Wow! I was blown away by how many people commented on the last post on NYC Skyline HDR & Pano. So I decided to share this image which is attempt at an intentional blur I made.
New York City Skyline Intentional Blur
I tried several different patterns by moving the camera during the exposure. Below is an example of moving the camera in the shape of a crown, more silly than an artistic masterpiece 
.
New York City Skyline Crown Blur
Have a great weekend!
I have wanted to visit Barnegat Jetty (Barnegat Lighthouse State Park) for several years. Fortunately I was able to meet up with Denise Ippolito just after Christmas for a day photographing Barnegat’s wonderful birds. Denise is the leader of many Barnegat Jetty workshops (she has one that starts this Friday, check her website for details) and is also the author of a very popular Barnegat Jetty Site Guide
There are hosts of birds and wildlife that call the jetty home during the winter. Harlequin Duck, Long Tailed Duck (formerly Oldsquaw), Common Loon, Red Throated Loon, Red Breasted Merganser, Surf Scoter, Black Scoter, Common Eider, and Brant. Shorebird species include; Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ruddy Turnstone, Black Bellied Plover, and Sanderling . I have been told that Harbor Seals have also been seen at the jetty. The stars of the jetty for me this trip were the Harlequin Ducks.
Harlequin Drake
These ducks are difficult to come by during the winter unless you travel to coastal Maine where a large portion of the North American population spends their winter.
Harlequin Drake on the Rocks
I was lucky to be able to capture some decent images given this was my first time to the jetty. Swimming images are fairly common but I am told that ducks on the rocks and good flight captures are tough to come by. I really like the flight capture below.
Harlequin Drake and Hen in Flight
I will post images of some of my other captures from my visit over the coming days.
Images captured with Nikon D700, 600mm f/4 on Lexar Digital Film
Its that time of year again when I start thinking about where I would like to photograph next year. Having a location list is essential to making sure you don’t get stale. It also gives you something to look forward to and work toward. As I was kicking around some ideas with friends, one of them made a comment that I thought was worth writing about.
Great Black Backed Gull Wing Flap
The comment was along the lines of “I could never make images as good as you because I have nothing to photograph”. That comment made me wonder. How many others out there don’t get out and make images because they think they need to go to Yellowstone to find beauty?
Great Black Backed Gull Preening
I think one of the best parts of photography for me is mastering the landscape (buildings, wildlife, people, landscape, everything for that matter!) in and around where I live. Mastering your location is a tremendous learning experience. It helps hone your skills so that when you do spend the money to go some place you deem special as a photographic location, that you bring the skills necessary to capture more than just images that say “I was here”.
Herring Gull Yawn
These images were all taken this weekend at Greenwich Point Park. Most of you know that I am an emerging birder. One of the great things about photographing ones own community is that it improves skills other than my photography. How could that be you ask? Well, look at it this way. I spent a few hours at Greenwich Point searching for light and subjects. When I found subjects in good light, I started looking for gesture and biology to photograph in order to tell the story I was looking to communicate.
Herring Gull Preening
After making the images, I returned home and researched the birds I captured in order to learn more about their biology. If I hadn’t made the images, I wouldn’t have learned about the birds. There are hundreds of images in my files where the story is similar to this one. So the best advice I can give you is find things in your community to photograph that make you happy. Please don’t think you need to go to a special or exotic location in order to have a reason to make great images!
Images captured with Nikon D700, 600mm f/4 on Lexar Digital Film
On a recent trip to Allen’s Meadow I made this click and finished with Nik Software Color Efex 4.
Allen's Meadow Fall Foliage
Image captured with Nikon D3x, 600mm f/4 w/Tc-14eII, on Lexar Digital Film
World Trade Center at Night
The other night I had the good fortune to photograph the Manhattan skyline on a glorious October night. Once darkness fell, I was captivated by this image of the New World Trade Center. From the minute I saw this image, I knew it was destined to be a B&W. The reason was simple. The majority of the midtown skyline is full of color. Standing across the river from 42nd St. one cant help but see color! But the view down river toward lower Manhattan takes a different view. This in part is due to the construction lights in the New World Trade Center. Lower Manhattan is void of color . I also like how the blurred reflection in the water leads you to the tower and the lights of the construction crane on top leads you out of the picture.
Have a great weekend.
Image captured with Nikon D700, 200-400 f/4 VR-I on Lexar Digital Film.
Manhattan Skyline Twilight Pano
I have wanted to make panoramas for a long time, I just never seemed to have the right opportunity. Then I read about a workshop being hosted by Denise Ippolito. She is someone I always wanted to meet as I have admired her work for some time. The workshop was co-hosted by Scott Vincent. Once I signed up for the workshop, I needed to do some more work on making panos. I knew it would require picking up some new gear 
. In particular, I knew I needed a nodal plate. I have used Really Right Stuff plates and ball heads for years so I went to their site and read through their literature (you can also call or email them, they are very helpful). To save you some time, here is the link to the exact rig I purchased to make some of the images I created on Saturday night (link here).
Manhattan Skyline
I’m really happy with most of the images I came away with especially since this was my first night time shoot and attempt to do panos. I will share with you shortly a 15 image HDR + Pano I created that came out remarkably well!
Scott and Denise were very helpful and the group of people that attended the workshop were very friendly. It was a nice size group of 5 shooters with 2 instructors. I had a great time and came away with what I think are some really good images. I also came away with a few things I did wrong that I need to correct. Alas, that just gives me a reason to try more evening and pano shots of Manhattan, maybe next time form downtown!
Empire State Building at Night
If you would like to see larger versions of the top 2 images, simply click on the galleries section of the website. They are located under Places.
Images captured with (top) Nikon D3x w/70-200 VR-II, (middle) D3x w/24-70 VR-II, (bottom) D700 w/200-400 VR-I on Lexar digital film.
Fort Bokar Entrance, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Fort Bokar, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Fort Bokar is the major strucutre of walls and towers that protected the city. This complex structure, considered the largest and most complete in Europe, protected the freedom and safety of its inhabitants for five centuries.
Portions of the walls and Forts that make up the city date back to 1319 and were mostly built by the citizens of that time. In 1979, the old city of Dubrovnik, which includes a substantial portion of the old walls of Dubrovnik, joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. I stronly encourage anyone traveling to the area to visit Dubrovnik and some of the surrounding towns. You will be glad you did!
Windows of Dubrovnik, Croatia
Hopefully I will find some time to sort through the images from the local cities and do a blog post on them!
Images captured by Nikon D700 w/ 24-120 VR I on Lexar Digital Film
We recently spent some time in Europe, a combination family vacation and 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration for my parents. One of the countries we all loved visiting was Croatia.
Dubrovnik Scenic
Our favorite city was by far Dubrovnik. So much so, that I have multiple days worth of images to share with you!
Dubrovnik through a Cannon Hole
One of the aspects I loved of Dubrovnik was the geometric patterns created by the terra cotta roofs.
Roof Tops in Dubrovnik
This picture was created from the fort walls which surrounded and protected Dubrovnik. I hope you enjoy these images and I hope to share more about Dubrovnik soon.
Images captured on Nikon D700, 24-120 VR I on Lexar Digital Film
Nanos Mountain, Slovenia
I know, I know. My blogging has been poor recently. As you read this I am off bringing my middle son to college. Between our 2 week trip to Europe, getting 2 boys ready for college, a job and oh yeah, Irene, it has been a mess around here.
One of our stops while traveling to Europe was Koper, Slovenia. On a drive from Koper to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s Capital, we passed by the Nanos Mountains just after sunrise. What struck me about this image was the back lighting of the mountain with the dark forest in the foreground. It made me think of the mountain rising with the sun.
My only regret is that I was not there an hour earlier to get better light. It would have been killer on those clouds. Alas, the difficulty of traveling around Europe with 16 people!
Image captured with Nikon D700, 24-120 VR I on Lexar digital film.
Tufted Titmouse
Well Google+ has already paid some dividends. I started using “Sparks” and selected “birding” and “wildlife” as topics I was interested in. Sure enough the first story that came up was that the State of New Hampshire had just created a new wildlife website (www.wildnh.com).
Available on this new website is New Hampshire’s Wildlife Viewing and Birding Trails Guide.
If you would like to try Google+ and need an invitation, I have a few left. Just click on this link: Google+ Invites
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