Shootin' the moon

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Camping on 7th Lake with my family this week, I took advantage of the dark mountain sky. There’s so little light pollution up here in the Adirondacks. It’s funny; I never realized how fast the moon is moving until I tried to capture it. Between adjusting camera settings I found the moon was moving through my frame quite quickly! Using a shutter speed of 1/15 second seemed almost too slow, so I ended up bumping it up to 1/25 second and took a bunch of test shots playing with the aperture until ultimately settling at f/10 on my 500mm lens. Having never really tried to capture the moon before, I am happy with these results.

1/20 sec at f/10, ISO 50, 500mm, Sony A7R IV

Philly architecture

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It has been a long time since I’ve pointed my camera at so many buildings. Today’s on-and-off rain and low cloud cover provided some great naturally diffused light and beautiful soft shadows. I had a great time down in Philly and am happy with the images I made today. So many interesting patterns and textures. I remain amazed at the crisp goodness coming out of the Fujifilm X100V. The fixed 23mm lens (35mm full frame equivalent) is incredible. Tack sharp!

1/60 sec at f/10, ISO 640, 23mm

1/170 sec at f/8.0, ISO 160, 23mm

1/180 sec at f/3.6, ISO 160, 23mm

A case of stairs

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These images were made shooting at 1/80 second and 1/60 second at f/16, ISO 100, 14mm, Sony A7R IV.

Adirondack Landscapes

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Lakes in the Dax seem to dry right up during the winter months. The dead stump, out of which blueberry bushes and a young tree have sprouted, is usually underwater during the summer months. I was able to walk right out to this stump, Moses-style. Similarly, the sand bar from which I shot the bottom image is usually underwater.

1/250 sec at f/8.0, ISO 100, 14mm Sony A7C

1/60 sec at f/11, ISO 100, 14mm, Sony A7C

Case 220

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I will forever love the combination of orange and blue. I saw this old Case tractor this weekend and just really liked it’s shape and colors. A little web research told me that this Case tractor is actually an old one-cylinder, 10 horse power lawn tractor, produced by Case in their Winneconne, Wisconsin Plant between 1968 and 1988.

HDR urban decay

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One thing I like about HDR photography is that it makes the impossible, possible. It allows your eye to see what you ordinarily wouldn’t be able to see. When you shoot HDR, you use a series of images to reveal details in the shadows and highlights which you just wouldn’t see in a single exposure. Adobe Lightroom makes it easy to stack and merge these images, resulting in images like mine below.

Linfield Industrial Park

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Currently under demolition.

Down low

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A little more low angle photography tonight on the way home from the grocery store… I walked down the wayside to snap a few shots of these tank cars paralleled by the utility lines during the last few moments of sunset.

Ever wonder how tank cars are made? Check out UTLX’s website. I was impressed with the level of detail they provide in their “build process” overview.

1/30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 250, 14mm, Sony A7R IV

Straight up

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I really enjoy making images using this perspective. …Straight up y’all.

Low angle and extreme low angle photography, using super wide angle lenses, is one of my favorite styles of shooting. Low angle shots always add a bit of majesty to the subject. They can even add a heroic feel to the image. I’m really happy with this image. I love the perspective, the industrial feel, the leading lines that take your eye right to the top of the tower, and the use of negative space.

1/30 sec at f/1.8, ISO 125, 14mm, Sony A7R IV

The office

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Glad I had my asbestos mask and tripod with me for these images. The first image looking out the window, is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image compiled of five layered exposures. To do this, the scene is first properly exposed and captured. Next, the same scene is captured four more times, under and over exposing from -2 to +2 stops. Lastly, the images are stacked, aligned with each other, and processed. By using this technique I’m able to overexpose the scene to capture details in the shadows that the eye isn’t able detect, as well as underexpose the scene for those details in the highlights that are normally blown out (Tree branches against the sky). When the stacked files are carefully edited, the HDR image produced can have quite a surreal look.

HDR image.

30 seconds, at f/16, ISO 50, 14mm, Sony A7R IV

3.2 sec at f/9, ISO 50, 14mm, Sony A7R IV