Ryan Yorde Photography

In an effort to get back on schedule, here is a post that is actually on time. Over this past week I rented A LOT of gear to test before I purchase my own equipment. Among the rentals are a Nikon D300s with a MB-D10 grip, a 50mm f/1.4G AF-S, one 24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S, a 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR, one 105mm f/2.8G AF-S VR, and one R1C1 macro lighting system with SU-800 and an SB-600. While this did not come cheap, It was an excellent opportunity to get my hands on the equipment in a variety of situations.  Its always good to know what you need and what is just plain overkill. For example, I would really like to own an army of 12 SB-900s. However, at $500 per, that would rack up quite a tab. On a more realistic note, it would be far more economical to simply own three SB-900s, and do the rest of the work with SB-600s at less than half the cost.  The R1C1 macro lighting kit is cool, however it is somewhat useless in most situations. Even while doing macro work, a RayFlash would not only be cheaper, but produce better results. The SU-800 is nice, and in most situations cheaper than controlling your army of speed lights with Pocket Wizards, the line of sight and range limitations make it too unreliable outside of the studio. As for the lenses, I love every one of them. The D300s is a fantastic body especially for the price, and offers only a few minor setbacks from the larger D3. The only shortfalls of the D300s are: one, it will not shoot 14bit RAW faster than 2.5fps. If you understand binary then you may see why this is a problem. Two, one CF slot and one SD slot. It is a little annoying to me that I have to carry two different types of media with me at the same time to get the added redundancy made possible by the dual card slots. This is an especially large problem when you cannot find SD cards as fast as the CF cards you are using. Third, full frame field of view. While sometimes this can work to your advantage in the form of a focal length extension, its drawbacks in low-light sensitivity make it a slight handicap. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here are a few of my test shots from this week. (Also, my last two post were also shot entirely with rental equipment)

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to shoot the Stonewall Golf Club Pro-Am Tournament to benefit the Cancer Center at Lake Manassas with Noah Hayes. The job was this; between the two of us we had to get at least one team portrait of each of the 26 teams of 4, as well as all the detail shots and standard tournament play coverage. It was a tall order for just two photographers but we got the job done with a divide an conquer scheme. While Noah drove around the course from hole 1 to hole 18 capturing details and normal play, I drove from hole 18 to hole 1 getting all of the team portraits and what details and normal play I had time for. We rushed to capture, filter, and process the images into a slideshow before the tournament was over, so when all the players came off the field the slideshow was already running on all the TVs around the clubhouse. Here are some of my photos from the day.

As are most of the posts here, this one is a little behind. Last weekend I had the pleasure of shooting Stacey and Todd’s wedding with Armin DeFiesta as a second shooter. It was a beautiful day in the district for a wedding. The ceremony was held in a small chapel on 36th street, with the reception just a few blocks away at the Washington Club on Dupont Circle. All images in appearing in this post are/were shot exclusively for Armin DeFiesta Photography. All Images are copyright ©Armin Defiesta Photography.

I am WAY behind posting this, life at home has been hectic lately. I have known Gabe for some time through working for his parents. I had just learned of their engagement a few days prior to the wedding, and when Gabe’s mother called me a few hours before the wedding and asked me to be their photographer I jumped at the chance. It was an honor to be among the few to witness this very special event. While on the technical side of photography, this ranks as one of my greater challenges considering the late hour (Just past 7pm) and standing on the west side of a mountain shooting into the setting sun with only a 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 and a single SB-900, I think the pictures turned out well. I will remember this day for a long time to come. Congratulations Gabe and Susie!

The newest member of the family! I will post more pictures as soon as I can.

In keeping with the recent nature photography theme, I took a trip back to great falls park last week to try to improve a few shoots after learning from my mistakes in round one. Just to change things up a bit however, this time I went to the Maryland side of the falls. It was a beautiful trip and I wish I could have spent more time on site. But when even 30 seconds is not a long enough to properly expose a shot, its time to go home. Enjoy.