The Strip, Las Vegas with Fireworks
You can point your camera at the sky in auto exposure and autofocus modes and fire away whenever you see a burst of fireworks, but for the best quality photos, it helps to know a few tricks of the trade. It’s easy when you know what to do.
At a family reunion several years ago I decided to make digital copies of some old family photo albums. I did one digital picture of each page (there were several photos on each page). When I got back home I digitally separated the individual photos that were on each page. This particular image is a family favorite. I decided this image would be a good test of Topaz Gigapixel AI which enlarges, and hopefully improves small photos. The original photographic print also has a lot of damage which created some additional problems.
We’ve been down this road before. An over-hyped, overpriced product out of China making claims that are too good to be true. This all sounds too familiar. For the record, there is no way an app can turn a phone into the quality equivalent of a “professional camera” with a quality telephoto lens.
Summer is here and that means hot weather. So it is time for a “save your camera gear” reminder. Camera gear has a temperature and humidity rating. A top of the line Canon camera body has a limit of 115°F and 85% or less humidity. A black camera on a hot day can easily exceed that limit. Less expensive cameras of any brand have lower limits so it is important to protect your gear.
Pika, Rock Cut, Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Which national parks are at their photographic best in the summer? Here are my favorite choices, grouped by state from west to east, plus one Canadian province.
I was leaving Lake LaShane when a white flicker caught my eye. I stopped the car for a better look. Not far from a cluster of reeds, a small bird was wading in a shallow part of the lake. Its tail feathers were flicking up and down. It was the white underside that caught my eye.
The Lamoni schools band concert was May 12. The 5th and 6th grade band performed first and then the 7th – 12th grade band. This is a selection of images from the concert.
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My friend Paula lost all of her high school photos in a fire. Last week a friend posted a high school photo of her on her Facebook page. It is a very blurry photo that appears to have been copied from a high school yearbook.
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April 21, 2023 was the final concert of the school year for the Graceland University Symphonic Band under the direction of Dr. Christopher Brandt. This is a selection of photos from the concert.
Goldfinch, camera LCD. iPhone photo.
Sometimes I click the shutter and it might be one of my better photos. After the action dies down I go back to that photo and zoom in on the back of the camera for a better look. In this case of this Goldfinch this morning, I wanted to be sure the catch light in the eye was sharp. It was so, I pushed the RATE button (left side of the camera) three times. At the top of the photo screen you can see three little stars in brackets.
When I download the photos with Adobe Bridge (which is excellent software and it is a free download), I can click on the three star icon and Bridge will show me just the three star rated images.
If you want to improve your portrait photography it is really best if you start with the prior articles in this series before you tackle direct sunlight. Having said that, sometimes the sun works really well as the main light for portraits. Technically speaking, this image is not a “traditional” portrait, but it is one of my favorite images of Vassanta.
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On sunny days, have your subject face away from the sun. You avoid all the disadvantages of having the sunlight on their face. As an added plus you have the possibility of really nice backlight. In this image I especially like the sunlight shining through Tiana’s hair.
On sunny days open shade will give you the look of a cloudy bright day, but you have a lot less options as to where you can shoot.
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If you are new to portrait photography, a cloudy bright day is the best kind of day to start shooting portraits. The light on a cloudy bright day is soft and forgiving.
The single most important rule, 99 times out of 100, is to not have people face the sun. Sunlight is harsh. Sunlight is bright and it makes people squint. Sunlight magnifies every flaw and imperfection in human skin. It exaggerates every line, crease, pore, and wrinkle. If you are photographing the weather-worn face of a Maine lobster fisherman, fine, shoot in the sunlight. The harsh will help that kind of photo. But for everyone else, most of the time you should keep them out of the sunlight.
This series of short posts was inspired by a look at some portfolios by other photographers. The photos ranged in quality from ok to not very good. If I was handing out grades they would range from B to F. One of the key issues was bad lighting. If you are new to portrait photography, this series if for you. The suggestions in these articles will make a big difference in the quality of your images. These articles are all about how to use and not use sunlight.
Links
Portraits 1 – Introduction (this brief article)
Portraits 2 – Sunlight Can Be Really Bad Portrait Light
Portraits 3 – Shoot On Cloudy Bright Days
Portraits 4 – On Sunny Days Use Open Shade
You are looking at all of the thumbnails for every click of the shutter on a 4 1/2 hour photo shoot (that also includes travel time to a remote location, plus the time for us to go through all the photos and pick our favorites).
A portfolio of images from the annual spring dance recital.
The Enactus program at Graceland University does the “Entrepreneurial Roundtable” event yearly in the spring. Thursday, March 30, Graceland students gathered for the day to hear remarkable stories from Graceland Grads who shared their life experiences. At the banquet, business school faculty presented awards.
Moon Over Balanced Rock, Arches National Park, Utah.
Are you planning a spring photography trip to one or more U.S. national parks? Where should you go? Which parks will provide the best photographic opportunities? Which parks are at their best in the spring?
Ocotillo. Big Bend National Park, Texas.
Which national parks are at their very best in the spring? If I could go on a fabulous spring photography trip to the national parks of my choice, all expenses paid, which ones would I pick? Here are my choices, grouped by state from west to east. This list includes the favorites I have been to and want to go back to again, plus the ones I haven’t seen and most want to photograph.
A large, south facing window is perfect for creating wrap around backlight. All you need is a sunny day and some translucent white cloth that will light the light in. Pose your subject close to the white cloth and you will get beautiful, wrap around light.
Painting with light is an interesting technique that gives you a different kind of look from using a flash unit or ambient light. As with other kinds of light you can make your subject as light or dark as you want. For these images I went with a darker, low key look. Inanimate objects are the usual subjects for painting with light because they do not move during the long exposures, but I wanted to try it with a live human being so I asked a friend to be my subject.
With a tripod mounted camera and a 300-400mm telephoto lens, it is possible to photograph Jupiter and its four Galilean moons (they are named for Galileo), and Saturn and its biggest moon, Titan. I captured them during their Great Conjunction a little over two years ago. Jupiter is on the left with three of its Galilean moons. Saturn is on the right and Titan is just to the right of Saturn.
When you create a digital image with your camera, your camera adds some digital information to the image file. This digital information is called “metadata” and it can be quite useful.
I was at one of my favorite local lakes and hundred of geese had shown up. Some of them were in the process of leaving the lake. By the end of the afternoon all but a few geese had left the lake. Some left a few at a time and others left in larger groups.
Today is an anniversary of sorts. February 24, 15 years ago, was a great day in Rocky Mountain National Park. The snow was falling when I found this small cluster of elk in Horseshoe Park. It is one of my favorite photos for the day.
Ansel Adams in front of “Monolith: The Face of Half Dome, 1927”. Photographed in his home Dec. 2, 1980.
Ansel Adams was born 121 years ago today, February 20, 1902. He is “the” icon of American landscape photography. Trained as a concert pianist, his love of photography and time spent in Yosemite National Park led him to a career change.
After a morning office break, I walked back in to our office and this image greeted me on the computer monitor. This happens to be a really special image for me. As an anniversary gift back in September 1993, my wife signed me up for a black and white printing class at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. The gift was initially – let me say – “puzzling” to me. I was pretty much a 100% color slide film photographer. The only time I ever put color negative film in my cameras was to photograph weddings. But it was a gift, so I went.