Fulll of Action

Last weekend, I photographed a karate competition focused entirely on the combats. I got some amazing shots that can be found in two Flickr albums, available here and here.

Our grandson Liam participated in this event (pictured above), and considering that he fought for the first time in some of the categories, he did extremely well.

For the first time, I took two cameras: the Canon R6 and the Canon 5D Mark III. The R6 was paired with an EF 70–200mm f/2.8, and the 5D with an EF 50mm f/1.8. I had never used the 5D with the 50mm for this type of event before, and I was pleased to see that it got the job done very well. I missed a few pictures, but mostly because of human error. It’s somehow difficult to shoot with two cameras whose autofocus systems are completely different, especially with one being mirrorless and the other a DSLR. But you get used to it, and I’m sure I’ll keep using this setup in the future. Of course, having two mirrorless cameras would be the perfect setup, but this is what I have. 

Picture taken using the Canon 5D Mark III, released in 2012!

 

Nano Banana

 I asked Nano Banana to create versions of this photo:

And here are the results:

 

I was not pleased with the second photo because, by rotating the subject, it looked like a different kid, in my opinion. Here is the prompt that I used to get the first picture edited by Nano Banana.

"An expressive, natural portrait of a subject, bathed entirely in warm, directional golden hour sunlight. The light should be low, highlighting the texture of the skin and hair with a vibrant rim light. Camera/Settings: Captured on a Canon R6 with a 85mm lens, f/1.8, shallow depth of field (bokeh) in the background. Composition: Leading lines from a distant fence drawing the eye to the face. Style: Cinematic realism, saturated gold and orange hues, high dynamic range. Do not change subject position. Do not edit the face of the subject." 

In my experience, Nano Banana tends to always edit the face of the subject, which is the reason why I do not feel it’s a tool that can be reliably used for editing. However, you get decent results if you try to replace the background or use other tricks in that sense. If you do not put both pictures, the original and the one edited by Nano Banana, side by side, the results look nice, but if you compare them you can notice the AI editing right away. 

You can find other prompts and test them yourself here.  

 

Radio Active Lenses

This story was reported by Fstoppers. Apparently, in the past, radioactive elements were used in the manufacture of lenses to reduce chromatic.

The most interesting thing to me is that some of these lenses are so good that they are still on the market even though they are not made anymore.

BIF: Birds In Flight

I like this location, Crews Lake Nature Reserve, because birds fly low close to the water and at the level of the pier, giving me a nice view of the birds. 

The above picture is a good example of that. The background is totally blurred, making the bird pop up nicely. You can't ask for more. 

My favorite picture from last weekend

 Lately I have been shooting more landscapes than usual even when I still using full time my 100-400 lens with an 1.4x Extender. Probably because I'm rediscovering the good features hidden in Luminar Neo specially designed for Landscape photography, Here is my favorite picture from last weekend. 

DSLRs still alive

According to The Photographer, these are the best DSLRs you can buy in 2025:

The Canon 5DS. This camera, released in 2015, offers a full-frame sensor with 50 MP. It was the highest-resolution camera Canon had ever released.

The Nikon D850. This camera offers 4K video and has been considered, by many, one of the best cameras ever released by Nikon.

These cameras are so good that, even today, their price is higher than that of some of the newer mirrorless models from the same companies. 

Artistically Using the Spot or Partial Metering Mode

You can use the metering mode of your camera to achieve certain looks in your pictures. For example, in the above picture, I used partial metering mode. In this mode, the camera exposes your main subject correctly by measuring the light in a small central area of the frame (usually about 6–10% of the viewfinder). Because in this case the subject is brighter than the surrounding space, the background becomes overexposed, resulting in a black background. You can get even more dramatic results if you use spot metering. 

 

The key point for achieving a dramatic effect is to have a subject that is strongly illuminated or brighter than the surrounding areas.

Here is another example.