Each year Iris puts on a show and each year there are more and more in the garden so we divide them up and create other Iris pockets. They are usually called bearded iris because they seem to have a face with a beard. This was taken on a Nikon D3100 with a 50mm-300mm Nikon Lens at 240mm at f11 for 1/160th of a second at an ISO of 400. You can buy a print of this one by clicking here.
To see other images and buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
Flower with a Beard
When shooting directly into the sun you can get an unwanted reflection off the lens elements within the lens. This is known as lens flare. Sometimes you can’t see these in the viewfinder and when shooting sunsets it is best to frequently slightly change your angle to assure you capture an image without flares. (https://imageryphoto.net/2014/01/29/pirate-sunset/)
I could have tried for days to create this flare without success. It almost looks as if a spotlight is on this couple watching the sunset.
To see other images and buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
Perfect Flare
I took this image when I worked on the space shuttle of a glass cube floating in space. Just kidding I was never on the space shuttle. The image had to be manipulated to eliminate the background and string holding the glass cube. It was shot in a studio and the print was manipulated in the dark room with film masks and multiple exposures. Ah, the good old days.
To see other images and buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
OK, now this is a personal thing. I am a photographer, not an artist. I try to do artistic photography and be creative in my work but that does not make me an artist. Picasso was an artist, Monet was an artist, some of the students I taught photography to are artists. An artist starts with a blank canvas and from their minds they create an image. Artists believe that primary colors are red, blue, green and yellow. They teach this to children in grade school. Photographers use light. They understand that human beings have red, blue and green receptors (cones) in their eyes. There are no yellow cones in your eyes. Photographers understand that yellow along with cyan and magenta are subtractive primaries and the basics of printing ink or toner on paper.
It must be magical to have the skill to look at a piece of canvas and use a brush to paint an image. I tried it in school and I sucked. The only thing I have ever painted that I liked is this image. I used Doctor Martins Dyes and brushes to hand color a monochrome print. It took forever! I never tried hand tinting again and went back to the camera, darkroom and now lightroom where I belong. You can see other images and buy apparel and prints at my commercial gallery.
Hand Colored Junior Miss Contestants
Some people think that all flowers are created equally. I mean why should a tulip that is located in Holland be any better than a tulip in my garden? A geranium is a geranium right? Well maybe so but these geraniums were growing in Monet’s water garden in Giverny near Vernon France so to me, they are special not because of the flower but because of the background. This is not available for sale because I didn’t have a tripod and had to compromise on the exposure settings and this was hand held at ISO 400 f5.6 for 1/80th of a second. You can see other works of nature and buy prints at my commercial gallery.
Giverny Geraniums
I decided to try to make a panorama of something other then a scenic postcard view. I revisited some of the images I had taken of MMW at the Sherman Theather last fall. It seemed like a good choice since even if you use a wide angle lens to photograph a concert it is difficult to get the whole band looking good at one time. I will continue to work on this and manufacture panorama images of things other than vistas. The full size image is 60 inches by 20 inches and you can pirchase a print and see other images at my commercial gallery.
Medeski, Martin and Wood Panoroama
I was out taking pictures of fall foliage and saw the reflections of the trees in the pond. I thought about Monet and wanted to do something that was homage to his style. The first image I took had extreme depth of field and the leaves in the pond were as sharp as the rocks. The result was a pretty but cluttered image and not at all Monet like. I then experimented with depth of field but to no avail. I could get the leaf reflection to be less sharp but then some of the rocks and the background would be unsharp and destroy the eye-flow. So I used mother nature and waited for the wind. I used f-32 and a slow shutter speed so the reflections become blurred through movement. Maybe not as good as Monet but a worthy salute anyhow. You can purchase a print of this image on my commercial taller by clicking here.
Blowing in the Wind
In the Jewish religion, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called the High holy days. They are the celebration of the lunar New Year and the day of Atonement. While I am not a very religious person, I do enjoy the culture and the basis of most cultures start with food. Kreplach are little meat filled dumplings that are great in chicken soup or in a stir fry. They can be made any time but traditionally are made on the HIgh Holy Days. This video features my lovely wife, Hinda and her recipe and technique which she learned from her mother. It is long video and old school but filled with great cooking tips and by the end you will be able to make your own Kreplach and eat them too.
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Most still photographers don’t think about panning very much. Panning is commonly used in cinematography but in still photography will cause motion blur. Sometimes motion blur can make an image work by giving the illusion of motion. If you place the camera on a tripod and pan with the action during a slow shutter speed you can still create blurred motion but through panning make the subject blur less. This was shot at an exposure of 1 second and the camera was panned with the action during exposure. The panning causes the background to blur but by panning with the action the deer are not blurred as much making them stand out. You can see more of my nature images at my gallery by clicking here
Running Deer
Back in the day, special effects had to be created in the studio or in the darkroom. We didn’t have little drag and drop toys, cloning brushes,layers and other digital tools. Creativity started with the camera and the lighting. There was no auto-exposure, auto focus and vibration reduction. Don’t get me wrong, I love digital photography and have abandoned the old ways entirely. However, sometimes that feels like a sell out. This special effect was created in the studio using only a slide projector for lighting. I used this technique with a few models but this is the only one that can be shown since the others contain nudity but they can be seen in my commercial gallery by clicking here. You can purchase a print of this image by clicking here.
Emily in the Studio