Nature Light Photo

Seeing Differently

I have listened to a lot of podcasts recently that discuss variations on photography. They talk about time lapse, macro photography, maps, aerial photography, or panoramas. All are different forms of photography in one way or another.

And yet they are the exact same thing as “basic” photography. Photography, if done well, allows the viewer to observe a moment in time in a way that they can’t ever do in real life. They can look at the image for as long as they want and examine the minute details that make up that moment.

For instance, if you look at a shot of a bird flying, you can look at the body position, the way the feathers bend, the range of colors in the feathers, and other things that you can’t see with the naked eye. Why? Because it is a bird in flight frozen in time. You can’t do that while standing and watching a bird fly by.

Photography catches one moment and freezes it to look at later. Time lapse, macro, panoramas, etc. all do the same thing. They take an object or a scene and present it in a way that we can’t see with our naked eye.

A crowd entering a stadium. If you just stood there and watched, it would probably be boring. But make a time lapse of that scene and you could watch the ebb and flow of the crowd and  observe the patterns of movement. Just as slow motion allows the viewer to observe the finite motion of something at a speed in which their brain can process it.

A map or aerial photography seems to fascinate people because it shows spacial relationships people can’t see from the ground.

You have probably seen a sand dollar before, but in the macro shot above, you can see the details that aren’t really visible to the viewer with out the help of the lens. The size, shape, and patterns of the holes become more apparent.

The reason that all of these are popular and people take a moment to look at them is because they get to see the world in a new way. It is seeing differently and people are fascinated when they get to view the world from a different point of view.

I try to keep that in mind when taking a photograph. How can I shoot this that lets the viewer see the scene differently?

5/5 Posts and Sites You Should Read for 11/18/11

Here are the photography blog posts and sites that I found this week that I think you as a photographer should read. Not all of them are always related to photography, but they are worth looking at and will probably make you think.

POSTS

I realize that all five of these posts are from the same site and about the same subject, but they are brilliant in what they accomplish. This is not the same as exporting to Smugmug, it is publishing to Smugmug. I have read all of them and, while I understand them, I have not put them into place as of yet. I have to really evaluate my photography and determine if it is right for me. But if you are looking for this information, you need to read these posts.

 Publising to Smugmug, A Geek’s View Pt. 1

 Publising to Smugmug, A Geek’s View Pt. 2

 Publising to Smugmug, A Geek’s View Pt. 3

 Publising to Smugmug, A Geek’s View Pt. 4

 Publising to Smugmug, A Geek’s View Pt. 5

SITES

DIY Photography – A great site for those on a limited budget and lots of “can do” attitude.

ShutterBug – It’s a great magazine and a great site. Lots of information.

Amateur Photographer – It’s a UK site so some of the spellings are weird, but it has lots of information.

Photography.com – Someone had to take the name. It has lots of articles and information that helps it live up to the URL.

Social Media DIY Workshop – A great source of social media know how.

Restarting the Engine

The last few months have been interesting to say the least. Without going into details, I have had some life changing events take place that included the loss of three family members, a slightly serious health issue, and some sever monetary issues. Needless to say, I have been forced to take a serious look at my life and what I want from it and, important to this blog, my photography. Everything is getting much better at this point in my life, but I still haven’t accomplished what I set out to do with my photography.

I started to reevaluate my photography about two and a half months ago and posted my thoughts on my Moving Forward – Finding Inspiration post. Due to the health issues I haven’t gotten much past the state or thought process that I was in at that time, but having become much more healthy and able to get out and shoot, travel, and maintain a more “normal” lifestyle.

As a result, I have made some more concrete decisions about what I want to do with my photography. I have two websites that I will be using; this one and www.naturelightphotography.com. Again, I am truly inspired by G Dan Mitchell in his work and in his social distribution of his photography.

As a result, I will be using this website for my thoughts on photography, cycling, traveling/overlanding with my FJ Cruiser, and just life thoughts in general. Most of the posts will be photography related, but there will probably be a few that aren’t strictly for photographers. The posts won’t be daily, but they should be fairly regular.

My other site, Nature Light Photography, will be strictly my images. I’ll be honest and admit that it is patterned after Mitchell’s site, but I am hoping that it is different enough that people don’t see it as a copy or knockoff. I’m not sure why I think that would be bad, but it is something I want to avoid. My goal is to post a new image daily. I think I can do that because I can easily discuss my images since I was there when I took them and I know what the situation was and what I was thinking to produce the image.

This site will maintain it’s looks because I like the feel of the site, but there might be some subtle changes in the future. www.naturelightphotography.com will be undergoing a comprehensive renovation to facilitate a more photo friendly site to view.

I will be posting some of my ideas and thoughts about my reasons for change and where I’m headed in the future, but until then the bottom line is that I’m restarting the engine and heading down a different road, but I hope the results will be the better this time.

Photo of the Day – Mission San Antonio de Padua in HDR

Mission San Antonio de Padua

Mission San Antonio de Padua is located north of Paso Robles in the central coast region of California. It is largely restored to it’s original condition. This is the inside of the chapel from the back.

I had just seen an HDR of Trey Radcliff’s and was inspired to try to recreate it inside the chapel. Using five images each taken with a one stop difference, I put them together in Photomatix. I tried to get the look to be more real and not the surreal, painted affect that you see in most HDR images.

The image was taken with a Nikon D300 and  a Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 lens at 16mm. The exposure varied in duration, but the aperture was at f8 and the ISO was at 800.

Moving Forward – Finding Inspiration

I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus recently. I haven’t posted as much as I’d like and I haven’t been out shooting much either. I sat down a few nights ago and asked myself why. The answers that came back were the same as most of us have when we find ourselves not working up to our expectations; personal issues, family problems, lack of funds, lack of inspiration and motivation, and no organized plan.

I decided that personal issues and family problems will always exist and everyone has them. They make a weak excuse for not doing what I like to do. I find it hard to believe that every photographer except me has a perfect life. As a matter of fact, if you really pay attention to Twitter, you will find that everyone has these issues. Nope, that I can’t fix, so I’ll just have to get over it. I can do that.

I’ve always known that lack of funds is an invalid reason for not shooting or posting. Yes, I could say that I can’t afford to travel to the places I want to shoot and, as a matter of fact, a four week trip that looped the western United States was cancelled/postponed this summer due to the funding issue. But there are still great shots and opportunities to shoot without leaving my home town. This week’s photo of the week is one of those. I walked out my back door and into the shot.

That brings us to the lack of inspiration. I thought that by staying home, I would find some way to be inspired. Nope, that didn’t happen. I had to go look for the inspiration. I found it in two places. Google+ and 500px. Both are great sites to find some awesome images from amazing photographers. I recommend that you visit 500px just for the images alone.

After looking at the images on G+ and 500px, I have found a lot of new things I want to try photographically. Macro, lighting, different points of view, etc. and I’ve started pursuing those challenges.

I’ve also started going back and looking at my images from the past and reevaluate images that I didn’t think were good enough. I’m trying to use the photographic eye that I’ve learned from  looking at G. Dan Mitchell’s work, things I’ve learned in LightRoom, and Photoshop to find images that are good. Not just good enough, but good.

As for the  organized plan I am reevaluating my websites, their purpose and what I want to do with my photography. I have already started formulating some of the changes that I want to make in both my photography and on my sites.

When I was coaching, someone once told me that there are only two directions in life. You are either moving forward or you are moving backward. Nobody ever stands still.

There are changes in the future.

Photo of the Week – Spider with Web

Spider with Web

I walked out of my back door and almost into this spider web. I grabbed my camera, set up the flash, and started playing with the light. Finally, I came up with this image.

It took some time to get the lighting right so that the spider was illuminated and the web was visible, but not prominent.

The image was taken with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 105 f2.8 micro lens. The exposure was for 1/60 of a second at f8 and an ISO of 1000.

Photo of the Week – Poppies and Grass

Poppies and Grass

While we had a lot of rain in SoCal during the past winter, the wildflower season was a bit of a disappointment. Even in the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, there were not a lot of poppies. I found these about a mile south of the reserve and liked the composition of the grass and the poppies together.

I looked for an angle that eliminatied anything in the background and had a nice mix of the grass and the poppies. There were lots of clouds and the light was changing constantly, so I waited until the light was behind a cloud. I also had to wait for the breeze to die down.

The picture was taken with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 18-70 f.5-4.5 lens at 70mm. The exposure was 1/50 of a second at f16 and an ISO of 400.

Photo of the Week – 365 Porsche Club

North/South California 365 Porsche Club Get Together

Driving though the foothills of the central California coast on a road where I almost never see another vehicle, I crested a hill and ran into the middle of about 50 of the nicest, well kept vintage Porsches I have ever seen. Usually, I drive looking for wildlife to shoot in the fields near the road or birds that sit on the fences, but this was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. When life gives you lemons,…

The light was fairly harsh, but with a little post production tweaking, I think the images came out nice. We talked for a few minutes before the group got back into their cars and began driving down the road. I stayed and tried to shoot each car as it went by.

While talking to them, I learned that they were going to have a concourse de elegance in Morro Bay the next day. I went and got some more shots there.

The image above was taken with a Nikon D300 and a Nkkor 18-70 3.5-4.5 lens at 70mm. The exposure was 1/200 of a second at f11 and an ISO of 200.

Photo of the Week – Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to fly over Hearst Castle with a life long friend who passed away earlier this year. This is one of the shots I got on that flight. Looking at it reminds me of him.

The image was taken with a D300 and a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 lens at 90mm. The exposure was 1/320 of a second at f9 and an ISO of 1000.

5/5 Posts and Sites You Should Read for 7/1/11

Here are the photography blog posts and sites that I found this week that I think you as a photographer should read. Not all of them are always related to photography, but they are worth looking at and will probably make you think.

POSTS

The Turning Gate Cart CE – This looks like a good shopping cart for photographers that integrates with Lightroom.

iPads in Your Classroom – I’m a teacher, so once in a while I checkout places other than photography sites. This one is VERY interesting and demonstrates the possible future of education.

Remote Control Chopper Follows Wakeboarder – In an example of what technology might bring to photography, this “helicopter” follows a wakeboarder, keeping the camera pointed at him as he plays.

Google Yourself – A good way of finding out what is being said about you and possibly finding infringements on your images.

Turn Your Deck into A Wildlife Oasis – From the National Wildlife Federation

SITES

Basic Digital Photography – Like it says, information on the basics of digital photography.

Alpha Mount World – Lots of reviews and information on digital cameras.

NatureScapes.net – The resource for nature photographers. I love this site. It has information, a great store, and more.

Anne McKinnell Photography – A good photographer from Victoria B.C., Canada who is taking a road trip for the next year. She has a good eye and is entertaining to read.

National Park Service – Ok, I’ll be honest. If you’re planning a trip to any national park, this should be your first stop. It may be your last. It has TONS of information about all of the parks and monuments.