This week I am having some fun photographing sandpipers at the beach here in Lake Worth, Florida.   This image came about due to a combination of slow shutter speed, intense backlighting/reflection off of the wet sand and a little overexposure.

Nikon D3, 135mm f2.0 lens, set to f16 at 1/40th sec., ISO100.

I noticed some kind of weed or vine on my backyard fence one day.  Although the scene was surrounded by heavy shade from foliage, the lighting effect was changing according to whether the sun was direct or behind clouds.  So I shot the scene during those times when the colors seemed  to pop.

Nikon D3, 60mm micro lens, f6.3, 1/100th sec., ISO200, on tripod.

My attempt at street photography while traveling up north.  And I file it under:  I don’t really know what it means, but I kind of like how it looks.

Nikon D3, 35mm lens at f3.5, 1/1600th sec., ISO400.

Another take from the regatta shoot.  This one shows the sails illuminated by the last light of the day.

Nikon D3, 200-400mm zoom set to 220mm, f4, 1/2500th sec., ISO200.

–Eddie.

While visiting family in Vermont, I got a chance to photograph a Wednesday night regatta with a long lens I was borrowing from one of my brothers.  The 400mm lens was a blast to work with, since I really love the significant visual compression it lends to scenes.  For this one here, I shot with a very narrow aperture and slow shutter speed, while moving the lens a bit in order to end up with some in-camera motion blur.

Nikon D3, 400mm lens length, 1/5 sec., f14, ISO200.

–Eddie.

She takes an incoming call on her birthday.

Tech info:  Nikon D3, 85mm lens at f2.8, 1/200th sec., ISO3200

–Eddie.

After photographing all morning, I stopped for coffee at one of my favorite new age cafes in Lake Worth, Florida.

Tech info:

Nikon D3, 35mm lens set to f3.2, 1/800th sec., ISO800.  Exposure set for the background, with the idea that the subjects/objects in front would be partially in silhouette.

Tech info:

Nikon D3, 135mm f2.0 set to f2.2, at 1/8000th sec., ISO200, monochrome mode.  Direct sunlight was coming from the right, so I asked her to turn her face toward the opposite direction in order to avoid unflattering shadows.

A view of Shelburne Bay, during my recent visit to Vermont, USA.

Tech info:  Nikon D3, 135mm f2.0 lens, set to f5.6, 1/2000th sec., !SO200, black & white mode.

–Eddie.

Tech info:
Nikon D3, 85mm at f2.8, 1/500th sec., ISO400.  Lighting: morning backlight, metered for faces in shade.

After many years of photographing W, it finally came time to make an engagement portrait for her.  She has always been a positive-feedback-lending subject to photograph, so I was eager to capture her with her fiance, M.

I placed them in a garden alley such that there would be sky light in front of them, with heavy vegetation on both their right and left sides.  Putting them in this tunnel-like lighting scenario served to subtract light coming in from either side, making the main illumination come from front, back and overhead.   A reflector was also placed just underneath them mainly in order to produce catchlights in their eyes, while also adding subtle fill.

For me, once the subjects and I have found our way (through little trials and errors during the session) to a pose that feels and looks comfortable and believable, it’s only a matter of trying to illicit an expression that fits.  I was satisfied with these expressions because they showed happiness without being too effusive.

Tech info:  Nikon D3, 85mm lens, set to f2.5, and 1/1250th sec., ISO 800.  Shot in monochrome mode.

–Eddie.

For this image I experimented with *not* using a reflector, which normally would kick some directional light into the subject’s face.  Shooting within a living room setting, with sliding glass doors in back of her serving as the main source of light in the room, the only light falling back into her face was very diffused, reflected off the various walls and objects in front of her.  I like doing little experiments like this because I learn a little bit more about my own preferences.  And here, I learned that I don’t necessarily like this really diffused lighting scenario.  I’d rather be working with a slightly more directional light — say, from a large white reflector in front of the subject.  For one thing, it was difficult in post processing to balance the light in the background with the light on her face.   Bouncing some light into the face would allow the background to be more correctly exposed, and therefore give me more options regarding how it is rendered in post processing.  It would also add some more modeling (soft shadows) to the face, and produce more attractive catchlights in the eyes.  As it was, the catchlights were a bit faint, so I emphasized them in P/P.

Tech info:

Nikon D3, 85mm lens set to f2.2, at 1/250th sec., ISO800.  Background walls were about 10 feet behind her.

–Eddie.