This week I made a quick stop at Liberty State Park when I saw it was a nice evening shaping up.

I decided to test the long zoom range of my point-n-shoot camera.   It has a great 10x zoom from 27mm - 270mm.  So a quick shot with that range can make dramatic images at both ends of the zoom.  I set the camera on a tripod and shot one image then zoomed in all the way for the close up of the statue. 

The other is an image of the great walkway out in the water with the view of NYC in the background.  It's worth a trip to see lady liberty and all the views.

Have a happy Halloween!

This week I've been shooting a ton with our INSTAX cameras.  The excitement it generates is really amazing.  If you haven't seen it and aren't sure what I mean look it up and you'll see.  It's an instant film system - so the print pops out the top to share immediately.

This week I had a subject who was kind of camera shy at first but warmed up to the camera.
http://www.fujifilminstax.com

This week I was putting some miles on the Prius - about 700 throughout NY State.

The good news is that the fall colors are peeking and I shot a ton of images.  So many that I really can't pick just one - so here are a few if you don't mind (you can always opt out - just let me know).

The reason for the tombstone is - (which was in an amazing cemetery near the Great Sacandaga Lake) - that the cemetery still had the horse n buggy hitches out front and rock steps at carriage height for stepping in to visit.  Since my weekly is usually Friday - and it was the 16th - by chance I found this tombstone which had the date of 10-16-1895.

I thought the electrical equipment on the building looked like a sleepy old face.  And of course some leaves and berries.

I've been on a "long" exposure kick lately.  Certainly not very long - but the basic exploration for our cameras and what happens with different settings at night.

This week I shot at 30 seconds on a windy night and the effect is quite apparent as the clouds flew by for this neat effect. 

This week while in Boston I was excited to capture the skyline at night from Cambridge to Boston.  It's a scene I always loved since the 80's at college there. 

While shooting on a tripod I noticed my first shot was blurry at 15 seconds at f/5.6 and I couldn't figure out why since I knew the ground wasn't shaking and I focused at infinity.
Then I noticed I had left the image stabilizer on the lens in the "on" mode - so I switched it off and shot another image - this time at 30 seconds at f/9.  Sharp!

You can see the two images with a close-up for comparison.  Lesson of the day - when shooting on a tripod and trying to hold the camera steady - turn off the stabilizer function since it tries to compensate for any movements and its slight adjustment will affect the image when on a tripod.

The second shot is my favorite with the bike that rode by on the left with it's tail light and lit up guard rail from a turning car.

This week I am looking at the issue we all face when we take what we think is a good photo - and then it turns out to be not so hot.

These two versions are the bland original and then the energized version.  (same exact file - just adjusted)

As you can see about 1 minute of tweaking can lead to a substantially better image and rescue one from the trash heap.  The original has the dreaded cyan digital sky.  When what I saw around 5:20p was a Velvia deep blue sky!

I always recommend doing your best to get a great image without a lot of adjustments - but sometimes you gotta help the camera file to see nature as we "see" it.

There are so many new features in all the cameras on the market today that I've decided to explore them and see which are helpful and which are marketing hype. 

Two features which I really like, and illustrate here are the incredible zoom range on a small camera, and the ability to shoot long exposures with a basic point and shoot camera.

The shot of the Empire State Bldg is from over a mile away.  I would guess about 5,470 ft or so since I was 20 blocks away (commonly felt to be a mile in nyc) and the building is about 1,450 feet high.  You can make out the people on the observation deck  (focal length 436mm).  Anyone remember the Pythagorean theorem?  (shot with the FinePix S200EXR)

The other is a 4 second exposure (F/9) in Columbus Circle looking north up Broadway.  The only thing I don't like about it was that it was 7:24p and dark!  (shot with the FinePix F70EXR)

This week I happened upon a neat scene motivated by several articles in the news on the Standard Hotel.  You can search for them and see what's going on in the windows looking out on the city.

So as I shot the hotel to capture the unique scene I thought i'd share the two very different looks you can capture of the same subject just by changing your perspective.

Just as a fyi these shots were made about 3 mins apart - so nothing major.  Just enough time to walk under the building and get two shots of the window area.  If you need to see more of the hotel I have that shot as well - let me know.

This week I was playing around with a new point n shoot from my company.  One of the nice camera features to have at night is a manual exposure mode so you can really play with light and capture interesting scenes.

Here I shot the sunset happening across the river in NJ and as I crossed the West Side Highway I put the camera on the curb for the street scene.

These images were made at 1 second and 2 seconds with the FinePix F70EXR.

This week the Northeast was hit with our first heat-wave.  Luckily I got to the beach for a couple days and went for a swim.
The waves were crashing and I was playing with our "waterproof" camera the Z33WP.

I snapped this one just before the wave came down and it turned out as a fun one.  Hope you get to the beach soon as well.