In the Meadow

In the Meadow

Curtis Arboretum, Cheltenham, PA

I think this tree is heavenly!

You'll find it at Curtis Hall Arboretum
1250 W. Church Road
Cheltenham, PA  19095

Curtis Arboretum, Cheltenham, PA

I think this tree is heavenly!

You'll find it at Curtis Hall Arboretum
1250 W. Church Road
Cheltenham, PA  19095

Red Leaves

Red Leaves

Autumn Burns

Autumn Burns

Power Sources

Power Sources

Pond Reflections

Weekend Reflections

Pond Reflections

Weekend Reflections

Lansdale Bike Night, Lansdale, PA

No, I don't smoke.

But this biker, 

at the Lansdale Bike Night does!

More Lansdale Bike Night photos are here.

Lansdale Bike Night, Lansdale, PA

No, I don't smoke.

But this biker, 

at the Lansdale Bike Night does!

More Lansdale Bike Night photos are here.

Signs of the Times

A corner store for rent in Ambler, PA. 

Ambler does not appear to have been 

hit too hard by the US economic woes.

Just a couple stores are empty.

Signs of the Times

A corner store for rent in Ambler, PA. 

Ambler does not appear to have been 

hit too hard by the US economic woes.

Just a couple stores are empty.

Night in Valley Forge

I recently took a photography class with Ken Hubbard, 

and one of the aspects covered in the class was 

photographing at night with slow shutter speeds 

while using a light to paint a subject.

ISO 400, F 5.6,  30 sec, shot in RAW on tripod.

In this photo, I placed a flashlight inside the cabin for the entire exposure.

My friend used another flashlight to 'paint' the cabin 

to add some light to it.

 To paint, take your flashlight and 
shine it over the subject evenly, 
in this case, the cabin.
Back and forth, or up and down, 
so you get even light on the subject.
We experimented a bit with both 
exposure times and 'paint times.'
In this case, the person painting, 
walked into the photo to paint, 
but because he kept moving 
you can't see him in the photo.
Here is a video that might help.
http://vimeo.com/22776262

In post processing, 

I changed the white balance to Shade

because it added that awesome warm sky.

(Which I like, but also recognize you may not.
And that's OK.) 

I also ran it through a Noiseware Plug-in 

to get rid of that nasty digital noise.

Now that I have some basics down, 

I can't wait to try this again!

Who's with me?

Night in Valley Forge

I recently took a photography class with Ken Hubbard, 

and one of the aspects covered in the class was 

photographing at night with slow shutter speeds 

while using a light to paint a subject.

ISO 400, F 5.6,  30 sec, shot in RAW on tripod.

In this photo, I placed a flashlight inside the cabin for the entire exposure.

My friend used another flashlight to 'paint' the cabin 

to add some light to it.

 To paint, take your flashlight and 
shine it over the subject evenly, 
in this case, the cabin.
Back and forth, or up and down, 
so you get even light on the subject.
We experimented a bit with both 
exposure times and 'paint times.'
In this case, the person painting, 
walked into the photo to paint, 
but because he kept moving 
you can't see him in the photo.
Here is a video that might help.
http://vimeo.com/22776262

In post processing, 

I changed the white balance to Shade

because it added that awesome warm sky.

(Which I like, but also recognize you may not.
And that's OK.) 

I also ran it through a Noiseware Plug-in 

to get rid of that nasty digital noise.

Now that I have some basics down, 

I can't wait to try this again!

Who's with me?

Cairnwood at Night

This is just a fun photo.

I took the photo of Cairnwood 

in Bryn Athyn, PA with a star filter.

The moon was full that night, 

but not in the right location. 

So I moved it. :)

Gotta love photoshop!
 
A star filter is simply a filter with cross hatches on it.
The light travels along those hatch lines
creating a star like look.

Replacing the moon was relatively easy.
I cropped the moon from a separate photo
where I had darkened the sky to black.
Then, I placed that moon photo on top
of this photo in the location I wanted it and re-sized it.
To make the crop marks disappear
I changed the moon's layer opacity to screen
which removed all the black and just left the moon.

Cairnwood at Night

This is just a fun photo.

I took the photo of Cairnwood 

in Bryn Athyn, PA with a star filter.

The moon was full that night, 

but not in the right location. 

So I moved it. :)

Gotta love photoshop!
 
A star filter is simply a filter with cross hatches on it.
The light travels along those hatch lines
creating a star like look.

Replacing the moon was relatively easy.
I cropped the moon from a separate photo
where I had darkened the sky to black.
Then, I placed that moon photo on top
of this photo in the location I wanted it and re-sized it.
To make the crop marks disappear
I changed the moon's layer opacity to screen
which removed all the black and just left the moon.