Weekly Email - 12-23-11 Holiday Celebration

As we enter the home stretch of holiday shopping I would like to wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

This week I wandered by Rock Center to get the proverbial holiday shot using my fish-eye lens.  The crowds were intense, so after waiting for sunset and timing it right with the twilight here is the view from midtown.

Have a fun weekend with family and friends.

ISO 640 - F/3.2 @ 1/30th

Weekly Email - 12-16-11 - Wedding Celebration

This week I had the unique opportunity to go to a hasidic wedding ceremony in Williamsburg (Brooklyn).  The level of emotion and the overall sense of tradition was palpable.  The togetherness of the family and friends is great to experience.  As you can see in the photo there are many many men dressed in black and with various hats.   The fancy fur ones are the closest relatives - first cousin or closer.  The groom's father has 35 uncles for instance.

One of my favorites shows some of the subtle details of the jackets which clearly shows the diversity in the fabric of the clothing seen here.

5DII with15mm ISO 640 - 1/30th @ F/4.5

Can I have my black jacket please?

Using the White Balance Settings

I think one of the least used, easy to get to features is the white balance in today's digital cameras.  Most of us probably leave the setting at AWB and that works.  Sometimes even in daylight we need to change modes to improve the overall image.  In the images below I choose the tungsten setting while shooting outdoors - granted in a tungsten lighting scenario.  The real issue is how the AWB handled the scene which was not adequate in my opinion - thus the change to a lower kelvin temperature - which you can see in the data charts below.  Tungsten also works well when shooting some night scenes in the city.

Weekly Email - 12-9-11 Look Skyward for Drama

This week as I took a stroll around the city with my camera I wanted to look for something a bit different than my usual shots around the park. 
I'm not sure I quite got to the point I wanted to but I did find a neat scene when I looked up through the bare trees.  Most of the colors of fall are gone and the skeleton of the tree made for a dramatic silhouette.

Canon 1DS III ISO 320 F10 @ 1/400

Random Images of the Week

There is so much you can do with an image with a little bit of digital sweetening.  Add tweaks as you like to create new and refreshing images from bland ones.
The first image was an obvious one as I walked into the church I couldn't help myself in the grandeur I felt with the fish eye.  The next image is a December rose.  And lastly is a quick shot with the X100 of the Met Museum.

What Did the Rat Say to the Baby?

There are some moments you just want to share.
What will this girl think in 20 yrs about mom's placement of her on the statue?  Nothing like a large rat chewing on a turkey leg to get the kid to smile!

Weekly Email - 12-2-11 Central Park Pano

This week as I walked around Central Park to capture the last of the fall colors I happened to get some great light while facing north along The Lake towards the Bow Bridge.

Not much to say for the set up here since the image just takes you into the scene I feel.

This was done with the sweep panorama function in the camera.  You can stand in one place and start on one end of the scene and sweep the camera across and it automatically stitches the scene and creates a seamless image.
Click to enlarge it...

Fujifilm X100 ISO 200 - 1/250 @ F/6.4