Happy Thanksgiving to all

As fall winds down I need to get my home ready for the holidays.  Hopefully some new camera equipment will find its way into my stocking this year.  With winter, the weekend photo shoots may become less frequent but that just means that I have more time to catch up on my processing.

Here are a few images from several weeks ago that I had and not done anything with.  First are some beautiful orchids that I shot at the United States Botanic Garden.  This is the oldest botanic garden in the United States and is fascinating and quite warm on a chilly day.

Orchid

I really love the petal texture and the colors. I shot this with my Nikon D90 and my Nikkor 24-70 lens, handheld with a fill flash.

Finally some fall foliage to close out the season, I enjoy the golden hues of these sugar maple trees.

End of the season

Until next time, keep shooting.  Christmas lights and tripods go together really well.

High Dynamic Range photography

As promised I have now created some High Dynamic Range (HDR) images that I can be proud of.  I have been fascinated with this aspect of photography for quite some time.  While the technique is not difficult to understand or use, it does require some planning.

First you need a camera that is capable of bracketed exposures.  Next you need a good tripod with the appropriate remote cable for your camera and you are ready.  Use whatever lens gives you the field of view you are looking for.

A very good tutorial on HDR photography is this one

HDR Tutorial – Everything you need to know about HDR Photography. 

I used this tutorial myself to get started, I read my camera manual to set up my Nikon D90 and set out to find some good content with alot of dynamic range.  Generally this means that the image you are composing has alot of bright, dark and normally lit areas.  The human eye can distinguish more dynamic range than most camera sensors can capture.  This is why an image will sometimes not have the impact that you remember or why an image seems to have too bright or too dark areas.

As you compose the shot on your tripod, focus on the entire area.  You will be shooting with a fixed aperture as you do not want to change the depth of field.  For this shot I used my Nikon D90 and my Tokina 11-16mm wide angle lens to gather as much of the room as possible.  The bracketed exposure is shot in a group of three, one is 2 f-stops below the average metered light, one at the meter and the last one is 2 f-stops over the meter.

Now that you have your three exposures, you need to merge them.  Adobe Photoshop can do this as well as several other programs.  I am using a piece of software that is free, until my skills improve.  The piece of software I used for this image is Picturenaut.

I followed the instructions to merge my three images, remove ghosts and tone map the image and this is how it came out.




Smithsonian Castle interior

  Hope you enjoy the image, I have several others on my website taken at the Smithsonian, I am going to continue to work on this technique as I really enjoy the resulting image.  The beautiful tone of the stone and the impact of the range of light is very pleasing to my eye.

Until next time, keep shooting.

Veterans Day photo shoot

Salute to our veterans on Veterans Day 2010.  Thank you for your sacrifices and your courage.  I was at the Vietnam Veterans wall for a time as the ceremonies were starting and have a new image of the Veterans statue up on my blog today.

Vietnam Veterans statue

Another great image from today, I love the lighting on the US Flag.  Very nice sight on this day.

US Flag

I hope to have some HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos up soon as I believe I captured some great content today.  I want to be sure that I process them properly for the best visual impact.

Until next time, keep shooting!

Weekend photo shoot 10/30-10/31

Happy Halloween!

Beautiful weather, bright and fading foliage all in the same weekend.  I managed to get out for a while and found some interesting things to shoot.  Some of the locations I found will merit a return visit.

I found these beautiful golden leaves not too far from my home, I love fall it is my favorite time of the year.  Unfortunately the drought has really shortened the time we will have this kind of show.

Fall leaves

Another area that caught my eye was this set of large construction pipes.  I have never been one for abstract photography but this turned out well, I hope you like it!

Construction pipes

Until next weekend, keep shooting!

Most popular photo

After two months of having my photo website in operation I wanted to check the statistics for image views.

The Phoenix

Not surprising to me was that the image we have named The Phoenix which was taken by Kevin is the most popular image, from over 100 on my website!  Congratulations Kevin, well deserved, it is a great image and a special memory of one of our favorite places, St. Thomas.

As you can see from my website, I enjoy shooting sunrises and sunsets both.  This image is special as I had never before and never since seen a sunset like this!

New Nikon software updates available

As I wait for a D7000 body to become available, I have a chance to buy a D7000 kit.  Decisions, decisions?

On that same note, Nikon has released updates for its Nikon Capture NX2 software to include the RAW profile for the new D7000 as well as several changes and fixes.  The software can be updated here:

http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17041

As always please read any notices and disclaimers regarding the update of your existing software.  You should also have a working backup of your pc just in case.

Fall has hit here very abruptly with lots of color in the leaves.  I really need to get out this weekend to grab some shots for my weekend shoot.  Hopefully I will have some new images to post!

Weekend photo shoot 10/23 - 10/24

A busy weekend for me and still very few leaves.  I may try to experiment with some HDR photography as I enjoy seeing images that are processed this way if they are well done.

I will post some shots later this weekend.

Update:  Well the weekend had beautiful weather but major computer problems at my home kept me indoors the entire weekend.  No new images , sorry.

The leaves are finally starting to turn and with my pc working better, though still not 100%, I hope to get back to taking pictures this week.

Weekend photo shoot 10/16 - 10/17

With perfect weather looming and the leaves beginning to turn I will be going out to the Long Branch Hot Air Balloon, Wine and Music Festival this weekend.  I am looking forward to lots of colors both on the balloons and the leaves.

Long Branch Balloon festival

I will be shooting with my Nikon D90 and my new Nikkor 24-70 lens as well as my Sigma DP2s which should be wonderful on the colors. I will post up some images early next week.

Update:  Well the weather was perfect, the wine was great but beyond that it was a disappointing day for photography.  Although I did see some interesting locations for future shoots, the wind was too much for the balloons and the leaves have yet to turn.  In keeping with  the theme and the time of year, pumpkins were in abundance.

Fall pumpkins

Until next weekend!

For those following along on the What kind of camera do you have posting from last week, my old Nikon D70 took the Diamond Cay image.  My Nikon D90 took the Ogunquit Harbor image.  The point (which I learned earlier this year) is that it is the quality of the sensor, the quality of the lens and the skill of the photographer matter, NOT the number of megapixels that a camera has.  High quality images are possible with all kinds of cameras.

What kind of camera do you have?

Every photographer has been asked this question and it is one that brings a smile to my face.  As a serious amatuer photographer that is constantly trying to improve my skills, the question implies that there is something special about a particular kind of camera.  It is all about the exposure.

There may be differences in specs and from a marketing perspective but the reality is that the photographer composes and creates the image.  The camera simply records the light that makes up the image.  Much like a cook, author or seamstress, it is not the oven, the word processor or the sewing machine that makes the finished product.  It is the talent and skill of the person.

Diamond Cay, BVI

Ogunquit Harbor, Maine

One of these two images is 4 years old and taken with a camera that was 5 years old.  The other image is 2 years old and was taken with a different, newer camera.

I'll let you ponder which is which and say thanks when you ask me what kind of camera I use.  I will update which cameras were used in a future post!