Don't foget to look up

I have been lazy lately and this is my first post in awhile, actually I have been doing alot of portrait work of people involving backdrops. During one of these birthday parties I took a break and while walking around I found a glass chandelier that turned out to be not a bad photograph. You just never know when or where you are presented with an opportunity to take a great picture, keep your eyes open even at a birthday party...

Camera Nikon D-300/Lens Tameron 18-270mm/shutter speed 1/50 - f 3.8 - ISO 1000

My trip to the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is one place that as a photographer one must go to. I don't have the words to accurately describe the beauty of this natural wonder. I believe this is the only time that I just had trouble believing what I was seeing. I'll post more from this trip at a later time. These pic's are from the Grand Canyon,Bryce Canyon and Zion nation Park.2008

Praying Mantis

Keep sharp eyes out when sitting on the backyard deck, you never know what you will find.By the way they taste with their feet and don't like to be picked up because they don't like the taste of your hand and will begin to clean their feet when you put them down...

Camera Nikon D-300-Lens Nikon 85mm macro/ISO 250/shutter speed 1/60sec. at F-11

A view to Deep Creek,Maryland

Here are a few shots from my recent visit over to Deep Creek,Md....... All shot on a Gopro camera, no view finder no LCD no problem.

Butterflies at Brookside Gardens

My wife told me to go and take some pictures of butterflies yesterday, she would have gone with me but had something else to do. Brookside Gardens is one of my favorite places to go and pratice the art of photography because I love butterflies. If you are going to take a picture of a butterfly the problems that you have to get around are first you have to find them. They are moving targets so if you use a high shutter speed to try and freeze the wings as they are moving this generally cuts down the depth of field so part of the wing may not be in focus (if you time it right take the shoot as the wing are flat and from a overhead angle all of the wing will be in the same focal plane and in focus). If you try high f-stop to gain dept of field generally this give you a slow shutterspeed and if the wings are moving you get blur. The answer for me has been to raise and lower the ISO to gain an advantage of each shot as needed. I have included the camera settings and hopefully this will help you...Gary

 Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Nikon 50 mm 1.18G / ISO 400 / f-5.0 / 1/100sec.
This is a clear wing butterfly indigenous to Costa Rica - the scales on the wings are transparent...very rare

 Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Nikon 50 mm 1.18G / ISO 320 / f 5.0 / 1/125sec.

 Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Nikon 50 mm 1.18G / ISO 320 / f 5.0 / 1/125sec.

 Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Nikon 50 mm 1.18G / ISO 320 / f 5.0 / 1/125sec.

  Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Nikon 50 mm 1.18G / ISO 320 / f 3.5 / 1/125sec.

 Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Tamron18-270mm / ISO 1250 / f 14 / 1/1250sec.

 Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Tamron18-270mm / ISO200 / f 13 / 1/400 sec.
The last two pictures were taken outside in a garden, all others were inside the butterfly house...Gary

Fun with Photoshop

Today my mom and I visited Brookside Gardens and I took some photos with my GoPro HD2 then played around in photoshop with layer mask and this is what came out.

Flower Power

You wouldn't think to travel to a store that sells pond plants and related items to do photography but that is where these pictures came from. Valley View Farms in Maryland has quite a setup of almost any thing that you might need in the way of plants and tree's both indoor and out to decorate your yard including pond plants. I got some very helpful advise on how to plant my water lotus seedling as well as the right kind of pot. I found that taking these pictures was very easy because the plants were in wooden ponds elevated off the ground ( so I didn't have to stoop down and get on my knee ). Gary Gillis

Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Tamron 18-270mm / ISO 200 / f-16 / 1/125 sec.

Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Tamron 18-270mm / ISO 500 / f-32 / 1/60 sec

 Camera Nikon D-300 Lens Tamron 18-270mm / ISO 200 / f-20 / 1/125 sec

Waterfalls in Ithaca New York

One of my favorite places to go and shoot pictures is Ithaca New York. Their you can find many different waterfalls to photograph, and these three are within 10 miles of each other. Get up early before the sun becomes to bright and have some fun. They are all New York State Parks once you pay the 7 dollar entrance fee hold on to your ticket it will allow you to enter the other parks for the rest of the day...

This is Taughannock Falls main entrance off NYS Rte. 89 or follow signs from NYS Rte. 96 to park.
Nikon D-300/Lens Nikon 70-300mm / f-32 / ISO 100 / 1/3 sec.

I can't remember the name of this waterfall but it is found in Robrt H. Treman Park, Main entrance off NYS Rte. 327. Go to the upper entrance to see waterfall it is off Rte. 327, 3.5 miles west of NYS Rte. 13
Nikon D-300/Lens 70-300mm / f-32 / ISO 100 / 1/3 sec.

This is Buttermilk Falls main entrance off NYS Rte. 13. Their are 5 or 6 waterfalls one after another, you wont believe your eyes. A path runs along the side of the river the walk up the steps is not easy take your time.
Nikon D-300 Lens Nikon 18-35mm / f-16 / ISO 100 / 2.50/sec.

If you stay at the Super 8 motel Buttermilk falls is 2 or 3 city blocks away. Gary

Dinner

The other day I was outside and looked up and this is what I came across. Whats for dinner? Locus

Whiteface Mountain, Upstate New York

I have always wanted to create a panoramic photograph, this is my first one. Two years ago while traveling in upstate New York I took four overlapping landscape shots. I finally got around to putting them together in Adobe Photoshop (tips on how to do it on this web site www.wikihow.com). The individual pictures were shot in aperture priority at f-16, I guess I'll have to try more panoramic shots...Gary

Aquatic Gardens Washington D.C.

The early morning light is just right for macro photography of aquatic plants (also probable no wind blowing the plants around). These pictures were taken starting at 6:40 am untill 8:oo am.I had my tripod in the trunk of my car as well as the timberline boots, and I felt the call of the plants telling me to stop by the Aquatic Gardens as the conditions for photography were ideal. This is some of what I found.

Nikon D-300 lens Tamron 18mm-270mm/ f-22 / ISO 320 / 1/20 sec.

Nikon D-300 lens Tamron 18mm-270mm/ f-25 / ISO 320 / 1/20 sec.

Nikon D-300 lens Tamron 18mm-270mm/ f-20 / ISO 320 / 1/10 sec.

Nikon D-300 lens Tamron 18mm-270mm/ f-7.1 / ISO 320 / 1/200 sec. low f stop blurs background
Dragonfly name: Widow Skimmer  Libellula luctuosa

Nikon D-300 lens Tamron 18mm-270mm/ f-22 / ISO 320 / 1/20 sec. 

All photographs were shot in manual mode except for dragonfly...Gary

My Summer Vaction in Virginia Beach...

I had a chance to travel to Virginia Beach for alittle rest and photography here is what I discovered.

Ok well if you take two pictures that don't quite make it on their own and photoshop them together sometime the end result is better. The background was a sunrise taken from the 8th floor off of a balcony at f-32, ISO 200, and 1/250 sec. Neptune was photographed at f-13, ISO 200, 1/60 sec. Although the direction of light is wrong (Neptune has light on his chest from the wrong direction), I still like the picture.

This Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) was photographed at ISO 320, f-6.3, and 1/125sec.

This Waterlilly photographed at ISO 200, f-22, at 1/60sec.

You can do some great Photographic work at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. They have a butterfly house, a very large rose garden, multiple forest areas and water treatments. A tram carries you around and you can jump off at various spots to enjoy the scenery (it's only 20 minutes from the beach). This pic photographed at ISO 200, f-13, at 1/60sec. 

Atlas Moth

This moth was photographed at Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring Maryland. They can be found anywhere from India to China, Malaysia and the Philippines and can grow up to 11 inches. The common name is the Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas).

Camera Nikon D-300/Lens Tamron 18mm-270mm/1/60 sec. flash/Iso 500/F 9.0

Arizona Mountain

Valerie's brother took use to some really cool places in Arizonia, photographer's always know the best spots to take great pictures if you know any when traveling let them guide you. This picture was taken late in the day at f-16, 1/25 sec. and ISO 200, Camera Nikon D-300  Gary

By Any Other Name

I can almost smell them, what ever color ,I love them.  Camera Nikon D90, I used a 85mm Macro lens Valerie

Arizona Desert

The great thing about knowing other photographers is they can take you to area's that are perfect for you to do some wonderful work in order for you to  round out your portfolio. My wife's brother lives in Arizona and these shots were taken in various state parks he took us to. I mostly shot aperature priorty at F-16 very low ISO and polarizing filter, with a Nikon D-300 and Tamron 18-270mm lens...Gary

Butterflies at Brookside Gardens

Well I finally got to Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring, Maryland where during the sping and summer you can enter the Flight of Fancy butterfly exibit (cost 6 dollars). Shooting butterflies presents some unique problems. They are constantly moving and in order to get high depth of field you need a large f-stop but that might cause a slow shutter speed which will create blur if the butterfly is flapping it's wings. I have found that the answer is to constantly adjust iso (very low to 500) manual or apperature priorty try to stay above f-9. Sometime I have used a flash but the butterflies react to it sometimes. The use of a tripod would be great except it's not allowed in some live butterfly exibits, and in the field sneeking up on a butterfly is hard enough with just your camera in your hand and much harded with a tripod. A monopod never helped me. These pictures were taken with a Nikon D-300 I switched between the tameron 18-270mm lens and a 50mm G nikor lens with close-up filter...Gary

Preakness Hot Air Ballon Festival

Valerie loves to see hot air balloons, she is going for a ride in one this summer.We attended the Hot Air Balloon Festival held at Turf Valley (Maryland) on May 10-12, 2012. It was a beautiful day and as the sun went down the balloons were filled and provided excellent chances for photography.I shot in the manual mode all day with a Nikon D-300/Tameron 18-270mm lens. The shots at dusk were done at a shutterspeed of 1/25 sec.