Test of Image Size

Since I've widened my blog, I want to take advantage of the width and place larger images here. This is the reason for going bigger! Below are a few of the 1800 images taken on our Italy trip!














I think you'll agree that larger is better. Enjoy!

Artwork On Display

As most photographers, I do some travel photography and one of my students, an art teacher from Palisades School District; has asked me and another friend to display some of our favorite travel images. I was very excited, I've never displayed in a gallery! After looking over the gallery and choosing the wall to display on, I set out to choose about 10 images from thousands I have archived. That in itself was a task. With the help of my wife, we came up with 9, which is all the space would allow for the size images I chose to hang.

Here is the invitation poster!



Needless to say, we all could have filled the gallery with our works! Below are 2 images of my artwork that I placed on display. It was too wide for one photograph!



Top is the left side, bottom is the right!



I had 9 images displayed from Longwood Gardens, Niagara Falls, Biltmore Estates and of course, Italy!

We had a good time at the opening, lots of great comments about all the images. Hors dovours were served, unfortunately no wine - boo, we are in a high school.

We each had our favorite image and it was interesting to see the reactions from the visitors as to their favorite. For me, most chose the one I did. Not sure of the others artist....

If you are in the Bucks County area of PA, please take the time to stop by and see three different styles of beautiful artwork! It will be up until the beginning of November.

If you ever get the chance to do an exhibit in a gallery, do it! It's great to listen to the comments for viewers!

Don't be Afraid - Act Quickly and Just Get It!

Many times I've seen things I should just stop the car and pull the camera out and take the photograph! But, always worried about being late for an appointment or stopping, and the car behind me becoming upset.

Ya know what, just do it! This has happened too many times to me and I'm always then saying, "why didn't I stop and grab that photograph"!

Remember a few months ago I mentioned about keeping your camera at the ready? This evening a storm blew threw and a beautiful rainbow appeared - actually 2, the second was hard to see. It was only there for 3 ~ 5 minutes.



Here is one of 4 shots I took just outside my home, it was still raining slightly. I wish I have a clear shot, a helicopter would be nice for this. The point here is - have your camera ready! If you're not comfortable with changing setting quickly, keep it on Auto, which I'm not a fan of, but it just may be the difference between getting a photograph or not.

Act Quickly and Just Get It! It's digital, if you don't like it - delete it, but, you'll never know!

Watch that Heat!

Here in the Northeast, we aren't used to the excessive heat. And just to show how hot it is, this is day 2 of our 7 day heat wave, take a look at the bottom set of numbers, this is a remote unit showing the shade area in the back of my home!




This is the temperature in the front of my home,



Fortunately, these images were taken from inside my home.

Be careful of the heat, both you and your equipment! Some cameras will actually shut down in excessive heat to protect their internal componients. If you need to be out there to do photography in these conditions, guard your equipment from direct sun as much as possible. Also, be careful of taking your camera in and out of air conditioning, this can cause your lens and image sensor to fog. Most of all, drink plenty of water! You want your photography to be a fun time, not a time spent in the hospital because you didn't take care of yourself!

Enjoy the outdoors, but, "Watch that Heat!

Digital Class has Started - Easter's over--

As mentioned, I'm getting more time to blog! Easter has come and gone very quickly. The other part of our family; Sarah, Mike, Anthony and now Dominic celebrated in NC. Well, unfortunately Mike is in Afganistan. But, as with new technology - "Skype" - we were able to see the addition to the family - Dominic! Don't you love technology when it works? We set up a time, got on Skype where all of us at Mom and Dad's got to see 4 day old Dominic for the first time! It was great - Anthony was in the background carrying on, it's really neat, as if you're right there. We are traveling down at the end of the month, so, pictures then!

OK, as the title states, "Digital Class has Started"! I have 10 in the class and all are very enthusiastic! This coming week is the third night. I got them through "Getting off the Dreaded A" (automatic). They had to learn all about using "Manual" settings. Yes, this is quite challenging, everyone pulling out their owners manuals, however, I think they all got it! I think the bucket of water therory helped, along with the charts on the marker board!

So this week, Composition - Rules of the Thirds - Fill Flash - Depth of Field - Shutter Speed and more. It's a night of hundreds of images showing what works and what doesn't and the mistakes I've made and the learning curve from them. Actually, I need to add more to the presentation - images from Italy, some of the grandkids. etc.. I hope they enjoy it!

Ok, so back to work. Stay tuned!

Jan-----------

Spring Time!

Hello All, yes, it's been a while since I've written anything. Time to get back into it.

Spring is here - warm weather is upon us and time to get out with our cameras and dust off the sensors for another season. Did you reset your clock in you camera? Flowers starting to bloom - how about trying macro! Most point and shoot cameras have excellent macro capabilities. Try it! You may want to use a tripod for some of your creations. Macro will show lots of movement because of zooming in tight to the image. Practice - the results are really neat.

Also, spring brings about my photography classes. I will be starting my spring Basic Digital Photography class, Tuesdays for the next 8 weeks, and keeps me busy. As much as I have researched most topics for the class - things change and I must keep up. Cameras are changing - more capacity, faster, more features, you know - it's endless. So, back to research-----

I'll be back to you in a few days, after class starts and Easter has passed.

Keep that camera at your side!

Jan

It the time important?

Now that daylight saving time has ended and we have changed our clocks, you may want to think about doing the same to your cameras. Most students in my digital night classes admit they don't bother.

Here are some things to consider as to doing so;

When you go on a vacation, do both you and your spouse capture images? What happens when you process all of your files and you want to have both sets of images in chronological order, which there are programs for? If your times are not the same, your image order will be all a-skew! By making sure your cameras are as close in time as can be, your final order will be as taken from both cameras.

If you are photographing an event by 2 or more persons, say a wedding, you definitely want this event in order. This has happened to me where the photographer I hired told me he changed his camera, only to find out when I did the processing it wasn't. It took me quit some time to manually re-order the files to the correct order of the event.

Another thing to consider is to change the time on your camera to local time if you travel. When you are trying to re-create an itinerary, this could become very confusing. When my wife and I traveled to Italy, there was a 6 hour difference and I didn't change my camera, it was on EDST. When we got back and we were trying to figure some of the places we visited based on the image files, I realized my mistake.

Is the time important? You bet it is!

Panoramic Images - Our newest product

One thing the helps separate us from other services is adding different products for the clients to choose.

I recently completed a large assignment for a new client who wanted to showcase areas of the overall sites I photographed. My suggestions was panos - which are 8 x 24 inches which fit his need exactly! See these 4 samples below. The client was very happy!

You just need to be creative and willing to make changes to you normal list of products, and let clients know you're willing to do so.

Alway have a camera with you!

One early evening I went to my fire station for a meeting and while waiting for the rest of the people to show, one on the members came in and said "you need to come out and see this"! Well, as the title of this blog states, I pulled out my point and shoot camrea and quickly grabbed these shot.

Enjoy!

WWII Show at Reading Airport

Hello All,

Today my Dad, 2 brothers, nephew and I went to the Reading WWII airshow. What a great day for this! It started as a normal day - getting the camera equipment ready, ya know, camera bag - extra lens - vest and monopod, the norm---- then the sunscreen. Well I tried something new, it was like putting spackling. It coated my legs and arms almost pure white - I looked like a ghost, but I was protected. Grabbed a hat, kissed the wife and off we went!

After an 1 hour trip, we were parked and got on a bus that took us into the airport. We spent all day walking around enjoying the sites, listening to the roar of the radial gas engines of loads of aircraft.

We went into the hangar to see all the different displays and much to our surprise, there were several war vets that were on many of the missions of WWII signing autographs! That was awesome! I'm not much of a history buff, but this was really neat to see. I also realize I need to bone up on things - too much Photoshop------------

Anyway these are only a few of the over 200 images I've taken today!

Enjoy!