comments

More Waterballoons Photographs

Series and Works

I have continued to experiment with some Waterballoon Photography, I've gotten to the point where most of the waterballoons I can capture an image of, and only occasionally will the Flash not fire. I believe that happens when there is not enough air inside of the balloon to create a pop sound. I also decided to photograph some on a solid black background, mostly just to see how much detail I am able to capture. I've also been thinking about what a series using this technique would look like and I have a few ideas that I'm hoping to explore soon. Photographing waterballoons is fun to do, but I don't find the resulting photographs particularly interesting past the initial wow factor anyways. The Textured background makes them more interesting to me…

21Aug 2015 by Ryan No Comments

Waterballoon Photography

Series and Works

I recently purchased a TriggerTrap Flash Adapter. I was intrigued after reading about a few articles that mentioned using a long camera exposure and then a flash to create the image. That and I also just like gadgets especially when they can connect to my camera. I have a Book project in mind for a larger body of work that has to do with creating an image from a Flash. But the first 10 or so water-balloons came out as the following, minus the failed attempts. These Photographs are all around a 10 second exposure, and taken outside at night. 100 iso, f/11, and the flash units turned down to the lowest setting. I'm not sure on the Textured background, but I wanted to try it. I'll have to view…

18Aug 2015 by Ryan No Comments

Hiking in Lassen; Sifford Lakes Trail

Series and Works

Recently I hiked the Sifford Lakes trail for the first time... I'm not really sure why I've never done this trail before, because there are some stunning locations on the trail. Sifford Lakes is a grouping of around 6 to 8 small lakes, some of them do dry up during the summer months. We could see where there should have been two more lakes. Because the lakes are relatively small and exposed to the sun they make for relatively good swimming. I stopped for a swim on the way back in one of the first lakes that you reach. There is also a offshoot path that goes out to some crags that have a great view of the Warner Valley, and the Devils Kitchen geothermal area. This was our chosen…

29Jul 2015 by Ryan No Comments

New Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens

Series and Works

I recently purchased a new lens, I've been considering purchasing a 50mm Prime lens for years now, but was never thrilled by the plastic lens mount and the 5 blade aperture of Canon's old 1.8 lens. When Canon released their new f/1.8 in early May, I followed the news and waited for the reviews. Having heard nothing bad about the lens I decided to just go for it. The Speed of this Lens is great, I'm shooting on an older cropped Canon body so the actual focus length is around 80-85. The Stepping Motor is quick to focus and near silent. The only drawback of the Stepping Motor is that it seems tricky to manual focus because there is a slight delay between when the focus responds. But Auto Focus…