photography Archives - Page 8 of 18

Patience – never give up on a sunset!

May 30, 2019 by Kirk

Lanes Cove sunset — Memorial Day sunset at Lanes Cove Gloucester

We knew it would be close! The sun was going down and my wife and I could see the color popping up under the rather large cloud layer that had moved in. So driving along 127 in Gloucester towards Lanes Cove kept bringing the question, are we going to miss it? As it turned out we were just in time. Shooting at water level made a huge difference.

I made this image handheld with the lens OIS on. The exposure was 1/50s at f 5.6 with the ISO at 400. This image is sharp as a tack. The OIS is outstanding on the Fuji 18-55. As you can tell by the flag it was blowing pretty good. A slower shutter speed at a lower ISO with a tripod would have meant the flag would have shown more movement.

I really like this shot of the glow on the horizon as the sun dipped below it.

Then I switched to my Fuji 10-24 to see if there were any good wide shots available. I tried a few different compositions but nothing really felt good so I headed back to the car. Just as I was about to climb into the car my wife said; turn around you’re going to miss it. So I turned around and this is what I saw. My first thoughts were wide and the crop will be 16:9 and that is what I ended up with.

The exposure was tricky but Lightroom was able to pull the shadows and calm down the sunset so it all worked. The exposure on this wide shot as the light level started to go down was 1/25s f4.5 @ ISO 640. I would have rather had the tripod for this shot so I could have shot at a lower shutter speed. ISO 640 might be a little high. When I print this I will see what the shadows print like.

Porch Rocker

May 29, 2019May 29, 2019 by Kirk

One of my favorite things to do in the spring and fall is to take early morning walks with just my Leica and the 35mm Summicron. The “35” is such a versatile lens and can do everything except take telephoto type shots. For me it has such a comfortable feel to it and when I want to just grab a camera and go, this is the setup I go for.

In the image above the light was just incredible early in the morning and the sky was a lovely blue color and with the yellow of the rocking chairs it just pulled me right in. I knew this was going to be a beautiful B&W right away. When I converted it I used the Adobe 7 B&W profile and changed some of the colors in the mixer to give it the 3D feeling I wanted. I darkened the blue channel and lightened the yellow channel which enhanced the image.

I encourage you all to go out and use one lens not a zoom lens. Move your feet to zoom, you will find you start to understand how your subject needs to be photographed. Something that the zoom can sometimes miss.

In story telling terms what does this image say. To me it says summer is beginning and the summer rockers are out and waiting to be used. But questions come to mind as well. Who uses these rockers? How many folks have used these rockers over the years and are no longer with us? The best thing about this image is that it gives us pause to ask these questions.

Don’t let lousy weather keep you indoors

April 24, 2019 by Kirk

During my workshops one of my mantras is practice. Always have a camera with you whether it be your phone, a good point and shoot or your regular camera. There is no excuse for not having one of them with you. Practicing looking for compositions should be something you enjoy doing whether you happen to make an image or not.

This week the weather report was awful – rain for the whole week. I was not looking forward to sitting in the house banging on the computer.

So on Monday with the drizzle and fog I headed out for a morning walk to see what I could find. It turns out I found quite a bit of interesting things to photograph.

Practicing hyperfocal distance is an art form. The Fuji system shows you a hperfocal distance scale with a blue bar that shows what’s in focus and what is not at every aperture. Very useful. Everything in this image is tack sharp front to back.

After I walked around the waterfront I managed to find some more great images along the way.

A person waiting in the fog for the bus with blooming jonquils.

A shop window filled with Rockport coffee mugs waiting to be sold.

An finally left over faux Easter flowers hanging out of a mail slot on a door.

When I got home and let my dog “Kodak” out it was still kind of drizzly and when he came back in he was a little soggy looking. I had the camera with me and I immediately thought I could get a great shot of him looking back out the door with some great background separation. B&W is quite often a great option for this type of photo.

Lousy weather is no excuse to not get out there and shoot. It just might be the opportunity you were looking for to capture a great image.