|
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.
National GeographicIt just came to my attention that my photograph of Angel Oak was published on National Geographic's website as part of an article about iconic trees around the world! I captured this photograph three years ago while visiting Charleston, South Carolina.
Distribution by Lens -- New Mexico TripNearly every time I return from a trip, I'm asked about which lenses I used to capture the images. At the end of a trip, I like to look at the distribution of shots by lens. Here's how it looked for my most recent road trip to New Mexico. CLICK HERE to view my favorite images from this journey.
I used just one camera for the entire trip--the Nikon D850. As usual, the 14-24 led the way. But, three other lenses were used extensively...accounting for 20 to 23 percent of the images each. I used the Nikon 24-70 more than I usually do. And, the Nikon 500 f4 VR came in handy, especially when it came to photographing wildlife. The Sigma fisheye accounted for just 5 pictures, but it's a very useful lens for me. It's a specialty lens that I don't use a lot, but when I need it there's nothing else that can do what it does. Here are a couple of images from this trip with the fisheye:
The 500 VR was essential to capture images like these:
"Wood Duck" Wins Photo of the Day!This morning, my "Wood Duck" picture won Imaging Resource's "Photo of the Day". CLICK HERE to view Imaging Resource's Photo of the Day page. This photograph was captured just last month at the Albuquerque Zoo.
This marks the 62nd time that one of my photographs was recognized by Imaging Resource as its "Photo of the Day". A photographer is limited to one winning entry per month, so this series of winning images stretches back more than six years. Click here to view all of the winning entries over the past few years.
My Favorite 10 Pictures of the YearEach year, I make a selection of my favorite 10 images. It's not always an easy process and I'm sure the selection would look different if I went through the same exercise tomorrow. But, it's kind of fun. This collection includes photos through December 1st, so it excludes the photos from my most recent trip to New Mexico. Here are my favorites, in no particular order:
Happy New Year! New Mexico Road Trip Photos Available For Viewing!I completed a three week road trip through New Mexico last month. It covered 4,240 miles over 20 days. I saw some amazing landscapes, some historic churches, a pueblo that dates back 1,000 years, a couple of state capitol buildings, a couple of very nice zoos, Route 66 and some really quirky things along the way (like the UFO McDonald's in Rockwell). Please CLICK HERE to view my favorite images from this adventure. This trip has kept me busy. Once the road trip came to a close, I had a lot of editing to do. So, most of my photography time was dedicated to this trip and very little to this blog. I could easily write a blog entry about each one of the photos in this collection. Nearly every image presented a challenge of some kind...whether it be access, logistics, processing solutions and/or multiple exposures to address those challenges. Multiple exposures were used often for extending the amount of the frame in sharp focus and/or dealing with challenging exposures with extreme dynamic range. I hope you have a very prosperous and Happy New Year!
Ordinary ThingsSometimes, it's helpful to practice photography by shooting ordinary subjects that are close at hand. Subjects don't get much closer than this one. I got the idea for this image by looking down at my feet!
Nikon 200 f4 Micro Four Winds CasinoI am not much of a gambler, so most of my time at the Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, Indiana, was devoted to photography. One feature that caught my eye was the ceiling in the lobby of the resort.
I had just finished setting up my camera. I was sitting on floor in the center of the lobby, had the lens focused and the camera set to bracket three consecutive exposures (to account for the dynamic range of light in the scene). Just as I was about to make further minor adjustments to the framing, security fast approached. As the security guard was explaining that photography is not permitted, I was silently clicking through the sequence of exposures with my cable release. Fortunately, the camera was in Live View mode--which meant that there was absolutely no indication that any pictures were being captured. The camera was dead silent. Ordinarily, I would have studied the pictures on the back of my camera and continued to make minor refinements to improve the picture. In this situation, I was lucky to get a photograph at all! Mother with Baby PortraitsLast weekend, I photographed a 90th birthday party. Most of the pictures were candid. But, I also brought a white fabric background and some studio lights with me. Here are some images of a two-month old baby with her mother:
I am always impressed with the quality and ease of use of the Buff products. Assembling this product is as easy as opening an umbrella. I didn't recall capturing a photograph of my lighting set up, but upon reviewing the images I noticed that I did get a picture of the studio light after all:
"Gorilla Portrait" Wins Photo of the Day!This morning, my "Gorilla Portrait" picture won Imaging Resource's "Photo of the Day". CLICK HERE to view Imaging Resource's Photo of the Day page. This photograph was captured just last month at the Brookfield Zoo.
This marks the 61st time that one of my photographs was recognized by Imaging Resource as its "Photo of the Day". A photographer is limited to one winning entry per month, so this series of winning images stretches back more than six years. Click here to view all of the winning entries over the past few years.
Heinz Memorial ChapelDuring my last road trip, I visited the Heinz Memorial Chapel on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. This is a very popular tourist destination, so it's not easy to photograph the interior without large crowds. As I entered the chapel in the early afternoon, there were about 15 people inside the chapel. I asked the attendant when it might be best to return with fewer people. He expected the chapel to be busy throughout the day and said that it would be best to return just before closing or right at the opening the following day. About five minutes after this conversation, the 15 people who were inside the chapel left...and I suddenly had the chapel to myself! I thought that I might only have the interior of the chapel to myself for a few minutes, so I worked very quickly. After about 20 more minutes the attendant asked me if I wanted to get some shots from the balcony. The balcony was closed off to the the general public, but with his permission I captured images from this more advantageous viewpoint. During the time, I still had this incredible chapel to myself! Once I had captured my last picture from the balcony, a large group of visitors entered the chapel. From then on, it was crowded with people. I returned the next morning when the chapel opened. This time, a different attendant was on duty. As I went to set up a picture from the floor level, she began questioning me about why I was taking pictures. Access to the balcony was not an option. It was clear that photography during my return trip wasn't going to be nearly the favorable experience that it was during my visit the previous day. So, it can sometimes pay off to visit a location more than once. And, I was very fortunate to be able to capture photographs of this magnificent cathedral during my visit to Pittsburgh.
|
