I Remember
May 23, 2009
Archive for May, 2009
When “right” is “wrong”
May 20, 2009
As a photographer there are always those times when you sit at your desk staring at your screen wondering exactly what happened. Somewhere between pushing the stutter release and you monitor display bad things must surely must have occurred. That’s what I was thinking when I saw this rock.
Not so bad you may say… if I took it at sunset. Unfortunately, as I recall the color of the rock was much closer to gray when I was standing before it. It was an overcast day and as I almost always leave my white balance set to “cloudy” on my D1x I figured all would be well. -Well, forget that.
Ok, there we go -much better. But wait a minute; I’m in “florescent” white balance. I could be wrong but no book I ever read said anything about using “florescent” white balance outdoors. Not to mention, last time I checked, overcast daylight was not the same color temperature as cool white florescent bulbs… Oh well, it works for me. It just goes to show you that many times the perfectly “right” picture may be absolutely “wrong” for you. In photography it doesn’t hurt to break all the “rules” and see things in a little different -light.
As it turns out the black and white version isn’t too bad either and it avoids the color issue altogether. So many choices… Not sure which one is -right?
Flower boy?
May 10, 2009
Actually, I tend a little more toward wildlife photography than wildflower photography. But the way my schedule is looking this may be the only spring photograph I get… -I needed something for mother’s day anyway.
I found this pink trillium in a local park and added a sb-800 with a 3/4 CTO gel to give it just a bit of punch -although if I did it again I probably would lay off the color a bit. I was using a Nikkor 70-300 ED which actually is a pretty smart little lens for doing this sort of thing. It is close focusing and allows for a nice working distance. The downside is when you are working at 300mm and f:5.6 max the slightest breeze kills sharpness. This one is close but not quite sharp. Next time maybe.
Long Night
May 6, 2009
Whew… 4hrs of sleep last night. Our fourth night back in the field and it was a fantastic night. We broke all of last year’s records ending up with 44 bats of 6 different species, including one Indiana bat, and one Silver hair… the first Silver hair we’ve seen ever.
Oh ya, there was one Southern flying squirrel in the net too but it was faster than the camera. Now I am going to bed… but the fun has just begun.
