I got some new photography gear last week.  I thought it would be a good idea to give everything a “test run” prior to the wedding I’m shooting this weekend, so grabbed my daughter and went to the park tonight. I always use my flashes off camera with radio controlled slaves, but my old ones would only sync up to 1/200th of a second. This is okay, but it’s almost necessary to use a tripod to avoid any image blur due to camera movement at this shutter speed with my zoom lens. Another downfall is that I was unable to shoot at low apertures because they would require a high shutter speed for proper exposure. Thanks to these nifty little devices, my problems are solved! I bought two PocketWizard Flex Transceivers and a Mini TT1 Transmitter for my flashes. These bad boys will sync at shutter speeds up to 1/8000th of a second. The image of my darling daughter was taken at f2 @ 1/3200th , they worked great!

Ash and I went to Salem this weekend to take family photos for her long-time  friend Kim. Ash and Kim have known each other since 4th grade when they were neighbors in Forest Grove. I have gotten to know Kim and her husband Doug over the last few years.  Funny story; the photo of the adorable little girl (looking out the glass window) on my website is actually from Doug and Kim’s wedding in Bend a couple of years ago. I wasn’t completely certain who she was, but after speaking with Doug, apparently it is his niece. Thankfully her mom (Doug’s sister) is cool with me using the photo. I’ll make sure I get her a copy, although I’m sure she’s grown up a little by now! By the way, if its not on my home screen anymore you can find it in the “wedding” gallery. I’m thinking I may use one of the shots from this weekend as my home screen; at least I’m keeping it in the Jadin family! Their 3 month old, Kaylee, is adorable. She endured a two hour photo shoot with outfit changes and really didn’t put up a fuss. We shot all of the photos around Bush Park. It was bright out with the afternoon sun, but Bush Park offers so many large trees it didn’t prove too be much of a problem. Oregon is great for outdoor photography because it has an abundance of natural light diffusers; lots of clouds and trees! I really like the results I got from my new Sigma 70-200 2.8 lens. Of course, it helps when you have a cutie like this on the other side of the lens. Fun weekend, I wish we could hang out with Doug and Kim more; they’re a fun couple. Check out the website to see the new home screen photo. www.hauserphotography.com

I got a new lens last week: Sigma’s 50mm 1.4 I have only owned Canon lenses to this point, but so far I am really impressed with this product. Canon has a 50mm 1.4 lens, but from what I could tell, produces mediocre photos; especially with a $300 price tag. It’s obvious that Canon puts a majority of their effort into the “L” series lenses. Don’t get me wrong; it’s an astonishing line but they’re expensive. It’s nice to see a 3rd party company realize, and fill, a gap in the product line in terms of quality and price. Good job Sigma! Both of these shots are stopped down to 1.4. While other lenses will get soft at this aperture the Sigma remains fairly sharp.
ps. This is really the only “hood” you can live in Portland.