September 11

Last week, my long time friend Dave Klee suggested we shoot the flags at the old Pavilion site, we decided on a sunrise and were presented with a glorious morning. But a little preplanning was necessary. With such strong backlight we needed to add some light to the front of the flags. See if you can spot them.......

Hawk

Sooner or later, after kids and flowers, all photographers turn to wildlife for their subjects. This guy was hanging out looking for his next meal. They can be so expressive sometimes....here he’s just posing for a couple quick frames. If you train your lens on anything really, check your viewpoint and change it if the background is distracting, maybe complicated, too bright or merging with the subject, and use a larger fstop to soften the background and separate it from the subject.

Beach motion

I mentioned previously the endless possibilities of capturing moving lights with slow shutterspeeds. Well if you move the camera with a slow shutter, you have infinite possibilities as well. Add color and you can be your own Matisse.

Lightning

For something entirely different! At the beach the other day and an ominous storm came up. Over the ocean the lightning seemed to be rehearsing for armegedon. Thought I might improve on previous attempts. So set the tripod and since ambient light of twilight was still glowing, used a polarizer to lengthen the exposure. This gives you the time to capture one or several strikes. The aperature was f22 and shutter was opened for 2 seconds repeatedly till I had captured a few strikes. Got lucky with a few and liked this one best. The serenity of the seaoats and a passing storm, how symbolic of life!

Marina Inn

Architecture has always been a favorite subject. Studying a building for optimum light and composition is like stealing. The architect has done the hard work, you just have to make him look better. If you can put water in front of a building with lights even better, your half way to the goal. I’ve firehosed or waterhosed parking areas for that purpose. Lakes, ponds or fountains are always welcome, they give a base with the reflection, and produce an aesthetic, that other framing just doesn’t accomplish. You can opt for a mirror finish or like this with a little texture. If you're on a boat, jump up your ISO to increase your shutter speed. Not bad for a grab shot. 1/20@f5.6 Timing of course critical.

Feathery waterfall

I’m often asked, how do they get those waterfalls to look “feathery”? Well this example was simply shot in low light requiring a longer shutter speed.... Thus producing some “feathering”. But I further increased the desired effect by adding a neutral density filter, a polarizer can also be used, to further lengthen the shutter speed. Of course a tripod or suitable rock was required, to eliminate camera shake. The iso was also set to a low 100, and fstop was 22, final shutter was 1/10 of a sec.. Interestingly just 10 ft from this cool fall the Alaskan skeeters were thick and big, thankfully it was a short hike back to the car.

Skywheel Myrtle Beach

For those who've not had a chance to see the new Skywheel at night, here's a couple variations. Using a slow shutter speed on a moving object, especially colored and lighted, yields unlimited possibilities. These ranged from 1/30 to 10 secs.