Category Archives: learning

Lookout Silhouette

Posted by Mike on

Went out to visit my family this weekend with my daughter. Although it was a long drive we had a great time. The weather didn’t cooperate so I was unable to go exploring with the camera. I had that itch that needed to be scratched so after we returned home today I went for a walk down around the Utica Marsh.

This is a observation/lookout stand supposedly used for viewing the happenings in the marsh. To bad they do not keep the view cleared that looks into the marsh. The only opening lets you look clearly in the wrong direction. I still liked the outline and shadows created by the structure. I tried a little cross processing in an attempt to add a little to the image. Not sure it worked…

Lookout SilhouetteNikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/1600s, 28mm, f/8, ISO 200

Lookout Silhouette
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/1600s, 28mm, f/8, ISO 200

12 in 2012

Posted by Mike on

When I started this journey with photography I didn’t have a particular direction I wanted to go in or a lofty goal in mind other than to take better pictures when I was at Disney. As you can probably tell from this blog it has become much more to me. It has become a part of who I am. I look at the world around me differently and I see more detail out there than I use to. I’m still learning and I know it will be something I will continue to do for a long time.

As I look back over the past year I see some improvement in my images but still no clear direction. I enjoy a lot of different styles and seem to hop between them at will. I would say that I focus more on landscape photography probably because it affords me the time to get what I want. Whenever I try to capture action or scenes that require me to think quick on my feet I seem to fall short. Maybe next year I will have to work on improving those areas I struggle with.

I wasn’t sure how I would be able to sum up this past year so I decided to select my favorite image from each month. I present my 12 favorite images of 2012…

January – This image was taken when I was still using my point & shoot. The fire department for our town has a small memorial in the yard across the road from the station house and this cannon always held my interest. Coming home from work one evening I thought the light and conditions were finally right to capture the cannon.

CannonSony DSC-H20, 1/320s, 12.7mm, f/4, ISO 100

Cannon
Sony DSC-H20, 1/320s, 12.7mm, f/4, ISO 100

February – I found it was sometimes easier to get images in the morning as I waited for the kids to get on the bus. It also was generally when the sky and sun put on the best show. Sitting at the table I would notice the sky, grab the camera and run outside.

Fence Post SkySony DSC-H20, 1/40s, 11.9mm, f/9, ISO 100

Fence Post Sky
Sony DSC-H20, 1/40s, 11.9mm, f/9, ISO 100

March – In March I finally broke down and purchased a DSLR camera and two lenses. It wasn’t that the Sony took bad pictures, I decided I had reached the end of what I could do with it and wanted to explore more possibilities. We had a very early spring this year and I was having a blast playing ‘Grass Poker’ on Google+.

Among Giants Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/80s, 62mm, f/4, ISO 100

Among Giants
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/80s, 62mm, f/4, ISO 100

April – Still going strong with the Grass Poker but learning to capture colors and getting a handle on depth of field.

Color Layers Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/320s, 38mm, f/3.5, ISO 100

Color Layers
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/320s, 38mm, f/3.5, ISO 100

May – A friend of mine on G+ and a fellow Upstate NY photog was doing some incredible images of water droplets. I thought I would give it a try. I definitely need a better macro lens, but this one turned out OK.

Blade Worlds Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/800s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 400

Blade Worlds
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/800s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 400

June – Quite a lot of my images are simple objects around my neighborhood. I live out in the country so neighborhood is a broad term. I troll the fields and woods with my camera as often as I can. I found this view of a daisy to be particularly interesting.

What the ant saw Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/3200s, 42mm, f/4, ISO 400

What the ant saw
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/3200s, 42mm, f/4, ISO 400

July – On a return trip from Cortland after picking my daughter up from her Grandma I talked her into making a detour on the way home. I had been wanting to visit Chittenango Falls State Park for quite some time and the conditions that day were just about perfect. There is a trail all the way to the bottom and plenty of good viewing angles. I have since made additional trips to photograph these falls.

Chittenango Falls Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/10, 0.4, 1.6s bracket), 32mm, f22, ISO 200

Chittenango Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/10, 0.4, 1.6s bracket), 32mm, f22, ISO 200

August – I cross over the NY State barge canal every day on my way to and from work. There is an access point to the trail system along the canal that is about the halfway point of my daily trip. What I discovered this summer is additional access points closer to Utica. The one near the Utica Marsh has become a favorite exploration area for me.

Orange over Marsh Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/40s, 21mm, f/11, ISO 100

Orange over Marsh
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/40s, 21mm, f/11, ISO 100

September – Another area I pass twice a day is the overflow area on the Oriskany Creek. It was one of the first places I stopped at when I started learning more about photography. I have also learned to go for the details as well as the grand, sweeping landscapes.

Big Rock 2 Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 42mm, f/11, ISO 100

Big Rock 2
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 42mm, f/11, ISO 100

October – As I started venturing farther away from home in search of interesting images I discovered there are numerous state parks within minutes of my house. A new favorite is Pixley Falls which is only 30 minutes up the road from me. I found there are various tributary streams in the park and this is one of them just after the leaves vacated the trees. I believe I have also managed to produce an HDR image that does not have that obvious HDR look to it (hopefully?).

Divide and Conquer Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/4, 1, 4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Divide and Conquer
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/4, 1, 4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

November – Another of those state parks close to home is Delta Lake. Just minutes from the house but I believe I have spent more time in that park this year than in the previous 22 years since I moved here. I also have become more patient in waiting for just the right light. As I watched everyone else leave the beach area I found this rock alone in the sand just begging to be photographed.

Beachcomber Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/40, 1/10, 0.4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 200

Beachcomber
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/40, 1/10, 0.4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 200

December – A barge canal image rounds out the top 12. I happened upon this barge in the side canal in Utica one morning while out exploring. The calm water and beautiful sky made this image an easy one to capture.

Barge at Sunrise Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/3, 1.3, 5s bracket), 19mm, f/16, ISO 100

Barge at Sunrise
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/3, 1.3, 5s bracket), 19mm, f/16, ISO 100

I’m hoping I’ll be able to expand my area of exploration next year and bring pictures from other parts of NY State to this blog. I have seen some wonderful images from around the state and my list of places to visit grows all the time. 2013 will have to be the year I start crossing some of those places of the list!

‘Tis The Season

Posted by Mike on

Well, it is time to end my recent hiatus, I just wish it could be with a new picture. The weather, shorter daylight hours and quite a bit more activity at work as the year ends has kept me away from my camera. I even tried to enjoy today off from work but the constant drizzle outside and grey, overcast sky has left me with no opportunity to go exploring. To partially remedy this situation and relieve my posting withdrawal symptoms I decided to recycle and old image.

This image is from almost a year ago. I was still using my old point & shoot camera to learn on and was about three weeks into my attempt at a 365 project (that project eventually ended after 91 days, but that is another story). I had just finished hanging the lights on the house and realized I needed a picture for the day. I liked the way “cool blue” lights looked against the surrounding blackness.

As you can see from the original I was still learning my way around Lightroom. The Sony only saved JPEG images but I generally was able to create the image I wanted. I still hadn’t learned about blown highlights or white balance. The changes I made to this image are subtle. I corrected the color of the lights and recovered some detail in the highlights. I applied a little more noise reduction and sharpened the image with the newer techniques I have learned.  Small differences but I do like the new image better.

Xmas Lights Original Sony DSC-H20, 1/20s, 12.7mm, f/4, ISO 200

Xmas Lights Original
Sony DSC-H20, 1/20s, 12.7mm, f/4, ISO 200

Xmas Lights Redo Sony DSC-H20, 1/20s, 12.7mm, f/4, ISO 200

Xmas Lights Redo
Sony DSC-H20, 1/20s, 12.7mm, f/4, ISO 200

Color Composition

Posted by Mike on

This post is a response to a Scott Thomas photographic assignment. Scott has a great blog, Views Infinitum, where he shares his photographic journey as well as a lot of great content for budding photographers like myself. It doesn’t hurt that he is a Disney fan as well, which is how I found him in the first place, even though he is just down I-90 from me.

Every couple of months Scott presents an assignment which helps us explore a particular aspect of photography. The first assignment I participated in concerned the ‘Rule of Thirds’. From that first post I was hooked, although to be honest I have missed more than I probably participated in. The current assignment is about color in composition (related post).

I decided when I read the post that I was going to approach it from two different angles. First I was going to make an effort to capture some fresh images with the intent of using them for the assignment, which means I would have to think about what I was doing more than I normally do. The second angle was to review my older images and see how I had used color in the composition. I waited until after I gathered the new images before searching through my hard drive.

Fresh Captures:

Fighting the Demise
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/3200s, f/2.8, EV -0.3, ISO 200


This first image uses the purple of the flowers against the green background to help draw the eye immediately to the subject. It also doesn’t hurt that I have placed the flowers on an intersecting third of the image. Every little bit helps…

Roll Out the Barrel
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/500s, f/8, EV -0.3, ISO 200


This second image once again uses a stand out color object, the orange, rusty barrel, against the muted colors of the grass and gravel. I probably cheated on this one too by creating an angular focus zone oriented with the barrel. The selective focus was just a little experiment on my part but it turned out kinda cool so I left it. 🙂

Silhouette on a Color Wheel
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/50s, f/8, ISO 200


This third image is all about the color of the sky. There was a great range of color created by the setting sun. I had the visible orange glow on the horizon as the sun slipped below and then the red reflection in the clouds with a nice blue background in the middle. I used the tree in silhouette to give some scale and I like the detail in the limbs of a bare tree.

Sill Waters, Sand Ripples
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/5s, 24mm, f/22, EV -0.3, ISO 200


The fourth image is one I am a little less sure of fits within the assignment. It is from my excursion to the beach on Saturday but after the sun decided to hide from me. The majority of the scene has a blue tone due to the late hour and the amount of cloud cover. The bottom third of the image has the color from the sand and the cloud reflections. It is definitely the first part of the image you notice and then you are drawn into the thin horizon and the rest of the picture by the cloud reflections in the water.

My second approach to Scott’s assignment was to review my older images and see how I have used color in my compositions. I have to say that I do have a tendency to use color to isolate or highlight my subject. I know it isn’t always a conscious effort on my part and I’m not sure where I picked it up but apparently something has been sinking in from all those books I have been reading.

Older Images:

Autumn Swan Song
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/3200s, 70mm, f/4, ISO 400


Color Pop
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 110mm, f/8, ISO 200


Red Leaf
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/400s, 62mm, f/5.6, ISO 100


and I even do it when on vacation…

Magic Kingdom – Tom Sawyer Island – Harper’s Mill


Hollywood Studios – Water Fountain


Well, this has probably been the longest post I have every done. It was great going out with the intent of capturing images for this assignment. It had me looking at everything differently. I spent more time selecting my view and composition. I know I should be doing that more as I’m out exploring but sometimes I just click away instinctively. I’m sure I will find the right balance and in the long run I’ll improve my images. Thanks Scott!

Thoughts on a Sunday

Posted by Mike on

If you are a landscape photographer or generally only capture images of landscapes, how far do you go while processing your image? How much do you enhance the image? Do you attempt to create an image that is the best you can make? Or, do you try for as much realism as possible? Is your processing based on the scene or do you have a general ‘look’ to your images?

I was driving home from work the other day and the sun was breaking through a dark cloud cover. I was amazed by the clarity of the sunlight shining through the holes in the clouds. It was a very intense light that was begging me to pick up my camera. I knew in my head what I wanted in the foreground to help create a more interesting image. There was a tree in the field close to home that had the brightest yellow leaves. They would just ‘pop’ out of the picture against the clouds. I couldn’t drive fast enough.

My problem became a race against the wind. The clouds were moving too fast and I was losing my image. When I did arrive at the field I quickly pulled over, grabbed the camera and tried to make a picture as nice as the one I envisioned in my head. It didn’t quite work out as I had hoped. There was a second tree in the field next to my yellowed leaf beauty that was just empty branches. The clouds had already started to fill in the holes and the beams of sunlight were not as intense as I saw when I started this race. I clicked away for a few minutes and then the scene was gone.

The image below is the straight out of camera image…

Shine Down on Me – SOOC
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/160s, 62mm, f/11, ISO 400


I have stared at the images from that day for a while now. I wasn’t happy with how they turned out and I almost deleted them more than once. I decided I should try to see what I could create and set about processing the best of the group. I know the original thought in my head was to create a ‘landscape’ image which I have always associated with trying to make it look as ‘real’ as it was when the shutter clicked. That just wasn’t happening.

I ended up using Lightroom to do all my basic adjustments. Warm up the image slightly to help bring out the colors. Reduce the noise in the image. Tweak the highlights and shadows. Sharpen the image as I was just slightly out of focus. When I finally had everything set I threw the image in Topaz Labs Adjust and went to the HDR presets. I selected the ‘Dynamic Brightness’ preset and went to work tweaking the settings. The image below is the final result.

Shine Down on Me
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/160s, 62mm, f/11, ISO 400


You can definitely see the beams of sunlight and the autumn colors look good against the dark clouds but the image looks unreal to me. It is somewhat close to the image I had in my head when I first caught sight of the sky but it is far from what was really before me when I captured the scene. Now don’t get me wrong, I use all the tools at my disposal while processing my images. I’m not sure what my issue is with this particular image but if feels fake to me. I think I ‘pushed’ it too far while processing in my attempt to highlight the beams of sunlight. I know I have created other images that are far removed from reality so I’m struggling with what it is about this image that bothers me.

I would definitely be interested in any thoughts on this image or processing in general. Thanks…

Monochrome

Posted by Mike on

I have discovered a new interest.  I beginning to appreciate the beauty of a monochrome (black & white) image.  When I started this photographic journey I only saw pictures as color.  Sometimes the more colorful the better the picture (or so the way the thoughts in my head formed).  I’m just starting to understand the power of a well created B&W image.  I know I have more to learn about this style of photography but I am excited learn and experiment.  Here are a few of my favorites so far…