Here is a capture of the Mickey & Friends parking structure adjacent to the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, CA. Rarely do you get to see a bridge network like this. Couldn't resist. This shot was obviously taken at night. I used the railing as a support for the camera.

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Nikon D200 70-200mm at 70mm for 1/30 sec

My family and I were visiting relatives in Lake Arrowhead, California. There is an outdoor shoping mall by the name of Lake Arrowhead Village, I know very creative. Anyways, walking along the main stretch and my sister-in-law Jonie spots this super cool dog. Very well behaved as well!


Nikon D200 - will add camera data soon

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Nikon D200 - HDR processing removes camera data.

Here is an attempt using two separate methods to obtain a nicely exposed (hopefully composed) image. First I set out to take a few HDR shots. I will explain HDR in a minute. Secondly, I invoked the Zone System created by Ansel Adams back in the 30's.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is used quite extensively by many photographers both experienced and entry level. One of the big problems with cameras (especially digital cameras) is lack of range from black to white. Us humans see far greater levels of black to white than a camera can. Therefore our cameras usually have to loose the bright sky or the dark shadows in a contrasty image. HDR allows us to cover most of the range from black to white in post processing (on the computer).

The Zone System is simply a method to help us photographers compensate for what a camera "thinks" should be a proper setting. We know brightly lit grass should be brighter than what the camera determines, so we adjust accordingly. This is a simple explanation of course.

Finally posting an entry! I know it has been quite a while. I haven't been shooting anywhere as much as I should.

The image I have here was shot back on the 24th of July. I was in a desert city named Hesperia in California. Along with my wife and kids, I was visiting my in-laws for a weekend. This particular image was quite fun. I was with my brother-in-law who was visiting us from Virginia. He also has a Nikon DSLR camera and we were taking some time to shoot some pics. Our light was leaving us so took advantage of this sillouhetted Joshua Tree. Actually, I'm not sure how his image ended up. I will have to ask him. So, here it is...


Nikon D200 70-200mm at 70mm f/14 for 1/800 sec

On July 27th, I was visiting family in the High Desert of California. I know, the High Desert isn't exactly the place you would think of for flowers such as these. However, my wife's parents have managed to grow a garden where previously there was nothing but sand and rocks.

I took this image with the Hollyhock facing the setting sun around 7:30 in the evening. At 200mm, my lens did a good job of completely blurring out the background isolating the flower. I especially like the overlapping of the petals. You can see how several more flowers are on their way. Probably bloomed by the time of this writing. Here is the image.


Click on the image for a slightly larger version
Nikon D200 70-200mm at 200mm f/4.0 for 1/250 sec