Technical: Canon EOS 7D, 1/100 sec, f2.8, focal length 60
Wow! Nice shot. Good planning and pre-visualization. There’s a fine line between art and technique. Cousin David got it right on the money here. It’s unique enough for me to say that I haven’t seen this before. Good work!
Technical: Canon EOS 7D, 1/250 sec, f5.6, focal length 200
I am assuming that the title to this image refers to the train. It’s a sweet image and it reminds me of Japan for some reason. Cousin David will tell us where he shot it… probably somewhere in California. But it still reminds me of Japan. The composition is nice. There is a layering to the image with top, middle, and bottom all contributing and supporting the image. You’re definitely correct in that the image is brought together by the train passing through.
Technical: Canon EOS 7D, 1/125, f20, focal length 200
Dragonflies don’t sit around too much. So it’s pretty neat to catch one sunning itself like cousin David has done. I’m told that they are slow in the early morning. My strategy to shoot things that move erratically is to get a shot. If it is still there, then I take a few more and check for exposure, composition and image size. So at the end I would have a great close up and good cropped image. Especially with digital, I start clicking away and zoom as I go. This is a good first image. Then if it’s not your only opportunity, move in an keep going until the dragonfly flies. It would even be neater to catch it in flight as you did with the hummingbirds.
Technical: Panasonic DMC Z57, 1/400 sec, f4, focal length 4.1
Taking pictures from an airplane is tricky. Most people don’t do it. If you don’t, please give up your seat to someone who will do it. It’s a shame that people take flying so casually that they don’t even look out the window. “Turn off all electronics in preparation for landing!” commands the flight crew. Ever wonder why? The signal of a cellphone trying to communicate with a cell tower can interfere with the radio transmission to the plane. It is interference at close range like about 3 feet. Therefore, there is little chance that I could create any problem. There is a basic rule that my seat assignment is always at the back of the plane no matter how hard I try to get a seat closer to the front. And if that’s the case, there can certainly be no interference from a camera. But I have been told to turn mine off and put it away. So, my strategy is to wait until the cabin crew is seated for landing and then pull out the camera and start clicking. Shooting from a double pane of glass, which is etched by weather is enough to make your lens cry. No sharpness of lens can make up for this. But with an image at least you have something to work with in Photoshop. Add contrast, color correct, increase saturation and you can make something from nothing. Sometimes right out of the camera you have a good image. To keep the wing or not is the other conundrum. Some do and others don’t. I usually try to keep the wing out.
Here is an iconic photo of New York that cousin David shot. I can even pick out the location of my apartment on the Westside. (I’m not home.) Exposure’s good, clouds, wing, it’s all good and the image really comes together nicely. You’re at about 3000 feet and it’s a good image of the city without losing detail from being too high. Good shot. Landing and take off are the times I’m always camera ready. In between, the Rocky Mountains and other such land marks make great patterns at 35,000 feet. And watch the clouds. Some thunderheads are fairly impressive. At night lightning is good too.
I am continually amazed by technology and its uses. A number of years ago a young woman won the NYC marathon. She literally came out of nowhere to win. She was aided by the NYC subway which transported her for part of her journey. The race organizers were so disorganized as to not notice that she was not on the entire race course.
Since then other runners have complained that their running time is miscalculated by the long wait to reach the start line. So now everyone receives a sensor. This automatically times your start and finish to officially be more accurate. You can’t take a bus, cab, or train. They measure the split times too. So why not photograph as you go. It’s a great way to make money for the event. It’s not perfect but it is a whole lot better than any one being there to photograph on the race course. It’s a long race and you simply can’t run up on the Westside Highway to start taking photos. Swim, bike and run, there were cameras set up to catch the participants along the route. That’s David. He trained for months and did pretty well in his first ever event. He never competed in high school or college in any organized team/individual event so far as I know. Now he and his sister have been competitors in NYC organized events. Congratulations Dave!
Technical: Canon G11, 1/200 sec, f4, focal length 21
Following along with the underwater theme, here’s one more shot of the moray eel. We lingered long enough for me to snap a few shots. The criticism here is that the background sand is too bright leaving the moray eel relatively underexposed. The eye is hidden. I know. My excuse is that it’s underwater. Zooming in would have made a more even exposure. I wasn’t going to get closer to this wild fish. It bites.
Technical: Canon G11, 1/250, f2.8, focal length 6.1
Here’s the shot. That is to say the close up with the stick from yesterday’s post is out of context. This is the difficult choice. Zoom in or use the wide-angle view? It’s your call. I guess the right context here is the wide-angle shot. It shows the diver and moray eel interaction. That is the real interest. You can decide and if there’s opportunity, you can both shots. But, I think this shot is the better illustration of the idea.
Technical: Canon G11, 1/200 sec, f4, focal length 21
My dive companion decided to see if the moray eel would respond. He pushed a stick toward it along the sandy bottom. The fish nosed closer with a bit of curiosity. It was lethargic. I just kept distance and shot. The moray eel’s color is different from the last shot. Hey, there’s some color! I’m not a fan of poking at dangerous fish with a stick. Trust me. I was farther away from the eel than Farid.
Technical: Canon G11, 1/200 sec, f4, focal length 21
I actually took the time to zoom in. This eel is a bit dangerous and will bite and hurt you. So it’s not a good idea to get close. It also doesn’t move much. So zoom works. Underwater it’s a dark shape without color. When you do routine color correction in Photoshop, it’s a bit rust colored. The pattern blends with the coral. So I guess it has some camouflage. Either way we gave it a wide birth.
Technical: Canon G11, 1/400 sec, f2.8, focal length 6.1
It started upside down at depth, so the color is gone to blue. You have the topside as backlighting. At least it can be done. Not to bad, what can you say? It’s not my best. At this point I’m happy to have the image in focus. And yes, I corrected to get the image right side up.
PhotoCritical 