Another Sunset
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Setting Sun at Blendon Woods Park -
Zoomed In
Morning Sunlight As photographers most of us have an assortment of lens to to choose from. Depending on what we are photographing we will use a wide angle, a telephoto or maybe a macro. By selecting a specific lens we have control of what we place in our view finders, vital to our vision. At one point I was carrying an assortment of lens that covered from 18mm to 400mm, just to make sure I had it all covered. Over the past couple of years I have decreased that range (and the weight of my camera bag) by narrowing down to 18-200mm and using 4 lens. I discovered having a wide range of focal length did not make me a better photographer.
In the above image I used a Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 at 200mm to crop out the surrounding distractions. It helped me to create the image I wanted but that’s not the only thing that helped make this image. In order to eliminate all the background I needed to move in closer. To do that I used my feet. 🙂
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Bad Coffee but a Warm Sun
Bad Coffee After breakfast I moved outside to the east porch to sit in the sun. A few small clouds moved across the sky creating a beautiful pattern of blue and white. The hotel coffee I was drinking was not that good but the warmth of the sun all that I really needed. The pure white railing on the porch made for a wonderful pattern so I did the best I could to capture what I felt that morning. I have been looking at my histogram a bit differently lately and moving farther to the right on my images. I do feel it has the potential to provide for more data in post processing.
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Let's See What This Does…..
I’m learning to experiment more. And, that’s a good thing. Here’s why I say that. When I first started shooting digital I used Photoshop Elements 2 as my photo editor. Since I had the less expensive option to the full blown Photoshop package there were a few things I could not do. I therefore had a very simple workflow which meant I adjusted white balance in Nikon Capture then move to Elements. There I would crop, play with levels, saturation, and sharpen. Other than playing around with some filters, I’ve just stayed in that mode of post processing for the past 6 years. After buying the Macbook last fall I upgraded to Elements 6 and pretty much have the same workflow.
Lightroom 2 has changed all of that. The longer I play with it and learn what I can on the internet and from books, the power it has is amazing. The most important thing it’s given me is the comfort to experiment. In this image I played with the Clarity slider and a bit of added saturation. That’s it. Pretty adventurous.
It feels good to create an image that stirs something inside me and hopefully someone else.
I received an email from Adobe last week making an me offer to upgrade to CS4 for $299. I know that is a good price but wondered if the upgrade is worth it. Lightroom Secrets has a link to a website showing what application will not run on Snow Leopard. It shows Elements will not run on the OS. Looks like I may have to buy CS4. Can anyone give me some input?
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Morning Sunflowers
Sunflowers I found these one morning last week on a drive east along Morse Road. I go out there every once in a while just to get out of the suburbs. I stopped because sunflowers are such a magnificent flower, standing tall and proud. They also remind me a young lady named Peggy who also enjoys them. I haven’t seen her in a couple of years but we do keep in touch via emails and facebook. Here’s another one for you, Peggy.
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Pollinating My Photography
Pollination I know this image is not very good but I decided to post it anyway. It is heavily cropped, grainy and not very sharp. So, why post a dud? Because it also reminds me of why I get out to shoot just as much as one of my better images. Paul Lester mentions why he presses the shutter in one of his blogs. He states, “Sometimes I don’t know why I click the shutter, but I just have to. And when that feeling hits, nothing but the click will do.” Man can I relate. I shoot and post images because of the change that occurs in me when I press the shutter. Words like therapy, healing, rejuvenation, quiet time, beauty, getting in touch with nature, getting away from the hustle of city life and pollination. Pollination? Yes, pollination.
Wikipedia defines biotic pollination as the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilization and sexual reproduction. This process of pollination requires pollinators: organisms that carry or move the pollen grains from the anther to the receptive part of the carpel or pistil. Okay, so what does that mean to me?
The birth and growth of my photography is similar to biotic pollination. The pollinators are the scenes found in my viewfinder. When each one of those scenes touches me, I grow as a person, as a photographer. Each time I venture out a scene enticing me to press the shutter will present itself. So, I’m being fertilized by scenes around me.
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Only If You Rise Early
Sunrise over Hoover Reservoir Another one of those mornings I did not feel like getting out of bed. Sometime during the night thunder and lightning woke me from sleep. At first I could hear the rumblings in the distance but quickly realized they were moving towards us. I snuggled in to my pillow and wondered if this meant I could have a morning of fog in the low lying areas and waterways. A grin appeared on my face as the rain started to tap against my bedroom window. Yep, I was going to rise early and see what nature would present.
The grin on my face was quickly removed when I peeked out the window and found very little fog. Oh well, I’m up so let’s go. Maybe I would find fog along the reservoir. I drove up to Hoover Reservoir and parked along the western shoreline near the docks. I had never been down here before but I had driven by and thought it may provide a nice place for a morning sunrise. I spent about 45 minutes shooting, exploring, taking it all in. No sun to be seen as it was hidden in clouds and nothing really grabbed me. Just as I neared the parking lot I noticed the sun breaking through the low lying clouds. I pulled the tripod off my shoulders and took my turn at pressing the shutter a few more times. While I downloaded the images I was again aware how these images only show up on my hard drive when I rise early.
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Butterfly
Butterfly at Inniswood Gardens The day this image was taken we had light rain in the morning then high humidity in the afternoon. I needed to get out of the apartment so headed off to Inniswood Gardens for some shooting and head clearing. The large quantity of spring flowers has passed but the butterflies and bees are still actively gathering the remaining flowers. I do feel better!
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Barn Owl
Barn Owl If you were an owl, would you want to be called ‘Monkey-face?’ I will admit, however, there is some semblance. The more I wade into the stream of photogaphy the more I want to know about the subjects I see in the view finder. Yes, people may compliment me on an image but what do they think about the subject? I do love the light on this Barn Owl and how it is facing the light, it makes for a fine image. But, what else?
With the ease of the internet, I’ve begun to snoop around to find out about the subjects. You can follow this link to a good article on Barn Owls. I did not realize the short life expectancy of Barn Owls, 1-2 years. Nor did I know about there different calls.
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Catch Light
Catch LIght Catch light or catchlight is a photography term used to describe either the specular highlight in a subject’s eye from a light source, or the light source itself. A catch light may be an artifact of the lighting method, or have been purposely engineered to add a glint or “spark” to a subject’s eye during photography. It is one of the first things I look for in photo, whether it’s a portrait or a small inquisitive squirrel. It adds life to the image and helps us to focus on the eyes. It can be subtle as in the image above or it can be brilliant where there’s even an image inside of the catch light itself. I will admit there are times when I’m disappointed in my shoot for the day because I do not have those catch light and, to me, something is missing.
