One more

This one's from a small lake near where I work in Charlottesville. It's with the 7D and the 2003 18-55mm EF-S kit lens and a polarizer.

Some fall colors

Canon 7D

I have the new Canon 7D right now to test out. Here's a snap from this morning.

Commercial Photography

I shot my first commercial photographs for a friend's website last week. What an interesting and challenging process. Mixing your own ideas with the "client's" is more difficult than just shooting for yourself. My hat is off to Mark and the other pros. Mel

Handoff

Boston, & U2

Full Moon on the Casco Bay and an adventure

The full moon was spectacular this month, as it was accompanied by brilliant, clear weather. Paul and I saddled up the Mako and witnessed the sunset/moonrise dance with Jupiter thrown in as icing. Here's one with Fisherman's Monument in the foreground. Very difficult to capture from a small boat, even with I.S.. Having to choose between the moon and the monument, I selected for the latter, leaving the moon to fend for herself.

There's a favorable balance of exposure when the moon first comes up, and it's possible to be at I.S., f 5.6, ISO 800 and 1/30th of a second to get both Eagle Island and the moon's definition. The sky still has light in it, allowing a more favorable exposure of the two items 250,000 miles apart. What I needed was f 16, ISO 100, & 1/500th second to get everything in focus, counteract the bouncing boat, and have both fore & back grounds exposed correctly. Still, a pleasing shot, taken at 105 mm and cropped in LightRoom.

One other composition includes the Maine landscape. I like this one, even though the seagulls' focus is, upon close inspection, suffering from the shallow depth of field that f 5.6 produces.


Nick to the rescue!

We went to Paul's Marina in Brunswick aboard the Mahuba on Saturday to get lunch - they make the best sandwiches around. Also needed some petrol, and here's where the drama began. As I was unscrewing the gas cap, the key dropped in the drink. I was not immediately concerned, however, for I've had it on a monkey fist rope "floatie" for the last seven years and would have bet the farm on the fact that it would bob on the surface. Imagine my surprise when it promptly dove to the bottom of the 12 foot high tide! We were screwed. Making a long story short, 18 year old Nick volunteered to go on a retrieval dive. After four attempts, he came up with the key. What a guy! He earned a reward and a great story to tell.

MacMahan Island

So we're on vaca next week at this lazy, small island, located at the confluence of the Sheepscot and Sasanoa. These images are of Dave Barry's vegetable & bread boat. It travels thru the 5 Island area on Tuesdays and Fridays during the summer months.

This portrait of Dave was taken with theLens Baby Mel gave me. What a guy.

The boat has foldable wings to stabilize this low-rider, especially when laden with provisions and crew.

The crew plays music too. Smiles all around. Half a dozen stops or so around the islands.

Silhouette

Beach Scene

Some people enjoy being in front of the camera. Witness N.Y. Jess on the sandbar with balancing rock.

Adox 50

I love this stuff. As a B&W neophyte, I find myself trying out a lot of different films. Adox is based on a formulation introduced in the 1950s (formerly known as Efke), and I can't really put my finger on it but I like the look. I can imagine it would look much better in a print.

Splash of Color

I've never seen flowers that come out so quickly. At 5pm there was just a little showing and at 7:30am it looks like it has been out for several days. Mel

Working on Depth of Field

Working on finding the sweet spot on this lens. Interesting to balance more depth with less background blur. Mel

L'il wiggler

I modified my Holga for 35mm film using the method I found at Squarefrog — by using their handy click chart (sized perfectly for the back of your Holga), you can get 24 frames on a roll of film. Here's our little monkey girl, through the eyes of the Holga:

Artistic Wedding Shots

Terry, a friend and father of the bride, asked if I could put together a show to take to family members in England who could not attend the Mass. wedding. I shot without flash. Here are a few from the creation that included G10 videos and still shots set to music.

This is a picture I took with my trusty G9 in Tuscany last January. Besides the horizon issue, the picture did not capture the day... wet and cold. My first experience with the Tone Curve in the Develop module solved this. I was able to selectively adjust both dark and light details in the sky and adjust mid tones in the foreground. From now on, I think I will make most of my tonal and contrast adjustments here.

Sigma 50mm f1.4

Shooting with the new Sigma 50mm f1.4. Lots of work to do to be able to correctly control the depth of field. Mel

Streets At Night

Hello Gentlemen,
I have been shooting again, though sporadically, on the dusk/night shots I started a while ago with the polaroid. The images are mostly misses but those that hit have a a lot of impact. Here is my most recent favorite so far.
M

Spring Equinox in Alaska

The sun’s apparent trajectory is illustrated in this in-camera multiple exposure made south of Bird Point on ice-choked Turnagain Arm. Eight exposures shot at 60-minute intervals were made on one frame of film beginning at 9:30 a.m. Center on the horizon is Mount Alpenglow, rising sharply 4,419 feet above the south shoreline of Turnagain Arm. This shot was taken near the spring equinox, the day when night and day are nearly the same length.

New York City Street Shot

Time Square; 10:30 PM; rainy night. Practicing the art of street shots. Love it when there's the glance that captures the eyes, connecting the viewer to the viewed. Color or B & W? I have my favorite. What's yours?

This is the photo we worked on at Rick's last week for the Atlantic Salmon auction.