photoartflightColors of Fall in the Northeast
Posted on October 14, 2013
I spent the last few days wandering around a few of my local shooting areas looking for local Fall Color. You do not have to go far, look around your own yard or local park, you might be surprised at what you find. Here are a few from my yard and The Celery Farm Natural Area, 107 acre fresh water wetland. All were taken with my Canon 1D MkIV and the Sigma 150 f/2.8 macro. The 150mm macro is a great lens and the right focal length for these. Most of the time I set an f/stop of f/2.8 if they were in the shade and increased to f/5.6 in brighter light. I wanted to keep a shallower depth of field to keep some backgrounds less obtrusive. I also tried to shoot straight in to my subjects (parallel) to maximize sharpness across the leaves. You do not have to travel far to get some Fall Color Images and it can also be a challenge to see what you can shoot.
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- Colors of Fall
Spiders & More Spiders
Posted on October 7, 2013
It seems to be the season for spiders. Working in the yard I am coming across quite a few. The one from the other day enlarged its web to about 8 ft wide. Very poor light and windy, but here are a few quick captures, plus one from last week. With the poor light and the wind I had to use a high ISO and f/ stops from f/2.8 to f/5.6 to get something usable. All shot with a Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro on a Canon 7D. Opened in Camera Raw with aggressive noise reduction. I have to find something besides spiders for next time. I also added one Dragonfly that I just came across and liked.
Spider & His Shadow
Posted on September 30, 2013
As I was working in the yard and cutting the lawn I spotted this Spider on the side of the house. When I was done he was still hanging around, so to speak. I tried shooting a few shots, but it was windy and it was in the shade. I upped the ISO to 1600, but I still needed more depth of field. I tried a 3 shot sequence to make a panorama and was about to give up. Then the sun broke through and cast his shadow. I liked that shot the best and was satisfied with what I got, so back to yard work. Keep trying different crops, lighting or other ways to capture your subject. Don’t settle for one quick shot. You will be surprised with what you come up with. Again this was taken with the Panasonic GH2 and the Canon FD 200mm f/4 macro with the FD to m43 lens adapter.
Water Droplets
Posted on September 29, 2013
A lot of photographers do not like it when it rains, cuts down on their photography. I like a rain showers, when it ends or just drizzles a little, it gives you an opportunity to go and add water droplets to your photos. It adds interest and dimension to leaves and other subjects. It is like a Treasure hunt and you can do it in your own yard or a local park. When shooting wet leaves, sometimes it helps to use a polarizing filter to cut down on the glare if the sun comes out. Most of the photos shown here were shot using the Panasonic GH2 m43 camera with an older manual focus Canon FD 200mm f/4 macro lens. I like using this combination for macro. With this combo it is like using an f/4 400mm macro that goes to 2X without extension tubes. Your depth of field is also extended because it is a 200 mm lens, but with the 2X crop factor of m43 giving you 400mm. Plus you are not right on top of your subjects, gives you a nice working distance. You just press in the exposure compensation and the image in your viewfinder zooms in for critical focus. Then you just touch the shutter button and it zooms out for the full image on the viewfinder. Also as you stop down, the image remains bright in the electronic viewfinder, but you also see the full depth of field of the aperture you set. After you shoot your shot you also instantly see a preview of what you just shot for a second and will give you “blinkies” on a bright area that might have gotten blown out so you can instantly compensate and reshoot a darker exposure. So enjoy and go out and look after a rain shower to see what you can find.
Web Browsing
Posted on September 28, 2013
I like a different kind of Web Browsing. It is fun to wander around either in my yard or parks looking for spider webs. Sometimes I get lucky and find nice webs with morning dew with interesting backgrounds & backlighting. But more often I find webs in difficult areas to get to or in really dark areas with bad light and wind blowing it around. If you keep an eye out for webs while you are out shooting other subjects, quite often you will come across them. Sometimes I try to get in as close as I can for more detail in the web and spider. Other times I back out to show more of the whole web. For whole webs you do not need a macro lens. If you want to get closer and do not have a macro lens, try extension tubes or achromatic filters. They work quite well on 70 – 200 or 300mm zooms or even 50mm normal lenses. You can even try a short extension tube on wide angle lenses. When shooting spiders close-up, try just moving up or down slightly to get different backgrounds. You do not have to move too much to get different background effects and density variations. Either way, give it a try and have fun.
Twenty four shot image stack assembled in Photoshop
Different Kinds Of Panoramas
Posted on September 26, 2013
Panorama basically just means wide view, but for photographers panoramas can mean many things. Most use a wide to short telephoto to make panoramas with multiple images. Often when I am out in the field, I am only carrying a 400mm lens, usually with a 1.4X Teleconverter. But quite frequently I see a shot that is too wide for the equipment I am carrying. Even if I had a wider lens, I would not have time to switch and still get the shot I wanted. So I shoot a series of shots of my subject and manually stitch them together in Photoshop. You can also try automatically stitching them in Photoshop or PT Gui. For just a few shots I use auto exposure. But if I am shooting many shots for a long or tall panorama, I switch to manual exposure so the exposure does not change, this makes it easier to combine for the final image without exposure shifts from section to section. I have used this for everything from birds, turtles, birds on top of tall trees, to dragonflies and other interesting subjects. Or if see an image that is perfect for a panorama, but I envision a longer thin crop without a lot of extra image that detracts from what I want. I do not want to crop to my panorama from my regular file because I want a large image, either for a double page spread or maybe a large print, and want to hold the detail with all the added pixels. In another scenario, I see a large bird landing with a wide wingspan, but cannot fit it all in, so a quick series at 10 fps gives me a few images to work with. Or you see a Black-crowned Night-Heron sitting in a tree and you also want to show the bird in its habitat with a lot of detail. Give it a try, it is simple to do and comes in very handy.
Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD
Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, Florida
Closeups with 400mm f/4 DO with, 1.4X teleconverter and extensions tubes
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
Bombay Hook NWR, Smyrna, DE
Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, PA
One of My Favorite Macro Setups
Posted on September 19, 2013
I enjoy shooting a lot of closeup and macro shots. One setup I like when I do not want to carry a lot of gear and still have maximum flexibility, is a m4/3 camera body with adapters for my old manual Canon FD 200mm f/4 macro and Nikon 55mm macro. I am using a Panasonic GH2 body, but with the crop factor it is like using a 400mm f/4 macro, but with the depth of field of a 200mm macro, which is more depth of field than a 400mm. This helps when you get really close. Because my old macro lenses are manual focus, on the GH2 with the electronic viewfinder, I just push the control wheel, and zoom in for critical focus. Also as you are shooting you get a preview in the viewfinder of your shot, so you instantly see if any highlights are blown or if you need exposure compensation. With the articulating rear screen it also helps when your subjects are in difficult positions. Because the body is not stabilized I use my tripod when using the old manual focus lenses. The Olympus OM-D e-m5 or the new OM-D Pro bodies have stabilization in the bodies so using these lenses would then be on a stabilized setup which is an interesting. Using the old manual focus Nikon 55mm, with the crop factor, would be like a 110mm macro with amazing depth of field. The GH2 with the Panasonic 14-140mm & 100-300mm stabilized lenses, with the crop factor (2X) is like carrying 28- 280mm and 200-600mm in a lightweight package. I am quite impressed with image quality of both of these lenses and often carry the GH2 with one of them as a second backup setup when my main setup is a Canon body with long telephotos or macro lens. Gives the opportunity to shoot something wide if a 400mm is my main camera, or something far if my main camera has a macro lens. I shoot raw files and using Adobe Camera Raw adjust for sharpness and to control the noise. If I have to I can use up to 3200 – 6400 ISO. A lot of damselflies and dragonflies I shoot at my pond are late in the evening or early in the morning when they are not moving around yet, or after a rain shower when the light is low. If you access to a m43 body give it a try, it is a lot of fun.
Painted Lady Butterfly
Posted on September 11, 2013
I was by the plants along the edge of Gull Pond looking for Dragonflies at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in Oceanville, NJ. I noticed the Painted Lady on the yellow wildflowers, thinking the orange of the butterfly worked with the yellow wildflowers and was trying to get an interesting shot. Then I noticed the smaller insect with similar colors on the same plant. It is an Ailanthus Webworm Moth. I waited and tried to get them both in a pleasing close composition. I was handholding my Canon 400mm DO with a 1.4X Teleconverter, with extension tubes, so it was tough to get them both in focus with the distance between them. With all the extension tubes, I had to raise my ISO to 1000, and I chose an aperture of f/9 with a shutter speed of 1/640 to get the most depth of field and still maintain a soft look on the rest of the plant, so your eye goes to the insects. Being patient did not pay off this time because the Painted Lady went behind the plant and then flew off, but I am still pleased with what I captured and had fun working the shot.
A Different View
Posted on September 10, 2013
I saw a small Sunflower in the yard with the sun striking it from the front. I thought it looked interesting so I went out with a Sigma 150mm macro lens to see what I could come up with. It was nice, but not great. Looked like the usual Sunflower shot. Then I went to the back side and thought it looked more interesting from behind. The sun was coming from the front so I was shooting into the shadows. I used a small 12 inch silver/gold collapsable reflector using the silver side to bring out the textures in the green stem and to also highlight them. There was a green bush in the background which I just kept as a smooth green background to contrast with the yellow petals. I really like the different look with the textures and greens and yellows. After working with the main flower and seeing the textures on the stem, I switched to the unopened buds with the textures to see what I came up with.
Green on Green
Posted on September 7, 2013
Sometimes when I am out enjoying nature, looking for birds or wildlife, I keep an eye open for alternate themes that I find interesting. This can fall into almost any photo category. Sometimes they work out well and are great additional images either for prints or for my ebooks. They also help tell a story if used with other images. This also helps sharpen your eye for what is going on around you as you are out in the field. Often it is also more rewarding and fun than finding the same Great Blue Heron in the same spot as last week. It gives you the chance to try different compositions, crops, depth of field, etc. There are unlimited themes you can work with and can help push your creativity. Here I am showing Green on Green, which is great in Spring & Summer, but tough in Winter in the Northeast. Use your imagination to come up with themes you like. White on Black, Red & Blue, Hard & Soft, Sharp & Soft, Dark & Light, you can come up with an endless list. Next time you are out in the field, and it is a slow day, look closely around you and you might be surprised at what you find. These images here were from local parks, my yard and National Wildlife Refuges. Images here were shot with everything from 400mm to macro lenses with Canon equipment to Panasonic GH2 with Canon EF and FD lenses. Thanks for looking and see what you can find.
Click on the image below to see a slideshow.
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