MY FAVORITE PHOTOS OF 2008--
These Great Blue Herons were nesting in a large Sycamore tree along a bank of the Clear Fork branch of the Mohican River near Bellville. This photo was taken from well over 100 yards using my Meade ETX 90, 1200 mm telescope for the digital camera’s lens. The shot was done before sunrise at 1/800th of a second at ISO 800. The equipment was mounted on the scope’s sturdy tripod and, since there is no aperture setting, exposure was manipulated with test shots using shutter speed only.
This available light portrait of Rollie Harper was done by hand-holding a DSLR with a 70-200 mm f 2.8 Canon lens. The lens is image stabilized and exposure was at 1/160th of a second, f/2.8 at 200 mm focal length and an ISO of 800. Mr. Harper was playing the drums with Dr. Tom Croghan’s jazz group at the Mansfield Library; a gentle portrait of a man making gentle music.
This dogwood blossom appears to be levitating in a sea of darkness simply because exposing correctly for the brilliant white of the blossom completely underexposed the foliage background. Exposure: 1/1000 sec. f/7.1, focal length 200 mm, ISO 400. The fast shutter speed helped avoid camera shake in this close-up composition and the relatively small aperture provided sufficient depth of field to keep the blossom in sharp focus.
A pair of Snapping Turtles engaged in breeding over the course of two days on my pond’s surface. This shot is yet another with the marvelous 70-200 mm Canon lens; 1/500th second, f/5.6 at 200 mm; with my apologies to the turtles for this photographic voyeurism, of course.
This American Tree Sparrow undergoes a magnified examination during a bird banding demonstration by naturalist Steve McKee at Mansfield’s Gorman Nature Center. Exposure was adjusted to render the foreground in silhouette with my 17-85 mm “walking around” lens. Details: 1/200th second, f/8 and ISO 400. A walking-around lens resides on the camera and yields to a specialty model when conditions require.
These Great Blue Herons were nesting in a large Sycamore tree along a bank of the Clear Fork branch of the Mohican River near Bellville. This photo was taken from well over 100 yards using my Meade ETX 90, 1200 mm telescope for the digital camera’s lens. The shot was done before sunrise at 1/800th of a second at ISO 800. The equipment was mounted on the scope’s sturdy tripod and, since there is no aperture setting, exposure was manipulated with test shots using shutter speed only.
This available light portrait of Rollie Harper was done by hand-holding a DSLR with a 70-200 mm f 2.8 Canon lens. The lens is image stabilized and exposure was at 1/160th of a second, f/2.8 at 200 mm focal length and an ISO of 800. Mr. Harper was playing the drums with Dr. Tom Croghan’s jazz group at the Mansfield Library; a gentle portrait of a man making gentle music.
This dogwood blossom appears to be levitating in a sea of darkness simply because exposing correctly for the brilliant white of the blossom completely underexposed the foliage background. Exposure: 1/1000 sec. f/7.1, focal length 200 mm, ISO 400. The fast shutter speed helped avoid camera shake in this close-up composition and the relatively small aperture provided sufficient depth of field to keep the blossom in sharp focus.
A pair of Snapping Turtles engaged in breeding over the course of two days on my pond’s surface. This shot is yet another with the marvelous 70-200 mm Canon lens; 1/500th second, f/5.6 at 200 mm; with my apologies to the turtles for this photographic voyeurism, of course.
This American Tree Sparrow undergoes a magnified examination during a bird banding demonstration by naturalist Steve McKee at Mansfield’s Gorman Nature Center. Exposure was adjusted to render the foreground in silhouette with my 17-85 mm “walking around” lens. Details: 1/200th second, f/8 and ISO 400. A walking-around lens resides on the camera and yields to a specialty model when conditions require.
A very proud American Bald Eagle seems to smile at one of her two young chicks hatched along the Clear Fork Reservoir this spring. Like the heron picture above this was done with my DSLR attached to the telescope from a distance that insures human presence does not disturb the birds. This telescope with a 50X eyepiece can resolve Saturn’s rings so a few hundred terrestrial yards is not too challenging.
In this worm’s eye view, early morning dew on the grass sparkles under the rising sun. I pre-focused my walking-around lens at the macro setting (about 6”) then sat the camera on the toe of my shoe and clicked the shutter without peering into the viewfinder. I routinely carry this camera with the 17-85 mm zoom lens set on automatic operation at ISO 400.
That is a marvelous range of focal lengths and will do the job 90 percent of the time. Automatic operation almost guarantees a correct exposure and ISO 400 is adequate sensitivity for most daylight-type shooting conditions. I then vary from these settings as conditions or creative urges dictate.
This is the only photo in the group with a hefty dose of Photoshop’s magic applied. It started out as a tightly cropped composition of the lower half of a bike and its shadow zooming along a bike trail. With Photoshop the sky is the limit in photo manipulation. But, I use it sparingly in that regard. While the results can be very interesting a person soon leaves the profession of photography and becomes simply a software manipulator—albeit a skill of its own.
A close-up portrait of a Luna Moth was done with a Canon 100 mm f/2.8 Macro lens early one morning near my front door. It was a dark overcast morning so this picture was brightened considerably by using a Mini-Maglite flashlight held high and to the left of the moth’s head. Notice how the cross-lighting amplified the texture of the critter’s fur and antennae. Exposure 1/50th second, f/2.8, ISO 400.
Note the shallow depth of field. The moth’s head is sharply focused while its feet, just a fraction of an inch distant, are badly out of focus. The close focus distance, the wide open aperture and focal length about double that of a “normal” lens all contributed to this minimum plane of sharp focus.
An orb-weaver spider prepares its breakfast in this natural light photo back-lit in early morning sun. The same macro lens as in the moth photo was used. In this case the shallow depth of field dramatically boosts the image’s quality by throwing the background so completely out of focus the woodsy detail has no chance to interfere with the composition.
In this worm’s eye view, early morning dew on the grass sparkles under the rising sun. I pre-focused my walking-around lens at the macro setting (about 6”) then sat the camera on the toe of my shoe and clicked the shutter without peering into the viewfinder. I routinely carry this camera with the 17-85 mm zoom lens set on automatic operation at ISO 400.
That is a marvelous range of focal lengths and will do the job 90 percent of the time. Automatic operation almost guarantees a correct exposure and ISO 400 is adequate sensitivity for most daylight-type shooting conditions. I then vary from these settings as conditions or creative urges dictate.
This is the only photo in the group with a hefty dose of Photoshop’s magic applied. It started out as a tightly cropped composition of the lower half of a bike and its shadow zooming along a bike trail. With Photoshop the sky is the limit in photo manipulation. But, I use it sparingly in that regard. While the results can be very interesting a person soon leaves the profession of photography and becomes simply a software manipulator—albeit a skill of its own.
A close-up portrait of a Luna Moth was done with a Canon 100 mm f/2.8 Macro lens early one morning near my front door. It was a dark overcast morning so this picture was brightened considerably by using a Mini-Maglite flashlight held high and to the left of the moth’s head. Notice how the cross-lighting amplified the texture of the critter’s fur and antennae. Exposure 1/50th second, f/2.8, ISO 400.
Note the shallow depth of field. The moth’s head is sharply focused while its feet, just a fraction of an inch distant, are badly out of focus. The close focus distance, the wide open aperture and focal length about double that of a “normal” lens all contributed to this minimum plane of sharp focus.
An orb-weaver spider prepares its breakfast in this natural light photo back-lit in early morning sun. The same macro lens as in the moth photo was used. In this case the shallow depth of field dramatically boosts the image’s quality by throwing the background so completely out of focus the woodsy detail has no chance to interfere with the composition.
1 comment:
Terry-
An incredible gallery of 2008 photos! It's hard to pick a winner as each has its own distinct qualities. From macro to telephoto, they transform the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Good work! -Norrie
Post a Comment