Categories
Art Landscape Photograph

Photos available for print

I’ve had a number if inquiries about purchasing prints of some of my recent landscape photographs. If you’re one of the people that has asked, you’re in the right place!  All of these photos are linked to my online store where you can buy a variety of sizes and formats. I frequently find that sunset photos really pop on the metallic paper, but in general I’m a big fan of lustre paper for something that’s going to hang on a wall and fit in with other artwork.

If you’re looking for something a little different, consider printing onto a stretched canvas. By doing so, you end up with a photo that has some qualities of a painting and doesn’t require extra framing.

If you’re interested in any of these prints, just click on the image you’d like to purchase. Thank you!

'Time with you' - Sunset Silhouette from Battery Park in Burlington, Vermont

Some photos are an awkward size to print. Instead of a custom order, my recommendation is to pick the width you’re interested in (in the example below, 18″) and order the closest size print. SmugMug will tell you that the image needs cropping in checkout, but I suggest selecting “None” as is highlighted in green.  The advantage to this is that you get a print of the full image in the dimensions that it was intended.  When you receive the print, you can then have your framer trim the white portions off. If you’re interested in ordering a canvas or preframed print, you should contact me directly as that will require a custom order. It’s no extra cost to you, I just can’t configure this shopping cart to support it.

Categories
Art Landscape Music

HDR in Rhode Island

And now, for something completely different. While I was in Rhode Island, I decided to try some HDR photography. It’s not something I do a lot of, but with this particular vacation I wasn’t willing to take the time to set up a shot when the light was right, so HDR seemed like a good solution. My mom has this theory of gardening – you learn when the best time is to transplant, cut, prune, etc., but you do it when you have the time. If it works out, great. I guess photography is the same way. I knew this was about the worst time of day to shoot and the cloud cover wasn’t going to be ideal. I didn’t have a tripod or neutral density filter on me so I couldn’t do any long exposure experimentation, so I thought I’d see if I could make some HDR “paintings.” The processing on these is a bit over the top and that’s by design. I’d like to print some of these on canvas and give them the feel of a painting.

For those of you who don’t know what HDR is, it stands for High Dynamic Range. The human eye is capable of adjusting very rapidly to a scene that contains very bright and very dark elements but the camera has a fixed range of brightness that it can capture in any single exposure. HDR is a way of tricking your camera into acting more like your eye; you take multiple photos at different exposure levels and merge them together. I don’t normally talk about technique or gear, so if you want to learn more you’re probably best off reading Trey Ratcliff’s HDR Tutorial.

So, one afternoon in Rhode Island we wandered over to Watch Hill to check out the lighthouse on the point and this is what we saw…

HDR photographs don’t have to be over the top. This next photo is much more subtle, but the texture in the wood and the color of the hedges really stands out in this version. It’s not perfect – you can see some halos in the upper left (I think a result of my lack of a tripod, but it could also be how I processed the photos.)

My opinion of HDR is changing over time. In the beginning I was fascinated; then it got really popular and I started to hate it. Now, I see it as a tool to keep available. The nice part about it is that you don’t have to bring any extra gear with you when you’re out shooting. A tripod is really all you need and it’s a good idea to travel with one of those anyway. I’ll continue to experiment with it and refine my technique.

It was certainly fun to shoot some new things while on vacation. So much of my time is spent taking photos of people — either weddings, portraits, parties, events, sports or otherwise — that I forget it can be fun to make images without people as well.

It’s probably opening a can of worms to ask, but what do you think about HDR? Useful? Interesting? Gaudy? Drop me a comment below.

P.S. – if these look familiar to you, it’s probably because we’re connected on Google+. I signed up just before going on vacation and decided to try using it while I was away. If you’re on Google+, too, add me to a circle and we can figure out a new platform together. If you’re not on Google+ but want to be, I’d be happy to send you an invite so you can sign up.

Categories
Art Landscape Nature Photograph

Winter releases her grip on Vermont’s fields

This time of year is special in Vermont. Most of the country is talking about how nice it is to have spring; farmers are planting crops and flowers are in bloom.  Here in Vermont, we might have snow on the ground or we might have 60 degree days.  This week, we had both.

On my drive home yesterday, I had to pull over to the side of the road to photograph Mt. Mansfield basking in the late afternoon sun with the golden, just barely uncovered, fields in the foreground.

It reminded me of the trip that Tawny and I took to Iceland a few years back. It was April 29th, and the landscape looked very similar. Snow in the hills, golden grasses and fields clinging to the volcanic earth. It was all very beautiful; I’d love to see it in both full summer and winter.

I love living in a northern climate. Sure. Sometimes it’s hard that the days are shorter than most of the country, that we have feet more snow to shovel, that you sometimes don’t see your neighbors for weeks at at time because it’s too cold to venture across the street. I think it makes you appreciate the change of seasons. I’d get bored if it was always perfect weather all the time. Plus, it’s hard to ski when it’s 70 and sunny (though I’m told that Vermont’s headed for 60 this weekend and there’s still plenty of snow in the mountains!)

Categories
Art Nature Photograph

Quiet Morning in Vermont

I woke up this morning with a laundry list of tasks to finish.  Paint some trim, prep some doorways, patch some drywall, mow the lawn.  It’s humid here in Vermont; the gentle rains last night and the morning dew meant that I couldn’t yet mow the lawn.  Those same rains left some treasures on the irises that line my driveway, so after doing a little sanding, I took some time to appreciate the little things in life. I have photographed these plants and droplets in the past, but somehow they never get old to me.

Drop of water on an iris leaf

Vermont mornings provide beautiful droplets after a night of gentle showers.

I remain perpetually fascinated at how perfectly round the water droplets are some mornings, and how on other mornings they cling with all their might, flattening down to hug the leaves.

If you like these, please take a look at some of my other macro & floral photography, or look at my general gallery of artistic photos.