SUBJECTS YOU DON'T SEE EVERY DAY

When I'm out and about with my camera, I am always on the lookout for those once-in-a-lifetime or rare scenarios or situations. They beg for questions like, "What am I looking at?" "Are you serious?"

Although I do have my favorite subjects to photograph, I love it all. There are great photo opportunities everywhere. If we take the labels off, we can go beyond what our brain tells us our eyes are seeing.  

With that, let me share my first of several examples.

I walked into a coffee shop restroom, in Steamboat, Colorado, before I ordered. The second I walked in, I knew I had to lock the door behind me so I could take my time. Luckily, I had all my camera gear with me, including my tripod. 

I found this out later. A local artist, by the name of Chula, had painted a mural inside the restroom! At first, I thought it was wallpaper. Her theme was that of a rainforest.

As always, the first step was to get my composition right. With a wide-angle lens, I was able to get the key areas of the mural's theme.

I love small, old out-of-the-way country towns. Oftentimes, it's the alleys where I find their hidden gems. That is exactly what I found in an alley in a small town in Arkansas. The remains of an old car seem to be driving out of this building. To enhance the effect, I got low to the ground for this shot.    If you want surprising things, do surprising things. 

 

For years, Denver, Colorado, has hosted its annual Chalk Art Festivals. Artists from all over travel to Denver to see if they can cover street pavements with better chalk art than their competitors. They spend hours on the street painting art that will be washed away, never to be seen again. 

Most of the art is two-dimensional. However, once in a while, a super creative team decides they are going to create a three-dimensional piece. Such was the case one year, when an extremely creative team came up with a Salvador Dalí approach to their piece. They placed a hard plastic tube in the center of their creation. They then painted a severely distorted piece of art on the asphalt around the tube. Even though it was distorted, when you saw it reflected on the tube, it wasn't distorted. Extremely creative! Dalí would have been proud of them.

I was in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas, intentionally on a rainy day. I love capturing umbrellas of different sizes, shapes, and colors. I especially like the different ways folks hold their umbrellas. 

In an attempt to get my camera out of the rain, I scurried under the large awning of a beautiful historic bathhouse and kept shooting. I was not expecting what came next. Lesson here? Be ready for anything and work fast. Don't hesitate. It's the kind of image that begs questions. What's your question? 

As I drove down a two-lane paved road on my way to Boulder, Colorado, I saw something that made me put on the brakes. I stopped, turned around, parked, and got out to get a better look. I stared at them for minutes, trying to decide on the best composition. I asked myself, what made me stop? What was the message I received? What was the message I wanted to convey? White crosses, forever and ever and ever. I decided on this perspective to see as many crosses as possiblem, without including the buildings in the distance. Converting the image to a B&W made it more powerful; gave it more impact and mystery.  

As I walked along a downtown sidewalk, I saw something inside a bar that caught my eye. I guess you could say a light went on inside me. After I asked permission, I got right under them and aimed my camera upward to get this amazing view of these giant lightbulbs. I decided on f/25 because I was too close to the lightbulbs and I wanted a lot of depth-of-field. 

I have always been enamored of Georgia O'Keeffe. Years ago, I saw her giant painting, "Sky Above Clouds IV" at the Art Institute of Chicago. One day, as I drove from my doctor's appointment, I saw a sky that reminded me of her painting. I couldn't go home without it. 

Some views in life come only with extreme sacrifice. There are 54 mountains in Colorado that are at least 14,000' in elevation. I hiked six of them. One of them was Quandry (sic) Peak, at 14,245.' It was a long, grueling hike to its summit, but, oh, was it worth the sacrifice! In this image, you are looking down at 13,000' and 12,000' mountains. You don't see this every day.

Was it luck, God-sent, or simply a once-in-a-lifetime coincidence? Whatever you call it, I got one of my most unique images. As I photographed Monument Rocks in far western Kansas, an old but nicely restored VW bus drove up behind me as I was shooting. 

I walked to the vehicle, and the driver rolled the window down. We introduced ourselves and chatted for a while. He was on a personal mission: to drive from Brooklyn to California and see as much as he could along the way. I politely asked him if he could do me a favor--drive that beauty in front of Monument Rocks so I could photograph it. I instructed him to the exact spot I wanted him to stop. Click. I titled my image, "Brooklyn Meets Kansas." 

I hope you picked up on what it takes to create images of subjects we don't see every day.

First, I need to be on wide alert for the unexpected, the interesting, the bizarre. If I don't see it,       
I need to see with my imagination, not my eyes, which helps me to see something before I see it.
I also do not hesitate to talk to strangers. I think that comes naturally for me. That ability has resulted in some of the best images in my collection. Of course, no one can tell what it took to create any given image by just looking at it. 

 So, keep your eyes wide open, wait for the right timing, find the best perspective, and try your best to get outside your comfort zone. Have fun with it.

Eli Vega

www.elivega.net

vegaphotoart@gmail.com
Eli Vega Photography on FB

     

  

  

  

 

       

 PHOTOGRAPHING OLD BARNS

For me, it's not just about photographing old barns, the physical object. Anyone can do that with their mobile devices. Without the additional factors of light, lighting, and weather, the objects themselves, old barns, have character. Physically, I like the way some lean a bit, have gaps between the boards, and have lost their coats of paint. They also beg questions: When was it built? Did the rancher or farmer build it himself, with a little help from his friends? Does it represent second, third, or fourth generation ownership? What was their lifestyle like? 

You add weather conditions or time of day to all the above, and I capture something more than a "barn." I pick up soothing feelings, a sense of peace, and even mystery. A note of artistic caution, here: an attempt to get the "correct exposure" will take away all that, and you end up with a picture of  a barn. 

Composition is crucial. I will look for anything to add to the barn, if it's there, to keep it from looking stagnant. Doing so gives me more eye flow, that is, something more to see and appreciate. Including other elements improves the composition and adds interest as well. 

With that, let me share some images from my collection. 

Everything about this barn got my attention. I loved all the stuff they had added to the facade throughout the years. I loved that old small tractor in the foreground surrounded by tall grasses. I also noticed the flag. There was a good breeze that day, so I carefully waited for the breeze to change the direction of the flag to the way it is seen in this image. I also wanted to see part of the side of the barn to add some depth, some dimension. 

This old guy had been abandoned for so long, nature had taken over and practically reclaimed it. The addition of all those haystacks added to the story. At first glance, I was concerned about the shadows in the foreground but then decided they too added to the image. The tall pole shadow introduced a nice leading line to the composition. The clouds didn't hurt either--lucky me! 

I found this cool barn in Kansas, on my way to Colorado. There wasn't much color in the scene, so I converted it to a black and white image. It gave it more impact. This barn was surrounded by other interesting elements, which added to the composition. 

 

Here is another old barn where nature was reclaiming its territory. Don't mess with mother nature.

This old barn, built in 1935, is different in that it wasn't out in the country. It was right where it had been constructed originally. The city, Boulder, Colorado, had grown around it.  

This is a very famous barn among photographers. If you ever go there, early in the morning, you will be surrounded by 15-20 photographers. This barn is one of three barns still standing along "Mormon Row," to the east of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Early morning light is a must for this great barn. You can see the Grand Tetons in the background. 

This barn had it all. In addition to the American flag, look for the huge cross leaning against the barn on the right side. Without those two elements, it would have been just a picture of a barn.

For this last example, not only was it early morning, but it was a calming foggy morning. When I am trying to convey a mood or feelings, I do not aim for clarity, detail, sharpness, or a "correct" exposure. There is no such thing as the correct exposure. There is only the right exposure, and we as photographers decide what that right exposure is. 

I encourage you to go out for a drive, or drives, out on those country or gravel roads. Vary your timing--early morning, late afternoon, or even at night. Maybe you will luck out and see heavy fog.

You could even go out after sunset and find an old barn to do some "light painting" on, like this image. For this creation, during a three-minute exposure, I "painted" in up and down motions, painting from left to right, then spending a few seconds around where a light on the barn used to be. You will need a tripod, set your camera to the BULB setting, and use a remote shutter release or cable release.

Have fun!

  

 

 

  

   

 PHOTOGRAPHING CLOUDS

Clouds can be a great subject to photograph. I’m not talking about run-of-the-mill, everyday generic clouds. I’m referring to those unique clouds that force a double-take, that amaze us, and leave us in disbelief.

You don’t have to be a meteorologist, nor know the names of particular cloud formations. We have all seen them—long, wavy clouds, clouds that are huge and seem to grow up to the stratosphere, some look like UFOs, some look like giant cotton balls, and some have the shape of identifiable things or animals. And when you get vibrant, penetrating colors on top of all that, you consider yourself the luckiest person on earth.

You get the picture. However, don’t go out there and just start snapping pictures, hoping and assuming you are going to get some great photos. It’s not that easy.

Please keep in mind that when we point our cameras up to the sky, things will often be very bright. That is going to fool your built-in exposure light meter, which will, nine times out of ten, give you a poor exposure. Your photos will be either too dark or too bright. You will need to resort to your exposure compensation dial to either lighten the photos or darken them. On a bright sunny day, you may need to set your exposure compensation dial to +2/3, +1, or more! The inverse of that is when skies are dark and ominous. In those scenarios, you may need to set your exposure compensation dial to   -2/3, -1, or more! I know, it sounds counterintuitive. Be careful. 

As for timing, there are several scenarios. 
1) Plan your shots. Plan to be somewhere at a certain time or general time frame, especially is the forecast is for "developing storms," etc.

2) Be ready, be prepared for anything. If it looks awesome or ominous outside, grab your gear and be ready for some quick, spontaneous shots. And be ready and quick at changing your exposures on the fly!

3) Don't hesitate. If you are driving along the highway and see some extremely unusual cloud formations, get them, quick. They will dissipate or change before you know it. If you have your camera, do it! If you don't, and you're near home, hurry, get your gear, and get to a good spot quickly.   

Although I will photograph clouds at any time of day, I do lean toward early morning, late afternoon, or evening, when the colors are “off the wall.”

Here are just a few examples from my collection.

I saw these awesome, colorful striations as I was approaching my apartment. I had never seen anything like it. It was so surreal. I quickly got home, grabbed my gear and fast-walked to a spot where I could get a good perspective!

I was on my patio when I saw this sunset developing over the mountains near Boulder, Colorado. No time to think or analyze. Do it!

It was late in the afternoon, and a scary thunderstorm was developing. The late afternoon sun illuminated these clouds and turned them into giant yellow/orange cotton candy-like formations! Quick, get my camera!

Nature creates its own art. It did just that over these towering mountains near Frisco, Colorado.

As a photo artist, the color, shapes, forms, and size are more important to me than their meteorological names. These formations mimic the shapes of the mountains.

I don't remember where I was when I photographed these clouds, but I remember being awed by their shapes and colors. One of them looked like a hand reaching down toward earth.

I was just yards from home when I looked up and saw this giant "bird" flying south for the winter.

I just so happened to have my camera with me. Click!

I often go out for a drive, out in the countryside, just to see what I might find. This particular day, these huge, ominous, dark gray clouds were forming. Then, all of a sudden, they opened up and the sun aimed its rays toward earth. 

And then some clouds look like UFOs! 

One day, I was lucky enough to see two UFOs up in the sky! Lucky me. No, this is not AI. 

It's funny how the harder I try, the luckier I get. Mario Andretti, the famous race car driver, once said, "Success is when preparation meets opportunity." I don't know if he really said that, but, you have to admit, it's a great quote. 

So, be prepared, stay alert, and meet your opportunity.

Contact me if you have any questions or if you want some quick, to-the-point ZOOM tips.

www.elivega.net     vegaphotoart@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 SHOOTING FIREWORKS

4th of July is just around the corner. Here is a simple, effective, and fun way to capture fireworks,  for those with a DSLR camera and a tripod.

First, find out where the fireworks will be. Locate that area with your camera. Give yourself enough space (focal length) to cover part of the reflections (if any) and the highest point of the fireworks displays. This is an estimate at this point. You can always crop later if necessary.

Equipment needed: a tripod, zoom lens--between 18mm-200mm, depending on how close or far you are to the displays. A cable release or remote. Set camera's shutter to BULB. Set  f/stop to roughly f/8--you might need to change to f/9 or f/10 during the evening, if the bursts come out too bright. You can shoot RAW, but I've shot JPEG Fine with excellent results. Set lens to manual focus.You will also need a square or rectangular piece of opaque material--enough to cover the lens. Let's call this the "cover.". Example: camera manual, poster board, etc. Make sure it's not thin and flimsy.

STEPS: Set up the camera's estimated position. Most shots will be vertical. Keep the lens cap on until it's time for the fireworks. Through the lens, see where they are and how high they're going. Adjust the camera and focal length accordingly. Focus on near-infinity--you can tell if you got it right by displaying the first burst.

Now, the fun begins. With the cover on and your finger on the cable release/remote, when the next burst explodes, click the shutter while quickly removing the cover out of the way, then put it back within 1-3 seconds (experiment with the time during the evening). Throughout the night, experiment with two-three bursts. Remove the cover, then place it back, but leave the shutter open with your finger on the cable release or remote.

Throughout the night, experiment with two-three bursts: Click the shutter and remove the cover, then place it back, but leave the shutter open with your finger on the cable release. Take the cover off again when you see the next burst, then cover it up again. You just combined two bursts in your image! Repeat the process with three bursts. You'll be amazed. Have fun!

If you work fast, you will have plenty of time during the evening to get several great shots! Again, have fun with it!

Contact me with any questions before the 4th, or if you'd like a short ZOOM lesson.
vegaphotoart@gmail.com          www.elivega.net 

LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

I like to vary the look of my landscape images. I don't want them all to have the same look--sharp and detailed, vibrant colors, and no shadows. I have several that do have that look. However, I like to mix it up with subdued colors, less detail, include fog in the image, and introduce shadows. 

When we think of landscapes, we think of horizontal orientation. I like to sprinkle my compositions with vertical or portrait formats, once in a while.   

My definition of landscape photography is two-fold: At most, my images may include only a hint of humankind or a hint of wildlife. Most of them include only nature's beauty and majesty. I also like to capture what I call the intimate landscape. I extract from the big picture and home in on only a segment of it.

I don't like HDR images. Most images I have seen look "overcooked," overdone. Some look cartoonish. When I do apply HDR to my images, I don't want them to look HDRed. I want them to look natural, unmanipulated. I do that by taking seven shots but only choosing the best three to load onto my HDR software.

Technically, I use f/stops ranging from f/8 to f/22, depending on the situation and how I want my images to look, or what effect I want. Shutter speeds are usually not an issue. With my camera on a tripod, my longest exposure has been five minutes. Below is one nighttime image taken at just over two minutes.     

With that introduction, let's start with one of only three landscape HDR images in my collection.

This is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. It was extremely dark at the bottom of the canyon, while the afternoon sun lit up the sky. That is a good scenario for which the HDR technique can come in handy.

Near the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, there is an area called "Mormon Row," where you find a couple of well-maintained old Mormon barns still standing. On one of my trips, I arrived extremely early to photograph the barns. When I was done, I kept driving down the dirt road to see what else I could find. To my surprise, I saw several buffalo in the golden plains, with the majestic Grand Tetons as their backdrop. It was awesome. composition is everything in landscape photography. 

The Grand Mesa is a few miles from the outskirts of Grand Junction, Colorado. When I created this shot, I saw a giant floating cloud surrealistically hovering over the mesa. it gave the image a unique feel. It makes one wonder how high the mesa goes. It is the world's highest flattop mountain, at over 11,000.' 

I mentioned earlier the intimate landscape. Below is an example, extracted from the scene above. I did not crop the image. I zoomed in on this part of the mountain, in the field. The colors look different because of where I aimed my camera, and the lighting had changed. 

This unique outcropping is called Hawksbill Crag in Arkansas. You can see why. I made sure to include part of the valley below to add context to the crag. 

In my book, Right Brain Photography, I included a chapter on creative in-camera techniques. I did  light painting on these formations at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado. With my camera on my tripod, I set the shutter speed to "BULB," which allowed me to lock my shutter open until I finished "painting" the formations. My part-time assistant was with me. It took two separate "paintings." With my shutter locked open, I walked along the pathway, shining my light on the ground along the path. I told Jeff to tell me when he could no longer see me. He did. I then turned my flashlight off, walked back to my camera, and then began "painting" the other formation. Viola! 

It usually takes anywhere from two to four tries before I get it just the way I want it. Sometimes I "paint," or move my light along a formation, either too fast or too slow. If I go too fast, I don't get enough exposure. If I go too slow, I overexpose the formation. Multiple "paintings" are a form of  bracketing.

Be sure to photograph landscapes in all seasons. This is also at Garden of the Gods, but in the middle of winter. The snow on the formations looks like a sprinkling of sugar. 

   

This last landscape image is of Fish Creek Falls near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It is absolutely beautiful during snow melt, around May, when the water comes gushing down! The key factor with waterfalls is shutter speeds. Do you want to freeze the water (high shutter speed) or give it that gentle feel (slower shutter speed)? I prefer the latter. Which shutter speed to use is dependent on so many variables. The best thing to do is to first decide what look you want, then take several photos, at different shutter speeds. Often, you will get more than one you like. Keep them both!   

There are landscape opportunities in every state. So, find a state map or search online for state parks, national parks, national monuments, national forests, or any place surrounded by nature. Have fun! 

Contact me if you have any questions: www.elivega.net     vegaphotoart@gmail.com    

 

     

   

 Wide-angle and Telephoto Lenses

All of us shoot with our lenses set at various focal lengths. This month, I am covering the two extremes: wide-angle and telephoto focal lengths. By wide-angle, I mean the 10mm-28mm focal length range. By telephoto, I mean any focal length 70mm or larger (100, 200, 300+). 

I will share my perspectives on three variables: focal length characteristics, uses, and caveats.

Let's start with wide-angle lenses. One of their best characteristics is that they inherently have more depth of field at any given f/stop, as I will demonstrate below. They are great when shooting indoors in tight spaces, like inside a grand cathedral. Depending on the focal length, we can include the ceiling, pews, and the stained-glass windows on the left and right walls. That's pretty awesome! 

However, there are some caveats. The more we tilt our cameras upward, the more those parallel wall lines converge on you! The left and right walls will seem like they're leaning in. Not good. To counteract that, I raise my arms above my head, using my tilting back screen, so I don't have to tilt my camera so much. Of course, with my arms up like that, it's hard to steady my camera. Solution? Increase my ISO, say, from 100 to 400 or 500, to get a faster shutter speed. Voila! 500 ISO is still good enough in today's cameras to minimize "noise." Another great use is when we have a huge natural formation or mountain in front of us, we want to get the whole subject in, but we can't move farther away to get the shot. No problem! Click.

Telephoto lenses.The best characteristic is that, at any f/stop, they have wider apertures. The size of their apertures/openings are larger than other lenses, at any given f/stop setting. What this means is that we can get those nice, blurred backgrounds behind our subject, which makes our subject "pop," or really stand out. They also give us much narrower coverage, which helps us to isolate our subject from the rest of its surroundings. One other great advantage of telephoto lenses is what's called "The illusion of compression." Elements in our scene appear as if they are much closer to each other than they really are, and that makes for some great dramatic images! 

I have one strong caveat regarding telephoto lenses, and this one is extremely critical if you take photographs without a tripod. Remember: While they magnify the size of your subject, which is great, they also magnify any slight movement in your hands! Any slight hand movement will blur your subject. That's the bad news. However, there is a good trick to avoiding that problem, in addition to today's vibration control features. Make sure your shutter speed is equal to or greater than the focal length you have set. For example, if you are shooting with your focal length set at 200mm, make sure you are shooting with a shutter speed equal to or greater than 1/200th of a second.  

Before I show you some examples of how all this looks in real life, let me demonstrate two good scenarios that illustrate two characteristics of these two focal lengths: The visual effects of the size of the aperture/opening and the "illusion of compression."

Below are two side-by-side, identical images, one shot with a wide-angle lens; the other with a telephoto lens. They were both shot at f/16, both shot from the same distance, and the focus point was the same--that foreground tree on the right. The only difference was the choice of focal length. 18mm (small aperture size) v. 200mm (large aperture size). Notice the difference in depth of field.  

As you can see, the image on the left has lots of depth of field when shot with the lens set at 18mm. The image on the right, shot with the lens set at 200mm, has an extremely blurred background, even though the f/stop was at f/16. 

   

Now let's look at how the "illusion of compression" looks in real life. The image on the left reflects how this scene looks to the naked eye, when we stand there and look at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The distant snow-capped mountain is Pikes Peak. As you can see, it is quite a distance away. The image on the right was shot with a telephoto lens. Notice the "illusion of compression!" Pikes Peak, the in-between mountain range, and Garden of the Gods seem much closer to each other than they really are. The result? A more dramatic image. 

         
       

       

Okay, now I am ready to show you some examples of what I have captured through the use of wide-angle and telephoto lenses.

In order to capture downtown Nashville, Tennesse, standing just across the nearby Cumberland River, I had to resort to a 28 mm focal length. The viewer doesn't realize that the 33-story building on the left looks really big in real life. That's the beauty of a wide-angle lens. We can get "the whole thing in."   

                                                                                                 

This image is of a large Catholic Church. Again, when viewers look at an image like this, they don't realize the expanse of this interior. It took a focal length of 10 mm to get what you see here.

I photographed this artist at work for a commercial project. I didn't want just a portrait shot. I wanted to get close to him, but at the same time, capture the environment in which he works. In this case, his studio. I was able to do that with an 18 mm focal length. 

This double arch in Arches National Park is huge! When I got up close to it to clearly see both arches, I realized I needed to grab my wide-angle lens. 17 mm worked just fine for this project.

If we get too close to an animal, bird, or butterfly, we invade their comfort zone. The chances are high that we will spook them, and they will change their position, run away, or fly away. Enter telephoto lenses. We can get our shot by keeping our distance. With telephoto lenses, we don't need to get close to them; we bring them close to us. The next image is evidence of that. I shot this beautiful peacock at a distance, with a 300 mm telephoto. I simply cannot get these shots by moving closer to my subjects.

I also used a 300 mm focal length to get this downtown Denver shot. I was several blocks away from downtown. Notice the "illusion of compression" of those buildings. Those buildings look as if they are touching each other, again, creating a more dramatic image. 

For this far-away heron, I used a 400 mm focal length. I guess you can say that telephoto lenses also give us the illusion of closeness. I was a good 75-100 yards away from it, but it appears as if I was a lot closer. Luckily, it was a nice, clear day. When there is a lot of atmospheric moisture or haze in the air, a strong telephoto lens will record that, diminishing the sharpness of our images. 

So, go out there, pick your subject, and experiment with wide-angle and telephoto lenses. Have fun!

Contact me if you would like a field lesson, a 30-minute ZOOM lesson, or if you have a question.
vegaphotoart at gmail com          www elivega net