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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.
Pray for ShadeWhen shooting baseball, I always hope for overcast conditions. Clouds diffuse light--which reduces contrast. This is particularly important for baseball since the players wear caps with bills. When the light is harsh, the bill of the cap darkens the face to an unacceptable level. When the light is soft, it's easy to see detail in the faces of the players. Last week, I photographed the baseball game between the Southern Illinois Salukis and the Fighting Illini at Illinois Field in Urbana. Fortunately, clouds diffused the sunlight for much of the game.
Another benefit of diffused light is that it's easier to control certain colors such as bright red or orange. When the sun shines on an orange jersey, it's easy to blow out the reds and lose all detail in the jersey. So the next time you're shooting baseball (or football for that matter), pray for clouds! Many Memberships!While planning visits to many Chicago tourist locations, I've noticed how expensive it can be. Typically, the museums will offer a somewhat reasonable admission fee. But, the cost quickly rises if a visitor wishes to see any of the "premium" attractions. For example, it's $18 to enter the Museum of Science and Industry. But if one wants to see a couple of the attractions the cost rises to between $32 and $36 per person. Then, there's the $22 parking fee! Now, you're looking at a $55 visit for one person. General admission is just $8 for the Shedd Aquarium, but one must spend at least $31 to purchase a package which included the "Jellies" exhibit (my main reason for visiting). It becomes more costly as a visitor adds more attractions--plus the parking fee. I found that it's more economical to become a member. Over the past year, I have held an annual membership to five Chicago area locations:
The annual membership fee is usually cheaper than visiting a location more than once. And, it usually allows me to bring a guest as well. Groupon also helps keep the cost down. Let's take the Adler Planetarium as an example. The price to enter the Planetarium is $35 per person if one wishes to view the "Destination Solar System" exhibit. So, one visit for two people is $70. An annual membership runs $89 for one person and one guest for the year--just $18 more than it would cost two people for a single visit. Through Groupon, I paid $59 for an annual membership--or $11 less than the cost of a single visit for me and a guest! One other factor in favor of the membership route is that the annual fee is generally tax deductible. I was surprised to receive a letter from the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust and the Shedd Aquarium acknowledging the full value of my membership fee as a tax deductible contribution. This would not have been the case if I had paid a single daily admission fee. By going the membership route, I can visit a location several times without thinking about the entrance fee. As a result, I will visit Brookfield Zoo several times throughout the year. Sometimes, I stop by an exhibit for just an hour or so in an attempt to capture some interesting photographs and then leave. There is no incremental cost for my visits to the zoo as the membership includes both the admission and parking fees. The membership also helps me visit when the locations are least crowded. Since I am not paying an admission fee, I always make sure to avoid visiting on "free" days. This improves my chances of capturing pictures with fewer people in the area.
Linn Cove ViaductLast Fall, I took a photography trip through the Blue Ridge Mountains for the first time. Unfortunately, just days before my arrival the area experienced powerful storms with high winds and rain. The trees lost many of their leaves and the Fall colors weren't nearly as spectacular as they could have been. The slopes of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina retained some nice colors. Fellow photographer, Earl Evans, guided me to an excellent vantage point for viewing the iconic Lynn Cove Viaduct.
Before this trip, I wasn't at all familiar with this iconic structure. Soon afterwards, I realized that this scene should have been more familiar to me. After a full day of photography, we returned to our cabin located just a few hundred yards from the Blue Ridge Parkway. I grabbed my well worn Rand McNally Road Atlas from my car so that we could better plan the next day's activities. To my surprise, I noticed the scene on the cover of the atlas for the first time:
The road atlas from the year before featured the Linn Cove Viaduct:
It really is a small world! A "Little" Surprise!
A few days ago, I visited the Tropic World exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo. During my visit, I photographed the Red-Tailed Monkeys.
As I began shooting this scene, I saw just two adult monkeys. The way that the monkeys were positioned next to each other captured my eye. I was hoping to get a picture with both monkeys making eye contact with the lens at the same time.
Typically, I shoot with my glasses off. I find it easier to compose images with my eye pressed up against the eyepiece of the camera. I tend to rely on the autofocus system of the D800.
Initially, I no idea that there was an infant monkey (or two of them if you look closely) in the frame. The infants were hidden from view by the adult monkeys. After I captured four or five shots, I checked the images on the back of my camera for exposure and sharpness (as I often do). To my great surprise, I saw the baby monkey in the picture! I had no idea that the babies were on exhibit yet until I saw them while reviewing the pictures on my camera's LCD!
 
In an effort to improve upon my picture, I observed the monkeys for another 45 minutes. But, never again did they make eye contact with my lens.
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good! Or, the more you shoot, the luckier you get!
Striding Out of FocusLast week, I photographed a baseball game between the Southern Illinois Salukis and the Fighting Illini at Illinois Field in Urbana. CLICK HERE to view some of those images. I practically live on a baseball field. Between managing a 14U travel team and a Fall baseball team, I coach more than 100 games a year. And, that number of events doesn't count the practices! But, it's been a long time since I photographed a game. One of my favorite perspectives for shooting baseball is behind the catcher. By using my Through the Fence trick, it's possible to capture interesting images of the pitcher. However, during the game I was having some trouble getting tack sharp images. So, I immediately went through the following checklist:
Yet, my percentage of tack sharp images still wasn't high enough. Then, it dawned on me. I was manually focusing on the pitcher before he delivered the pitch. If he was in the set position, I focused on the leg that was closest to home plate. But, many of my images were captured after the pitcher took his stride to the plate. Many of the pitchers take a stride of approximately six feet. I used a 500mm lens at an aperture of f/4. From 120 feet away, my depth of field is just 4 feet. So, when the pitcher strides six feet towards the batter (and me), he is striding right through the depth of field for acceptable focus. He is no longer rendered sharp at the point of delivery. If an image isn't tack sharp, I simply delete it. Fortunately, I diagnosed the problem quickly and captured several sharp pictures of the action that afternoon.
Bare TreesOne of the things I enjoy about photography in the Winter is bare trees. When the trees lose their leaves, the branches are more visible--making it possible to capture strong lines in a photograph.
A Touch of SpringIt's been a long, cold Winter here in the Chicagoland area. Since returning from my Capital Cities of the Southeast trip in late December, I haven't been out shooting very much. Earlier this week, we finally experienced warmer weather. The higher temperature along with the early morning fog provided the incentive that I needed to get back out there. I drove the short distance to our local golf course--the Silver Lake Golf course. I take the green grass appearing through the melted snow as a sign that Spring is right around the corner. Thankfully, all of the snow in our area should be melted by tomorrow.
The Churches of RaleighWhile visiting Raleigh, North Carolina, the historic downtown churches were a pleasant surprise. I visited Raleigh to photograph the North Carolina State Capitol. While I did capture images of the capitol, I ended up allocating far more time to the interesting churches surrounding the capitol in every direction. After wandering into a couple of the nearby churches with a fellow photographer (David Brown), I searched the internet to learn more about the churches along capitol square. I found this website to be a valuable resource as it references 8 of these churches. I visited 7 of the 8, and captured pictures inside 5 of them. Following is a list of the five churches that I photographed. 1: Christ Church on Capitol Square
2: Church of the Good Shepherd
3: Edenton Street United Methodist Church
4: First Presbyterian Church
5: Sacred Heart Cathedral
I'm pleased that representatives from two of the churches have visited my website and contacted me last week to request copies of the images. These images will most likely appear on the programs and websites of the churches. It's always nice to see my images going to good use. To view a collection of my favorite images from the Churches of Raleigh, please click here. Measuring AffectionIn past blog entries, I've mentioned the photography website 500px. I find the website to be inspirational as many amazing images make their way to the top of the "Popular" category. It's also a fun way to share pictures. Viewers may express appreciation for an image by "liking" or by marking an image as a "favorite". A pulse rating is calculated for each picture based upon the number of viewers who voted for the image (with a "favorite" vote receiving more points than a "like" vote). Timing also impacts the pulse rating. If an image doesn't gather enough votes quickly enough, it begins losing ground as points are deducted over time. After 24 hours, so many points are deducted from the pulse rating that it's nearly impossible to overcome with additional votes--which in turn opens the Popular category to fresh images on a regular basis. Cumulative scores are computed for photographers--not just individual pictures. The following three categories are shown for each photographer on the site: 1) affection, 2) views and 3) followers. Affection is an indicator of how many times viewers have liked images within the photographer's portfolio. Views represent how many times pictures have been viewed within the portfolio. Followers quantify how many other 500px photographers "subscribe" to view new images posted by a photographer. Earlier this week, I surpassed the 15,000 affection score. My pictures have been viewed more than 300,000 times. And, over 700 other 500px photographer are currently following my 500px portfolio. Sometimes it can be difficult to measure an intangible like affection. But, with 500px it's a precise number--like 15,244!
For those interested in joining 500px to share some of your own work, you have very little to lose. A basic membership is free. Six Years Later...My website houses thousands of images that I've captured over the past six years or so. Sometimes it takes years before someone close to the scene stumbles across the photograph. For me, it's a pleasant surprise when they contact me--either to thank me for capturing the scene or to provide more information about the image. In the past few weeks, people contacted me about two of my pictures--and both of those pictures were captured in 2009 (six years ago)! 1- The Jazz Guitarist On the morning of February 21, 2009, I visited the "Saturday Morning Market" in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The main reason for my visit is that I really enjoy the lemon square pastries offered by one of the vendors. But, I brought my camera along. The "Gulf Coast Jazz Quartet" was performing that morning. I decided to compose a tight shot of the musician's hands on the guitar. Last week, the guitarist sent me an email. He wrote that he enjoyed viewing the image and thanked me for capturing it. He didn't say how he discovered the picture after six years--but I suspect it was through a Google search.
2- Bungalow Dog We were walking back to our car through Wrigleyville after a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds on April 23, 2009 when we came across this scene. As soon as I saw the dog in the window framed by the classic Chicago bungalow, I knew that I wanted to capture the image. Thankfully, I had my camera with me. The challenge was that a lot of people were leaving the park at that time and many were walking right in front of the building. So, I had to wait until the scene momentarily cleared--and hope that the dog would remain posed. Fortunately, I captured the photograph. Earlier this week, the owner of the dog contacted me. She learned about this picture while reading an article about Chicago real estate. The article featured this image--and gave me credit. From the credit, she was able to find my website along with my contact information. Click here to view the article from February 24, 2015. I've always liked this picture. In fact, a framed print of this photograph hangs on the wall inside my condominium. So, I very much appreciated that the owner of this dog provided me with more background about this scene. Here's what she wrote: "Her name (the dog) is Zora. We lived there for approximately 5 years. Cubs fans named her "Wrigley" and would film her and take pics often as she laid there in the sun, watching the fans foot traffic, in what we deemed her superman pose with her arm/arms out. That was my first apartment with her, and first in Chicago. Been in Chicago ever since. I've since had to make sure we've had big windows with a street view so she can do her people watching that she grew so accustomed to on Sheffield. Thank you for capturing this shot. She is getting old now, almost 12, so it's very sentimental."
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