Monthly Archives: July 2010

Mountain Biking 2010 images

My mountain bike now has two and a half seasons of wear on it.  My body experienced that in the first year I owned the bike.  But my riding ability and endurance have improved gradually, and roots, rocks, and mud do not hold the terror they once did.  Observing and learning from more experienced riders, I can now ride through water and mud, cross small logs, and navigate various obstructions.

Since falling seems to be part of mountain biking, I rarely carry a large camera that could badly bruise ribs.  But I almost always have a small LX3 hanging at my side.  It works great for quick photos when we stop, with a self timer for group photos, and even for action photos while riding along. Virtually all of the photos I take with this camera are at ISO 100 since the small sensors of all compact cameras are noisy at high signal amplification (ISO). But its fast f/2 lens helps with action shots. Below are some of my favorite images from 2010 taken while out riding a mountain bike.  You can see more if you click HERE.

Posted in Biking, Photography Tips | Tagged , | Comments Off

Boot Tree and Steam Engine, HDR examples

I recently photographed two curiosities in the Sunapee/Sutton area.  Both were surrounded by trees and both days were bright and sunny.  This is a deadly combination for creating a nice photo—the contrast is way too high and the shadows tend to “confuse the image”.  So I tried a 5-shot high dynamic range (HDR) blend.

HDR is a technique where you take multiple exposures (some brighter than normal and some darker) and use software to blend the images into a single version.  In this way one can tame the contrast; compress the dynamic range.  For quite a while I have used Photomatix to accomplish this blending and “tone mapping” since the HDR tool in Photoshop was much inferior.  However, with CS5 Photoshop’s “HDR Pro” tool is much improved.  So now I use both but still favor Photomatix in most cases.  The two example here were both created with Photomatix.

Since the creation of a single blended image from multiple captures involves getting them to align properly, using a solid tripod is very helpful.  But on these two occasions I did not have a tripod handy.  So I used a technique that sometime works well—high speed HDR. You set the shutter release mode to the  fastest burst possible, use auto-bracketing, and brace the camera as best you can so it moves as little as possible between exposures. If you are steady enough the software will be able to fix the misalignment.

HDR software has multiple sliders to control many features of the mapping of tones from the 32-bit initial image to the resultant 16-bit image.  How you choose to set these sliders has a major impact on the “look” of the image. One can go for a realistic look or a very unusual, somewhat painterly, look.  I did one of each in the following images.

This wood fired steam engine was abandoned near a quarry in Sunapee years ago.  It was used to haul stone up out of the quarry. I made no attempt at realism here.

The boot tree in Sutton is hard to find even if you are looking for it. It blends nicely with the surroundings at this intersection. There are a total of 5 boots; East Sutton is hidden  behind the tree in this view.

Posted in Photography Tips | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Kayak and Cloud

My grandson, Julian, is visiting.  We went for a kayak ride just before sunset.  The clouds were beautiful, and neither of us got wet.  Even our cat, Gatinha, managed to stay dry.

Posted in Kayak, Outdoors | Comments Off

Making Guitars

A few months ago I was asked to photograph a guitar-building class in Post Mills Vermont for Upper Valley Life, an excellent regional magazine.  Three students from three New England states worked with two instructors in a nicely equipped workspace.  One day I was there photographing I was treated to a live concert by a guitar duo.

I greatly enjoy making environmental portraits–photos of people in their work or play environments. My goal is to not only make a portrait but to show the individual’s relationship to their career, hobby, or lifestyle. The students at the school where not in their normal environment but were working with instruments they love so that is what I tried to show.

You can see some of the photos I took at the Vermont Instruments School by clicking the image below.  You can read the accompanying article by Sonja Hakala  HERE.

Posted in General, Photography Tips | Tagged , , , | Comments Off