The Blue Set.

Check your settings.

I make mistakes. Some big, some little. Consequences vary, but I always learn from them.

Take for instance these half-dozen shots made back in early 2011. I used my Panny GF1 and a c-mount lens, the SLR Magic Toy Lens 26mm f/1.4, to make a few pictures around the neighborhood.

Love that swirly bokeh. But the blue was a bit of a surprise.

Neighbor

Blue bench

Red berries

Lock

Hoop

Pitted hood

Anyway, as I noted in comments made about the portrait on Flickr “…the blue cast is from my not remembering to switch back to AWB before I headed out for a walk around the block. The Tungsten setting casts blue in daylight. But I think it works in the handful of pictures I posted this afternoon. A lesson, of sorts.” The unusual portrait got a good number of views, a coupla’ faves, and a handful of comments.

I seem to recall noticing what I’d done about 6 pictures into my stroll and changing back to AWB. Oh, well. Interesting results.

The lesson? Check your settings.

 

Pail.

… by comparison.

I shot this photo with my Panny GX8 and a Pentax 25mm ƒ/1.4 (m43 50mm equivalent) c-mount CCTV lens, ISO 200, wide-open, using the Dynamic Black and White in-camera filter. A Manfrotto 785B Modo tripod and the camera’s timer set to 2 seconds helped keep things steady. I unscrewed the center bar from the pod to make the camera sit closer to the ground. The camera was just short of 5 feet from the subject.

The only post-processing is simple auto-levels in Photoshop.

I love the swirly bokeh this little lens produces.

The setting is the north side-yard of our home, sitting on a flagstone step, beneath the shade of our neighbor’s Live Oak and you’re looking east here.

A neighbor had set this pail out next to their garbage can for pick-up one Wednesday and I spotted it on my early-morning walk. I made a point of walking back past their house to snag it on the way home.

I store charcoal in it.

I love the swirly bokeh this little lens produces. It’s a great portrait lens, as well – you just have to get up in people’s faces with it!