So Cal So Cal

I guess I'm a bit late for today's gathering at the Arboretum.

Here are a few shots I took yesterday at my local park. They are not the best but they are the best I can manage with broken hands. lol.

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A few more.

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I might head over to Signal Hill to shoot the sunset. I live about 5 minutes away, which is much closer than most of you. But I thought I'd let you guys know.

Back from shooting at the LA arboretum with Butchie.
It was great meeting you, Butch! And thanks again for letting me borrow your toys.
Of course now it just means I want a whole list of new gear for myself...

Pics later after some PP and dinner.

What'd you borrow from Butch, Dean?

I was still in awe a few days after using his 300mm 2.8L

Mainly his 16-35, which compared to my 18-55 kit lens was a godsend.
I always struggle with the 18-55, as it is the only wide angle lens I have, and while it's serviceable in general daytime, falls a bit short in "tricky" situations.
The 16-35 was awesome. I want one now.
And of course, what really saved my bacon was the GND filter setup Butch let me use. I came with no filters and frankly, trying to do anything with big blue skies, or long exposure waterfalls is impossible without one of those.

How was the fall colors there?

It seems like the trees that make red leaves peaked over a week ago around my house(they're still nice and red but have lost about 25% of the leaves). Too bad all the wild growing tress are evergreens and even though all the planted trees are starting to get more mature I'm still not compelled to photograph trees along the road in a suberbian neighbor hood. I should go check if any of the many small parks have many of these trees before it's too late.

how is the arboretum? I've never even been there or heard of it. How does it compare to the huntington?

I think the Huntington is bigger and has more variety in terms of plants and buildings.
The arboretum is mostly just plants. But it has a couple of nice fountains and waterfalls (which the Huntington doesn't have).
I'd say if you visit one, you owe it to yourself to check out the other. Same kind of photography and subject matter.

Puckman wrote in post #16443840
I think the Huntington is bigger and has more variety in terms of plants and buildings.
The arboretum is mostly just plants. But it has a couple of nice fountains and waterfalls (which the Huntington doesn't have).
I'd say if you visit one, you owe it to yourself to check out the other. Same kind of photography and subject matter.

when my BIL gets a camera, I'll need to check it out. too lazy to go by myself, definitely wont take the wife

Butch is like the Canon drug dealer. Let's you try it for a bit, getting you hooked, and now you plan to go out and spend gobs of money.

Butch probably gets a kick-back from Canon.

jwcdds wrote in post #16444225
Butch is like the Canon drug dealer. Let's you try it for a bit, getting you hooked, and now you plan to go out and spend gobs of money.

Butch probably gets a kick-back from Canon.

This doesn't sound all that far off at all.

jwcdds wrote in post #16444225
Butch is like the Canon drug dealer. Let's you try it for a bit, getting you hooked, and now you plan to go out and spend gobs of money.

Butch probably gets a kick-back from Canon.

CJCMarquez wrote in post #16444232
This doesn't sound all that far off at all.

Yup. Sounds about right. He certainly got to me!

Speaking of which, the first 2 processed out of a rather large batch.
Both using Butch's 16-35.

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You guys are too damn funny... Hhahahaha... Don't tell anyone I get a kickback from Canon... Sssshhhh... It'll be our little secret... Hehehehe... And it was great to finally meet Dean (Puckman)... You're very welcome with the filter usage... As I can see on your two images, they worked pretty well with your first outing!!! Can't wait to see your waterfall shots and the rest of your captures...

With that, I mainly focused on playing with DOF and applying the 'Brenizer Method' to a few landscape shots... I did three different scenes and this was one of them... More to come from yesterday's LA Arboretum shootout with Dean...

The 'Brenizer' Bench...

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