Sunday, January 11, 2009
From the Picture Album- Another look at the Yate's Pond Mill
Last month, I posted a black and white image of Raleigh's Yates Pond Mill, a beautiful structured restored by North Carolina State University and maintained by the Wake County park service. Right now, I'm buried by the beginning of yet another semester, so I've not had a chance to get out to take pictures. In the interest of keeping this blog from getting stale, here's my second favorite image from the day at the mill.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Introducing My Flickr Album
One of this blog's visitors, a friend and fellow photographer, has been bugging me to get a Flickr page for a while now, presumably so that the many flaws in my 360-pixels-across images can finally be revealed (just kidding, Barrett). I've long posted 550ish x 400ish images on my website but the resolution still has been lacking- not to mention that I don't update it too often.
So... I am going to begin posting some shots at my newly revealed flickr page. For now, it's just five of my better images. I'll try to get a few more of my favorites posted this week. After that, I'll update it with new shots that I am especially pleased with, and I'll make links from here to there.
Cheers.
So... I am going to begin posting some shots at my newly revealed flickr page. For now, it's just five of my better images. I'll try to get a few more of my favorites posted this week. After that, I'll update it with new shots that I am especially pleased with, and I'll make links from here to there.
Cheers.
Coming Christmas 2009
Stephanie and I haven't sent out Christmas cards in probably six years, but in about 340 days or so from now, I think we're going to do so. Why? Truth be told, I don't know. Yestrday morning, as I was taking the pine needle pictures Stephanie recommended, she came over and said, "There's also a really nice holly tree on the bike path. I think it would make a nice Christmas card." And so, I finished up shooting pine needles and started taking pictures for the 2009 Montgomery family Christmas card. Here's what you can expect in your mailboxes (or at least your inboxes) next December.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Land of the Long Leaf Pine
This morning, Steph took our dog for his morning walk before I'd awaken. When she got back, she woke me, saying "I think I have a good idea for a picture." There aren't many wives so on board with their husband's photography hobby that they're coming up with ideas for shots while the lazy bum sleeps, but what can I say, I'm a lucky guy.
I hopped out of bed in my pajamas and made my way to the pine trees shown below. Steph was rightfully impressed with the beads of water on the end of their long needles. I was excited because North Carolina calls itself "the Land of the Long Leaf Pine", and I've been wanting to take up that theme for a while now.
I don't think that I nailed either shot, but I'm also not discouraged with either. Technically, it's a tough photograph to take, as the many beads of water are inevitably in different focal planes. Even so, it was a fun exercise.
I hopped out of bed in my pajamas and made my way to the pine trees shown below. Steph was rightfully impressed with the beads of water on the end of their long needles. I was excited because North Carolina calls itself "the Land of the Long Leaf Pine", and I've been wanting to take up that theme for a while now.
I don't think that I nailed either shot, but I'm also not discouraged with either. Technically, it's a tough photograph to take, as the many beads of water are inevitably in different focal planes. Even so, it was a fun exercise.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Sunflowers
Today, I found more cheap flowers. This time at the our local grocery store. It goes without saying, but I love photographing flowers... especially in the snow-less North Carolina winter, which doesn't offer a whole lot of compelling subjects. For three or four bucks, you can pick up something that will entertain you for the better part of a morning.
The technical details of these images are pretty similar to those for yesterday's daisies. Small aperture openings to maximize depth of field, 28-105 lens, manual focus, etc. However, it was a cloudy day in North Carolina, so I had to supplement the natural lighting coming through our kitchen windows by keeping the room lights on.
This first shot is standard fare for me. Basically, I'm just offsetting the flower to the 1/3 mark on either side of a horizontal image. I've used this formula for several other shots, such as this yellow flower at Raulston Arboretum or even this Stokes' Aster. (As an aside, I'd just comment that I really don't like that yellow flower, but it tends to be one of my most popular pictures). As with all of my images, I did sharpen this image, but otherwise, the only manipulation is some light cropping to get it to 11x14 scale.
For the second shot, I pulled out a kitchen spray bottle and gave the sunflowers a light mist. Then, I took basically the same shot as above, only this time, I cropped liberally, keeping the image at a 5x7 scale. I think the composition here is interesting and looks a bit like a sunrise.
Sadly, I'm headed back to reality on Monday, so my opportunities for photography are about to become a whole lot less frequent. I'll try to pick up some more flowers on MLK weekend, and then, the North Carolina spring should arrive 2 or 3 weeks after that. My big project for the spring will be revisiting Chapel Hill's Old Well to try to capture some nice images with better equipment. But those flowers won't come until later in the spring, so that endeavor will have to wait until March. Cheers.
The technical details of these images are pretty similar to those for yesterday's daisies. Small aperture openings to maximize depth of field, 28-105 lens, manual focus, etc. However, it was a cloudy day in North Carolina, so I had to supplement the natural lighting coming through our kitchen windows by keeping the room lights on.
This first shot is standard fare for me. Basically, I'm just offsetting the flower to the 1/3 mark on either side of a horizontal image. I've used this formula for several other shots, such as this yellow flower at Raulston Arboretum or even this Stokes' Aster. (As an aside, I'd just comment that I really don't like that yellow flower, but it tends to be one of my most popular pictures). As with all of my images, I did sharpen this image, but otherwise, the only manipulation is some light cropping to get it to 11x14 scale.
For the second shot, I pulled out a kitchen spray bottle and gave the sunflowers a light mist. Then, I took basically the same shot as above, only this time, I cropped liberally, keeping the image at a 5x7 scale. I think the composition here is interesting and looks a bit like a sunrise.
Sadly, I'm headed back to reality on Monday, so my opportunities for photography are about to become a whole lot less frequent. I'll try to pick up some more flowers on MLK weekend, and then, the North Carolina spring should arrive 2 or 3 weeks after that. My big project for the spring will be revisiting Chapel Hill's Old Well to try to capture some nice images with better equipment. But those flowers won't come until later in the spring, so that endeavor will have to wait until March. Cheers.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Daisies (Updated)
For my first shots of the new year, I bought six daisies from a local market. I then spent about an hour in our kitchen taking pictures, using natural lighting coming through the blinds. For all of these images, I've used a borrowed Canon 28-105 mm lens, shooting perhaps 12 inches from the flower and maxing out the zoom.
The key to this first shot is the depth of field. I shot the image at F14, and it really paid off, as I was able to capture a lot of detail in the flowers. I've cropped this picture to 11x14 format for printing purposes. I actually shot this image on the horizontal but rotated it in Photoshop onto the vertical (feel free to turn your monitor to see how it changes the image). Originally, I was partial to the latter, as I've been told by Jack Graham that vertical images outsell horizontals about 5 to 1.
However, it's always important to take some time away from an image before settling on what to do with it. 24 hours removed from taking the shot, I decided that this really is the best version of the image.
For the third image, I tried to take a more complete look at the flower, although this composition doesn't get the entire bloom (just to keep things interesting). A more liberal cropping of this shot serves as the new banner for the site.
I've decided to go black and white with this last image, though the color version is perhaps equally interesting (and can be seen here by those who dislike black-and-white). The aperture was a bit more open here (F11), which I think gives the petals a soft quality. However, I tried to keep the sepals (the part on the back of the petals that would be green if this were in color) pretty sharp.
The key to this first shot is the depth of field. I shot the image at F14, and it really paid off, as I was able to capture a lot of detail in the flowers. I've cropped this picture to 11x14 format for printing purposes. I actually shot this image on the horizontal but rotated it in Photoshop onto the vertical (feel free to turn your monitor to see how it changes the image). Originally, I was partial to the latter, as I've been told by Jack Graham that vertical images outsell horizontals about 5 to 1.
However, it's always important to take some time away from an image before settling on what to do with it. 24 hours removed from taking the shot, I decided that this really is the best version of the image.
For the third image, I tried to take a more complete look at the flower, although this composition doesn't get the entire bloom (just to keep things interesting). A more liberal cropping of this shot serves as the new banner for the site.
I've decided to go black and white with this last image, though the color version is perhaps equally interesting (and can be seen here by those who dislike black-and-white). The aperture was a bit more open here (F11), which I think gives the petals a soft quality. However, I tried to keep the sepals (the part on the back of the petals that would be green if this were in color) pretty sharp.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)