photography

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 28 (Alumroot-Heuchera micrantha)

Jeff

Alumroot-Heuchera micrantha

This wildflower is a relative of one of the shade gardener’s favorites, Coral Bells. It is Alumroot,Heuchera micrantha

As we hiked the trails of Yosemite, one of my favorite subjects was wildflowers. Along the rock faces of the mountains were a wide variety of plants which had taken root in the crevices. During the late afternoon as we were hiking the Four Mile Trail from Glacier Point to the valley, the sun was coming through the canopy and highlighted this particular Alumroot, Heuchera micrantha which was striking.

It apparently is a relative of the more familiar Coral Bells which many gardeners covet as a plant that does well in the shade or dappled light.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 28 YOY – Year of Yosemite

File Name: 0195.NEF
Capture time: 5:28:34 PM
Capture date: June 6, 2016
Exposure: 1/125 sec @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 40mm
ISO 100
Nikon D3300

My Photography, Hiking, Exploring Procedure

Jeff

As I stated or implied in my YOY (Year Of Yosemite) post Introduction, we had a grand time exploring the trails and mountains of this historic national park. When it comes to photography, I am really a fairly average amateur, but I am getting better. On this particular trip, I had three cameras with me:

My steadfast Canon PowerShot A590 IS which has been to so many places over so much time and still continues to provide faithful captures.

A PowerShot SX50HS which I use for birds, wildlife and anything that needs reach or isolation. I can easily open the aperture and isolate a subject. It has its drawbacks, but it fits into my particular work flow. I usually shoot in RAW format.

A Nikon D3300 which you can read about in my Photography Conundrum series. This provides the best overall quality among my cameras and has moderate “reach.”

When I am out and about exploring (which includes hiking and photography), I carry the photography essentials:

  • A Giotto Rocket Blaster to keep the lenses dust free
  • A lens cleaning cloth in the vent my lenses get wet or need cleaning that Giotto cannot provide
  • Extra memory cards (2 with me and more packed away)
  • Extra batteries for each camera
  • A whistle in case I encounter trouble and need to get attention

All of the above is contained in a belly pack and I keep my Canon PS A590 holsetered in one of the side pockets of that belly pack.

My other cameras go around my neck and I tether them to my back pack using carabiners so they don’t go bouncing all over as I climb and boulder scramble.

I don’t keep my cameras in a backpack in the event I need them in a hurry.

JBRish.com with his gear
So… How does this all fit together?

  1. Canon PowerShot SX50 HS that I use when I need reach, i.e. distance/wildlife
  2. New Nikon D3300 – Better quality, limited zoom
  3. Side pocket of my belly pack where I usually keep my PowerShot A590 for story telling photos
  4. Tether tied to the A590 so it doesn’t hit the ground if it falls
  5. Belly pack with numerous pockets for memory cards, Giotto Blaster, cleaning cloths, etc.
  6. Carabiner to keep cameras from jostling too much as I hike, bend, etc.


I do wear a hat when I hike, but I removed it for the photo!

Telling the Story

I take some photographs just to convey the story of where I have been and to indicate the overall “look-and-feel” of the hike. For this, I often use the jpeg only PS A590. These are not meant to be artistic photographs or pictures that are particularly significant although every once in a while I am surprised by the job this legacy camera does.

For most scenery I use the Nikon D3300 which has a nice kit lens that is fairly sharp and provides enough framing options to deliver the compositions I usually want.

The PowerShot SX50HS has some issues such as chromatic aberration and poor redndering at high ISO so I use it for wildlife and bird photography or any other picture for which I need the long reach. I sometimes use it as a substitute for binoculars if I want to see if anyone is clinging to the side of El Capitan, for example. I know I can generally deal with some of the camera’s “problems” in Lightroom and it also delivers some very good photos at ISO 200 or lower; 400 if I want to stretch it a bit.

The visit to Yosemite was a bucket list item for me so I tried something for the first time…

I brought a computer and external hard drive with me so I could back up my photographs on a daily basis. Each evening, I took time to create three folders on the external hard drive with the date, short name to indicate what we did that day and an abbreviation for the camera used. I did this so when I imported the pictures in to my photography software (Lightroom), I could apply presets for that individual camera. That is why I keep the pictures separated by date and by which camera was used.

NOTE – It is helpful to synchronize time and date on all cameras being used so pictures can be sorted according to capture time. Truth be told, I don’t always get this done and it isn’t a monumental problem although having the ability to sort by time/date is very useful.

I then systematically remove each memory card, place it into the computers hard drive and COPY the files into the specific folder (on the external hard drive) for that camera on that day. This is done for all three cameras. I am cautious so I double check how many pictures are in the new folder and how many are on the memory card for that day. When I am satisfied that I have transferred all photographs, I move on to the next memory card.

If there is a change in venue that I think I will have trouble remembering, I find a file (picture) that was taken in the place and time when the situation changed and I rename it leaving all native metadata in place. This helps me organize my photos later when I see a long name rather than just a capture number.

Now I have copied all three memory cards to the appropriate folder on the external hard drive. Before ejecting the external drive, I then copy the three new, daily folders into a parent folder on the computer itself.

This protocol gives me three copies of each file. I do not ever erase a memory card until I have copied all files to my desktop and have backed it up on at least one other device, perhaps two.

I don’t review my pictures on a daily basis except to look at a few from each camera to make sure that the camera is working properly. Is there a spot on the lens? Is there a series of pictures out of focus; why? If the cameras are working appropriately, I wait until I get home to review my images. I very seldom delete a picture during the backup process described above. Many a mediocre photo can be rescued in Lightroom or Photoshop.

I hope you have found my hiking/exploring regimen helpful and perhaps you have garnered a worthy idea or two. If you have questions, let me know in the comment section!

Intimate Work of Portrait Photographer Erin Hoskins

Jeff

Readers of JBRish know that I enjoy photography. I enjoy looking at the work of gifted photographers almost as much as I like creating pictures on my own. I really must confess, however, that I don’t take many photographs of people; at least not portraits. Yes, there are some candids and some street photography-type shots where people fit into the overall scene, but definitely not portraits or pictures of people where they are posed as the main subject.

I have shied away from this because it is very difficult. People have features, appendages, etc. that need to be in the right place and generally in the right proportion. My favorite subject is landscapes and one reason for this is that they are forgiving. Everyone looking at my photograph knows how a tree is supposed to appear, but they don’t know how that specific tree appears and thus if it is not exactly right, it is doubtful that they will notice.

With portraits, however, many people are going to know and recognize the subject. Not only that, the person in the portrait and their loved ones are going to want that moment in time to represent them at their best. How many times have you looked in the mirror and said to yourself: “I am not looking my best today”? A portrait should show people at their very best and therein lies the ultimate challenge of portrait photography.

That is why the photographer I am going to write about today has impressed me so much. Her work is nothing less than brilliant. After seeing some of her portraits and family groups, I think you will arrive at the same conclusion.

Father and Daughter Portrait

On the heels of Father’s Day in the United States, let’s enjoy the picture above of a dad and his daughter. The subdued lighting is perfect for this outdoor location. Even though the father is not facing forward, he is rendered quite handsomely and that look of joy or happiness on the face of the child is genuine. What may go unnoticed in this picture is the coordination of colors, i.e. the girl’s yellow dress and shoes which tie in nicely with dad’s brown jacket and the overall tone of the scene; just perfect!

Mother and Daughter Portrait

Many portraits have their subjects facing the camera and concern themselves with technicalities such as catch lights. This picture is about the bond between a mother and her daughter. The kiss is so natural and even though the young girl is looking up and away, there is a definite connection and feeling of family. Erin Hoskins creates more than a picture, she captures emotion and feeling which is conveyed in these images. Windswept hair and subtle tones in dress and landscape lend an ethereal feeling to this scene and should bring a sense of intimacy and delight to the viewer. Note too the subtle balance brought to the photograph by the outstretched right foot.

What intrigued me the most about the work of Erin Elizabeth Photography is the level of creativity. Admire as I did, the colors, tones and ingenious composition of the two photographs below. They are nothing short of superb.

Portrait of a Mother and Children in a Field

Family Portrait in a Rural Setting

Let’s round out the family portraits with one of mom, dad and son. Once again, color plays a key role in focusing the viewer on the main subject, the young boy. Both mom and dad are looking at him which brings the viewer’s eye to the center of the picture naturally. The abstract yellow glow adds a beautiful warm tone to the overall scene. Expressions of joy and happiness that look natural are not easy to capture, but are presented very well in this photograph.

More Traditional Portrait of Mother, Father and Child

Individual portraits are also beautifully crafted. Look at this young girl on the beach. Could the setting and lighting be any more perfect? The look is so genuine; not a smile exactly, but a serene look. For anyone who has ever tried to balance natural light with fill light to eliminate harsh shadows, this scene is nothing short of wonderful!

A Beautiful Portrait of a Young Girl at the Beach

As if all this weren’t enough to present this photographer as a creative artist, we haven’t even touched on what many would consider some of her best work and that is babies. I first learned of Erin Hoskins via a story from PetaPixel This Newborn Photo Shoot Features Quintuplets. So how does a gifted photographer find her artistic way of capturing the unique and intimate relationship of mother and children as well as the children with each other?

XXX Portrait
Here the story begins prior to the birth; talk about telling the whole story!

XXX Portrait

XXX Portrait


XXX Portrait
Naturally the original is much larger, but isn’t this a unique way of displaying a group picture?

XXX Portrait

What contributes to making this picture even more outstanding is the one baby with open eyes. Having patience and waiting for the precise moment is often the difference between a portrait and a work of artistry.

 
Being Surprised by Five certainly will bring a smile to many of us and we will think it is charming, but understand that this is a life-changing event for the family in many ways. You can visit the Surprised by Five facebook page to learn more.

It is so captivating for me to look at the work of Erin Hoskins through these portraits. I want to leave you with one last picture that is so intimate and beautiful even though it is rendered in black and white.

A Very Intimate Family Portrait in Black and White

If you enjoy these works of artistic portraiture, I encourage you to visit the Erin Elizabeth Photography websites (links below) to see additional beautiful photographs.

Many thanks to Erin for allowing me to share her work with JBRish readers. Viewing her work has been a joy!

***** NOTE *****

All photographs are used with permission of the photographer and studio. They are Copyrighted with All Rights Reserved. The photos represented in this post were either from screen shots or downloads available from the photographer’s websites and do not necessarily represent the finest details, coloring, etc. Any names of files are strictly those of the author and are used to expedite posting.

There is no relationship between Erin Hoskins, Erin Elizabeth Photography and the author. Jeff is an amateur photography enthusiast who has found this work inspiring. All opinions are that of JBRish.com.

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Credits:

Erin Elizabeth Photography

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/erinelizabeth.com.au/

Blog and Galleries – http://erinelizabeth.com.au/blog/

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

See previous posts about talented and extraordinary photographers HERE

JBRish on a brief Hiatus & STATUS QUOtes — Picture Quote — 20160530

Jeff

Hello Friends and Readers of JBRish:

We will be on hiatus for approximately two weeks and hopefully return around the middle of June with more stories, quotes, pickleball tips, photographs, etc. Please feel free to peruse the archives for items you may have missed in the past. We are proud that we have recently reached a milestone of more than one thousand posts.

Jeff

STATUS QUOtes — Picture Quote — 20160530

The dreamers are the saviors of the world.
“The dreamers are the saviors of the world. – James Allen”

Via

 
See previous STATUS QUOtes HERE

Video – Tin Man Lee’s Ode to Mothers

Jeff

Tin Man Lee is one of the photographers I follow and he has created a slide show about motherhood in the animal kingdom, but I am certain you will see behaviors that will remind you of your mother and her relationship with you! This is truly and visual ode to mothers and motherhood.

One of the last slides in the show by Victor Hugo says it all: “A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.” Happy Mother’s Day!

A celebration of Mother's Day 2016 with wildlife photography from Tin Man Lee on Vimeo.

 

If you like the work of Tin Man Lee (and who wouldn’t?), you can see more here:

Tin Man Lee – Wildlife Photographer Extraordinaire

Tin Man Lee – Vision and Talent of a Wildlife Photographer

 

See previous posts about talented and extraordinary photographers HERE

See previous photography posts, click HERE

My Photography Conundrum – Part 1

Jeff

When I was younger, much younger, I was very interested in photography. There was a magic about being able to freeze a moment in time to capture an event that will never appear in that exact juxtaposition of all the elements again. At least it seemed like magic to me.

Life progressed and my camera saw little action as I was busy trying to advance my career (which was not related to photography). I continued to take snapshots, as opposed to serious photographs, the interest in photography continued to simmer in my heart.

A few years ago, now that life is a bit more subdued, I purchased a bridge camera. Heretofore I had been using Canon point-and-shoot, jpeg only cameras such as the Canon PowerShot A75 with a whopping, for that time, 3.2 megapixels.

Canon PowerShot A75
Canon PowerShot A75 picture courtesy of Imaging Resources

Starbucks Coffee Shop Boston Taken with the Canon A75
Picture of Starbucks Coffee Shop in Boston taken with the Canon A75 and cropped

That little camera went all over with me and took some fairly decent pictures; not great, but good enough!

I soon had to acquire a newer camera for a trip to Peru which I didn’t want to risk by taking my older A75 which was “acting up” at that time.

Canon PowerShot A590 IS
Canon PowerShot A590 courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Native girl with pet sloth-Amazon
Young Amazon native girl with pet sloth taken with the PS A590

A pet Capybara in the Amazon
A pet Capybara in the Amazon taken with the PS A590

Native guide handles a poisonous frog - AmazonS
Rather closeup picture of poisonous frog in the Amazon taken with PS A590 and cropped

Machu Pichu taken with the PowerShot A590

Machu Pichu taken with the PowerShot A590 – Sorry, I didn’t know about blown highlights!

These cameras served me well and I still bring the A590 with me whenever I want to capture something quickly and with ease. Of course now that I have a hand-me-down iPhone 5, I can also tuck that into my pocket for the same purpose.

A couple of years ago, I became interested in bird watching. I am not a fanatic, but I do like birds and I enjoy trying to identify them. It was a short hop, skip and a jump to an interest in photographing birds. I did some research and found out that there are approximately 950 different birds in the United States and at some point in the year over half of them spend time in my newly adopted state of Arizona (although not exactly in my neighborhood!).

I began to wonder how many of those birds I could photograph and record. I wasn’t thinking of beautiful bird photographs like those of Scott Bourne and other nature photographers. I was simply thinking about pictures of record.

So…I did what most people would probably do and I signed up for a guided bird hike and I brought my Canon PowerShot with 4x zoom with me. Screech…..

Those birds are so far away! All I can see is an outline of a bird. How am I to identify that bird from such a photograph?. Of course I do exaggerate a bit. There were some birds only a short distance away that could be identified with the naked eye and/or a quick snap, but it was becoming obvious that I would need a “better” camera, i.e. with more of a zoom.

Compounding my dilemma was that I wanted to try shooting in the RAW mode which is/was recommended by most accomplished photographers I follow and it was the advice offered repeatedly. “If one wanted to take their photography to the next level, they needed to learn to shoot in RAW and to post process!” Well, my current photographic skills weren’t at any level near that goal at that time, but my ambition was to get there.

I did what I usually do nowadays and I began reading the reviews on the Internet and after many, many hours of reading and pondering, I decided to purchase a Canon PowerShot SXHS 50 with a tremendous zoom lens. It met my main two criteria, i.e. a lot of reach and it could shoot RAW.

PowerShot SXHS 50

Canon PowerShot SXHS 50 image courtesy of Imaging Resources

PowerShot SXHS 50 with zoom extended
Canon PowerShot SXHS 50 with lens extended image courtesy of CNET.com

White-winged dove taken with the Canon SXHS 50

A White-winged dove atop a saguaro – One of the first bird pictures taken with the Canon PowerShot SXHS 50

There were some serious drawbacks though and I understood that going in. The camera did not do well at high ISOs as a matter of fact, most accomplished shooters using this camera advised to stay at 200 ISO or lower so that was going to be one limitation. I did set the auto ISO not to exceed 400 to give myself some leeway.

This camera did not disappoint me. It could take some really nice photos and I was able to get up close and personal to a lot of birds and other animals which I really liked. It did provide some challenges along the way. There was some chromatic aberration and noise in tricky situations. Of course I took them into an editing program and modified them to reduce these issues as much as possible and I could live with that.

For more than a year, I was pretty happy with my choice and then…and then…

Read additional posts in My Photography Conundrum series:

My Photography Conundrum – Part 2

My Photography Conundrum – Part 3

My Photography Conundrum – Part 4

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

See previous Photography posts HERE

Photography Under the Microscope – Microsculpture

Jeff

Most people who are interested in photography have probably heard of macro photography which is the specialty related of taking close up pictures of small objects such as insects, jewelry or flowers. Levon Biss, however uses a microscope to take his pictures which renders only the smallest section in focus and thus his photographs are composites of many pictures which he painstakingly aligns. When I say many, I mean thousands.

Here is the summary from Vimeo’s website:

“Microsculpture is a unique visual experience. A 10mm insect is shown as a 3 meter print, revealing minute detail and allowing the viewer to take in the structure of the insect in its entirety. The beautifully lit, high magnification portraiture of Levon Biss captures the miccopicroscopic form of these animals in striking high-resolution detail.”

I urge you to watch the video which is as much art as it is science!

Microsculpture from Levon Biss on Vimeo.

SEE MORE – Also be sure to check the link below as well:

“The insect photography of Levon Biss.
A groundbreaking photographic exhibition of Science and Art.
A special exhibition from 27th May until October 2016 at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
microsculpture.net“

Photography – Why Take Pictures? – Power of a Photograph

Jeff

Different Sets of Feet

Every so often someone will ponder or ask the question outright: “Why do you take pictures?” The simple answer, which is often the best, is that photographs can be powerful. Did you ever see someone look at a picture and cry? Did you ever see someone look at a picture and smile? Did you ever see someone look at a picture and recoil in horror or astonishment?

I have seen all of these and I have experienced them as well. Oh, and one last thing…photographs can be fun.

The Cooperative of Photography (COOPH) has produced a YouTube video called The Power of a Photograph and they provide specific examples of

  • Unique moments
  • Iconic Moments
  • Fun Moments
  • Moments of Loss & Desperation
  • Moments of Defiance
  • Moments of Bravery
  • Moments of Love & Respect
  • …And Moments of Triumph

The video below helps us appreciate why people take photographs and the power behind pictures.

From the YouTube video:

Published on Apr 19, 2016

“The COOPH team explores iconic photographs and famous moments throughout history that captured raw human emotions and stunned the world.”

Inspire the World

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

See previous Photography posts HERE

The Presidential Photography of Pete Souza

Jeff

Pete Souza Photographs the President

This video showcases the photography of official White House Photographer Pete Souza and his work in capturing the day-to-day events and personal life of President Obama and his administration. Photography helps to preserve the history of the times and Pete Souza does it very well!