Neenah

How to Find The Best Wedding Photographer

How to Find The Best Wedding Photographer

A Google search for "Wedding Photographer" turns up millions of hits!  How do you find the best wedding photographer with all these options? The good news is there are lots of great photographers in the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin.  The odds are you will find one of them.  The bad news is that even the best photographer may not the right one for your wedding!  So what things should you look for to find the best wedding photographer?  Here are some of my suggestions. What makes a photographer the best for you? A great photographer provides a great experience…

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A Winter Night in Neenah

A Winter Night in Neenah
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It was cold, and snowy, and dark (one of the longest nights of the year). But out we went anyway to make some beautiful portraits. I like to say every day is an adventure and this day certainly was. Jump out of the warm truck and grab some photos and then back to the warmth to thaw out my numb hands. My beautiful model didn't mind the cold at all - oh, to be young again! Technically, these are a mix of natural light portraits along with some fill light portraits with a softbox. All were taken with either a…

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Living Coral – Pantone Color for 2019

Living Coral – Pantone Color for 2019
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The Pantone color of the year is Living Coral. They call it "an animating and life-affiriming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge." Well, sounds impressive, I guess. On a recent safari I captures ice boats cruising on Lake Winnebago and thought they would make a great use of living coral. Here is the original photo: The next step, in photoshop, is to select all the highlights and create a new layer with a highlight mask. You then use the color picker to brush Living Coral into all the highlights. The next step…

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Fireworks

Fireworks
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It was a beautiful July 4th in Neenah & Menasha.  We watched the fireworks from Neenah this year and watched both shows (Menasha in the background to the right). I did not really even try this year to get a great picture.  I just set my camera up and turned on the intervalometer and let the camera take pictures.   This way I grabbed some nice photos while enjoying the show.  Enjoying the show is a good thing because it passes so quickly. Good words for life - enjoy the show because before you know it the show is over!…

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Copper Box in Neenah – Film Test

Copper Box in Neenah – Film Test

Copper Box played in Neenah on a beautiful July evening.  All these photos are using my Bronica medium format camera.  All photos 150mm lens and used Kodak Portra 400 film.  The film was "over exposed" one stop to test the look - I metered at 200 ISO in stead of 400.  Pretty amazing how much detail in both the shadows and highlights when the film is pushed a bit - much better than digital.   And no, I am not giving up my digital cameras!  Film is just another tool in the box and has it's place.  Look for more…

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A Very Neenah Christmas

A Very Neenah Christmas

Friday night was A Very Neenah Christmas.  Along with the store window live displays there were a number of "street performers" around main street.  This poor girl took the double dog dare and ended up stuck to the pole!  We debated on whether or not this was her real tongue - looks real to me... Canon 5d MkIII  Canon 50mm f/1.4  | 1/40s at f/2  and 800 ISO  

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Budding Photographer

Budding Photographer
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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…

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First Full Moon of Winter

First Full Moon of Winter
Moon rise over Lake Winnebago
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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.  

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Hanging Out

Hanging Out
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Just a casual portrait in the park. Nothing fancy, nothing planned - just look at the camera and and the shutter snaps.  This is both the easiest and the hardest portrait to capture.  Sometimes it just happens and it is effortless, but just try and get this look on purpose.  We are so self conscious today and we all "pose" for the camera.  Fake smiles, fake poses, fake Facebook lives.  Why is it so hard to be natural?   Canon 5d Mk III | Canon 24-105 f/4 L | 105mm | 1/240s at f/4.0

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Storm in September

Storm in September
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A storm comes in from the West.  It is September but really hot and humid the past few days.  I caught this in the early evening as the front came in - perfect timing.  A few minutes later and it was heavy rain with boring grey overhead.  I did not have my widest lens with me so I shot this as a panorama and stitched together 5 shots.   Canon 5d MkIII | Canon 25-105 f/4 | 24mm | 1/40s at f/9.0

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Another Sunset

Another Sunset
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Another sunset picture.  The light was so beautiful and made everything so special. When you look around the world it is so easy to worry about the future - the news is all bad news!  But, if you step away you see that there is so much beauty in the world.  Yes, the news is bad, but it has always been bad!  Always some crisis or flood or war or law and order issue.  We live in this world and and we care so we want thing to be better.  That is a good thing and we should never stop…

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Photography Class – Update

Photography Class – Update
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Final preparations for my photography class are underway.  The class will be "cookbook" hands on photography - minimal jargon and technical stuff and more how to set your camera to get the best results.  Just finished up pictures with the beautiful DeAnna to help demonstrate what lens settings will do.  Watch for updates on the days and times and enrollment.  Class size will be limited!

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Another Sunset

Another Sunset
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Another beautiful sunset in Neenah.  This is from the Friendship trial on the Fox River.  A cold front was moving in and created beautiful clouds, colors and light.  This is a composite of 10 photos stitched together in Photoshop CS6.  The challenge here was to keep the ISO down to prevent noise while getting a low blue shutter speed and sufficient depth of field. Canon 5d MkIII | Canon 24-105 f/4 L | 24mm | 1/25s at f/6.3  

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A Busy Beautiful Day

A Busy Beautiful Day
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Busy day - busy week.  It seems like Summer has just been, so far, just a whirlwind of activity! I feel blessed that so much is in my life! I also feel a bit overwhelmed that so much is in my life! Yesterday was a wonderful day.  Between storms I had a shoot with an old friend and a new friend (getting ready for my photo class this Fall).  It was hot and muggy but it was also so much fun working together.  While I was winding down my wife noticed the sunset.  Like a shot I was out the…

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Fireflies on a Summer Night

Fireflies on a Summer Night
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The firefly population is growing in the Town of Neenah.  They seem to like warm Summer nights. This is a long exposure shot taken on a tripod near my home. Canon 7D | Rokinon 16-35mm | 16mm | 6s at f/3.2

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Fishing on the Fox

Fishing on the Fox
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Just a quiet Sunday afternoon around Neenah.  Playing with my newest toy - Canon 2X extender.  This doubles the focal length of some of the canon "L" series lenses.  I didn't want to spend the money for a super telephoto lens as I though I would not use it enough to justify the expense.  Also nice not to have to lug a super around along with a shorter lens.  Look for more photos in the coming weeks. Canon 5d MkIII | Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L II | 400mm | 1/400s f/5.6

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Waiting for Spring

Waiting for Spring

Will Spring never come?!? Here it is May and still in the 40's for temperatures.  Rode my bike to work yesterday and froze my hands and arms!  On the bright side think how bad it would be without global warming! Taken in the Town of Neenah on Oak Ridge Road.  Had to get my feet wet but all great art requires suffering (that's what we tell our selves when we are standing in cold water in the rain).  I am not sure why but the original picture just screamed out "high key sepia" so that's how I processed it. Conventional…

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Out for a Walk

Out for a Walk

My neighbors out for a walk on the first night of May.  You see them, don't you?  Dead center at the bottom of the frame. I did not see them when I took this either - too busy enjoying the glory of a beautiful sunset.   Life is like that sometimes.  You look at one thing and miss another.  That is the joy, and the problem with photographs.  You capture a moment in time it all its detail and beauty and imperfection.  You also create an image that might interfere with your memory.  I only remember the sunet but there were…

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Winter Road

Winter Road
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The snow is going away with the warm weather - might rain tonight!  We're now getting into the only part of the year  I do not enjoy - late Winter.  Still dark, snow, rain, warm , cold, wet, a nice day and then a bunch of sloppy ones!  Oh, well, Spring is on its way; global warming don't fail me now! This shot was taken with my newish 100mm macro.  You don't normally think of a macro (or a 100mm) as landscape lenses but I think this really works for this photo.  The 100mm compresses the scene and gives a…

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Frosty Morning on the Wiouwash Trail

Frosty Morning on the Wiouwash Trail
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A cold and frosty morning on the Wiouwash State trial - Neenah.  Last night it was really damp and the frost was everywhere this morning.  And then around luch time the snow came in and dropped 4-6 inches.  I took this before work and you can see the mist hanging in the air.  As always I over exposed by about 1/2 a stop to get the snow to white.  I also did a bit of burning in photoshop to smooth out the trial. Canon 5d MkIII | Canon 100mm macro f/2.8 |  1/100 sec at f/16 See all of my…

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Cold and Dark

Cold and Dark
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End of January and not much sunlight this year.  I like the first snow and the early Winter but February starts to get to me!  Seems like it is happening early this year.  January is normally sunny... This was the view from Kimberly Point yesterday and kind of sums up the whole month. Another snowy picture so I set the exposure for 2/3 stop over to compensate for the whiteness. Canon 5d MkIII | Canon 16-35 f/4 | 1/320 sec at f/11

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