Macro

Last week I bought my first real macro lens and have been having a blast with it now for a few days.  It is the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR.  What a treat to shoot with!  I figured the best place to test out the macro features of the lens was a local park called Brookeside Gardens where there are tons of flowers (and bugs).  :D  

I discovered that the autofocus only works up to a certain distance (I think its around a foot) from the subject but you can get quite a bit closer with manual focus.  The VR feature is really helpful and ... I love my new lens!  

I am dreading the cost of all the big prints I'm going to want to do now.

Model Shoot

My latest model shoot was with Nasrine, a model I worked with about two years ago. We had been talking off and on about working together again but until last week nothing had worked out. She wanted to update a bit and also wanted to work with her friend; a talented Makeup artist named Lauren.

I was excited to work with Nasrine again because our results from the last shoot were wonderful and well...she is a firecracker. I was also looking forward to testing out a new Makeup Artist because frankly, you can't have too many of them on speed dial!

So the ladies got to work first on look #1 which was to be a more "extreme" makeup design. Strong colors that were to coordinate with the wardrobe. I assured them it was OK to go "over the top." This is the design/combination they came up with:
(Tech: D200 at 112mm, f/5.6, 1/250, SB-800 in Chimera softbox camera right)

The second look was to be much more natural. We shot this series out by the beach in the late afternoon.
(Tech: D200 at 135mm, f/8, 1/250)