It arrived this week: my 720nm IR converted body. Today, I was finally able to take it out and play with it. It was a short walk at Green Lakes, but it was still fun to look and see what things look like off the sensor. I don’t find false colors appealing, so plan on shooting and editing in monochrome. Now I just need to experiment for a while to see what I like the images to look like after post-processing. I know I like the glow of IR images from film and will definitely utilize the Orton Effect to give my images that look. I just don’t know about contrast. Part of me wants to use all of the histogram from blacks to whites: While another part of me likes the lower contrast with the Orton/Glow and the more ethereal (to me) feel of the image: Either way, I […]
I already had the best image that I was going to get and I wasn’t expecting anything too special: the comet was a little too low in the sky and the mosquitos were ridiculous, so I wasn’t going to risk EEE to spend too much time outside light-painting an imperfect image. Besides, I had to place my camera/tripod directly in the middle of the street, so all it would take was a single neighbor coming or going from their home to disrupt my composition and force me to start over again. I really went out to grab a few exposures and give myself something to play with on a rainy day. I ended up blending 5 exposures for this particular image, one for the sky, one for the house and another 3 for the light painting (which, even by my own standards is sub-par). The challenge was white balancing the […]
Christine drove to New Jersey, the kids were at Grandma and Grandpa’s for the weekend, and it was raining. Oh well, time to grab the camera and go for a walk anyway. I also brought along my tripod and a large umbrella (which came in very, very handy). When I first arrived, I made notice of a tree adjacent to the parking lot and I tried my hand at a reflection in the puddles in the empty parking lot without any luck, so I settled for an ICM. Next, I walked to the beach in search of some images, but there was little to be had. I captured an image of the lone tree near the diving area; it turned out much better in March when I visited. I am not terribly displeased with the image of the lifeguard’s chair, though. I worked my feet to be certain that I […]
I see in color, but I prefer to process my images in black and white or monochrome. Monochrome affords me the opportunity to shoot in harsh light when color doesn’t. It masks the lack of color contrast in our woods in Central New York. It helps me concentrate on light and shape. It eliminates the need to process mixed lighting indoors. It allows me to dodge and burn landscapes more aggressively than traditional color photography. It also helps hide some of my inadequacies in white balance and color processing. Look, for instance, at this image that I captured yesterday, while driving between patients: Granted, it is mostly unremarkable. It was really only a test shot to see if it was worthwhile under more satisfactory conditions (it isn’t). But it was shot at approx 1200 in the early afternoon, handheld in harsh and bright mid-day sun. This is the condition that […]
When I started looking at trying to print/publish a book of all the images I captured during my recent photo project, I found the price to be a little bit more than I wanted to spend at approx $100. So I decided to go the cheap route and publish as a magazine instead. To be fair, it is less a magazine and more a more analoge version of the blog post. I know absolutely NOTHING about magazine layouts and design. I haven’t even researched it. I literally just dragged and dropped images onto simple pages with 1- or 2-image layouts (1 if it was a portrait orientation, 2 if it was landscape) and copy/pasted the captions. It is less than attractive, and I think I am okay with it. I captured the images that I wanted. I recorded something as I intended. But now – moving forward – I am […]
I dropped the kids off at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s last week and decided to scout the grounds of the Stone Quarry Art Park for possible night photography. Perhaps, I thought, I could frame a piece of art a composition with the Milky way. I quickly discovered that it wasn’t going to work. Most of the installations are surrounded by trees and the only art installation that was afforded a view of the south sky was Tree3, which has severely degraded from it’s original form 8 years ago and is not worthy of including in an image in 2020. Looking north, however, there is a piece (“Eye of Heaven“) that might provide an opportunity for a long exposure of the night sky with star trails with the curves of the art piece intersecting with the stars like a Venn-diagram. I plan to keep my eyes open for an opportunity in the […]
I decided this weekend to really dive in an look to see what the difference is between the images captured from my EM5-mii and the Google Pixel 3a. I wanted to know: for snapshots in good light, is there any reason to not just reach for my cell phone? Yesterday, I went out with both and took similar pictures (different focal length) with both cameras. Colors aside, the swing-set is more distorted with the Pixel, which shoots wider by default. The Olympus is with the 17mm prime, already wide in its on right. The distortion probably isn’t a deal breaker; it is subtle and I wouldn’t necessarily notice if the images weren’t being compared side-by-side. I like the look of JPEGs off my EM5-mii. They are natural looking to my eyes and I don’t usually need to do anything to them when I am taking family snapshots. I have a […]
I had my shoulder bag packed and my clothes laid out just in case and I did indeed wake at 0445. I had intentions of sleeping as late as I could, but wasn’t surprised when I couldn’t sleep any longer. I was going to take a picture that I had been thinking of taking for nearly 2 months. I knew that I needed early morning light on a calm day. The conditions this morning checked-off both boxes. Before going to the originally planned location, though, I was going to try to capture (haphazardly) an image of the sunrise, which looked like it was going to have potential … I was right. After capturing an image of the morning sky I made my way to a spot on the Erie Canal that I have had my eyes on for a while. There are stairs that lead down the water that will […]
CNY Land Trust recently acquired the 3 Falls Woods Preserve, and I had the occasion to visit while the water was still running. My first visit was on Monday, May 18th. I confess that I was a little unprepared. I had my raincoat, my tripod, my bug-net, and my rainboots. I didn’t have (because I didn’t think that I would need) my trekking poles or my hiking boots. I was also carrying my gear in my over-the-shoulder bag, not my hiking pack. I was able to capture a couple sets of waterfalls, but not the most scenic. One reason was that I didn’t have the right footwear and it was apparently hazardous to access the falls from below. Another reason was that I was unfamiliar with the territory and was unaware I could hike the long way around to find my way to the bottom. At the top, near Sweet […]