Author Archives: Mike

Technical

Posted by Mike on

52 Week Photography Challenge
Week 2 – Technical: SOOC

Woo hoo! Look at me! I made it to week two of my 2017 challenge.

I know that might not seem like much but the way the weather and work have been going I seriously doubt my ability to go exploring to grab images. And not only for this goal I placed in front of myself but for my sanity. Getting out and capturing images is my escape. It is definitely my me time. Not to mention the cruel trick Mother Nature is playing on me… I mean, come on, right after I buy the snowshoes we have a streak of 50 degree weather and rain. That is downright mean! LOL

But I digress. The challenge this week is to capture a compelling image and post it straight out of the camera. No processing. No helping yourself improve an ‘almost image’ by tweaking it. Plan your shot. Nail your composition. Set your exposure and click!

 

MLCreations Photography: 52 Week Project &emdash; Arches - SOOC

 

On Wednesday this week there was a big meeting with a customer starting after lunch. It was a post award conference with lots of customer representatives. To calm any jitters I typically get I jumped out during lunch and escaped to the Old Erie Canal Park nearby. Even if I didn’t capture any compelling images, the act of crawling around the canal puts me in a better place. I had a good time! And, I was able to capture a cool view of the aqueduct over Butternut Creek.

I really liked the play of light in this image. The light on the inside of the arches contrasting with the dark walls and water. The pattern (only two) of the shape for the arches with the line of each bringing your attention down to the creek and the white, frothy ‘rapids’. Definitely not an award winner but there is potential, and for this challenge I think I ended up fairly well with an image right out of the camera.

 

MLCreations Photography: Monochrome &emdash; Arches

 

Technically (pun intended!) we are suppose to save the original for processing later in the challenge but I couldn’t let this one sit. I knew how I was going to process this image as I was capturing it. This was always going to be a monochrome image. I needed to crop slightly to remove the one strand of errant grass in the lower left corner. I also thought the balance would be better with the image ratio changed to 4×5. Although I liked the pattern in the image changing the ratio removed the perfectly same sized arches and added a little visual tension. After that it was a few minor adjustments in Lightroom and a trip into my black & white plugin from Topaz Labs.

Let me know how I did for this week’s challenge. I always welcome your thoughts and comments.

Bellamy Lights

Posted by Mike on

Bellamy Harbor Park, Rome, NY

Wednesday morning as I started my journey to work I was nudged out of my routine by the moon breaking through the clouds. It was a day before the full moon and about forty-five minutes before moon set. For a few miles I was having that old debate in my head…

You should stop and capture some pics of the moon!

But, that will make me late for work.

Late! You are usually forty-five minutes early every day.

But it will feel late to me!

But look at that moon!

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Bellamy Lights

 

I drove past the on-ramp to the highway and headed toward Bellamy Harbor Park at the southern end of Rome. I was hoping to catch the moon reflected off the water of the barge canal and depending on its position in the sky some of the park lights as well.

It almost worked. Tuesday night was the night of the freezing rain. The snow covered ground was one giant ice rink! I also forgot how fast the moon moves through the sky when it is near the horizon. By the time I was able to ‘skate’ my way from the car to a location near the water the moon was almost out of view.

See that one whiter, less star flared light near the left end of the walkway bridge. That is the moon. Yeah, by driving to the park I lowered my elevation so much the moon appeared even lower in the sky. As I continued my drive to work after capturing a few images I thought I could try again on Thursday. No such luck, cloudy and rainy. Maybe on Friday… 😉

Coming Home

Posted by Mike on

Melbourne Beach, Florida

The weather hasn’t truly been bad. Listening to the reports I am happy I do not leave off the Eastern shore of Lake Ontario. They have been hit hard this past week. We did experience some unpleasant weather on Tuesday. There is a warm front coming through my area. Around 3pm the sleet and freezing rain started. I opted to leave work early in hopes of out running the weather East. The ride home had its moments but in the end I only traveled an extra 5 minutes due to the weather.

The drive did have me thinking about the beautiful weather I left in Florida back in December. In particular, the last day where I was at the beach for the sunrise. I had an opportunity to switch out my lens to the telephoto and capture the sandpipers and seagulls. On the way home I kept thinking of this particular image I was able to capture of three gulls heading back toward the beach. I had to finish processing and then post it.

  

MLCreations Photography: Florida &emdash; Coming Home

  

I used quite a few of my compositional tricks to help improve the chances you will like this image. 🙂 I’ll tell on myself and explain what I did…

In my post about the new 52 week challenge I joined I talked about the rule of thirds. That rule is in full force in this image. Can you spot them all?

First, the horizon is on the bottom third horizontal line. Next I placed the three seagulls on the left vertical line. As luck would have it the gulls are also on one of the intersection points. Now, the highlight on the right where the sun will eventually break above the clouds is on the right vertical line. See what I mean by the rule of thirds is in full force.

Now there are few other eye-catching tricks employed in this image. There are three separate layers to the image. The water/waves are in the bottom third of the image and become the foreground. The clouds on the horizon are in the middle third while the gulls and bright yellow/orange sky are the top third. The clouds effectively become the background and the gulls and the hint of the sun are the subtle subject.

One last trick is the odd number of seagulls. This is often referred to as the rule of odds. The brain does not try to ‘pair’ off the odd number and bring a dullness or ‘sameness’ to an image. You can read more about this photographic ‘rule’ at another Digital Photography School article here.

So, did I succeed? Did my tricks influence you at all?

Monorail Shade

Posted by Mike on

Monorail Monday
Future World, Epcot, Walt Disney World

There are classic views of the monorail while you are in Epcot. Views you must capture if you are a monorail enthusiast like myself. And then there are those different views of the monorail. The out of the ordinary views. Those are the views I look for. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. I haven’t made up my mind on this one yet. It is is different, I’ll admit.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Monorail Shade

 

While you are in Future World at Epcot the Monorail track passes over head while it makes the loop around Spaceship Earth. This is the big reveal! Your first look at Epcot as the Monorail is cruising into the station. If you are sitting on the right side of the car you will have a continual view of Spaceship Earth. On the left you get glimpses of the attractions in Future World or at the top of the loop you can see into World Showcase.

This image is from a bench almost directly under the track on the way to Mission: Space. My eye always catches contrasting colors and the yellow in the umbrella against the blue sky was a combination I wanted to incorporate. I have done another monorail image incorporating these umbrellas, but the closeness of the track I thought would provide a unique view. I fired off a burst of exposures but I liked one of the first as the monorail is starting to enter the scene. Negative space can enhance an image as much, if not more, than by filling the whole frame.

Surf Dreamin’

Posted by Mike on

Cocoa Beach Pier, Florida

Not only should you be looking at your ‘keepers’ but the less than perfect images are learning experiences as well. And sometimes the oops or ah, crap images are avenues for creative outlets. I never throw away an image until after a long consideration and inspection.

 

MLCreations Photography: Florida &emdash; Surf Dreamin'

 

This image is the result of me not paying attention! I was focused on getting the shot and neglected to watch as the surf was coming further up the beach. This five second exposure was almost done when a big wave came crashing towards me. I grabbed the tripod and tried to out run the water. One soaked foot later and an image interrupted I learned to keep one eye out on the water.

But the same principal applies to this image as does an image with car lights. The main exposure was almost set (a little underexposed) and the only points tracked during my grab and go are the intense lights. To me it looks as if I tried to do light painting around the pier area. The surf is smooth light I wanted. The clouds are exposed to my liking and the pier stands out as it should.

Because of the movement in the last 20% of the exposure there was a natural softness to the image. I was able to recover most of the detail in the pier but in the end I went with a soft and dreamy look to enhance how I felt about the image. And yes, I am dreaming about my next trip to Florida! LOL

A New Challenge

Posted by Mike on

52 Week Photography Challenge
Week 1 – Story: Rule of Thirds

A new year is suppose to bring a new set of goals. That is the thought behind New Year’s resolutions, right? I have been pretty good at listing resolutions, I have been terrible at following through on them. This year I did not list any. Why put myself through the guilt when I do not achieve or sustain what I thought I would do this year. But, I did want to try something to push myself creatively this year.

I remember when I was doing the weekly themes with some friends I had met on one of my Disney trips. We would pick a theme for a week and share three images that we created and comment on each other’s work. It wasn’t a competition, it was a way for us to keep in touch and learn. I had a lot of fun when we were doing those themes. Some weeks I would plan specific images and other weeks I would wander around seeing what jumped out at me that would fit the current theme. It helped me when I worked either way… if I had an image in my head I would plan everything out and then go execute. If I allowed myself to wander around it was teaching me to see differently or expand how I looked at my surroundings.

To get me back into that mode of operation I decided I would work on a 52 Week photography project. Rather than rely on myself selecting a theme and working on an image I found a project/challenge online that I am hoping will keep me focused. Dogwood Photography is doing a second challenge after what looked like a successful one last year. Reading through the challenge list it appeared to have themes that I could contribute to as well as push me along my goal of increasing my creativity. You can view the weekly challenges here.

If you are looking for something to help jump start your own photography I encourage you to participate in this challenge. I had tried a 365 Project once but only made it through 25% before I gave up. The challenge of creating an image every day eventually wore me out. I think the guilt when I missed a day was the worse and was what truly forced me to stop. I thought with a weekly challenge I will have more opportunities to create the image I want and not feel stressed out about it.

Week 1 – Story: Rule of Thirds

The challenge for the first week is to tell a story using the rule of thirds. This is probably the first “rule” of photography everyone hears about or learns. Digital Photography School has a nice article about this technique if you are interested. Basically the technique involves dividing your image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. To create the most compelling image you would want to have your subject near one of the dividing lines or even better is to have your point of focus at one of the intersections.

The challenge this week though is more about telling a story by incorporating this rule of thirds. I had an idea about what I wanted to do and last night was my first opportunity to execute. The image I created is of the Bed & Breakfast next door. My neighbor had turned his house into a B&B quite a few years ago to capture some of the travelers looking for a place to stay near the miles of snowmobile trails in my area. One trail crosses the road about a quarter mile from my house.

I will admit this is not one of my best images technically. I should have bracketed my exposures to give me more detail in the highlights. I chose not to as I thought it contributed to the story. You will notice if you can visualize the image split into thirds that the truck on one of the dividing lines. I also played with the concept of the rule of thirds a little by creating three zones in this image. There is the snow zone which has the driveway and tracks leading to the truck. The middle zone is the house and then the last zone is the night sky.

 

MLCreations Photography: 52 Week Project &emdash; Night at the B&B

 

Not a great start to the challenge but I did start! I keep the list on my desk so as not to lose focus. I welcome any comments and if you do decide to participate, let me know so I can follow along with your progress.

Creativity

Posted by Mike on

Topaz Labs Plugins

When I was starting my journey into photography and was devouring as much information as I could find. I was reading books, scouring the internet and exploring other photographer’s work via Google Plus. I was also posting to as many photography themes on G+ as interested me. I was still using my little Sony P&S camera while still learning how to create images like those I was viewing online.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; DeltaLakesKnoll

Delta Lake Knoll – Original
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/125s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200

 

On a whim I entered a photography contest where the prize was some software to use with Lightroom/Photoshop. It was the Topaz Labs plugins and fortunate for me the contest did not involve having to post an image. I was lucky enough to be one of the two winners and have maintained the software, using it when necessary, since late in 2011.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Glow

Delta Lake Knoll – Glow
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/125s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200

 

There were times while using the software where I might have gone a little overboard with my processing. I am sure I used it as a crutch when I did not manage to bring home the image I wanted but was able to manipulate an OK image to make a posting. I believe I have struck the right balance with my processing and have learned how to create the image that is in my head when I press the shutter.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Simplify

Delta Lake Knoll – Simplify
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/125s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200

 

My photography is not always about capturing a pixel perfect replica of the scene I am viewing while out exploring. Although that might have been my original thought as to what photography was suppose to be, I have learned to let my images be a release of creativity. I am going to use all the tools at my disposal to change what I have captured into what I see. Every person sees differently and I try to present images that allow you to see what I see.

  

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Impression

Delta Lake Knoll – Impression
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/125s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200

  

So today I decided to present a few different views of the same scene that I have created using the Topaz Labs plugins. I generally use the software in a more subtle approach but I thought it would be fun to show what it is capable of creating.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Texture Effects

Delta Lake Knoll – Texture Effects
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/125s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200

BREIA

Posted by Mike on

Black River Environmental Improvement Association

Well I did it!

I bought the snowshoes I mentioned I would get in my Delta Day post.  My intent was to get the snowshoes and the hiking poles.  What I did not count on was the pair of Merrell waterproof hiking boots.  It is rare for a store to carry the wide width version of any of the Merrell boots and when I spotted them on the shelf I had to snatch them up as well.  At least that is what I kept telling myself as I walked to the counter to pay.  🙂

It is all good.  The boots and the snowshoes work great!  I first took everything for a spin around the house to ensure I would not fall over and strand myself out in the wilderness.  Once I was satisfied I could work all this equipment and look good doing it (LOL) I packed up the camera gear and headed North toward the cross-country ski trails along the Black River Canal.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Canal Trail

  

I had about and hour and a half before sunset.  I set a goal of 45 minutes up the trail and then I would work my way back to the car.  It was so nice to be out walking without sinking up to my ankles in the snow.  I can see me exploring more of Delta Lake State Park and I am finding all sorts of new places to use my new winter gear.  As I was putting everything back into the car I was wondering why I had never done this before.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Abandoned 1

 

On the trip back down the trail I pulled out the camera and managed to capture a few images. Near the start of the trail there is an old barn that I have seen from the road as I drive to Pixley Falls. I have always wanted to get up close and see what photographic potential this barn held. The few images I did capture were not terrible but I will be back when the sun is out and I can work in some more shadows. I think there might be potential if the sun is right for some interior images too.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Abandoned 2

 

That first walk with the snowshoes was great. I am already researching other trails I can explore. Luckily for me I leave in/near a snow belt in Central New York. If the beginning of this winter is any indication I will not be without opportunity. Stay tuned. More adventures with snowshoes to come…