IMPORTANT NOTE: I’m Moving

An Important Note to All the Friends I’ve Made Over the Past Six Months of Blogging

Effective today, July 20, 2009, I am moving my blog to its new home at my brand spanking new website www.itsmynaturephotography.com as noted on my business card above.

As I have alluded several times in my blog posts, I have a goal and that is to turn this hobby into a part-time retirement business (I am 60 now). I want to ultimately be selling images at local art shows around the northeast/mid-atlantic region as well as online. A website with galleries, etc. is just another step in that process.

I had acquired the URL www.itsmynaturephotography.com back in January and have just been holding it. Yesterday my daughter and son-in-law came to visit. Tim is a magical computer guru and Jen is a creative force. Within hours, they set up a website, moved my blog and created galleries where I can begin to post the “best of the best” images that I have made. Eventually, we will turn this into an e-commerce site but that is a little farther down the road.

In the meantime, I will continue to blog and hopefully get back to both posting and responding in a much more timely fashion. So PLEASE, if you have bookmarked or linked to my blog at http://itsmynature.wordpress.com, update your link to www.itsmynaturephotography.com and click on “Blog” or link directly to the blog at www.itsmynaturephotography.com/blog/

See you there.

Waterfalls

My wife and I took a ride this morning into the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area in Northeastern Pennsylvania in search of some waterfalls to photograph. I knew waterfalls could be tricky but I didn’t realize just how tricky until I got home and uploaded my 209 images onto my iMac and started culling images. By the time I finished culling the images that just didn’t work for one reason or another, I ended up with just 44 “keepers” and they aren’t necessarily “pin-up” worthy. 

Our first stop was at the Dingmans Falls area. A very short, easy walk over a manmade boardwalk brought us to our first waterfall of the day – Silverthread Falls. This waterfall is 80 feet high and very narrow. I believe this type of waterfall is called a horsetail. Being in a heavily shaded area, it was fairly easy to photograph using my Canon 30D and 24-70mm f/2.8L lens with a Singh-Ray Vari-ND adjustable neutral density filter; tripod-mounted. This was the longest exposure of the day at 10 sec @ f/10: ISO 100; 0 EV; FL 24mm.

A little further along the boardwalk, we came to Dingmans Falls –  a beautiful falls about 130 feet in height. Unfortunately, this falls was directly in the path of some very intense morning sunlight making good exposures very difficult. After several attempts at making images in the direct sunlight, I resorted to waiting patiently (my wife not so much) for the small clouds to pass in front of the sun and offer up some respite for shooting. This image was shot with the same set up as mentioned above and at 0.8 sec @ f/14; ISO 100; 0 EV; FL 24mm.

After Dingmans, we head back to the car and drove on several miles to Raymondskill Falls. This is the highest falls in Pennsylvania at 180 feet and is just four feet shorter than Niagara. Unfortunately, you cannot go all the way down to the base of the falls. The short but relatively rugged trails only take you to an observation area near the first plunge pool about 60 feet below the top of the falls. Here I was faced with a steady stream of bright sunlight and no clouds to help out. The best I could do, even with the Vari-ND, was 1/13 sec and you can see that the water isn’t quite as silky smooth as in the other two images.

That was it for today, my friends. Hope you enjoyed sharing our little day trip as much as I enjoyed bringing you along.

Another Time, Another Place, Another Susan

(1/13 sec @ f/20; ISO 800; -1/3 EV; FEC -1)

This is an image from about a week ago (actually the same evening as “Pretty in Pink”). I really haven’t been getting out much – not nearly as much as I want or as much as I was last year at this time. For that matter, I haven’t been getting online nearly enough either. Hopefully that will all correct itself shortly. I have my fingers crossed!

Anyway, I had been shooting some Susans (Black-eyed, Brown-eyed, whatever) previously and I was looking for something different –  a different angle, a different perspective, a different way to look at a familiar face. This is an example of what I came up with. I shot at a different angle giving me a different perspective on the flower. Then I rotated the flower a bit in Lightroom before cropping it into more of a panoramic view.

What do you think?

Image made with my  Canon 30D with remote shutter release; Sigma 150mm macro lens; Canon 430 Ex Flash w/ Lumiquest Softbox mounted on a flexible flash bracket; all tripod-mounted with a Novoflex macro focusing rail. Susan steadied with a McClamp.

Coming In For A Landing

(1/1000 sec @ f/5.6; ISO 400; +2/3 EV)

OK, one more bird image from our weekend trip to Sandy Hook, NJ. There are several nesting platforms for Osprey scattered throughout the area and it seems there was a nest on almost every one. This particular nest had two young Osprey that would poke their heads up periodically looking for mom. I was able to capture one of the young apparently scolding mom for being away too long! Seriously, I like the position of the adult bird just before touch down.

Image made with my Canon 50D; Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS lens w/ 2x TC; tripod-mounted.

Moment of Impact

(1/3200 sec @ f/5.6; ISO 400)

We were at Sandy Hook (NJ) yesterday for a morning of birding and bird photography. For those of you unfamiliar with Sandy Hook, it is pretty much the farthest north in New Jersey that you can go and still be along the Atlantic Ocean and it is a National Seashore. The narrow spit of land is undeveloped so all the visitors to Sandy Hook are day visitors and, believe me, it does fill up on a nice summer day. So our secret is get there early and leave early. We arrived right around sunrise and left around 11 am passing the bumper-to-bumper traffic heading in.

While there, we stopped to watch some Least Terns diving for food in one of the tidal pools. It was great fun to watch them fluttering in mid-air (almost butterfly-like) and then diving straight down and crashing into the water. Trying to capture the behavior was another story. Here is an image from the moment of impact (the only one that turned out half-decent).

Image made using my Canon 50D and Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS lens w/2x TC.

Pretty in Pink

(1/15 sec @ f/20; ISO 800; 0 EV; FEC -1)

I know I should be able to identify this tiny wildflower but I have gone through all four wildflower guide books that I have and I can’t pinpoint an id. The shape and color alone should give it away. I hate when that happens. Anybody out there who can help? I’d sure appreciate it.

I made the image this evening using my Canon 30D with remote shutter release; Sigma 150mm macro lens; Canon 430 Ex Flash w/ Lumiquest Softbox mounted on a flexible flash bracket; all tripod-mounted with a Novoflex macro focusing rail. 

Hope you enjoy the image. And hope someone out there can offer an id.

Painting with Light – Sunburst

 

I could really use your thoughts on this one. I’m not totally sure what to make of it. To me, it looks like “digital art” (photoshopped to look like this) moreso that a digital image but this is pretty much straight out of the camera. 

I cropped to an 8×10 and centered it on purpose. I boosted the Highlights some. And I adjusted the Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom like I do for most images. I dumped it into PS4 where I removed some blemishes and dust spots before doing some sharpening and noise reduction. 

The image which seems more like a painting than a photograph to me is purely a result of working with the light. There was late day sunlight streaming in from the left and my wife holding a gold reflector to the right. In addition, I used some fill flash from the front. This is the result.

Image made with a Canon 30D with remote shutter release; Sigma 150mm Macro lens; Canon 430 EX Flash w/ LumiQuest Softbox mounted on a flexible flash bracket; tripod-mounted with a Novoflex Focusing Rail; Gold Reflector held by my wife and flower steadied with a McClamp. 

1/60 sec @ f/16; ISO 800; -1 EV; FEC -1

Please let me know your thoughts – good, bad or indifferent. Thanks.

Let There Be Light – A Daylily Abstract

(1/25 sec @ f/16, ISO 800, 0 EV)

Last evening after stopping by the nursing home to visit my mother, I wandered down to another canal, the Lehigh Canal in Bethlehem, PA with hopes of finding and photographing some of the wild Daylilies that I remembered from last year. I was not disappointed. I quickly found a stand of lilies in a shaded area not far from where I parked. As I started to set up, I thought about the sun that was sinking rapidly and would soon bathe the lilies in late evening sunlight. Without giving much conscious thought, I decided to set up so the sun would backlight the lily that I had chosen as my subject rather than frontlight it as would be my natural tendency. I was able to catch this lily just as it moved from shade to some wonderful backlighting. It just set the flower and the image on fire!

I made the image using my Canon 30D; Sigma 150mm macro lens; flash set-up that I didn’t use; tripod-mounted w/ a Novoflex Macro Focusing Rail; bloom held steady in the light breeze with a McClamp; and, of course, natural backlight.

Hope you enjoy the image.

Bridges

Yesterday morning, my wife and I headed out to the Delaware Canal State Park below Upper Black Eddy, Pa. (I just love that name!) The Delaware Canal State Park is a real spaghetti noodle of a state park running some 60 miles in length and only about 50 feet wide (the width a the canal bed and the towpath). Unfortunately much of this park was devastated by floods from Hurricanes Francis and Ivan, a couple of years back. The state is working on rebuilding most of it and it is expected to take another year or two to be completed. The part we were on was spared because it is the one stretch where the canal deviates from following the river and moves inland – far enough to not be destroyed by the flooding. For most of its length the towpath and canal are bordered by private property – some more private than others. Once again my wife was on the lookout for birds (best finds of the day were Orchard Orioles and a Louisiana Waterthrush) while I had my mind set on photographing some bridges that I knew were there.

One bridge that I really wanted to photograph was the Uhlerstown Covered Bridge. Unfortunately the property adjoining the bridge is owned by one of those folks who take privacy very seriously. Orange cones line the edge of the towpath and her property line and yellow police line tape surounds a flower bed that runs along one side of the bridge. As I stood there surveying the situation, she came out and chatted for a moment. I commented that I wanted to photograph the bridge and was trying to figure out what to do about the cones and tape. She made it very clear that I wasn’t going to move them. I wasn’t suggesting that I would. What I meant was what I would do compositionally to work around the cones and tape.

This is what I came up with. It is an HDR composite image of a small portion of the bridge. I liked the way the shadows fell along the side. And I liked the way I could see through the openings – sort of “in one window and out the other”.

In addition to the covered bridge, there were several open wooden bridges over the canal bed (which is dried up in many areas). I particularly like this one. This is another HDR composite image which just makes the color explode of the page/screen in my estimation. Looking at this image, you can see the entire width of the park. But doesn’t it look like a wonderful place for a walk?

Textural Abstract – Plant, Animal, Mineral

Still doing a bit of experimenting. I made this image for a 4th of July weekend “friendly competition” on a forum that I frequent. The theme was “Abstract” and I decided that I wanted to work with textures. As I thought about the concept that I wanted to execute, the idea of mixing plant, animal and mineral came to me. So when I went out Friday morning, I kept my eye out for elements that would work into that theme. The Canada Goose feather came first… almost as soon as I stepped out of the car. There it was in grass just off the parking area. I picked it up and put it into the hatch of the Prius. I walked along the creek and at one point my egress was blocked by a downed tree. As I went to step over it, I was taken with the colors and texture present in the bark. I tore off a piece of bark and carried it with me the rest of my walk. As I returned to the car, I saw a number of rocks that had been dumped (I assume) along the bank of the creek. They were all battleship gray… except for one. I scrambled down the bank, picked up that rock and brought it along with me. The elements were now in my possession.

I began playing with different compositions before I came up with this one that I really liked. The textures just seemed to pop which was what I looking for.

Image made with Canon 30D; Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens; tripod-mounted.

1/2 sec @ f/22, ISO 200; 1/3 EV; Natural light.

I found that I liked the color much better by doing a three image composite with the the other two images at +/- 2/3 stops from the original. This is what I came up with.

Let me know what you folks think?