Blog posts including recent work, tutorials, thoughts on photography and art and just day to day life!
Exactly a year ago we were on a mini-vacation in LaJolla California. Sunny days and beautiful sunsets! Why did we not do that again this year? I do enjoy Winter - at least the first month or two, but lately I've been more and more sad that Summer is gone. Maybe next year... Composition with stock photo and a sunset shot Canon 5d mkIII | Canon 24-105 f/4 | 1/30s at f/9.0
St. Timothy's 2017 Confirmation class - such a nice group of young adults! See more pictures at St. Timothy 2017 Confirmation
Sparks fly as Marcia works on her next creation. Watch Not What It Was for news, updates and exciting buying opportunities! Canon 5d mkIII | Canon 24-105 f/4 L | 105mm | 1/320s at f/6.3
A quick portrait by the fountain in Riverside Park, Neenah. This photo was taken with the beautiful afternoon light during the "blue hour". The f/4 aperture should be obvious as the fountain is not in focus. I could have done more depth of field but that would have meant cranking up the ISO = more noise. I was at 800 ISO which for this camera is just fine. What makes this photo "work" is the good compositional elements. When we see a photo our eyes are first drawn to the brightest part. I did a curves and color adjustment to…
There has been an unusually large number of pelicans by the dam on Doty Island this year. I estimate 300-400! Not sure why but they sure put on a show. We went bird watching in the evening and I planned ahead and brought my 70-200 with a 2X teleconverter. This shot was taken at 400mm and the bird flew directly overhead. The feather detail is just amazing. These birds are so big and such wonderful fliers. God sure is amazing when he solves an engineering problem! With the extender the lens is a f/5.6 so with the lateness and the…
We went cruising last Saturday and enjoyed the water on Lake Poygan. My love made a suggestion we cruise down to Oshkosh and maybe we could get a glimpse of the 5:00 airshow at EAA. As we entered Lake Winnebago at Oshoksh we could not believe all the boats just around the corner! There must have been 500! Good idea dear! Finding a nice spot to drop anchor we were treated by an awesome display by the Blue Angels. While I did not have my professional camera I did get some nice shots using my Lumix LX7. I also caught…
Another picture from the Menasha food truck event thing! We were just laying on the grass and enjoying the music where a group of fire performers moved in. Hot lady in more ways than one! Just kidding! Taken with my Panasonic Lumix LX7 - a handy little camera with a great lens. Only 10mp but who needs more. I purposely slowed down the shutter just a bit to get some movement blur - especially the flames. Panasonic Lumix LX7 | 17.7mm | 1/125s at f/2.3
Hey Mister! What ya doin' down there? The things you see laying on the ground in Menasha! This was taken on a Thursday evening while watching the clouds go by. You don't need a fancy camera - just carry a camera with you and have it ready at all times. Panasonic Lumix LX7 | 4.7mm f/3.2 | 1/250s
I'm just sitting here - enjoying the cool water! Well, maybe not. Given the river I don't think I would be making friends if I had actually sent her out there so this is just a composition i.e. Photoshop job! Just 2 pictures blended together and so much fun!
For our wedding anniversary this year we went of a tour of waterfalls between Neenah and the Minnesota / Canada border. I had 33 on my list and we managed to visit 26. The good news was the heavy rains lately made for spectacular water falls! The bad news was the heavy rains lately made for lots of mud and some of the falls were unaccessable. Oh well, that is life. Enjoy a few of the falls below. Coming soon - a water fall tutorial!
Again this year I did the pictures for St. Mark's confirmation. Such a nice group of young adults! Group pictures can be a challenge especially at St. Mark's where there is a lot of back light from the windows at the front of the church. The natural light has to be balanced with the flash on the people to turn out correctly. I used 2 Alien Bees B800 strobes with 64 in white shoot through umbrellas. The strobes were placed just behind and above me to the left and the right. Everything was shot in manual. Knowing I wanted most…
I love sunsets! There is just something so stirring about the end of the day. It is almost magical for me. Of course I also love sunrises. I just don't love getting up in time for the sunrise. So, how do you capture a sunset? First find a good place where you can see the sunset. Then find out when the sunset is going to happen (https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/) and get there early enough . I usually try and arrive 30-60 minutes early as sometimes you need time to find the best spot - also some nice pictures can be had before…
A beautiful young lady on a beautiful Easter Morning! A special portrait with the wonderful light streaming in from behind. Canon 5d mkIII | Canon 135mm f/2 | 1/60s f/2.8
Somewhere in Death Valley, California, the not so young man captures his next masterpiece!
Weddings are so much fun! Too much work. maybe! Just a fast portrait at my last wedding - so much joy in her face! Canon 5d mkIII | Canon 24-105 f/4 L | 58mm | 1/50s at f/4
A 360 degree panorama from Badwash Basin, Death Valley. The lowest point in North America - 282 feet below sea level. This picture was taken by setting up a perfectly level tripod and taking a series of photos with about 1/3 overlap. The pictures are then stitched together to form a panorama. Next you need to carefully crop so that each end perfectly matches - including the horizon. Then the polar filter is used to make the little planet.
5,500 Feet up and hard to catch my breath! Matt doesn't seem to have any issues perched on the edge - so maybe I should learn to relax! Canon 5d mkIII | Canon 135mm f/2 | 1/320s f/11
Water and the Spirit. A young girl receives a precious gift! While the picture looks so peaceful in fact the baby cried the whole time! No matter - still was a beautiful ceremony. Taken with Canon 135mm f/2 and is a crop of a much larger scene. With the 135 I find I need a shutter speed of at least 1/200 to avoid motion blur - fortunately f/2 is totally great with this lens. You can see how much detail is in focus even wide open. Canon 5d mkIII | Canon EF 135 f/2 L | 1/200 at f/2 500…
It's your birthday! Just a spontaneous portrait of the birthday girl. Taken with my new Canon 135mm f/2 lens. Actually this was a mistake that turned out. I did not do a good job balancing my ambient with my flash and the shutter speed dropped too low. This was taken at 1/20 sec and I am amazed that it turned out. Typically I would not even think about a shutter speed below 1/100 sec for this lens and preferably 1/200. All's well that ends well I guess. Technical - the flash was flagged to avoid any direct light and bounced…
The first full moon of 2017 and Winter. It was a cold and windy night. I was thinking I must me either dedicated or crazy (of course, both could be true). To properly expose both the moon (which is very bright) and the light house I used a 5 step bracket, set for +/- 3 stops. I then used 2 photos to make the picture - one of the moon and the other for the lighthouse. Below is another taken at 400mm.
Lighting, composition, compression, exposure - all part of the tool kit for any photographer. The moon is one of the hardest things to photograph properly. Never had a camera that could expose the moon properly - the contrast between the bright moon and the dark sky always causes an over exposure. The moon is really bright and you have to adjust the exposure downward much more than you would expect! Canon 5d MkIII | Canon 70-200 f/2.8 + 2x teleconverter | 400mm | 1/200s at f/5.6
Even on the coldest nights you can still find a fire to keep warm. The fire is in you and you have to keep it going. I know, its hard sometimes. The world seems out to get you and everything seems wrong, or bent, or even sinister. That is when you need to look deep and find that something that burns inside of you. God put it there. All you need to do is open your heart and you will find it!
Three beautiful sisters at a wedding. It has been a busy busy Summer - and looks like the Fall will be no different. Seemed like we had a long spell of no weddings and now everyone is getting married. I just love this photo as I think it captured the joy of being together to celebrate a wonderful day. This was taken with my Panasonic Lumix LX7. It is a nice lice little camera but hardly state of the art. But you don't need the top camera to have a nice picture! We are so lucky to have great cameras…
