How much do I love this? Whoever added that is my hero.

Let’s take a break from Asphalt Cocktail postings, shall we?

I changed a bunch of camera gear a few weeks ago. I sold my Canon 40D, the Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5, and the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L, replacing them with the Canon 5D Mark II, the Canon 85mm f/1.2 L II, and the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II. I thought I’d post some pictures from the 16-35mm f/2.8 L II.

Being an ultra wide-angle lens, this is not a good lens for portraits, particularly at the 16mm end.  Loki’s ear is not really as large as the rest of his face.

One nice thing about this lens is that it’s very sharp, and the colors it produces — blues and greens in particular — are stunning.

Wide angle lenses are fun because you can get a ton in a shot, but the foreground is the most dominant thing. That makes it a weird portrait lens, because things like noses and ears are exaggerated, but you can also accomplish funny things like this shot, where Loki’s head looks like it’s the same size as his whole body.  It’s like Anime Loki!

Here’s a shot from AEJ’s library — a few of her towers of books.  This shot is possible because the lens can also shoot very fast at f/2.8 (smaller numbers are “faster”), so only the foreground is in focus, adding to the illusion that the towers extend much higher than they do.  (Not that the towers are short.  Each one nearly reaches the ceiling — and there’s another one on the other side of the windows.  AEJ likes books.)

This is the light fixture in AEJ’s library. It looks like a spider with light bulbs for feet.

The lens is also great for landscape photography. This is a shot from our front door. The greens and blues really pop with this lens, and everything is mega-sharp.

Mr. Kitty would really like to join me outside. Poor kitty.

And with this, Loki shall continue to be the most photographed cat ever. I suspect he’ll prefer to be shot with my new 85mm f/1.2 L II — a true “portrait lens.” Hold still, Mr. Kitty. We’ll get that entry soon enough. (My apologies to the non cat lovers…)

I posted the recording of “Asphalt Cocktail” yesterday afternoon, and by midnight, it had received over 900 downloads. CRAZY! As a result, a lot of people had trouble with the streaming audio, as my web server was hit pretty hard. Over on Facebook, a bunch of people asked me to make it downloadable instead of streaming, so I just did that.

There are a few reasons I typically post streaming MP3 files instead of downloadable MP3. First, there are the MP3 search bots. The files end up direct-downloaded via MP3 search engines by people who have no idea what they’re downloading or where it even came from. As a result, I used to lose a huge amount of bandwidth for downloads that people didn’t even really want.

Then there’s the issue of direct links to downloads in general. I want people to hear the music on the site, but I want them to know where it originally came from, too, so that maybe they’ll listen to other pieces, or check out the blog, or whatever. Please, if you want to link to Asphalt Cocktail — link to this page, not to the direct MP3 link.

Then there’s the copyright issue, which is mostly a problem with ballet companies. (What isn’t a problem with ballet companies?) I have had several issues with choreographers downloading MP3 files and then choreographing the music without obtaining permission. In one case, the choreographer even credited the music as being composed by “Antares” — the ensemble that performed the music, presumably because they didn’t download the audio directly from my website (where it’s pretty obvious who wrote the tunes). After a few stories like that one, I decided to make everything streaming, so people would visit the site to find the music in the first place, and they couldn’t just throw it on an iPod and use it for some gawdawful ballet for which it wasn’t licensed. I’m all for gawdawful use of my music, but it has to be licensed; I have a camera lens addiction to support.

So, if you want to have “Asphalt Cocktail” on your iPod or whatever, you can now download it for keeps. Again, as a favor, if you want to tell other people about the piece, link to the web page that holds the MP3, please don’t link to the MP3 itself. Thank you — and enjoy!