Hello to all and welcome!
I can't really say what you should expect to see here as I've never before tried blogging or anything similar. It'll have to be a work in progress. I'll probably talk about photography in general (and mine in specific) as well as point out different things that are going on that I find interesting or worth commenting on. If anyone (assuming anyone actually ends up reading this) has questions or suggestions on topics, feel free to let me know.
I'm here you're with me, here at the beginning of all things.
Roger
p.s. Comments and feedback are very welcome.
Photos of the Week - History
A couple of books I've read recently have brought home to me that I'm not really good at history. Or at least in concurrency in history.
The first one I read was "A Storm of Witchcraft" about the Salem witch trials (1692). I had heard the author on MPR and it sounded interesting. Plus, I knew very little about the subject. Besides the historical facts of the trials themselves, what the book brought home was their place in history. They took place 70 or so years after Plymouth (1620) was founded (even less for Massachusetts Bay-1628). So, the grandparents some of the people involved were amongst those founders. And, it was only 80 years or so before the Revolutionary War, so some of the participants grandchildren were involved in that. They were also only 5 years after the Glorious Revolution in England (1688), and the political turmoil there affected the people. In fact, this was the same year that Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were rechartered into one colony. People like Cotton and Increase Mather, who I just knew as early Puritan leaders, were active and affected by the trials. All that history that I knew about separately was all happening at the same time.
The second book was "Who Murdered Chaucer", which, as the authors state, is more of a "was-it-done" rather than a "whodunnit". Basically, Chaucer disappeared in 1400. No word about him alive after that year. And, no mention of his death. None of his manuscripts survive. No will. Nothing in any chronicles written at that time. But, why is the year 1400 significant? Because, in 1399 Henry IV deposed Richard II. And Chaucer was involved with both. He was technically related to Henry by marriage. He was a spy and courtier and functionary in Richard's court. And, at the time, there were competing ideas about books written in English, especially around religion or criticism of religious figures (especially after Henry took over). So, besides learning about Chaucer himself, you get a whole new perspective on the end of the 14th century. Very different from what Shakespeare wrote, by the way.
Here's a photographic example:
In January 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella kicked the last Moorish king out of the Alhambra (and Spain)
A few months later, still in Granada, they funded Columbus's first trip to the Indies/America.
Photo of the Week - Innovate
On one of my first visits to the Arboretum ever, I went with a somewhat preconceived idea of a photo I wanted to capture. I'd seen several examples of eddies in rivers that had leaves swirling around in them which, in a longer exposure, created colorful circles. I wanted to get something like that. So, I wandered around looking for eddies, finally finding a promising one at the bottom of some falls.
That was when several issues became apparent. The first was figuring out how I wanted the water to look. I knew I wanted a somewhat slow exposure in order to smooth the flowing water and to help emphasize the circular motion of the eddy. But, even at the lowest ISO setting and smallest aperature, I couldn't get the effect I had in mind. Then I remembered reading that a polarizing filter was neutral (ie. won't affect color) and could slow an exposure by 2 stops. So, using that setup, I was able to get the 2 second exposure that I was ultimately after.
The next problem was situational. The whole idea was to show leaves circling in an eddy. But, there were no leaves in the eddy. And, the ones that were in the water weren't moving. It occurred to me that dropping leaves into the water might work. But, the camera was set up on a bridge and the eddy was a significant distance away. So, I set the timer and ran, dropping a couple of leaves in the water; above the small drop and then directly into the eddy. Neither showed up well in the final image. So, next step was larger handfuls [fortunately, it was later in the fall, so there were plenty of leaves]. Dropping them up top didn't do much. Dropping them into the eddy, though, seemed to do the trick.
So, here are the best two photos from that shoot. The top one has better color (I especially like the mix of red and yellow), and I like the sorta paisley shape. The second one has stronger color and a better composition (the rocks framng the streamlet, and the water at the top right balancing the eddy at the lower left, creating a good diagonal).
Photos of the Week - Eliminate distractions
One of my goals when I go out shooting it to make the best possible image. I want the composition to be solid. I don't want any distracting bits in the image. I want the image to reflect what drew me to click the shutter in the first place.
Partly, it's a holdover from when I first started making photos using print and slide film. In those days, if you wanted any darkroom work done (even simple cropping) would cost extra. Then came digital cameras and home printers. Processing a digital file is much easier, but you lose data when cropping (which was a big problem with the smaller files that were common in older cameras).
That said, there are times when you can't capture the exact image you wanted. In these cases, selective cropping is necessary to make a photo really pop.
To demonstrate, I'm going to do something you will rarely see. I'll include a copy of the uncropped image followed by my preferred image.
1) Straight cropping. Sometimes you can't get as close to your subject as you might want. This is common with any sort of wildlife. Get too close and the subject will flee. Another reason to straight crop an image is to fit a frame. Standard 35mm images have a 3x2 proportion, but many papers and frames are not that [example: a full frame image would be 8x12, which means that you lose 2 inches with an 8x10 frame, or other pieces if you use 8.5x11 paper).
Original:
Cropped - I cropped this one to better show off the hummingbird.
2) Excess blank space. Too much foreground or background is boring. Remove a bit and the whole composition can become much better. Note that this can result in a panoramic image (ie. one that is much longer or taller than expected). Panoramas can be much more interesting and dynamic than straight images. The downside is they are harder/more expensive to print and frame (but it can be worth it).
Original:
Cropped - There's a bit more sky than I like in this original. Cropping makes the image much stronger.
Original:
Cropped - This image has a lot of excess sky and foreground water. When I cropped some of those, however, I found the still felt wrong. So, a bit of cropping on the left and right was necessary. I love the resulting panorama.
3) Too much distraction. Sometimes you just can't get the image you want. Maybe it is because of the proportions. Maybe it is because of other things around the subject. Cropping can fix all of that.
Original:
Cropped - What drew me to make this image was the shape of the orchid. I wanted a silhouette so that the shape was emphasized. But, there was not a lot of space available to capture a single flower. So, this original has a bit of the window frame showing, as well as unwanted flowers above and below. So, I cropped initially to eliminate all of those. However, it wasn't satisfying when the image was closer to a portrait. Cropping to square works better to my eye.
Yes, I also tweaked the color on these in small ways (most obvious in the panorama of the geese in front of the Minneapolis skyline). But, it is the cropping that really makes the composition and, therefore, the image really work.
Photos of the Week - I'm Lichen It
A couple of weeks ago I was out at the Arboretum, wandering around the gardens. Since it has been a weird winter, there was very little if any snow, so plants and landscapes were kinda blah. One bit of color that did catch my eye was a round spot of lichen on one of the trees. So, I went and made several hand-held photos (using and image stabilized lens and bracing myself on a nearby branch).
None of the photos was close to decent. Too much camera shake.
So, I went back the next week, tripod in hand, to reshoot the lichen...and further problems arose. Turns out the spot that attracted me is too high to shoot the composition I had in mind. Even at full extension of the head and the legs almost together, I couldn't get what I wanted. The shot below is the closest I came, but I'd have really preferred the round yellow and white clump on the bottom of the image rather than the top.
What I did like, though, was the texture and detail in the lichen, especially contrasted with the tree bark. So, I recomposed to landscape. Then I spotted the single piece of fluff (cattail seed?) on the left, which provides a weird sense of balance to the image.
So, keep working at it. Even if you don't end up where you expected, the final result may surprise and please you equally (or more).
Photo of the Week - and now for something completely different
Over time, you develop a style all your own. It's natural and expected. You look at a scene an something catches you eye, and you make a phoograph of whatever it was that you saw.
Style comes in how you frame the image, the depth of field you select, what catches your eye in the frst place.
Still, every now and then you see or capture something atypical. Maybe you were in a different mood, or something happened that prevented you from getting your nomal image.
Cherish these occasions! They can lead to something special
The image below was taken in Provence, France. I was on a photo trip, and we had gone to this small town to shoot water. Except the weather was lousy and there weren't reflections available where I wanted them. So, when I saw this shop window, I snapped a picture. Just one. Just so I could say I got a reflection shot while in the town.
Turns out, it is one of my favorite shots. There's so much going on. So many layers. So many stories. And not something I've ever been able to dupicate.
So, if you ever encounter circumstances where you can't shoot as you normally would, embrace the challenge. You can get somethng special.
