We were recently hiking along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and near the Bright Angel Trail I snapped the picture below. I hope it can convey some of the beauty that we saw. Pictures (at least my pictures) just can’t seem to do it justice.
One thing that I understand really irks people who are accomplished photographers is the general public’s belief that anyone can create a wonderful picture. It may be true that if a person captures enough images, they may have a great picture among the many exposures they make.
The trick, of course, is to be able to create a high percentage of remarkable images. It really isn’t about the gear. It is, in a major part, about the vision and skill of the person behind the camera.
Photographer Missy Mwac has put much of this in perspective with her column “Glitterbombs of Truth for Photographers.” If you enjoy photography and the above comments resonate with you, I suggest you take a look at her column. I think you will have a couple of smiles and perhaps a sneer or two as well.
Street Photographer Valerie Jardin explains why she sometimes elects to use black and white photography rather than color in certain situations.
An excellent example she provides in the video is the shot below:
Photo Courtesy of Screen Shot from YouTube Video linked below.
In this black and white version, the viewer’s eye is drawn immediately to the man on the corner. In her video, she shows the color version which tends to draw the viewer’s eye away from the main subject and to the colorful sign.
Watch the video to get a complete explanation:
Valerie’s website: http://valeriejardinphotography.com
Photo by Jeff Ross
“When I am camera in hand, visiting beautiful places, photographing beautiful things, telling beautiful stories, I am filled with gratitude, joy, happiness, faith, compassion, love, purpose, optimism, empathy, and awe.”
Read the rest of this inspirational post at the link below:
The Reason I Still Love Photography by Scott Bourne
Picture Courtesy of Trey’s Website http://tour.treyratcliff.com/
On this very hot day, it was a cool thing to do! Trey Ratcliff, known world wide as the father of modern High Dynamic Range photography, was going to be in my town, Phoenix, Arizona. His Photo Walk Across the USA had made it to the west.
Of course most people don’t come this way during the heat of August, but Trey is a trooper as is the rest of his crew. They were making their way through several major cities to publicize a number of things and to give fans a chance to do a photo walk with them.
The Phoenix photo walk began at the Irish Cultural Center. I never knew there was such an organization until I needed to find the location. As you can see, it is a beautiful building.
Trey likes to refer to his tour bus as a megabus and it was!
For someone who has earned quite a bit of celebrity, Trey is very approachable. You can imagine how uncomfortable it was in the heat of the desert in a paved parking lot, but he continued to meet and greet people and take photos with them for way more than an hour.
Here I am (wearing the light cap) with others talking to Trey.
Picture Courtesy of a screen grab of Trey’s footage of the Walk – http://tour.treyratcliff.com/
My wife came along, but tended to stay in the background. She likes photography, but isn’t a picture taker. The yellow arrow points to wife Mary and the green arrow is me again (sorry).
Picture Courtesy of a screen grab of Trey’s footage of the Walk – http://tour.treyratcliff.com/
I guess you can call Curtis Trey’s right hand man. He can be seen on videos and webinar type experiences offered through the Stuck In Customs website. He provided some helpful hints and guidelines prior to the walk.
As time approached for the walking tour to begin, the crowd began to form.
Trey was wearing some amazing Nikes
But he wasn’t the only one!
A note needed here – I don’t own a camera that is able to take quality pictures in low light. The best I could do was with my trusty iPad and my Canon PowerShot A590. So…many of the shots that remain will be grainy, but I think they still offer a good “feel” for how the night unfolded.
As we began to walk around downtown and without knowing where the tour would lead, the sun began to set. One of the first photo opportunities was a church that was barely lit, but had a nice courtyard.
Trey was using the new Sony a7R Mark II which has great low light abilities as well as being at the top if its class and, according to the initial reviews, surpasses many of those in other classes as well. Do you detect camera envy?!
After another brisk walk, we stopped at this street corner. Trey explained that he liked the mix of the mural on the wall and the building lights.
One of the best things about the photo walk was that the participants could ask questions which TR was glad to answer. He discussed the composition and the details indicating why he thought each shot would make a good picture.
Trey wasn’t taking single shots either. He was taking HDR photos which call for a series of three exposures; one properly exposed, one two stops over and the other two stops under. These are later combined to yield the HDR picture bringing a high dynamic range to the photo with details in shadow areas as well as those that are strongly lit.
As the traffic light was changing, other photogs were asking questions; a walk and talk kind of experience.
There was another picture opportunity at a concert in the park where this modern structure made of optical cable or wire was being illuminated by changing lights. (I will provide a link to better pictures at the end of this post) so you can appreciate the full effect.
At this stop (below) trey provided another “Mind Vitamin” (something to think about) as he pointed out how converging lines help give depth to a picture and offer the viewer somewhat more than a two dimensional experience.
He stated that he loved the green trees, i.e.Palo Verdes.
Others took the opportunity look at his camera (as he had it set up to take the pictures on a time delay) so they could examine the settings, etc.
One of the AV crew members was wearing this shirt which I thought had a slightly ironic twist.
Trey was toting his “ultimate camera bag” that he and Peak Design worked on together. At least his gear was on the light side.
Trey selected this shot because of the pattern of light and dark and the reflections. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but I think you get the idea.
Once again, Trey stopped to discuss scenes that cried out to be photographed.
Another example of converging lines drawing the eye into the picture.
This was one of the last stops of the tour before the after party so we headed back to the car since we had a long ride home.
On the way back to the car (a nearly two mile trek) through downtown Phoenix, we came across this scene. I know it is just a water fountain, but it struck a responsive chord with me especially after reading the sign (The Little Fountain That Could).
To see the best pictures of the Phoenix photo walk, go to the Google+ page Best of: Trey’s Phoenix Photo Walk
You can watch the Phoenix Photo Walk Video:
This is the general site for the Photo Walk Across the USA
If you want to learn more about HDR photography and the story behind Trey Ratcliff’s photography experience, you can check my former blog post,Founding Father of HDR Photography – Trey Ratcliff, which includes a link to Trey’s inspirational TED talk!
CBS News brings us the “Picture Perfect” story about the selection process used by National Geographic Traveler to pick the winning photograph from among the thousands submitted. The process is interesting and the photos are amazing. What do you think about the top three photo winners? Would they be your choices?
You can see ten of the top photographs at PetaPixel’s web page:10 Winning Shots from the 2015 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest
Swiss photographer Chris Schmid has spent time with the Masai in Kenya to capture their efforts in preserving their land, animals and life-style. This short movie brings the viewer to an understanding of this unique opportunity to maintain one of the world’s wonderful ecosystems.
To see photographs taken during photographer Schmid’s exploration as well as another video in his “Off the Beaten Track” series, visit the link below:
http://petapixel.com/2015/08/08/bts-photographing-wildlife-in-the-land-of-the-maasai/
Schmid’s Vimeo page is here.
Those who have been reading my blog for a while realize that I have a strong personal connection to nature. I am interested in other living things as well as a few that are not quite alive such as rocks. If I had it to do all over again, I would collect rocks. I have a few, but not many. Let me not digress.
As we hike along, I collect (via photographs) a record of the various species of insects, reptiles, birds, plants, etc. that we encounter. Some are new to me and some are found in unanticipated circumstances.
In our spring trip to Las Cruces, NM we encountered several interesting lizards and one snake. By way of sharing my interest in photographing these animals and the joy in the abundance and variety of nature, I am including several pictures below.
Many thanks to the Arizona Herpetological Association – AHA for their warm hospitality and support in helping me identify these specimens. I recommend their website and organization to anyone who is interested in southwest herpitology.*
Lets start with a popular lizard of which we saw many…
The Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis exsanguis)
This fellow was particularly interesting because of his “racing stripes” along his side. Adidas and Nike have nothing on him.
Greater Earless Male (Holbrookia elegans)
This female appeared to be obviously pregnant.
Greater Earless Female (Holbrookia elegans)
At quick glance, this looks like a pretty ho-hum specimen sitting on an ordinary rock, but…
Ornate Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus)
Look at that turquoise-like coloring under his chin and belly!
Ornate Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus)
And let’s not forget a fellow we included in his own post here,
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris)
The only snake we encountered was an adventurous, long and thin Patch-nosed Snake.
Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora hexalepis)
The markings on this specimen were quite nice; two colors of brown, one tan and one near chocolate in shade.
Patch-nosed Snake (Salvadora hexalepis) – close up
*If I have misidentified any of the reptiles in this post, please let me know and I will make the appropriate corrections.
.JBRish.com originally published this post
Street photography is an interesting art form. Not only does it include one of my favorite hobbies, photography, it often includes a variety of things that can not be anticipated, are unusual and/or hard to believe.
This short video about the street photography of Jack Simon explains it better than any written word can. The photos are generally “strange,” but well-composed and photographically astute. I think you will find the video entertaining in and of itself, but the photographic philosophy and skills are enlightening to those of us interested in this genre.
For more information about Jack Simon, check out his website – Jack Simon Photography
Jack Simon’s Flickr account can be found here
Eric Kim also created a video interview with Mr. Simon and you can watch below (although there is some crossover of content):
Whenever I am out and about with people and we are taking pictures; me with my bridge camera (Canon SX 50HS) and others with their smartphones, I often ask if they are shooting HDR images. A few will know what I am speaking of, but many are puzzled.
To put it simply, and HDR (High Dynamic Range) image is one that is composed of three separate photos that are then combined to increase the “degree” of colors and details. Many smartphones can be set to do this automatically, i.e. they take one picture focusing on the shadows, one exposed for the mid-tones and a last exposed for the highlights. These are then combined to render details in all three exposures. The theory is that this will provide the most color and details.
This logically leads to the next question: “Well, how much better will the HDR photos be?” An article written by Eric Renno for Photofocus answers that question.
If you are interested in the technicalities, please read the details in the article noted above. For anyone interested in photography, I believe you will find it interesting especially if you like to edit your photographs after you take them.
SUMMARY – Shooting in HDR generally makes a difference and in most cases you will get “better” pictures that way. Keep in mind, however that the files will be larger so storage space may be at a premium.
NOTE – My wife’s iPhone captures HDR, but also keeps the mid-tone image as well. In such scenarios, it is then up to the user to decide which photo to keep. Your smart phone might do the same thing so it would be a good idea to review them periodically and delete those pictures which are not significantly different. The only drawback is that it is sometimes difficult to discern this on the small smart phone screen. It is still worth a try if your phone storage is pressed for space.