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I'll be posting some random thoughts here about my photography: my travel plans, technical information behind some images, stories about how certain pictures were captured, etc. The timing of the postings will also be random as my priority is capturing new images rather than writing about existing ones. I hope you will feel free to comment on any of my postings and I appreciate you taking time to read my entries.
Milwaukee City HallDuring my short trip to Milwaukee last month, I visited a number of architectural sites--including City Hall. Upon completion, Milwaukee City Hall was the tallest structure in the United States! Here's a picture of the exterior of the building from Wikipedia:
So, I was walking by City Hall on my way to the Milwaukee Art Museum on a rainy, cold and windy afternoon. Given how narrow this building is, I wasn't sure that it would be worth exploring the interior. I wrongly assumed that there couldn't possibly be much in the way of open spaces inside such a narrow structure. I was wrong. When I entered the building, I was very surprised to see an open area from the lobby floor to the ceiling. This open space was surrounded by wrought iron railings. It's an amazing interior.
For the second and third images, I had to wait for a woman to walk out of the frame. But, she kept circling the scene (mounting steps on her Fitbit tracker)--so I had to time the shots when she circled behind me. Since these pictures are a blend of bracketed exposures, waiting for her to move behind me for each picture in the sequence tested my patience...especially because many of the times when she was finally behind me someone else would enter the scene!
The Story of the StaircaseWhile walking the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I entered the Grainger Engineering Library to photograph the colorful staircase:
I found it challenging to align the camera for this picture. The tripod was positioned on the stairs with the camera just a foot or so off one of the steps. After trying unsuccessfully to get my body positioned under the viewfinder (like a gymnast), it dawned on me that the Nikon D850 features a tilt LCD screen on the back of the camera! So, I sat comfortably upright while focusing the lens and composing the photograph.
The D850 also offers a feature called "focus peaking". While focusing the lens, the area that is in focus turns red--so you know that you've nailed the focus precisely. You can also change the color of the focus peaking (for example, when you happen to be shooting a red subject). Once the appropriate railings turned red, I activated the shutter and captured my image. A Disturbing Tripod TrendFor the vast majority of my photography, a tripod is an essential piece of gear. I was alarmed when I read about the tripod ban in Zion National Park, but since it only applies to workshop participants it won't directly impact me.
Earlier this month, I was disappointed to learn that tripods are completely banned in Lower Antelope Canyon now. When I visited Lower Antelope Canyon, I participated in the Photography Tour--which permitted tripods. Given the relatively low light in the slot canyon and the fact that I did a lot of exposure bracketing...the tripod was essential. Now, all Photography Tours have been cancelled--even during the "off season".
What's next? A ban on tripods throughout the country? Note that Lower Antelope Canyon "has become too popular...to accommodate" the Photo Tours (tripods). Apparently, the same is true of a remote ice cave in Iceland that I'll soon be visiting. I recently received an email from our photography guide explaining that the ice caves have become so popular now that we need to hike there before sunrise in the dark and pay a premium to secure the space. Otherwise, he said that the place is so crowded that we won't be able to compose any photographs. The initial charge was $200 per person for the ice caves--and he requested an additional $75 for this private showing of the ice caves. Keep in mind that these caves are nearly 300 miles from Reykjavik and we'll be visiting in the middle of the winter! But, at least I can use my tripod! Figure SkatingLast Sunday, I photographed figure skating for the first time. Actually, it was the first time that I ever attended a figure skating event. The event was the Winter Blizzard Figure Skating Competition in Skokie, Illinois. I enjoyed the experience. Figure skating is an ideal sport for photography. The costumes (dresses) are colorful. The young skaters are photogenic. And, there's action! Figure skating can be a challenging subject to photograph. It's an indoor sport--which usually means dim lighting. Low light and fast action is a difficult combination. I didn't want to deal with the meter potentially altering exposures as I moved the camera. So, I set the exposure manually. I went with a shutter speed of 1/800th, an aperture of f/2.0 and and ISO setting of 2,500. That exposure combination gave me a fast enough shutter speed to stop most of the movement, a shallow aperture to blur the backgrounds and a low enough ISO setting to minimize noise. Fortunately, I own the Nikon 200 f/2 lens as it's ideal for indoor sports. The f/2 aperture of this lens gathers twice as much light as a f/2.8 lens! In other words, had I selected a 2.8 lens, I would have had to boost my ISO to 5,000 to keep my shutter speed (1/800th) the same. Here are a few images from the event:
McCord HouseYesterday, I captured a few photos of the McCord House. This building is located just a few minutes from my home in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. I believe this is the oldest building in the area. It was built in 1834...which is very old for these parts! That's 37 years before the Great Chicago Fire.
Winter TrainingEach year, I dedicate time to training in some aspect of photography. In recent years, that training has been devoted to developing my post processing skills. Since this training means spending a lot of time indoors, I almost always complete this training during the Winter. It's been a few weeks since I've been out with my camera. But, I've been spending a lot of time improving my editing skills. This year, I've been viewing the collection of video tutorials (the Masters Academy) by Ben Willmore. At the time of this blog posting, the annual subscription for this training was just $99. For that price, there are more than 70 hours of tutorials currently available...with more on the way. So far, I've worked my way through all of the "Starting From Zero" tutorials and some of the "Essentials" videos. Although I've been using Photoshop for a few years now, I still learned a lot while working my way through these videos. The tutorials will continue to build and will cover more complex topics. Clearly, it's important to capture good images to begin with. But, proper processing of the image is the other critical part of the process of creating good photographs. I think it's important to dedicate training time to both the capture and the processing aspects of photography. My Nikon D850 TransitionIn one of my previous blog entries, I outlined what I hoped to gain by upgrading from my Nikon D800 to the D850. When purchasing a new camera, it takes a lot more than just the cost of the camera to make the transition. Several other accessories are also needed to realize the full potential of the new camera:
I'm pleased to announce that after four months and quite a bit of money, my transition from the Nikon D800 to the D850 camera is finally complete! Now, it's time to get back out there to do some shooting. Instagram's Best 9 of 2017I posted pictures on Instagram almost every day throughout 2017. Here are the top 9 pictures--according to the number of Instagram "likes":
10 of My Favorite Pictures from 2017I was fortunate to visit some amazing locations during 2017. My travels started with a trip to Hawaii in January. During the summer, I took my "Great Western Loop Road Trip". In the Fall, I visited Detroit and seven architectural location in Wisconsin. It's a challenge to select just ten pictures from a full year of shooting. These are ten of my favorites (in random order) from 2017:
"A Look Through My Lens" Published for 2017!The highlight of the year from a photography perspective was my 32 day road trip through the western portion of the United States. This Great Western Loop Road Trip covered 7,634 miles over a 32 day period. The trip took me through 16 states. At one point, I was just miles from the Canadian border. Later in trip, I was only yards from the Mexican border. At one point, waves from the Pacific Ocean rolled over my feet and filled my shoes with saltwater while I was photographing a sunset. Unlike most of my past books which compiled my favorite photographs from the entire year, this book features images from just this one trip. You may CLICK HERE to view a full preview of this year's book. It's most effective to view the images with the pages of the book expanded to fill your monitor. I also recommend selecting the Dust Jacket version of the preview (positioned under the book). I use Blurb to create my books. I'm very pleased with the quality of the product--from the binding and paper to the image quality. Producing such a small quantity of books makes for a high cost per unit. I make these available for purchase at the base cost from Blurb. However, the book isn't intended for general distribution. I like to create one for my own records--and family and friends occasionally order books as well. This is the tenth annual "A Look Through My Lens" book that I've created! |
