The Photographer's Hand

By PF Staff in Influential Photo Gear on Dec 26, 2012

A photo of the Photographer's Hand

When I first thought about what piece of equipment makes the most positive impact on my shooting, I was not sure what piece I should write about. My first digital camera? My first DSLR? My first film camera? Any of my lenses? Something different? And then I realized that what has the highest impact on my photography (and I am sure on everyone else's) is my hand (or everyone else's, respectively). Well, you may be thinking I am being a little impudent right now and that this kind of joke does not belong to a serious competition, and guess what... you may be right. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that it is true. My other equipment is just a pile of plastic, metal and glass and cannot take a single picture without the most important part of the photography: The Photographer's Hand. After all, one of my college teachers, a well recognised professor of archaeology, states that "Any artifact is only an extension of the human body". And I must hand it to him.

Ultra wide DA 15 Limited is a game-changer

By PF Staff in Influential Photo Gear on Dec 25, 2012

The Pentax SMC-DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited has transformed my photographic vision in expected and unexpected ways. I was certain it would be a great lens for landscape work; I was astonished when it revolutionized my street photography. Street photography with the DA 15 is the subject of this article; my second submission is about using the DA 15 for landscapes.

My Most Influential Piece Of Equipment

By PF Staff in Influential Photo Gear on Dec 24, 2012

As a young child, during WWII, I wished I could draw.  I hardly could even write properly.  I was lucky to have access to Life and National Geographic Magazine.   Dr. Gilbert H. Grosvenor, chairman of the board and former president of the National Geographic Society and editor of the National Geographic magazine from 1899 to 1954, died on the Cape Breton Island estate, “Beinn Breagh” which is Gaelic for “beautiful mountain”.  The estate is on an island off Baddeck.  It is not far from my home town.  In fact my husband surreptitiously once went on a date with his granddaughter.  Beinn Breagh was formerly owned by his father-in-law, the inventor Alexander Graham Bell.  He was 90 years old when he died.  I was also lucky to have access to my father’s folding Jiffy Kodak Camera.

Reigniting the Love

with the Pentax K20D

By PF Staff in Influential Photo Gear on Dec 23, 2012

Living as an artist and working as an art teacher, I possess a relatively limited budget for the purchase of personal art making tools. As a result, I constantly seek to acquire tools which give me ample room for growth while being modestly priced. Which is why the Pentax K20D has functioned as the most important and influential tool in my photography bag.

Understanding DOF with Telezoom Lenses

The Tamron 70-200mm

By PF Staff in Influential Photo Gear on Dec 23, 2012

A lot of photographers are willing to spend their money on a telezoom lens with a large, wide open aperture. The question is, why is it so important to have a large aperture in photography? To answer the question we take a look at the matter perception of depth field of view.  Depth of field refers to the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp, in other word DOF is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects that look sharp in an image.