I came back from a recent trip to Gettysburg, PA with around 1500 photos, most of which were battlefield shots.  Although some of these turned out well, most were “shot from the hip”, so they’re fairly unremarkable compared to your typical tourist shots. During the trip, though, we toured the nearby Eisenhower farm, which turned […]

This shot was mostly about being in the right place at the right time — and having my camera & tripod in the back of my car.  Just before sunset, I was on my way home, and I saw the storm on the right and the sunset up ahead of me, and I just happened […]

If my last post was about making the most of bad lighting, this is about great lighting.  If you read any photography articles, you’ll hear about “golden hour” — the hour just before sunset, or the hour after sunrise.  The light at this time of day is great for photography — warm and diffused, without […]

A few weeks ago, I went for a hike, and needless to say, I brought my camera along. Although I started my hike fairly early in the morning, it was mid-morning before I knew it, and the sun was shining harshly overhead. Obviously, it was time to pack up the camera until the light got […]

I know fireworks photos are a little cliche, but I’m fairly pleased with how these turned out.  I shot all of these on a tripod at somewhere between 3 and 5 seconds’ exposure, and right around f/11 aperture.  Post processing in Lightroom to boost contrast, clarity and black levels — this really helped the photos […]

I entered this photo in the photo.stackexchange.com picture of the week contest last week, and quite unexpectedly, it won.  I say “unexpectedly” because I considered this a fairly unremarkable photo, but there were a few things that helped it out in this contest, I think. First, it’s a very simple subject, so it’s well-suited to […]

When I last visited Slate Run Metro Park, it was January.  Snow covered the ground, the house on the historic farm was closed up, and the staff was preparing for maple syrup season.  Half a year later, the grounds are humming with insects, the farmhouse is open, and the garden is in bloom.  It’s not […]

The more photos you take, the more you’ll start to see the world as if you’re looking through a viewfinder.  Good photos aren’t always the obvious ones.  While hiking last weekend, this shadow jumped out at me — the crisp shadows created a great contrast on the ground.  As you can see, the sunlight was […]

Here’s an unusual shot from a campout a couple weeks ago.  We had a pretty nice fire going, and I got some shots of the fire, but I also got a few shots looking straight up at the trees overhead to show them lit by the campfire.  This 20-second exposure emphasizes the fire-lit effect.  Very […]