Archive for the ‘Local’ Category:
Fire and Fog
It’s not my fault the spaghetti almost got burned! Actually, it is my fault – I saw this sunset forming out of my kitchen window here in Chaska and had to take a picture of it. After a lousy rainy day, the sunset was a beautiful one with streaks of red and gold high overhead. Simultaneously, the dropping temperatures caused the fog to rise out of the lowlands in the background. The two contrasts superimposed was such a cool visual.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L + Canon 1.4x II extender. ISO 100, f/22, 16 sec.
Minnewashta Retreat
Today’s shot was taken at Lake Minnewashta only a few miles from my house. It’s actually my friend Keith’s backyard. He’s got an absolutely unbelievable spot located right on the lake. I’m pretty sure I’d have a bonfire just about every night if this were my yard! I was visiting Keith to talk photography as he was prepping for a big journey to Ukraine.
We were walking around his place as we were discussing some of the finer points of how to shoot with a wide-angle lens when I took this picture. It illustrates some of the key lessons to wide-angle shooting – make sure you’ve got something in the foreground by getting REALLY close to your foreground subject. I was about a foot from the deck chairs when I shot this picture. It’s also important to pay attention to the horizon line.. it will bow up or down at the extreme wide focus lengths. If you place it in the center (normally a no-no!), it will stay straight.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm ISO 400, f/16, 1/60 sec.
My State Fair is a Great State Fair
It’s apparently abstract week here at T3 Imagery – this makes two in a row. I really dig this shot because of the color and the feeling of motion you get – it just screams “FAIR!”. This one wasn’t shot with my DSLR, or even my point ‘n shoot – it was shot with the iPhone. Hey, if Chase Jarvis can do it..
Vital Stats: iPhone + Polarize effect to give it that ‘Polaroid’ look.
The Spooky Tree
There are lots of cool things to shoot at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum – pretty much every place you aim the camera. This cool gnarly spooky-lookin’ tree hadn’t quite got leaves yet this spring when this picture was taken making it look all that much more spooky.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm ISO 100, f/16, 1/25 sec.
The Fall Glow
One of my favorite location is on the backwaters of the Mississippi just across from downtown Minneapolis. This spot is on the iron railroad bridge leading from Nicollet Island to Boom Island. This was taken on a gray fall day over my lunch hour – and I was on a photowalk with my co-workers. This shot was processed with Photomatix to boost the skies and the color so that it has a surreal look.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 10-22mm @ 22mm ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/200 sec.
What’s Wrong With Being Sexy?
Based on the popularity of my shot from Wednesday, I’m going to post another one of my neon sign shots from this spring. As neon goes, it’s hard to find a place that has more than Sex World! I’m sure at some level it wasn’t very smart taking these pictures – I can see a ‘patron’ getting angry thinking I was trying to take their picture. This one was processed just like the other with some color and style adjustments in Lightroom.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L w/Canon 1.4x II Extender @ 280mm ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/250 sec.
Sign O’ The Times
This is a shot from a photowalk I went on in the Warehouse District in Minneapolis. One of the themes I was shooting was neon signs – and there’s a lot of them down there. This is the Edina Realty sign on Washington Ave – from what I recall. I also applied a Holga-like effect to it to give it a vintage look. I love the detail and textures in this shot!
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L + 1.4x Extender II @ 280mm ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec.
See, Horse?
This shot was taken deep in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area on a trip Heather and I made back in ’05. It was the first time I tried doing the trip with a DSLR, so I spent the week toting a good-sized Pelican Case everywhere we went. This picture was taken on Seahorse Lake on a day trip with the Tufvanders. We had just portaged in from Gillis Lake and this was the sight that greeted me. In all of my trips to the BWCA – it was the first time to this under-traveled corner. It’s a pretty swampy lake that isn’t really on the way to anything – so most people skip it.
Vital Stats: Canon 350D w/Canon 17-85IS @ 59mm ISO 400, f/9.0, 1/160 sec.
The Twilight Zone
This picture was taken over the weekend at a cabin we were staying at in Northern Minnesota. This was an incredibly difficult picture to get since it was very close to sundown and things were getting pretty dark. It was also challenging because: a) the subject was moving – a lot, b) the boat was moving (even more!), c) the subject was far away and d) Big difference in exposure between sky and water.
Normally, to deal with the difference in brightness between sky and water, a graduated neutral density (GND) filter is used. I didn’t have one with me, and I didn’t see being able to use it bouncing around in the back of a boat. In this case, the GND filter in Lightroom had to do. I also had to use a big lens (280mm) and crank the ISO to the moon (2500) to get a fast enough shutter to stop all the bouncing around.
Then it was a simple matter of having the driver aim the boat away from the sun so I could get the awesome sunset over the person tubing.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L + 1.4x II extender. ISO 2500, f/5.6, 1/400 sec.
Taking a break!
Here’s our friend the meerkat. He’s chilling on his mound watching the crowds go by.
I’m going to be doing the same the rest of the week – so this will be my last update ’til next week. Don’t worry though – many great new images are on their way!