Shades of Winter

Looks as if we managed to survive winters latest blizzard-y blast, just as we survived the snowfall of a couple weeks ago, the one predicated to be "the blizzard of a lifetime" by an overwrought newscaster. Guess my lifetime has been longer because I can remember several snowstorms in the Seventies and Eighties that were much heavier than anything we have seen recently. In fact, the storm of December 1974 dropped more snow in one evening (over 18 inches) than our two most recent snowfalls combined.
As sometimes happens in the days immediately following a snowfall, we enjoy clear, sunny skies and more moderate temperatures - ideal for a morning photo expedition. The early morning sun, casting long, dark shadows on a pristine white snow cover offers an ideal setting for black and white photography.

Outta My Way

Just posted a new piece titled "Outta My Way" to my Zazzle store site. The base photo was shot while visiting a car show last summer. I really liked the image and had been kicking around ideas for awhile on how to best treat it. My thought was to create the feel of early evening, looking in your rear view mirror and seeing this hot, street rod bearing down on you. After manipulating the image to where I wanted it, the type was added. My original intent was for the words to appear as if they were spray painted across the front of the image, but that method made them difficult to read. The best solution was to darken the lettering which resulted in better separation from the background but the sprayed/mottled look was largely diminished. The finished image doesn't match exactly to what I had in my head but it comes close.

A Butterfly Valentine

A few years ago my wife and I spent a couple of delightful days on Mackinac Island. While trekking around the island, we made a stop at the butterfly house just outside the downtown area. The various colors, shapes and sizes of those beautiful insects is truly amazing. And of course they make for eye catching photo subjects. With so many of the them flitting around, I was able to take a number of shots as we strolled through.

Returning home I began reviewing our vacation shots, deleting the bad and saving the good. I'm not sure how long I stared at the photo above before realizing there was a heart hidden within the image. A bit of cropping, as well as burning in at the bottom of the photo to emphasize the heart shape and voila - I had a one of a kind Valentine to print on a card for my sweetheart. That has to better than another box of chocolates, right? Uh, right?? Well, at the very least it was a more personalized way of saying "I Love You".

Changing Light

The three key elements in a photograph are subject, background and light. With a good working knowledge of your camera and a sense of composition, you are able to exert some control over all three. If you're like me, lighting often presents the greatest challenge, the look of the subject and background can dramatically change depending on the lighting conditions. A camera being much more objective than our eyes will capture even the most subtle light changes in our photos. I came across a good example of this on the following two images. Even though they were taken just seconds apart they each have a very different feel. The shot taken when the sun was behind the clouds has a cool feel, while the one taken in direct sun has a much warmer aspect. One reason many photographers prefer to shoot when the sun is low in the sky, either in the morning or evening, is because of the warmer hues that their images take on at those times.