Foreground

I guess I am not done with fireworks yet. There was a little foreground action. The fireworks were setup to go into the night sky down the beach from us – not out in the ocean. So we were sitting at right angle to where the fireworks were ascending into the night sky. Afterward, in editing, I noticed that I adjusted the camera slightly downward and got some foreground elements – people and buildings. Ha! Serendipity! It was purely luck. I was concentrating on the fireworks. Or, as we said when we were kids, “Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes.”

Tree of life

I did not know this. Colleen admires the tree of life. The tree of life represents the afterlife, and connection between the earth and heaven. Celts believed the actual trees were their ancestors,

Imperfect. There is a the cover for the water in the foreground. …and distraction in the background. Do better. I coulda… but this was a grab shot. I liked the play of the shadow cast with the early afternoon sun. I took what I got. But… I could have been perfect. Should I have? Or, is the point of imperfection – human frailty?

Distraction

The lighting is dramatic highlighting the grass across the street. Great sidelight. Side? Back? I know… because the sun is directly to the left. Ha!

The point and shoot has an electronic zoom. ?? what do I know or care?! It shoots telephoto. I would never know how or why it is enhanced. Magic! Meanwhile, what I did not notice till editing the shot – there are tree branches distracting the foreground. This shot is otherwise a failure. Hey! What do you expect from a shot thru the window glass from across the street?

Better

I have to admit that Colleen is a better photographer now. She started as close eyes, press shutter, hope for the best. I have convinced her that nothing will happen if you press the shutter. That is to say there is no harm no foul. No undue expense is associated as compared to shooting film. Seeing the shots she takes has not changed. She doesn’t just as she never developed her film.

She got the Goethals Bridge. Picturesque. The clutter in the foreground cannot be avoided. But she got a great shot of the span. Cudos.

NYC skyline. We try. She tried. It’s nearly impossible from the road on the Jersey side. Too much clutter in the foreground. The Empire State Building is distinctive. The uptown skyscrapers (on the left) are all new. Have I been gone from Manhattan so long? Wow! What happened to urban planning? The super wealthy billionaires gotta have their view. The 99 percenters are definitely not welcome in those high rises.

Lesson: ?? Shoot out the car window. With abandon. No worries. Accept foreground clutter. Take what the view gives. Come away with an image. It’s documentary. It ain’t fine photography. We got a memory. It binds us closer in shared experience.

Stormy

Technical: Nikon D90, 1.200 sec, f4, focal length 18

Hurricane…not so close to the water as it looks! I like the light here…sand…white caps – Susan

Susan, it’s perspective. A photo is a 2D image and depth of field cannot be accurately gauged on a flat image. So yes, the waves looks closer and the effect is nice. There’s not much texture in the sky, but one can’t complain. You have a good shot of the kids. I presume the wind was not to fierce to be a danger.

Gate

‘Blurred edges because of electrical boxes but wanted to keep door ajar in photo’

Technical: Nikon D90, 1/30 sec, f4.2, focal length 18

The electrical box is not a bother Susan. It’s at the edge and not really in view. The upper corner is blurred. It is an example of shallow depth of field. The f-stop is 4.2 and not enough to keep focus on the whole gate. You can use this to your advantage. Here it’s a little distracting. The bricks are interesting. The wreathes are interesting. There’s not too much to tie this image together. I’d have focused on the details of the wreathes. Needs…work.

Love

Technical: Nikon D90, 1/80 sec, f9, focal length 18

FARNSWORTH MUSEUM BRINGS LOVE TO ROCKLAND, ME

Susan emailed that she likes the play of the leaves’ shadows over the sculpture. Another recent news story about ‘love’ in Maine revolves around a one woman brothel run from a dance studio in southern Maine near to former President George Bush’s Maine compound. She shot video (of course) and the latest news is about who’s being ‘outed.’ This image is a lot more innocent. I actually like the vertical crop of this square sculpture. The subject is isolated and distracting background is kept to a minimum. The shadows do indeed add some interest. Good job Susan.

Ryan and the Gull

Technical: Nikon D90, 1/400 sec, f10, focal length 70

RYAN CHASING SEAGULLS HE JUST FED THEM GOLDFISH CRACKERS…SO THEY WERE EVERYWHERE!

That’s one way to get the gulls excited. Action! So there’s a choice, Susan. The image is about Ryan flying and copying the gull. If you crop the image and keep just the sand, Ryan, and the gull, it would be a sweet isolation shot. I’m not sure you need the boardwalk or the overexposed sky. Give it a try.

Susan shot Ryan chasing the gulls. Funny, they never catch them. If we could keep up, I’d have shot this one from face on. That would have been a good one. The joy of the moment is represented, though. I wish you could have run a little faster than the kid and the gull. But I doubt I could have done it either.

And before I posted the original, Susan sent me her cropped version. Isn’t it wonderful that she read my mind. Yes, indeed, it’s a stronger image. Good. It’s a real coincidence that her email arrived just moments before this post came out.

Blackfish

Technical: Canon G11, 1/250 sec, f4, focal length 18

We were in a holding pattern at 15 feet to decompress before surfacing. No dice. I popped straight to the surface and couldn’t get my butt down for beans. So I hovered and shot this image. The light is brighter so the shutter speed is faster. There was just no way to coordinate and pose this feeding mass of black fish. Something was tasty on the reef. There’s not too much to love here. You can see an eye or two. The composition is … ugh. There’s not to much detail or color except for the blue edging. I have a lot of these images. I thought to show some mistakes, lest you believe everything comes out great.

Chipmunk

Technical: Nikon D90, 1/125 sec, f5.6, focal length 170

Kevin has a thing about chipmunks. He hates them. It’s good he doesn’t have a gun. But Susan shot this one. The upper leaves are overexposed. It’s because there is too much dynamic range in the light. To make it simpler, the upper background is too bright. You can compensate in the camera. Usually the meter will under expose the chipmunk. In order to get everything to look naturally unnatural, you would shoot two images exposing for the light and dark. Or, you could shoot raw and manipulate in Photoshop. I’m less inclined to overthink the image. If you’ll notice the chipmunk is pretty dead center in the image. It tends to get that way when you don’t take time to compose because the critter will only be there a split second.