Morro de São Paulo 2008

Canon 20D, ISO 200, 1/125@f22

Morro de São Paulo 2008

A quick post and short point - when I shot a series of images of these kids leaping off a dock in Morro de Sao Paulo, Brazil, I was equipped only with a 50mm prime lens, a favorite.  In order to get the narrow field of view I wanted, I waded up to my neck and contend with an occasional wave and splashing.  Those issues limited how close I could get to the action.  While several shots resulted in great images, I revisited these and found this scene worthy of a tighter crop to emphasize the action and simplify the main elements.  The cropped image has a stronger graphical quality than the original which shows the entire dock and several other individuals that distract from the two boys here.  So the point is this - cropping is not necessarily bad when limited by the distance to the subject or the focal length of the lens.  Furthermore, revisiting older photos and studying various crops can strengthen a sense of space and composition for future shots… and remind one to bring other lenses!

Canon 20D, ISO 400, 1/250@F16; cropped approximately 60% of original

Leaf and Parsley 2010

Craig at Craig Corl Photography inspired me again - this time the inspiration was to stay home and do some macro work right outside our front steps!  His advice to get out and capture Spring couldn't have come at a better time.  Time is a rare commodity, so why not explore around and outside the house - no special equipment necessary.  Most point-and-shoot cameras have excellent macro capabilities (use that flower, or parsley, icon).  The parsley was captured using a white reflector about a foot behind the herb to blur the texture of the reflector. In post processing, any off-white distractions from the background can be adjusted through curves to amplify the highlights. A large piece of white (or black, for a different effect) construction paper and a tripod are all you need if a photo-specific reflector is not available.  A 36-46" collapsable reflector is well worth the investment if you want to really get some great family photos (read: future post forthcoming). Ultimately, very little post-processing is needed for a great capture.  The parsley was later added to a killer napolitano red sauce…

The leaf, inches from the parsley was a simple b/w conversion.  My daughter was watering the plants and I thought, nice water droplets!  The sun provided specular highlights in the water, then set minutes after I took the photo.

Canon G11 on a tripod, 1/15@f8.

Birdseye View, National Mall 2010

This was a first time Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) shot over the National Mall, using a simple setup of a Sutton Flowform 16 kite, basic aluminum picavet and mount, Canon G11 and 500ft of 150lb nylon kite line.  As the flags indicate, it was windy with gusts up to 25mph, too windy for a stable flight, even with tails (the ones you see below were too short). Nevertheless, the shot here was one out of twenty-something that yielded a sharp image and included the Jefferson Memorial in the background.  No special timers or shutter releases were used.  The G11 has a 20sec timer that will take up to 20 frames on its own.  While my wife held the line (our daughter almost wound up in the Tidal Basin trying to hold it), I brought the camera down, reset the timer, and let it fly.  Watching the camera and rig shoot straight up in the air for 100 ft is a neat thing to see, if not a little unnerving.  Use an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera, visit Kite Aerial Photography and go fly a kite! (and take pictures)

Silver Birch, Balancing Rock Trail, Nova Scotia 2009

Nova Scotia is pristine. A bit on the lonely side but still relatively unscathed by rampant tourists. There's no Wally World or Yosemite Valley.  It's difficult to get there and not exactly cheap if using the catamaran ferry to save an extra days' drive. Nevertheless, if you want to really get away from everything and see unobstructed views of the North Atlantic or Bay of Fundy, sinewing farmland or dozens of small coves, it is the place to visit at least once (and then you'll plan a return).

Along the Evangeline Trail, aka the two-lane highway 217 to Tiverton, a great stop is the easy one-mile trail to St. Mary's Bay and Balancing Rock.  The trail is well-maintained and it's rustic, wooded feel eases the senses with quiet hemlocks and occasional silver birches.  Rounding one of the last corners along the descent to the bay, I encountered this lone birch at the corner of stairs and it was glowing silver.

What frustrated me to no end was knowing that my 20D could not come close to capturing the resolution and smooth tones of a view camera, yet here, I felt like I achieved the right exposure and had the visualization for what the final black and white image should look like. The three images show the original, sharpened, and dodged and burned final result.  The first of the two b/w shots, immediately to the left, is flat - there's too much grey across the frame. By using feathered brushes and low opacities, the birch, stairs and ferns were sculpted with different brightness values to give it the silver shimmer expected.  I decided to burn the lanky trunks behind the birch and to either side of the bottom end of the stairs to draw the eye in.  We are attracted to contrast and light areas surrounded by dark tones bring the eye along.  For me, the birch is immediate because of the silvery tones along the trunk.  Then the stairs wind along the middle left of the frame and to…. who knows.  The bay?  You'll have to go there to discover it for yourself.  I am very satisfied with this capture, which as my friends and family will confirm, is rare.

There's a point to this. From the original capture to the final result, a great photo is possible if you know how a camera's sensor behaves and study some basic photographic concepts.  Ansel Adams' Zone System still applies when dodging and burning digitally or mastering curves/levels. Given the 20D's 8.2MP resolution, most point-and-shoot models are far superior (given a good sensor, like the Canon G-series) than that SLR.

Anyone can make this type of an image.  Now go do it!

Canon 20D, ISO 400, 1/30@f7.1.

Motorcycles, Acadia National Park 2009

A national park does not conjure Harleys and hotrods but while at the top of Cadillac Mountain in Maine, two bikers rolled up and parked.  Seconds after they dismounted, I shot a couple of frames.  The bikers, concerned for their hardware, watched suspiciously.  When I showed them the LCD, they just harumphed and made off.  Following some simple contrast adjustment and high pass sharpening, this is the result.

Canon 20D, ISO 200, 1/25@f18.

Side of the Road, Nova Scotia 2009

This image was made while on a road trip through Nova Scotia.  We made a random stop along a highway and climbed around the bales for a time. Billowing storm clouds pinched the curtain of rays along the hills above the farm valley. Lightroom post-processing included curves, crop, vibrance and vignetting.

Canon 20D, ISO 100, 1/125@f13.

Bike 2010

This is a small departure for the blog, but after cleaning my bike, it begged to be photographed.  I took several dozen shots at different angles and really like this one for the clean lines and limited focus.  A tripod and mirror lockup were essential for the crisp logo.

Canon 5Dmk II, ISO 100, 1/16@f6.3.

Canada Creek, Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, 2009

Smithsonian Kite Festival 2010

This image was heavily post-processed for mood.  Extreme S-curve and vignetting adjustments in Lightroom combined with noise reduction in Photoshop resulted in the quirky smilarity between the plane's size juxtaposed against the kites.

Canon G11, ISO 100, 1/640@f8.

Washington Monument, Tidal Basin Sunrise 2010

This image was made a few days ago, at the peak of the cherry tree blossoms.  The sunrise was not all that remarkable, but the glass-smooth basin and white cherry flowers jutting in from the left set the scene.  What this serene landscape does not convey - the dozens of shoulder-to-shoulder tourists and professional photographers vying for a couple square feet of tripod space on the bridge leading towards the Jefferson Memorial.  Despite the crowd, it was very quiet, save for the endless clicking and beeping of digital camera shutters.

Canon 5DmkII, ISO 160, various exposures at f22 (HDR).  38880320N 77040382W