New England

Photograph Amusement Park Rides at Night

Kevin

Bright colors.  That’s pretty much what it’s all about when photographing amusement park rides.  Daytime photographs pale in comparison to night photographs of the rides.

Long exposure of midway rides (at Washington County Fair)
Long exposure of midway rides (at Washington County Fair)

This photo here is from the Washington County Fair (Rhode Island).  Although there was a fabulous pink sunset, I did not see it in time, so missed that photo opportunity.  In this photo here, there is just a hint of the pink color in the bottom left background.

The best time is dusk.  Just after the sun sets, there is still some light in the sky, but it’s darker than the lights, resulting in some contrast.

OK, so … it’s dark.  Can your camera make a photograph?  Sure.  But you may need a long exposure, longer than 1/30 second.  This shutter speed for this photo here is 1.3 seconds.

A slow shutter speed implies the camera could move slightly during the exposure and mess up the photo.  So you need to stabilize the camera.  Tripod is the right solution to this problem, but in this example here I had a monopod (just one leg).  With the camera on the monopod, I braced it against something solid.  A telephone pole will do; in my case, it was an above-ground pool, on display near the midway.

The last ingredient in this photo is, of course, the zoom effect.  With the camera set to 2-second delayed shutter.  I pressed the shutter button and poised my hand on the zoom ring of the lens.  When the shutter clicked open, I rotated the zoom ring.

 

Boston Spring Blooming

Kevin

Boston is buzzing with the bright colors of flowers and flowering trees.  Hands down my favorite time of year in Beantown.

Boston Spring Blooming
Boston Spring Blooming

The crown jewel is probably Boston Public Gardens, but there is much more.  The Esplanade along the Charles River is bursting with flowering trees … and B.U. students out enjoying the sunshine. 

In the narrow streets of Beacon Hill, you can find some surprising small displays.  For photography, be aware that the light changes dramatically in these tight spaces  sheltered by tall brownstones.

A long winding stretch of busy roadway known as The Riverway skirts along the edge of the Emerald Necklace.   At the northern end, close to Kenmore Square, are the Kelleher Rose Garding and Fenway Victory Gardens.  (Though, there’s not much to see right now at the Rose Garden; too early for roses.)  Heading south into Jamaica Plain, an hour or two at the Arnold Arboretum is always nice.

My friend Charlie drives a taxi in the city of Boston; he doesn’t much care for the busy heart of the city.  But as I occaisionally make time to walk the streets, I am frequently surprised by gems of natures splendor, whether planted by the city or by residents tending what small patch of ground is available to them.

Giant Pumpkin Festival

Kevin

At the tail end of September this year, I photographed a couple of events where giant pumpkins were weighed in competition.  I overheard a fellow make a comment about one particular giant, “There’s something weird about that one.”  I leaned over and offered my own uninvited follow-up comment “There’s something weird about all of those pumpkins.”  The guy grinned and enthusiastically agreed, “Yeah, they’re all huge!”

Giant fruits and vegetables are generally peculiar.  But a crowd of a hundered people eagerly watching pumpkins get weighed on scales, that’s peculiar too.  Even more surprising is the uproar and applause when a new contender puts up a number (on the scale) bigger than any other.  Stranger still, some people carve out the giant pumpkins, float it in water, climb inside and paddle it as a boat.  I love New England!

(click on any image to see a larger view)

Damariscotta Pumpkin Festival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damariscotta Pumpkin Festival & Regatta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildflowers in the White Mountains

Kevin

Purple Trillium, Painted Trillium, and Trout Lilly are just a few of the wildflowers in bloom in the White Mountains of NH this weekend. 

Purple Trillium is tricky to photograph because it has a nodding presentation (the flower faces downward).  In the first photo here, I propped up the one flower with a stick (just a couple inches) so that it was not nodding.   I love the soft background in this image; there is a strong sense of location yet without sharp details. (f\10 @ 1/50 sec)

In the second image (with the sun shining through it), the flower was on a slight rise and I shot up at it as I lay flat out on forest floor.  Sometimes you have to get dirty.
(f\7 @ 1/250 sec)

In both cases here I used a reflector to kick a bit of light up into the face of the flower.  This helps the first image simply because the flower is much darker than the background. In general, this is not true in the second image, but it does help specific areas that are dark (for example the center of the flower).

Click on either image to see a larger view.

 

 

River Video using a DSLR and CineMover

Kevin

Recently travelling through northern New Hampshire, I was driving along the Ammonoosuc River shortly before sunset.  This short video is a compilation of shots all filmed that evening along the river.  The key scene is a dolly move along a metal bridge. 

Driving that evening, I was looking for photo opportunities along the river when I spied the new bridge next to the old bridge.  Then I noticed the long smooth railing and and remembered that I had the CineMover dolly with me. 

 The CineMover is an inexpensive dolly created by J.G. Pasterjak.  Take a look for yourself here:

http://moveyourcamera.com

The CineMover is designed with vertical wheels and horizontal wheels, ideal if you have a long flat rail with a square profile.  However this railing here did not entirely favor the CineMover as the railing shape is basically a half oval.  There is nothing here to insure that the wheels track straight.  Additional care was required because the rail had a significant dent that could easily cause the rig to jump a bit.  But after several attempts, I managed to keep the rig mostly level along the 12 or 15 feet of uninterrupted rail; this move is not flawless, but it is pretty nice shot!

St.Patricks Day Parade in Southie

Kevin

From California to Georgia, there are a dozen notable St.Patrick’s Day parades that are staged annually in the United States.  But the mac daddy of them all occurs in South Boston.  In 1737 the Irish Society of Boston hosted the first parade to honor St. Patrick’s Day.  Today, this parade can draw a crowd of spectators numbering more than 800,000.  You won’t find big expensive floats like the Rose Bowl Parade or Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, but come on now … the Irish are bit more down to earth.  This parade is a casual affair.  People have fun.

Above all else, anyone thinking of attending this event should be aware of one thing … don’t expect to find a parking space!  Take public transportation.  Parking in Southie is a scarce on normal days; but when the parade route is cleared of all parked vehicles, those displaced vehicles (belonging to local residents) fill every available nook and crany.

 The light was a bit challenging this year … bright sun and deep shadows.  In such situations, a little fill-flash is often the solution to reducing unwanted facial shadows.  Though I had a flash in my bag, I neglected to use it because it has been quite some time since I have done a shoot in this light.   This means a lot more work in post-processing to recover the shadow details (not something I really want to do if I can avoid it.)

(click on an image to see a larger view)

http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com/boston/boston.htm

Trees @ Mt.Auburn

Trees @ Mt.Auburn

Kevin

When you get the urge to make some outdoor photographs, do you have places that you return to repeatedly?  Would one of those places be a cemetary?   Likely not.  But, Mt.Auburn cemetary (in Cambridge Massachusetts) hosts a marvelous array of flowering trees.  It really is a beautiful place, (with or without tombstones).

Today, I received another canvas print (from ArtisticPhotoCanvas.com) of an image from Mt.Auburn.  So, I am just sharing this image with you, along with another Mt.Auburn image, which I had printed earlier this year (also printed on canvas by APC).

   (To see a larger version, click on the image)







The most recent print is apparently an azalea shrub, though I do not know the exact species.  It is photgraphed with a Canon 100mm f\2.8L macro lens.  (My experience has been that this lens is superior to using a non-macro lens coupled with an extension tube)

The second is a crabapple tree, photographed with the Canon 70-200mm IS f\4.

Fir branch under ice

Kevin


Hiking in the white mountains of NH on Dec.1, there was no snow at the trail head, but eventually became a foot deep. Having made such a mistake once before (several years ago), I kicked myself for doing it again.

It was a long cold day, but there were rewards. In particular there were a few little streams that crossed the trail with small waterfalls only a few inches in height. The spray of water caused some interesting ice formations, including the one shown here. The fir branch was covered in ice, but the mossy rock beneath it was not, presumably because the movement of the water was enough to prevent freezing.

In retrospect, the choice of aperature plays an important role in the success of this image. Both the extreme foreground and the extreme background are slightly out of focus. However, I wish I had framed the image a bit more to the left to avoid the ice touching the left edge of the frame.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Canon EOS 5D mk II, 70-200mm (@ 170), ISO 800, f/7.1, 1/200 sec

The Third Sheep

Kevin

Often, I will plan to be at a certain place at sunrise in order to photograph with the warm sunrise light. However, on this particular day, the weather forecast called for cloudy and cold. So I did not leave my motel room until 7:30am and only then found that some sun was dodging through the cloud cover.
Looking at a map, I chose some back roads to explore. The first road followed a river, but I saw nothing that caught my photographic intentions. Then I drove off through some farmland and stumbled upon these sheep, grazing on a hillside covered with frost. Atop the hill, the sun was catching the orange leaves of autumn maple trees. At the bottom of the hill was a still pool catching reflections.
Just a bit of sunlight on the trees, combined with general cloud cover, the conditions were fleeting and did not last. I captured about a dozen images; this is one of my favorites.
Where is the third sheep? Uphill, further toward the trees, out of frame … but appears in the reflection.

Canon EOS 5D mkII; 70-200mm @ 200; ISO 800, 1/320, f/10

Trillium

admin

Here is a very different type of image from Katahdin / Baxter State Park.
 
 
Both painted trillium and purple trillium are common in the northeast forests and both have a very small window of time during which they bloom, maybe three weeks. Purple trillium are more difficult to photograph because the flowers have a nodding presentation (the flowers droop over and face the ground).
 
 
What always catches my eye is groups of these flowers. Typically they are solitary plants, so a cluster of them is a nice find. For this shot, I used a wide-angle zoom lens with an extension tube. Without the extension tube, focusing distance is perhaps 14 inches. With the extension tube, I can get much closer to the flower, reducing the distance about 50%.
Canon 5D mk II, ISO 400, f/14, 1/6 sec (on a tripod of course)
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