I'll be back on line in a week.

Hi Everyone


Get out and enjoy the springtime!  I will be offline for the next week.  I will have some photos to post next week.


Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

First Dogwood Blooms

 The first dogwood blooms of spring appeared in my yard today!  Flowers are starting to bloom all over the place now.  It was perfect to find these on an beautiful eighty degree day.  What a pleasant break after all this rain we have had.


Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Sargent Cherry Blossoms - Skylands

OK.  Spring has finally come to the Hudson Valley!  Sargent Cherry Blossoms are out at Skylands.  We had some nice light this morning and I headed out with my macro lens (canon 100mm f2.8 for anyone interested).  I have been practicing shooting these hand held at 200 or 400 asa.  I think I see more photographs when i shoot and compose this way as opposed to the tripod.  Some times you do need a tripod, but I am enjoying the freedom of finding a composition and shooting quickly.  This was the perfect way to start a spring sunday morning.


Have a great week everyone!


Keep Makin' Art!


Carl

Tuxedo Falls - Spring HDR

I decided on my way home from work to stop and take some photos and go for a hike... Some batteries had burned up in one of our computer rooms at work and I wanted to get the burning plastic smell out of my nose (Happy Earth day!)  So I hiked into Tuxedo falls.  This is an easy walk from the train station parking lot.  Just enough of a scramble to call it a hike.  It was a gray afternoon in fact it is raining now as I type this post.  I wanted to bring out some of the detail of spring right before everything blooms.  The hike was just what I needed my headache is now gone and I got some nice shots of the falls before the foliage fills in and the view gets blocked up with leaves.


Have a great weekend!


Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

Calla Lilies - I am on a flower kick this week I guess.

Once again I was in the store and saw flowers I just needed to photograph.  I am a sucker for the form and line of calla lilies and these purple white ones just screamed to have their pictures taken.  So once again I turned my kitchen into a studio.  I used one strobe in a softbox high and to the left and a muslin portrait background far enough away to knock out of focus to help the flowers jump out a little.  Hopefully this weekend I'll shot some nature out in nature...

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

NYBG | Orchids Redux

I snuck in one waterlilly... that I found at the orchid show.

The variety of Orchids at this show is staggering.  I really could go back without my camera and get lost there for a few hours.  I am sure there is so much I did not see because I was so busy taking photos.  I am so glad I went and that the weather was nice on Sunday when I was in the city.  It has been cloudy and raining ever since.. This tropical jolt to my senses was just what I needed....

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

NYBG | More Orchids

Here are a few more images from the orchid show yesterday.  When I first walked in to the conservatory my glasses and lens quickly fogged up from the tropical environment,  After a few minutes things normalized and I was able to get to work.  I ended up being one of the first few people in to the show on Sunday morning.  This was key to getting some shots with out a lot of people around.  I do have to say even when it is crowded things are arranged in a way that you can get great shots without people in the background.  You may have to wait for you chance to get your spot to take your shot, but it will be worth it.  I have one bit of advice if you are going to the show with your camera.  Bring extra memory!  I went thru a 4gb card.  I never thought I'd fill that up in a couple hours at a flower show... but I did.


Keep Makin' Art!
Carl

NYBG | Orchid Show 2011

 I have just returned from The Orchid Show at the New york Botanical Garden in the Bronx.  What an amazing show.  I have never seen so many varieties of orchids in one place with so much opportunity to capture wonderful photographs.  I never thought I'd fill up a 4 gb memory card, but I did.  next time i go I will bring more memory.  There are plenty of images left to edit, I will post them over the next few days.  


What great watercolors some of these will make!


I finally feel like spring is here.  I hope you do too.


Keep Makin' Art!


Carl

First trip to Skylands 2011

I made my first trip to Skylands of the 2011 season this morning. Flowers are starting to bloom. Over the next two weeks the place should really come to life. I did get a few flowers and then did some experimental high dynamic range shots of some of the statues in the gardens. I am looking forward to another year of many trips to the gardens.

Tomorrow I will be heading to the Bronx Botanical Garden for the annual orchid show. I hope to come home with some great photos so check back tomorrow afternoon.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Time for a facelift?

I have been thinking more and more lately that it is time to change up the look of artistic balance. I enjoyed the three column format for a long time, but I am thinking of doing something new. Does anyone have any ideas of what changed they'd like to see? Keep Makin' Art Carl

Indian Brook Falls - Garrison, NY

On my way home from Dover on Sunday I stopped into take some shots at Indian Brook Falls. It is on the way home so I figured why not. I was able to get some interesting angles and the HDR picked up the rocks in the water rather nicely.

Now with Spring here it is time to find some new waterfalls and get back to Ringwood again.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Dover Stone Church Falls - High Dynamic Range

This morning I went back to Dover Stone Church Falls in Dover, NY. My Cousin Marie and I met up around 8am and headed up to Dover. The overcast skies were promising as they would help to knock down the contrast. Shooting a waterfall in the back of a cave is a real challenge from the lighting perspective. In the past I had gotten good shots, but the bright whites and the dark shadows meant I would have to give something up and I would not be able to show you this little gem of a waterfall in all its glory. The same problem would happen if you shat the stream outside and tried to capture the falls in the cave.

High dynamic range to the rescue. Now I am able show you this waterfall and cave in all its glory. Thanks to HDR Efex Pro software and carefully bracketed exposures.

Thanks Marie for going out early and trecking in the woods with me so I could get these shots.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Change of Plans

I am still Hiking to a waterfall on Sunday. I just decided to wait for things to green up in the Catskills. So instead i will go to Dover Stone Church Falls. I have been waiting to go there ahd shoot some high dynamic range images.

I will post a few Sunday night.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

More Fractals

The Wave

Sacred Fire

Here are two more fractals for you to ponder. I will be out hiking and shooting new images tomorrow. So look for new posts sunday night.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Fractals

I was visiting Janice Thomson's wonderful blog Beyond the Mind's Eye . I saw her amazing fractals and was reminded of how much fun they were to create... So while I am hiking in the woods you can ponder this fractal. I am calling it "Into the Fire".

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

With any luck..

I will head out for an early start on sunday and hike in Sullivan County. I hope to get some good shots of Mullet Brook falls while doing a 4 mile loop in Neversink Gorge area.

Check back Sunday night for some new photos.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Barns in Black and White

Here are three barns from the other day done as B&W images. Which is better? Hard to tell. I think the B&Ws are generally better this time of year, but the color photo of the shot in the bottom of this grouping... would probably be my favorite shot of all of them.

What do you think? Color or B&W for old barns??

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

More Butterflies...

I made another trip to the butterfly conservatory. I guess I am longing for the warm summer days when I can photograph them in my yard or up in Ringwood. I do like the conservatory for its variety of butterflies though. At home I only get one or two types.

I am getting the hang of shooting in the place finally and noticed now that I know I will get a useable exposure.. I can focus on composition a little more. I would prefer more light to shoot by so I don't need to use a high ASA setting.... Maybe next time I'll use a monopod to steady things. The 100mm lens gets a bit heavy when you are shooting slose up like that and trying to hold still.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl