Zoom Rack Photography of New York Taxicabs

This is my third and final installment of Zoom Rack photography from New York.  Here are the links to the previous two, in case you missed them:

• Zoom Rack Photography in New York (including a description of the zoom rack technique)
• Times Square Zoom Rack Photography

For this final post in the series, I decided to focus on the iconic New York taxicab.  Nostalgia draws me back to the days of the Checker cabs in NY, a true icon, but at least they remain the same color.

As you can see from the previous photo, use of the zoom rack technique can result in some interesting abstract results.  In this case, there is just enough information to give context (the Times Square Marques in the background) and the yellow of the cab to let you know this just might be a New York taxi.

Unlike more normal bias toward black and white photography, these photographs were processed in color.  With the subject of NY taxis, it would be difficult to respect the bright yellow paint if processed in black and white.

In addition to the yellow of the cabs, the motion introduced by racking the zoom, makes for some interesting bright light trails that are more interesting in color than black and white.

Have fun and go make some great photography.

Craig

Graffiti–Art, Destructive, or Just an Interesting Background?

Graffiti is a topic for which I have mixed feelings.  On one hand, I have seen beautiful and creative artwork that is well composed and sometimes even well placed.  On the other hand, there are plenty of examples of less artful graffiti that is improperly placed.  These are the extremes, and from my experience, there is plenty of room between these two points.

So lets take this idea a little further.  The following graphic presents a simplified model for classifying graffiti based on the location appropriateness combined with the creative or artistic merits of the graffiti.

Creativity	Cool, but why here?	Wow!
	Go Back to School	Practice at home
	Location Appropriate

Based on this model, the pinnacle of graffiti is a highly creative, composed, and artfully executed work placed in an appropriate place.  As with any piece of art, each of these elements are highly subjective and are bound to be viewed differently from person to person.  Much in the same way, you might judge my photography with appreciation, or you may find it lacking in any number of characteristics.

Of course, like photography we could make this much more elaborate by judging the materials used, the technical execution, the appropriate use of color, symbolism, composition, and so on.  But honestly, when you are walking down the street, you probably judge graffiti in a more simplified manner – much like the matrix I have proposed.  I will also allow that many people find graffiti as destructive and not worthy of any meritorious assessment.  This view is one held by those who believe graffiti is nothing more than an emblem of urban blight, misguided youth, or gangs marking their territory – another symbol of urban decay.

Lets change gear to graffiti and photography.  With respect to photography, graffiti can be an interesting backdrop.  You have undoubtedly seen glamor or fashion photography featuring a beautiful model in a grungy location with graffiti in the background.  This has little to do with the proposed evaluation matrix, but it speaks to the use of graffiti to set a mood or an aesthetic for the subject of the photograph.

For example, the context provided for the skateboarders in the photographs in this post make these shots more interesting than what I may have found at some squeaky clean suburban skate park.  The graffiti provides a context that is complimentary vs. the contrast of a slinky model in a red dress.

In summary, I have now planted a seed in your mind – the next time you walk down a street and see some graffiti, I dare you to not judge it with respect to creativity and location appropriateness.  Along the way, I hope I have planted a seed with respect to your photography.  Find some interesting graffiti – become an amateur urban archeologist - and use it in your composition.  It can be a valuable and free backdrop.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Muir Woods in Black and White, and a Wrap up of Northern California

Since my wonderful trip to Northern California in January, I have posted a number of articles featuring the photography from this visit.  Sadly we have come to the end of the line – at least until I visit again.  The photography featured in this post comes from Muir woods.

Before talking about Muir woods, Here are links to the previous posts from San Francisco, and north to Point Arenas, Sonoma Valley and Napa.

California Wine Country in the Fog

• California Wine Country in the Fog Part II–Black and White Part II

Northern California Seascapes

California Cows are Happy Cows

California’s Golden Gate Bridge

• The Golden Gate Bridge–Black and White
• The Golden Gate Bridge–Black and White Part II
• San Francisco Fishing Boats–Details
• Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, at Sunrise
• Alcatraz at Sunrise
• San Francisco Fishing Fleet at Sunrise
• San Francisco Street Car Diptych
• Minimalism–Foggy Field at Point Arenas California

If you are displaced Northern Californian, I hope these posts satisfy your need for familiar and beautiful scenes from the bay area.

We took a very invigorating hike through Muir woods – about 5 hours of hiking which seemed to be up hill every step of the way.  The enormity of these redwoods is difficult to describe or even capture in the photography.  Sure, people benches and other objects provide a certain sense of scale, but even so, they do not convey the majesty of this beautiful park.

Muir Woods National Monument was established by proclamation of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. Consisting of 295 acres, Muir Woods becomes the 7th National Monument, and the first created from land donated by a private individual.  The Monument is named after naturalist John Muir, whose environmental campaigns helped to establish the national park system.

Aside from the massive scale of these trees, one of the very interesting things you notice early on in your trek is the fire scaring on many of the trees.  In some cases, the fire has actually hollowed out “caves” in the base of the tree – many large enough to walk into.  What makes this even more interesting is that although this scaring looks fresh, the last forest fire that occurred in Muir Woods was over 160 years ago.

The average age of these tremendous trees is between 500 and 800 years.  However, these are just youngsters in comparison with the elders estimated at over 1,200 years old.  These old redwoods can stretch as high as nearly 400 feet.  The tallest tree in Muir woods is considered a runt at 258 feet.  But trust me, when you are standing at the foot of these giants, I dare you to distinguish a 300 foot tree from a 400 foot tree.

If you have the opportunity to visit Muir Woods, you will not be disappointed.  The views are spectacular and unforgettable.  The trails in the park are reasonably well marked and well maintained.  The layout of the park is well suited for a casual stroll or other more ambitious options.  If you want a little burn in your glut’s, Muir Woods can help.

The last two photos are here to help provide a sense of scale.  As you consider these two shots, keep in mind that these are the “babies” running along a ridge line.  The elders are down in the valley and simply dwarf these infants in both girth and height.

Thanks for joining  my tour through a small and beautiful slice of Northern California.

Have fun and go make some great photography

Craig

Spring Flowers at the U.S. Capitol Building

The gardeners at the U.S. Capitol building always do a nice job with floral displays in the gardens surrounding the building and Spring is particularly nice.  After a long, cold, and stark winter which turns Washington DC nearly colorless, the flowers of spring are a welcome splash of color.

So the subject of the photographs in this post will be tied by the theme of spring flowers at the U.S. Capitol Building.  However, I will talk about my new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens as promised in an earlier post.  First I will acknowledge that all of today’s photography was taken with this lens.

I have long had the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L on my wish list.  However, it is a costly lens and I resigned myself to the fact that it may be some time before I could add this lens to my collection.  In place of the 24-70, I instead opted for the 24-105 f/4.0L – another great general purpose zoom lens at a much lower price.  Just last week I decided to put my 100-400mm f/4.0-5.6L on Craig’s list because I just was not using it (bought it for the camel races and have barely used it since).  I was approached by a gentleman with the 24-70 and he proposed a trade.  I think it worked out well – we were both able to trade an infrequently used lens for one we wanted.

I am very pleased with the performance of this lens.  It is super sharp all the way down to f/2.8 and maintains that sharpness out to the edges with a barely noticeable fall off in sharpness as you head toward the longer focal lengths (above 50mm).  However, if you are not pixel peeping, you will never notice the minutely soft corners.  Color, contrast and saturation are terrific, and the 8 blade aperture produces a very pleasing bokeh.

My only surprise with this lens was the size and weight.  I really don’t mind lugging around large lenses, but I honestly thought this might be a bit smaller than it turned out when I snapped it onto my Canon 5D.  At nearly 34 ounces, this lens is much heavier than all others in this neighborhood of focal length.  Like I said, the size and weight are not big issues to me and only make note of it due to my surprise.

This lens is a favorite of wedding photographers.  It is a fine portrait lens and is also wide enough on a full frame body that group and environmental shots are within it’s repertoire.  It is also a fast piece of glass that can be helpful in lowlight or indoor situations when lighting your subject is impractical.  One final point that is often overlooked with this lens is it’s short minimum focus distance.  At one foot, it is not capable of the maximum magnification of a 1:1 macro lens, but it does a darn good job.  This capability makes the 24-70 good for applications such as food photography, flower shots, and product photography.  I have already played with some flower shots and food photography and will post these soon.

Have fun and go make some great photography.

Craig

A Meditation on the Passing of Winter (Part II)

I don’t normally do this, but I got quite a bit of feedback regarding my post from earlier this week “A Meditation on the Passing of Winter.”  In response to the feedback, I put together this slide show of the full body of work dedicated to discarded Christmas Trees on Capitol Hill, Washington DC.

Have fun and go make some great photography.

Craig

Christmas in Washington DC–Wrapping it up

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I am furiously finishing this series of posts featuring Christmas in Washington DC.  I had a great time making the photographs and I hope you have similarly enjoyed seeing them.


If you missed the rest of the series, here are some convenient links:

1. Christmas in Washington DC
2. Christmas in Washington DC-Library of Congress
3. Christmas in Washington DC-US Capitol
4. Christmas in Washington DC-Army Navy Country Club
5. Christmas in Washington DC-US Capitol at Night
6. Christmas in Washington DC-The White House and National Christmas Tree

I have a long list of other “Christmas” things to do, so I will keep this post short on words.  However, I hope you enjoy the rest of the photographs of snowy Washington DC.







Have fun, and Merry Christmas.
Craig

Don’t Delete Your Photographs Part III–Graffiti in Focus

This is the third in a series of posts discussing software packages that offer the opportunity to salvage photographs you may otherwise discard.  Just so we are all clear, getting the shot right the first time is undoubtedly the best approach.  But if you have that once in a lifetime opportunity to shoot the Central Park Yeti – and you miss the focus – there may be some help available.  And focus is the topic of today’s post.

 

Last week, I heard of a new software package by Topaz Labs called InFocus.  The software was touted as having the capability to restore photos that suffered from either motion blur or simply being out of focus.  I just had to experience this miracle.  Well, I was both disappointed and encouraged at the same time.  I was disappointed that the software did not live up to my expectations, but encouraged that Topaz Labs took a first step in providing a solution.  Topaz Labs makes some great products, so I expect the next generations of this package to move the focus recovery concept to a truly valuable piece of software.

 

I would like to provide you some examples of out of focus shots and the result from InFocus, but I will rather focus on a positive application of this package.  Fundamentally, Infocus is a targeted sharpening software.  So rather than continue to be disappointed by attempts to heal unfocused shots, I decided to apply InFocus as a sharpening tool.  The photographs here show the results.

 

The first photograph is the post-processed yet unsharpened original.  The second photograph is a cropped area of the original – unsharpened – to give you a better view of what InFocus can do.  Finally, the third photograph is a repeat of the cropped section with InFocus applied as a sharpening tool.  In my opinion, InFocus makes a fine sharpening tool although it lacks some of the controls other dedicated sharpening packages provide.  Finally, the last photo is the entire composition with InFocus applied as a sharpening tool.

 

In summary, I am not recommending InFocus as a tool to salvage out of focus, or motion blurred shots.  The good news is that some really bright people are working on this, and a solid solution is likely just around the corner.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

More of the “Unfamiliar Abu Dhabi”

Over the last year or so, I have posted several entries on the theme of “Unfamiliar Abu Dhabi.”  The objective of this project is to capture those views of life in Abu Dhabi you might not otherwise see in the tourism and investment marketing material.  While the beautiful buildings, desert, and more traditional shots you would normally find can be striking, daily life in Abu Dhabi is equally interesting to me.  Here are a few photographs adding to the collection of the Unfamiliar Abu Dhabi.

To see other posts on this subject see:
The Unfamiliar Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi Dhows
Mosques in the Unfamiliar Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi Side Streets at Night


Have fun and go make some great photography!
Craig