Month: February 2016

Times Square and a Little….Luck?

On By John2 Comments

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Hi everyone.  I really have to apologize for my extended absence.  Things have been a little crazy with work, and on the home front.  I’ve been to fencing matches, dance studios, and nearly the ER, for a possible broken toe with my daughter.  It’s been a couple of wild days for sure.  I decided to go for another Times Square post today.  Times Square is one of those places that no matter how you point your camera, something amazing is in your field of view.  On this particular night, we had finished eating a little further uptown at Ellen DeGeneres’s restaurant where all the waiters and waitresses are Broadway musical hopefuls, hoping to be discovered.  Trust me, this place takes the singing waiter to an entirely new level as the wait staff perform songs from all the big shows on Broadway, while serving your food.  It is a super fun time, and the food is awesome as well.  Anyway,  we had eaten a late dinner, and were walking around Times Square checking out all the shopping venues.  Naturally, my daughter had some strong opinions there.  At one point, as we crossed the street going between these stores, I literally stopped, pointed the camera up the street, and grabbed this picture.  I can only imagine what the cabbie was thinking as I stood in front of his car to grab this shot while the “Don’t Walk” sign began to blink.   No prior planning was involved, and it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of the whole weekend.

Photography, is funny like that.  Sometimes you spend 10 minutes standing with your camera trying to compose a picture, and never quite get the look you’re trying to achieve.  Then, other times, you stumble bass-ackwards into something that really stirs you and strikes a nerve. When it happens, you don’t know how to feel about it.  You’d like to take credit for a great photo, but you know it was the result of unseen variables that miraculously aligned for you.  Call it luck if you will.  I once had mentor who didn’t believe in luck.  He always said that you make your own luck, but I’m not so sure.  A point to ponder; I guess.  All the best.  See you soon and be well.

Dreamy Waterfall

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Well, it’s time for a little experimentation.  I have been fooling around with photoshop a little bit trying to create a “dreamscape” type of shot.  You might notice that some areas of this picture are kind of blurry, and some are in relatively crisp focus.  It’s an effect I’ve seen out there and I really like it.  Some would call it a painterly effect, but I don’t really think that’s what I’m going for.  I’m sure that if you asked 10 photographers how they achieve their unique effect, you’d get 11 different answers.  Mine involves Gaussian blur in one layer and a high pass filter effect for ultra crispness in another layer.  Then I used a layer mask to paint blurriness in.  I used a reduced flow brush to put more blur in some areas than others and believe me, lots and lots of use of the history tool to erase all kinds of mistakes.  Overall, I’m pretty ok with the end result, but I reserve the right to work a little more on the technique.  I’ve heard of photographers taking two different pictures to create this same effect.  Each picture set at a different aperture for a different depth of field, or two completely differently focused images.  This might be a great idea, however, I had no idea I was going to try that with this image when I took it; so I only had the one image to work with.  I’ve also heard of people using textures to achieve this effect.  Like I said, 10 photographers, 11 answers.  If you’ve ever tried this sort of thing let me know.  That is if you don’t mind sharing your secret sauce.

A quick note about this picture.  It is, of course, of a waterfall.  As I’ve said before, waterfalls are one of my favorite subjects.  I took this image at Rickets Glen State Park, which is a short drive from my home.  I’ve posted waterfall shots from this place before, and I have plenty more to share. There are a few dozen of them in the park.  It was late afternoon, and a really hot day.  Some friends of ours from the UK were with us, and we happily obliged them in a quick nature hike along a cool stream.  Later that evening, we roasted marshmallows and made them speak with American accents!!  It was awesome and hysterical!!!  Almost as funny as our British accents, that is!!

Cat Tails in Monochrome

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DSC_1426-EditToday, I thought I would post a picture of some beautiful cat tails that I stumbled upon in the early spring last year.  The late afternoon sun was hitting them just right with a beautiful golden light.  I’m not sure what made me try to convert the image to black and white, but when I did…Wow did it pop!!  All the areas where the sun was hitting the reeds was suddenly in sharp contrast to the underbrush and surrounding trees.  If you’ve never heard of the term “happy accident” here might be a great example of one that really made my day.

I’ve read several books on black and white, aka Monochrome, and almost every one of them talks about “seeing” in black and white.  It’s a painful admission to make, but I must admit, I do not see in black and white.  I’ve read all that stuff about studying form, and recognizing contrast within a scene, and I guess it’s just one of those gifts that some people have, and others, like me, read about.  I often take a picture with the desire to convert it later, only to find when I do, that it simply doesn’t work.  Some, like the picture above, really take me by surprise.  I have long admired the work of Ansel Adams, he is a hero to me.  His calendar adorns a wall in my office every year.  His ability to use previsualization of a scene, and then to capture it using the zone system as an exposure guide, is a talent that borders on clairvoyance.   It is a skill I have chased for more years than I am willing to admit to.  I have not gotten there yet, but I will not give up the chase.  Even if it takes the rest of my life.  Of course, for me, this is a hobby, so in some ways that is a wonderful prospect to consider.

All the best,  and Happy Valentines Day!!

The Fence

On By John2 Comments

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I’ve not showed this picture to anyone yet, and I’m slightly concerned that you might think it is a black and white shot; but it isn’t.  Honestly, this particular morning was one of the densest (most dense? ugh grammar) fogs I can remember.  The light was super soft, and with all this white around, it’s hard to differentiate the snow on the ground from the sky.  Everything melts into one sublime space. Gotta love it!!  Interrupting it however, is this broken stone wall fence and a tree.  The sensor in my camera just couldn’t handle this very well, and so I sent the snow to white, and the rest got underexposed to near silhouette.  This is the result, a fake black and white.

I drive past this scene everyday on my way to work, and literally for years I said I would take this very picture.  I can’t tell you how many times I’d driven past it in some spectacular light, or a weather condition that would make for an amazing picture, and I just kept driving to work.  I would shake my head and say, “Some day I’ll take that picture.”  There’s a certain complacency with photography around your own home.  After all, the tree wasn’t going anywhere, and after over 20 years of looking at this fallen down rock fence, I knew no one was planning on fixing it anytime soon.  That doesn’t mean you should take it for granted either.  I call these kinds of pictures “Some day shots”.  The ones you have filed away in your subconscious. Then one day, it all came together.  I was off, and this fog had settled in over everything, and I knew the rock fence was calling to me through the fog.  Ironically, the very road I drive on as I pass this tree would have been in the picture if not for the thickness of the fog!!  Anyway,  get out there today and take one of your “Some Day” shots.  Or, if your not into photography and you’ve stumbled onto my sight and are reading this…   First, welcome!  Second remember that everyone has a “Some Day” something.  Make that Some Day today!!  Good Luck!!  All the best!!!