Making Pictures: Serious Bocce

I’m never really sure what I’m going to come back with from New York City from an ad hoc shoot – It’s such an amazingly rich tapestry of life, people and objects.  I spent some time recently at Bryant Park admiring the dedication, skill and diversity of the Bocce players who were demonstrating their craft in the pits.

I created two interpretations from one photo that I particularly liked, in a process that I call “Making Pictures.”  It’s an example of creating something more or special from the original photo.  In this case it’s accentuating a mood and a feeling that otherwise may have been overlooked.  The equipment used was a Nikon D800 and Nikon 70-200mm VR II lens.

The first photo is an interpretation in a gritty black & white that I particularly like.  The photo makes you think for a moment about what is going on.  Black & white really simplifies this photo into it’s key elements.  The processing is partly the result of using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and the “Film Noir 1″ preset, with no changes to the preset parameters.  Be sure to click on each photo for a larger view.

Serious Bocce in Black & White (c) Scott Vincent

The second photo is the optimized color version, using targeted saturation and contrast to highlight key areas such as the dusty rag and ruffled pants, and to lower the impact of other areas such as the background.

Serious Bocce in Color (c) Scott Vincent

For comparison, below is the original photo immediately after the raw conversion and keeping the raw sliders at neutral, i.e. no change.  See the difference?  That’s how you Make Pictures!

Serious Bocce – Original photo, straight from the raw capture (c) Scott Vincent

New York City Skyline Full Moon

Join Denise Ippolito and me on the upcoming super fun New York Skyline Workshop.  This is one of my favorite locations to photograph from, and I’ve been coming here for 15+ years.

Denise & I recently ran into a last year’s participant who mentioned that he took his all-time favorite photo on this workshop – and I can understand why.  There are so many photographic and learning opportunities on this workshop that we will help you with.  We’ll help you learn to see like the camera does as we paint with light and enjoy the sun setting on this amazing New York panoramic view.

Last year Arthur Morris joined us on the workshop and mentioned in his follow-up blog that even he learned a thing or two!!  And this year it’s looking like Tim Grey will be on our workshop!!  You really don’t want to miss this one!!  Only one week left – sign up on Denise’s website (scroll down to July 21 Manhattan Skyline Workshop).

The photos below were taken recently from where the workshop will be conducted.

New York City Skyline with Full Moon

New York City Skyline with Flag Pole

New York City – Empire State Building & Bright Lights

New York City Skyline Panorama Abstract

“Roundodendron”

I was intrigued by this Rhododendron’s radiating center of peduncles (the stems that hold the flowers in a ball)  radiating from the plant.  Normally this is not seen as the flowers form a tight floral ball, but the flowers here were beaten down by a long, hard rain.  This photo was taken with a Nikon 105mm Macro lens while standing on my toes to get the height needed.

But there was an added twist, litterally.  The Nikon D800 was in two-exposure mode – one image file with two superimposed photos.  I placed the center focus point on the central axis of the flower for both photos.  Keeping the camera’s focus point in the center of the flower, the second photo was taken after rotating the camera a few degrees to help emphasize the round Ferris wheel effect.

In post processing, three different Fractalius effects where lightly blended creating the final ”Roundodendron.”  Enjoy!

“Roundodendron ” (c) Scott Vincent

Beautiful Cut Throat

The term Cut Throat is one that usually conjures up a very negative connotation of someone who is not nice, is mean, is spiteful, is a bully.  Basically, it’s a person who will do anything to improve his/her status in some way at the uncaring expense of others.

So when can a Cut Throat be beautiful?  When it’s the colloquial name of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and so named because of the startling blood-red plumage starting at its neck line.

The Grosbeak is a member of the passerines that spend their winters in Central and South America.  Then, as if in a race for its life, makes a bee-line to North America where it tries to find suitable habit, searches for a mate, rears its young and then prepares to head south again.  Unlike human cut throats, the grosbeak is a stunningly beautiful animal.

Like clockwork, every year the Rose-breasted Grosbeak arrives in the North East during the first week in May – this after flying non-stop over the Gulf of Mexico, like millions of other birds do this time of year.  Simply Amazing!!

This rendition uses a photo taken this week of a new arrival and applies two passes of Fractalius of different effects that are blended at less than full strength on top of the original photo.  This was overlaid with a background texture for the final effect.

Enjoy this Cut Throat – but don’t be one!

Cut Throat – (c) Scott Vincent

Lessons from a Lone Osprey

The Lone Osprey.  So many things to learn from this image.  Photographers, when seeing an opportunity to photograph a bird, will generally attempt to inch closer and closer in order to obtain a more frame-filling image.  A frame-filling image can be beautiful and I’ve taken many of them, but they can be less artistic and less creative than an image where the bird is small in the frame simply because there is more to work with when you have a subject small in the frame in terms of placement, what you decide to include or exclude, etc.

However, because of all of the possible options, it is much more challenging to make an artistically pleasing photo of a bird which is small in the image, but in my view it is very worth it to try.  When done right, these images can be highly memorable and impactful.

When I saw this Osprey land in a dead tree, I looked immediately to see what opportunities there may be to make a pleasing image.  The tendency is to get closer – instead, I walk away.  How far?  I walked away until the tree was fully visible in the whole frame.  A much more impactful image resulted in my view.

But getting a great image is only half the battle.  How do you present it?  In this case, I wanted to enhance the artistic impact by enhancing the silhouette effect by adjusting levels and curves.  Then the image was run through the Fractalius processing software where I selected options to create a small white boarder around the silhouette to make it stand out a bit more.  Lastly, a texture overlay was added to the background to complete the effect.

I’m liking it!!  How about you??

Lone Osprey (c) Scott Vincent

If you think you can’t…

…then think again!

There are 30,000 reasons why the ING New York City Marathon is inspirational – that’s how many runners there are each year in the race.  I’ve been photographing the marathon for several years, and each time I’m in awe of the runners who finish the 26.2 mile endurance run.  As soon as I photographed this amazing runner, the thought that came immediately to mind was “If you think you can’t…then think again!“

Congratulations to Dan Cnossen for a great finish!!  Truly inspirational!!

419

Dan Cnossen

2:38:00

NY

United States

USA

If you think you can't...then think again!

Baxter State Park – Finale: Behind the scenes and cut photos

Some final “behind the scenes” photos and photos that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another from the recent photo trip to Baxter State Park in October of 2011.  I hope you found this series fun, inspirational and helpful.  If these posts have inspired you to go to Baxter State Park, be sure to send me a link of your photos – I’d love to see what you came away with!  Best of luck!

Here’s a photo taken when using the eMotimo time lapse machine (the orange box). If you’re interested in getting started in time lapse, this is a great, relatively inexpensive device that will help you to capture a lot of interesting motion time lapse photo sequences, such as this one: http://vimeo.com/34357777.

eMotimo PT - 2-Axis time lapse machine used to capture the stream sequence

Returning from having just taken some cool photos at Big Niagara Falls, I wanted to capture the sign so I wouldn’t forget where I was.  In a moment of bad judgement, I put myself in the photo Notice the layers of clothing and rain jacket – be prepared for anything when visiting Baxter!

Yours truly. Oh come on - give me a break - it's a FISHEYE lens!!

Here are the High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos used to produce the first photo in the first post in this Baxter series. HDR is an awesome technique, but it’s not without it’s own faults and limitations.  I use and recommend Photomatix to process HDR images.  It’s the only HDR program I’ve used to date – however I’ll happily try others if companies send me a copy!

The HDR captures for the first photo in the first post of this series

I parked the car and saw a perfect mushroom. It wasn’t going anywhere so I figured I would take its photo when I come back from looking for moose.  A couple hours later, this is what it looked like!! Not long after that, only the stem was left!! Note to self – Take the photo right away next time!!

I should have taken this photo when I first saw the 'shroom - before it was half eaten!!

Thought the next scene was colorful – nothing more…

No particular reason...

One of my objectives was to photograph Mt. Katahdin and Sandy Stream Pond at night. This was taken with a fisheye on my last night in the park. All of the other nights were clouded over. Taken with a fisheye – the landscape is being lit by a nearly full moon while the stars light up the expansive sky! (Click on the photo to see the stars better.)

Starry Sky - Moonlit Landscape

Baxter State Park would not be here if it were not for the generous gift of Percival Proctor Baxter. Always good to think about and recognize the people who make things possible. What a loss this would have been!!

Thank you Percival Proctor Baxter for your generous gift and amazing foresight!!

Thanks for stopping by. This concludes this series on Baxter State Park. I hope you found it helpful and enjoyable. Best of luck if you go – be sure to send me a link of your photos if you do!!

Thanks for stopping by - Please visit this blog again!!

Resources for more information:
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing software: http://www.hdrsoft.com/
- Emotimo PT Time Lapse Machine: http://emotimo.com/
- Maine Foliage Report: http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/report/index.shtml
- Maine Moose fact page: http://www.maine.gov/ifw/education/wildlifepark/wildlife/moose.htm
- Moose Wikipedia fact page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose
- Baxter State Park: http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/
- Maine Appalachian Trail Club: http://www.matc.org/
- Official US Government Web Site: http://www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm
- Appalachian Trail Conservancy: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home

Baxter State Park – Part 6: Moose!!

Happy New Year!!

For many people, the primary attraction to Maine’s Baxter State Park is for the chance to have a close encounter with moose!! Baxter State Park is one of the best locations in the Northeast US to see moose – however even here, sightings are not guaranteed!!

Besides actually seeing a moose – there are two easy ways to know that moose have been in the area. The first is to find their scat (droppings), which are like deer droppings only much larger!!

The second way is to see their foot prints. This will also give you a clue as to the size of the moose. First year calves will have smaller, less deep foot prints. Larger males will have much larger and deeper foot prints. The first two photos below depict both signs – scat and foot print.

Moose in Baxter State Park are free roaming, wild animals and can show up anywhere, even if you don’t see these tell-tale signs. However, it’s a good bet to wait in an area where there are many of these signs, especially if they are found near a pond.

Moose Scat - Foot included for scale - no moose scat was injured during filming!! (c) Scott Vincent

Fresh moose foot print - Human foot included for scale - (c) Scott Vincent

While waiting near a pond with the moose signs shown above, I waited out any number of rain showers – and this wet Red Squirrel that constantly tormented me, probably saying “No moose for you!!”

Red Squirrel giving me a hard time for not seeing a moose!

The last rain shower produced the closest rainbow I had even seen. It literally lit up the side of the pond where I had been waiting for several hours – surely this must be a good sign!!!

A rainbow in Baxter State Park must be a good sign while waiting for a moose to show up!! (c) Scott Vincent

Not long after the rainbow disappeared, a large male moose came out and wandered around the pond in search of a suitable mate. Moose have a keen sense of smell, and during the rut the males use this to their advantage to find a mate.

Waiting outside for several hours through the rain showers paid off!!!

Moose smelling the air for a mate in Baxter State Park (c) Scott Vincent

Majestic Male Moose in Baxter State Park (c) Scott Vincent

Majestic Male Moose in Baxter State Park (c) Scott Vincent

Resources for more information:
- Maine Foliage Report: http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/report/index.shtml
- Maine Moose fact page: http://www.maine.gov/ifw/education/wildlifepark/wildlife/moose.htm
- Moose Wikipedia fact page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose
- Baxter State Park: http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/

Baxter State Park – Part 5: An Interpretation In Black & White

The previous Baxter State Park post was all about color. This one is all about a Black & White interpretation of the park. All of the images in this post were originally captured in color as multiple HDR images, converted using Photomatix to a Tiff file, and then converted to Black & White using Photoshop’s Channel Mixer to create a custom Black & White image. Each image was then Dodged and Burned to accentuate various features. For me, the key to a great Black & White image is to be sure to capture a great color image – There are no short cuts!! Enjoy!!

Baxter State Park in Black & White #1 (c) - Appalachian Trail Scott Vincent

Baxter State Park in Black & White #2 - Appalachian Trail - (c) Scott Vincent

Baxter State Park in Black & White #3 - Big Niagara Falls off the Appalachian Trail (c) Scott Vincent

Baxter State Park in Black & White #4 - Appalachian Trail (c) Scott Vincent

Baxter State Park in Black & White #5 - Appalachian Trail (c) Scott Vincent

Resources for more information:
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) software: http://www.hdrsoft.com/
- Maine Foliage Report: http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/report/index.shtml
- Maine Appalachian Trail Club: http://www.matc.org/
- Official US Government Web Site: http://www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm
- Appalachian Trail Conservancy: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home
- Baxter State Park: http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/

Baxter State Park – Part 4: Pictures of Fall

Why go to Baxter State Park in the fall when it’s starting to get cold? No mosquitoes. No black flies. Few tourists. Moose are starting their rut. And if you time it right – lots of fall color!!

I compiled the chart below from two years worth of Maine Foliage reports for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.  Each map going from left-to-right in a row of the chart is a week apart, and the rows start from Sept 15 2010 (top row) and Sept 14 2011, respectively.  This helps to show the variability from year to year and the importance of timing your trip to correspond with near-peak or peak color in the location in which you’re interested.  I’ve noticed that Baxter State Park will “turn” a little before the surrounding areas, probably because much of the park is at a higher elevation and therefore generally colder than it’s surroundings.  Keep that in mind when planning to visit for fall foliage!!

Besides the calendar, your other best resource is Maine’s official foliage website which you’ll want to check frequently.  In season, it gets updated weekly, mid-week. Enjoy!

http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/report/index.shtml : 3rd week Sept - 3rd week in Oct 2010 and 2011

All images in this post, except for the still pond which is an HDR, are straight out of the camera (plus normal post processing).  The last image isn’t a single photo at all – in fact it is 1109 photos taken over 50 minutes!!  To give you a sense of what Baxter can look like, I created a time lapse of a road-side stream using a special 2-axis-movement piece of equipment called eMotimo PT (tell Brian I sent you!) which is used for time lapse photography, one of my favorite types of photography.  A follow up post will show this device in action.  Be sure to click on the short video in order to watch it and let me know what you think (music will be added when I get video editing software)!!

Be sure to click “Play” on the video below to watch the time lapse video…

Resources for more information:
- Emotimo PT Time Lapse Machine: http://emotimo.com/
- Maine Foliage Report: http://www.maine.gov/doc/foliage/report/index.shtml
- Maine Appalachian Trail Club: http://www.matc.org/
- Official US Government Web Site: http://www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm
- Appalachian Trail Conservancy: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home
- Baxter State Park: http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/