Posts in Category: portrait
10/13/2009
Looking At You!
We went back to the pond behind the amphitheater on Jekyll Island for our digiscoping workshop, since, as they say, the pickings were easy there. Lots and lots of immature Yellow-crowned Night Herons perched out in the early sun. I was tucked back in the shade of the trees on the bank, but this youngster must have seen the glint of the light in my objective lens. I certainly saw the glint of light in his eye.
Zeiss PhotoScope at about 1400mm equivalent. 1/130th @ ISO 200. Approximately f5.0. Programed auto.
A touch of Recovery in Lightroom for the feather highlights. Added Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset. Cropped from the right for composition.
From Colonial Coast 09.
10/10/2009
Northern Cardinal in the South
The Cardinals I have seen in Georgia have not seemed as red as the Cardinals I see in Maine, or in Arizona. This might reflect a real regional variation, or it might be because I only visit Georgia in October, or it might be my imagination. At any rate, this is one of several specimens visiting a feeding station at the Jekyll Island Campground on Jekyll Island Georgia. It was taken in very low light under a solid canopy of heavy foliage, with the new Zeiss PhotoScope (a 15-45x wide-field spotting scope with a sophisticated, fully integrated, 7 mp digital camera…operating as 600 f4 to 1800 f5.6 equivalent telephoto). In this light I set the ISO to 200 and, even so, was only getting shutter speeds in 1/10th to 1/4 second range. In order to get shots where the motion of the bird did not destroy the image I set the camera on series capture, which takes a burst of 5 shots in very rapid sequence with a single push of the shutter release. I should also say that the PhotoScope has a wireless remote, so when you press the shutter release there is no camera motion, and that it has Auto Focus Assist, that adjusts fine focus as you shoot. All of this advanced tech allowed me to get some very satisfying images in a situation that was, at best, marginal for any kind of photography.
This shot was taken at about 1800mm equivalent at 1/4 second @ ISO 200. The aperture would have been about f5.6.
In Lightroom I moved the blackpoint slightly right, added Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance in the Presence panel, and used the Sharpen landscape preset. I also adjusted the white balance slightly, as the Auto Clouds setting I used on the PhotoScope had it just a bit too warm.
From Colonial Coast 09.
9/9/2009
Garter Snake
One of the most common snakes in the northeast, everywhere from forests to front lawns. This one was not very cooperative…slithering through the underbrush with always something between my lens and its eye. I took maybe 10 exposures in the two minutes it was visible at all, and this is the only keeper. The exif data tell the whole story. Max f-stop for the focal length. ISO 400 already, and only 1/15th second. What did I expect? Still, for a grab shot “quick, before he gets away”, it is not so bad.
Sony DSC H50 at full tele: 465mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/15th @ ISO 400. Programed auto.
Cropped (from bottom and top to place the snake on the rule of thirds line) and sharpened in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance.
From Rachel Carson Seasons.
9/2/2009
Morning Walk: Carol at the Farmhouse B&B on our last morning.
Our last morning above Kendal at the farmhouse B&B. We moved that day down to Rutland Water in Leicestershire, and the Barnsdale Hall Resort, for a few days at the British Birding Fair (where I was on-duty at the Zeiss booth).
I like the colors and textures and angles of this shot.
Minolta A1 at about 32mm equivalent. F3.5 @ 1/60 @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Punch and Sharpen landscape presets in Lightroom.
And that is, for now, the last of the shots from our 2005 trip to the Lakes and Dales.
7/17/2009
Pretty as a Prince (and not bothered at all)
Just catching some rays beside the forest pool at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Maine. Not bothered at all by the photographer down on his knees beside him…or by the camera inches away. Prince of his domain and confident with it.
As you can see, I utilized the swing-out LCD on the H50 to get right down on the ground for this shot. Who could resist?
Another visitor to the Botanical Gardens saw me down there, and commented to my wife who was also watching me, “You folks must be from the city.” I guess she assumed only a city-folk would be that interested in an old frog! I missed the opportunity to educate her on the wonder to be found in the common sights of home, the creatures and plants of her backyard, since she was gone by the time I levered myself back to my feet and turned. Ah well.
The Coastal Maine Botanical Garden by the way, is a world-class facility tucked away (way away) in a corner of the Maine coast, pretty literally out…if not exactly in the middle of no where…at least at no where’s inner edge. If you have an interest in plants and gardens, it should be part of any planned trip to Maine. You will see a few more shots (maybe quite a few 🙂 from there over the next few days.
Sony DCS H50 at full wide and macro. F5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Cropped slightly from the top for composition in Lightroom. Added Vibrance and Clarity, and Landscape sharpen preset.
From Coastal Maine Botanical Garden.
And a second view of his Captain of the Guards.
Captain of the Guards
6/29/2009
Black Admiral
The thing about butterflies is that they have two sides. The upper side is beautiful, and the underside can be two. The second thing about butterflies is you take what you can get. Some never sit with wings open, so open wing shots are almost certainly collected samples, and some only sit with wings open. The Black Admiral is one that does both, though closed wing is more common. When this one lit beside the trail, I was able to get one tel-macro shot of it open winged, and then it closed, and, though I waited, and though I worked the equally beautify closed wings, it never sat open winged again for me.
This shot is taken from about 2 cm. using the H50s macro setting on full wide. In this case the butterfly was perfectly posed, with background foliage far enough behind to be well out of focus (and some interesting bokeh). I like the way the light, slightly from the side, catches in the furry surface of the wing and brings out the detail.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro. F4.0 @ 1/160th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Cropped slightly from the right for composition in Lightroom. Some Recovery to bring down the brightness of the sunlit leaf. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Around Home: Kennebunk.
And for those who wonder, here is the open wing shot, cropped slightly to make the subject larger in the field.
Black Admiral (open wings)
6/21/2009
Father's Day Blessings, 4 of my 5 girls and my wife
Gloom day portrait in Bar Harbor along the seawall, but a reminder that there is more to life than photography, apt for this Father’s Day.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Slight cropping in Lightroom. Minimal other processing.
And 3 of the 5 in Asctiou Azalea gardens the next day.
Among the Azaleas
5/17/2009
Trillium (Bloodroot)
I atempted to get into the woods to look for Trillium on Friday morning in the sunshine, but the blackflies (state bird of Maine in May) drove me out. On Saturday morning, despite the general overcast, I armored myself in DEET and penetrated deep into Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge’s headquarters trails in search of early spring wildflowers. (May is early spring in Maine, as far as wildflowers go. And deep is a relative term…the whole trail system is just over a mile long, but it is a very good trail, from a photographic standpoint. I have a whole gallery of images taken there at various times of the year.)
Last year I missed the Trilliums altogether as the season was about 2 weeks advanced. This year I hit it just right, with the Trilliums newly bloomed and fresh, and the Trout Lily just coming on.
The light was still pretty dim in the forest, even at 9am, and the damp of the night’s rain had still not gone off, so the images are atmospheric and appropriate to the day.
For the trillium I used some exposure compensation on the H50 to keep the pure white of the petals from burning out against the dark leaves.
Once more, I am reminded how much I like the flip out LCD of the H50 for wildflower (and general macro) work. I am also reminded how much I have come to rely on the image stabalization. I simply don’t worry about show shutter speeds in situations like this where the subject is still. Without stabilization shots like this would require a tripod.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro (taken at about 1/2 inch). F4.0 @1/80th @ ISO 100.
Just the basic added Vibrance and Clarity in Presence panel, and sharpen, in Lightroom. I moved the backpoint to the right to increase the intensity. Cropped slightly at the left to improve composition.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
Bonas shot: Pulled back to get the context and shot at the tel end of the zoom (about 300mm equivalent).
Trilliums
5/13/2009
Hands Off!
While scouting for the World Series of Birding, driving the back streets of Cape May Point, along Lilly Pond, we came upon this fellow attempting to cross the road. Found a place to park the car and of course took some shots. We did try to encourage him out of the street, but he was not having our help (or interference). It was a quiet street had he was pretty safe, but the next day we found a crushed carcass along side a more traveled road, just to prove the danger of being a very large snapping turtle in the spring wander season.
Straightforward tel portrait. Minimal processing in Lightroom: Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen. A bit of added contrast.
Sony DSC H50 at about 400mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/400 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto. -.7 EV exposure compensation.
From Cape May 2009.
And for context, the video (taken with the Sanyo TH1, HD camcorder).
5/1/2009
Wood Stork Chicks
Wood Storks are beautiful in flight, and from a distance. The are majestic at all times. But there is only one time in their life, a very brief window, when they can be said to be cute. Between really ugly chicks, and ungainly ugly fledglings they have a few weeks as downy juveniles when they are actually attractive…as this portrait attests. At least to my eye. Cute.
Sony DSC N1 through the eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 85FL spotting scope for an equivalent focal length of about 3000mm. 1/200th @ ISO 64. Programed Auto. F-stop determined by scope, probably in the F12 range.
Minimal Lr processing (just Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen).
From St. Augustine FL.