Sugar Loaf Mountain

Wow, I am really sorry that its been so long, I guess I will go ahead and catch you up on a few of the things going on. Spring has finally come and I have really been chomping at the bit to get out and do some photography. I will have to post more often, but hopefully soon some things will come up that will allow me to hopefully do just that. So for now I will post another picture that I really like.

I really enjoy the grains of the wood and how they really seem to show the age of the wood. I was at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland this year for a day and I was trying to get these great mountain view scenes playing with my new 28-135mm Canon lens and at one point I ended up looking down at the park bench I was sitting on and found this shot. The dead leaves just fresh from their winter tombs and snapped this photo. Still one of my favorite brown photos.

Sugarloaf Mountain was not the best in the early spring and the day we were there was quite cold but its all over my list for the fall when the leaves start turning. Not a lot to the mountain but its one of the highest places in Maryland meaning it will have a great view of the rolling hills here.

Makes an excellent background if your looking for one I can send you the watermark free version if you pop me a line.

The City of Brotherly Love

I was recently asked how do photo trips get planned? What consideration goes into what lenses to bring, where to go, what time of day? My answer was of course spend as much time as you can planning, go early, and as far as lenses bring as much as you can. The trip that Corey and I took on November 29^th was anything but one of those trips but still turned out brilliantly. Sitting in my house one night Corey and I both realized that we had the upcoming Monday off. At the same time we were watching Man vs. Food on the Food Network and he was in Philadelphia. At the same time both Corey and I found that this would be the perfect opportunity for a photo trip to the City of Brotherly love. We departed rather early our eyes set on the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall. The trip to Philadelphia was uneventful but the day was filled with so many prospects and of course Cheese steaks.

We found parking fairly easily and started into the Liberty Bell museum. The place is nothing but Top Notch and was very informative. The entire complex in the center of downtown Philadelphia was phenomenal.  The light was fairly harsh and getting a picture without twenty other tourists in it was not easy, but I was able to snatch a few courtesy of a zoom and getting in front of little kids to take a picture.  I really liked the way they did the Liberty Bell, lots of natural light from all different angles really gives the bell a very different look from different sides.  Maybe its because I am a guy but I really enjoyed the “blue” side which was a result of the skylight behind us.

The outside of the building where the Liberty Bell is

Shortly after we headed over for our guided tour of Independence Hall. If you are Philadelphia you really should consider the tour it’s a free tour but you do need to get tickets. It was breath taking knowing that some of my family were in Philadelphia, when the Constitution was being signed. They were consequently hanged for assisting the British, but neat nonetheless. Its a really neat piece of my families history.  Apparently there was an Act passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1783 that stated the Doans were "robbers, felons, burglars, and traitors". Its an interesting story that ends up with Abraham and Levi being hanged. I would recommend looking into the story. 

Finally we decided to walk (which was in retrospect a bad idea as I did not wear a coat) to get Cheese-Steaks. Only 14 blocks and about half the city away we arrived at our destination.  If you have ever been to Geno’s or Pat’s for a Cheese-Steak you I am sure have your opinion about which is better. This is exactly what Corey and I were here to find out. The two competing restaurants are located literally across the street from each other and work in direct competition. We started with Geno’s where we ordered a “Provi-Wit” and then ordered the same at Pat’s. Needless to say we both felt that Pat’s was the better of the two.

We walked back to the car and began the two and a half hour drive home, having enjoyed another photo trip. The sunset over Philadelphia was breath taking and Corey and I discussed how crazy it was that we drove from Baltimore to Philadelphia for some cheese steaks. Just goes to show how fun photography days happen.

HDR - High Dynamic Fun in Washington DC

I read quite a few photography blogs and the more I do the more I find photographic techniques that I would really appreciate being able to try. Having seen HDR photography years ago I have always been fascinated by the idea that you can take three independent photos shot at very different EV compositions and combine them into one incredible photo. Being that we live about 40 minutes from our nations capitol I figured that a trip into DC would be the perfect chance to take some HDR photographs. Taking them can vary from camera to camera but I was able to find an excellent guide on how to configure the Rebels to automatically change the exposure in between shots. This allows you to take the three shots quickly, and reduces the risk that the camera will move in between shots (which ruins the photo). That being said, I would not recommend attempting this without a tripod, seriously you need one.

Tina agreed to accompany me down to DC for the day with the explicit understand that this was a photography trip. We started the day out with almost no plan, we went to the Washington Monument and got alot of really great shots there and then continued to wander about the city setting up some fine HDR shots. Tina and I were engaged at the base of the Capital building so DC has a special fondness for us.

So let me start by showing you my favorite of the bunch, I am going to upload all three of the original images and then upload the changed. This image is perhaps the best of the bunch at showing the power of HDR.

 

So as you can see from the top three image we have an underexposed, a properly exposed, and an over exposed. What this allows you to get the best of all images, in the underexposed image you get great quality of image in the Lincoln Memorial. In addition you get great blues. In the properly exposed image you get the green of the grass and the color of the dirt path that you would expect. Finally in the over exposed image the detail of the tree is incredible. This is unseen in the previous two images and it leaves you with a wonderful image. To my luck the woman in the right third of the image was not posing for me, she was trying to take a picture of the Washington Monument and was holding really still, I set this up and just snapped away.

Final Product:

HDR Image of the Lincoln Memorial

As you can the see the end result is quite pleasing as every single part of the image is properly exposed. This is information that the human eye cannot physically see. This is why I love it. The sky is so blue and all of the colors just pop! Its HDR baby!

So the next information that people typically ask is how do you do HDR? I would recommend the HDRsoft suite, its simple to use, elegant and interfaces beautifully with Aperture. A great walkthrough can be found here.

Looking from the Lincoln Memorial.

Let me show you a few more I took, the first is a view from the Lincoln Memorial looking down at the Washington Monument. The funny part about this picture is your not allowed to use a tripod on the Lincoln Memorial without getting a permit to do professional shooting. Yes, we were told by a department of Park Services employee that my $19.99 Dynex tripod from Best Buy (classy I know) was considered professional photography equipment. Being that I am one that always gets what I want I harassed the guard a little more and he finally told me that if the tripod touches the ground I can get arrested. So using my two feet and one of my wives I ensured that the tripod was not touching the ground, it was touching my feet and we took the pictures. The guard was none too happy but I feel in the deepest part of my heard that he enjoyed the loophole.

Next we have one of my personal favorites of all time, this one is the of the WWII Memorial's the cost of freedom. Personally, I love the WWII memorial, it has everything, but this wall is perhaps the moment where you remember that WWII claimed over 300,000 American Lives and this wall goes on and on and on. I love was HDR was able to do to the reflection of the pool, the depth of the stars, and not to get too sentimental it represents all that these brave young men were willing to put on the line for the cost of freedom. And while future generations have taken their sacrifice fore granted I hope that this image shows those brave souls that their cause was meaningful.

So that is HDR, I would recommend that anyone try it and see what results you get. 

As Always Leave Comments!

A Streetcar named Desire



The rusty pull leaver of a street car
designed to clear snow off the tracks.

 More and more as I being to enjoy my photograpgy I find that I want to bring my camera equipment with me everywhere. I find that some days I even consider taking it to work "just in case". Halloween was no exception this year. As the wife and I have been really looking to get a dog and we were headed into Baltimore to go to a few dog pounds. I honestly cannot explain why  I took my camera with me that day, all I know is that the bare essentials, Camera and one lens. That day I took my T2i and my 50mm f1.8 "Nifty Fifty" and as we drove to the first shelter I drove by the Baltimore Street Car Museum. I had never really seen it and its really out of the way and looked like an interesting place. I didn't stop to take pictures then as we were headed to look at dogs, but I made a point to attempt to get back there before the day was through.

The Rusted Body of a Baltimore Street Car.

After going to a few shelters and getting some lunch in Federal Hill I asked the wife if we could just go back and take a few pictures before we lost the sun. While the museum had many street cards in amazing condition I was really interested in the two broken down trains they had sitting down the track from the museum. Not wanting to get into any trouble I go into the musem and ask the manager if I can go crawl through them and take some pictures. The owner, slightly confused and amazing that anyone would want to crawl through those heaps but he obliged and we headed down away from the station to take the pictures.

The Trains were rusted and had a "steam punk" feel as switches and gauges were all over the place. I took alot of pictures and really enjoyed the museum. It represents (much like its location) a lost part of Baltimore from the Hampden area of a time when Baltimore had street cars. The lesson that I learned here is to always have your camera on you as you never know when you may encounter a situation where the perfect light, perfect sun, perfect rust covered street car named Desire.

The Angel of the Confederacy

You often forget when you live in our country that just about 150 years ago our country was involved in a deep civil war. I think in many respects the North was immortalized and in many respects the South was forgotten by many.  I don't think that this is a function of their bravery, or their heroics in battle, but rather what their cause is so often associated with. I am not trying to get into a debate over the root cause of the Civil War I am simply attempting to get people to remember that just because the South was fighting for something you may or may not believe in, those boys did not have much of a choice when their country called. Living in Maryland we get an interesting perspective as we were a swing state in the Civil War, and live in the direct area of many famous battles. While down town there is a larger statue to commemorate the Union I did not know about this until it was literally right on top of me. But nestled in the art district of Baltimore I found this angel and I was even more surprised that this was a memorial that sought to immortalize the Confederacy. I guess I liked it even more because to me this screamed to not forget that in both sides of the bloodiest war in American history men fought and died and while you may not agree with their morals, you have to respect their resolve. I really like this statue. 

Life and Death - The Chincoteague Conundrum

Ahh the story behind this photo. I was spending the weekend with my new in-laws at Chincoteague Island, Maryland and I had really been trying to take some pictures all weekend and I just hadn’t gotten a chance. Finally the skies cleared up, and my camera was actually on me and so the wife and I went out on bike looking for good lighting and shots. I had been watching these birds here near the bridge all weekend. They tilt their head to the side and wait and watch for the fish and when they finally get the fish in their sites they attack. I guess the most amazing part for me is that they are not a small animal by any means but they are so much faster than the fish. I knew I needed to capture the motion on when photographing these birds so I adjusted my shutter speed to be high at 1/1000. Turned out well I love the fish in his mouth jumping for its life as the bird tosses him back in his pallet. I think I took about 20 photos of this guy before I was able to get one or two I really like. I have another I just have not decided if I am going to post it. Well shortly after taking this pictures it began to sprinkle and when I looked up the skies had turned to black. We rode as fast as we could to a local Dairy Queen got some Ice Cream and waited out the storm. What a day!  

Update: Since I am importing this from my old blog I guess I get to update people on some interesting information. My mother was redesigning her bathroom as I was going through my Iphoto library she saw this shot, she had to have it! She blew it up and its hanging in there. It was the first piece of my work that actually was printed and framed, needless to say I was very excited.

I also decided to go head and post the second photo with this post, so here it is. Yet again, really high shutter speed to get the water just dripping.

A Fountain of Gold

This picture is another example of being in the right spot at the right time, and by right spot I simply mean completely and utterly lost. Wandering the streets of Key West in a desperate attempt to to get my bearings I was peering through the gates at some of the houses in Key West. Low and behold I find this little gem and I am taken aback by how beautiful this fountain is.  I ended up putting my lens between the bars of the iron gate and ended up having to take a few to get everything right. With Tina urging me to press on and I snapped this as my final shot of the group.  I felt this a fitting second shot for my new project as its almost the complete opposite of the first. These were both taken with my “nifty fifty” which is my 50mm F1.8 lens, its a real gem. The best address I can give you regarding this image is 326 Whitehead St, Key West Fl. Whoever lives here is lucky and has done a fantastic job with their decorations. Leave comments!