New Glass Test

Just shoot stuff you have around the house. Close, far at different aperture and camera settings. Track kids or pets to test af.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17594182
So, how, then, do you celebrate when you create a great photo? Photography is all about, well, photos. If some side-tracked thing like gear causes you to celebrate, I can only imagine how much you would celebrate when a great photo is made!

The act of creating art is, at times, as important as the final product. I've gone to various get togethers over the years, and had a few of my own, which were focused on using and exploring one bit of new kit or another. Why not have a get together and have fun with friends who share your interests now and then?

Luckless wrote in post #17594551
Why not have a get together and have fun with friends who share your interests now and then?

I do! I usually spend about 30 days afield each year with friends who share the same photographic interests. This past calendar year it has been higher than the average, with over 40 days spent shooting with friends. But shooting together has nothing to do with testing out bits of gear - rather, it has everything to do with exploring the great outdoors, finding elusive subjects, and creating the best wildlife & bird photos we possibly can.

An unheard-of situation comes before my belief system, disagreeing with Tom...I equate most photographers as being a craftsmen.
IMHO, true artistry goes well beyond taking a picture...it's creating an image.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17594182
So, how, then, do you celebrate when you create a great photo? Photography is all about, well, photos. If some side-tracked thing like gear causes you to celebrate, I can only imagine how much you would celebrate when a great photo is made!

I don't have any of those

My comment was facetious, actually. Celebrating the arrival of a set of extension tubes... Now if they had been the electronic pass-through type, well, that'd be different. Imagine the pictures of the guest's cuff links!

Oh, there I go again.

Guess some people have never seen a mechanic excited to see the snap on tool truck, a truck driver excited for for a new modification to his rig, a baseball player excited for a new mitt or stick, even a bowhunter with a new string that allow's him a few extra fps.

I see nothing wrong with celebrating the tools that allow you perform at a higher level .

This is my test subject; not only for new equipment, but also for new techniques that I read about here. Works out great, no complaining about the amount of time that I take to set up a shot, patient while I move lights, came with two different wigs so that allows for different looks, and gets packed back up in the box and put in the closet when not needed. Was about $40 shipped when I purchased it.

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kryptic4l wrote in post #17595077
Guess some people have never seen a mechanic excited to see the snap on tool truck, a truck driver excited for for a new modification to his rig, a baseball player excited for a new mitt or stick, even a bowhunter with a new string that allow's him a few extra fps.

I see nothing wrong with celebrating the tools that allow you perform at a higher level .

I agree with this. If your into photography and don't get excited about a new lens or camera body arriving, you're either lying or probably a miserable person to hang out with.

Whether it's getting new tools, photo equip, golf clubs or whatever, I always admire the tools used to do the job. Hell, i'll even admire a new dishwasher when it arrives.

It's not always about the final product, sometimes the journey and tools can be just as enjoyable as the final photo....

Ducks are POTN-certified lens test material, one can never go wrong with ducks when testing out new lenses.

Heh! Yeah, true about ducks (and other critters)! It's nice to get a good shot of one and be able to blow it up to a nice large printable size, and to see all that detail that nature provides the critters with.

the "flip" side is that when we set off to shoot the wildlife with the gear that we are proud with, we can quickly realize that there's never enough reach, that our nice new lens falls a bit short, and we start counting our nickels and dimes again!

tonylong wrote in post #17595663
Heh! Yeah, true about ducks (and other critters)! It's nice to get a good shot of one and be able to blow it up to a nice large printable size, and to see all that detail that nature provides the critters with.

the "flip" side is that when we set off to shoot the wildlife with the gear that we are proud with, we can quickly realize that there's never enough reach, that our nice new lens falls a bit short, and we start counting our nickels and dimes again!

Although very often at least with ducks, they can be tame enough that you could get a good detailed shot with a 5Ds and an 11-24mm @ 11mm.

Alan

Tony...we need to define "nice large printable size". As an example, this dove @ 300 ppi measures about 48 inches wide.
It sat still long enough for me to do a panorama composite.

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chauncey wrote in post #17597743
Tony...we need to define "nice large printable size". As an example, this dove @ 300 ppi measures about 48 inches wide.
It sat still long enough for me to do a panorama composite.

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hi. that's astounding... +14k pixels wide? may i ask how this was done?--did you take 3-5 pics for a pano super fast without the bird moving too much? perhaps there's some trick to getting all the frames to line up so well on an animal?

Nice one, Chauncey!!

More like about twenty...via the magic of PS was able to take bits and pieces from each image and combine them into one big image.