By slowing down your shutter speed (1/15sec) you can get some very interesting motion into otherwise static images While in Washington DC last week I was able to get out one morning with my tripod for some early morning photography as the city came to life. I am increasingly drawn to longish exposures. For at… Continue Reading
Every photographer should have a circular polarizer. It removes glare from reflective surfaces such as water, glass and canvas. In the examples above and below I adjusted the polarizer to maximum effect, then turned it until there was little or no effect. The difference is substantial. The glare in the image below would be very… Continue Reading
Last year I made two trips to Mansfield, Ohio to photograph the reformatory where Shawshank redemption was filmed. It is such an interesting place. As a reformatory it was chartered to educate and teach new skills to the inmates in an effort to help them find legitimate work once they were released. Inmates had the… Continue Reading
I spent much of the past few days in the woods in West Branch Michigan with the Mud Chuggers 4×4 club at their Annual Sno Blind event. I have been attending and photographing the event for several years. The main attraction to off-roading for me is the opportunity to get out the woods and experience the… Continue Reading
I have been experimenting with extreme time exposures. This image was shot in early October while driving to Drummond Island. I used a 10 stop neutral density filter and the resulting exposure worked out to be 271 seconds. The extremely long duration allowed time for the clouds to “streak” across the image. The tree also… Continue Reading
I teach numerous people in a variety of different ways. I often hear “there is so much to remember…how do you do it”? The same way you manage to drive your car everyday without incident (hopefully). You do it repeatedly until muscle memory takes over. Have you ever rented a different car when you travel? The… Continue Reading
Time was when you could enter an occasional photography contest, share your work publicly and have an opportunity to win a little something at the same time. Nowadays there is a little good news / bad news scenario surrounding photo contests. The good news is there are still some nice opportunities to participate in photo… Continue Reading
I had the opportunity to visit Mansfield, Ohio and spend 5 hours inside the Mansfield Reformatory. The reformatory was the site of the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redmption”. You also see remnants of studio props from “Air Force One”. I had so much fun wandering around this incredible facility. I walked away with a camera… Continue Reading
Tripods come is a dizzying array of colors, sizes, materials, and price points. This is the first in a series of articles intended to aid in the process of choosing the right tripod for you. How do you begin to wade through all the choices? I would start by giving consideration to your budget. A good tripod will… Continue Reading
So last year I volunteered to photograph a women shelter to document all the amazing work done by the designers, and recognize the assorted suppliers for their generous donations. In the months following the shoot, I have received numerous thank you calls and notes from many of the people associated with the project. It has… Continue Reading