Before The Coffee

SilverFalls State Park, Oregon

Ferrell — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 03:09:53 +0000

Sometimes subtle tones and mood of a single image outweigh the bang of the HDR image, there I said it. My routine is to shoot HDR image sets then decide later what I like best, the single image, single/HDR blend or “full-tilt” HDR. As landscape photographers say “be there and be prepared” as in, 5am and with your best camera. Add another and make it a three-some, be open-minded. So here it is, BE THERE, BE PREPARED AND BE OPEN-MINDED, sorry I’m not really yelling this.

Aventura Florida sunrise

Ferrell — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:42:34 +0000

23rd floor sunrise with coffee. Taken with D3, HDR pano, 2 image sets. This was processed in the lesser used module of Photomatix called Fusion.

Florida, Miami

Ferrell — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:57:47 +0000

When you fly in february from the cold state of Maryland to south Florida it’s very apparent that latitude matters. Forget the obvious, warm temperatures, shorts and t-shirts but damn those skies are something to appreciate. The low humidity and cumulus clouds make for some photogenic scenes. I settled into my brothers high rise condo and looked over the balcony in a strong wind and immediately felt light headed. “Ok, Kenny, you have an awesome view here, I can’t wait to shoot this at sunrise.” Give me a drink, I want to toast the awesomeness of this place.

It's hard to appreciate a pano that's a small image. But I'm posting my limit here. The full res image is made from 6 pics taken with the Nikon 1 V1 and is about 8500px.

Bermuda Shoreline

Ferrell — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:46:08 +0000

Bermuda during a turbulent morning, the waters were stirring and the sky was on fire.

Multnomah Falls

Ferrell — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:31:30 +0000

Multnomah Falls near Portland Oregon is a must see but getting an original vantage point is not so easy. The hike to the falls stops in a circular area where everyone takes a picture, so why not, when in Rome do as the Romans. I took about 50 shots of the falls all within a 10 foot section of metal railing, hmmm not sure why I got carried away with shooting so much but the falls are pretty spectacular. I wanted to jump the railing and go further down but you know those park rangers can get mean. It was fun, we never walked to the bridge but of course that’s an option if you feel energetic. Oh, there was a bride and groom there with their photographer so you know it had to be a good place to go for pictures.

Merry Christmas

Ferrell — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:36:29 +0000

This was taken with the new Nikon 1 V1. It’s a great little grab and go camera that’s light and fast. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Portland, Oregon

Ferrell — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:27:11 +0000

A very cool sunset spot in Portland along the Esplanade. Not only is it a great view of the city but you can scamper back and forth along the railing for some cool compositions. This pano is made from 3 images stitched together in PS. There was enough foreground and background light that I could get enough range with single images. But these are the +2EV images because the camera was responding to the bright sidewalk lights – you can see that in the EXIF data.

This pano is made from 3 single images +2EV stitched together in PS.

This pano is made from 3 HDR images stitched together in PS.

Motocross

Ferrell — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:27:15 +0000

I love shooting sports, in particular Motocross simply for the reason in my younger years I lived to race motocross. Now a bit older I’m taking a new approach to being part of the sport, getting the camera and finding inspirational shots. One thing I can say is that after spending years shooting landscape, not only do I look for the action but I also look at the light. These pics were published in the leading motocross magazine, Racer X.

This particular event is called the ProAm and was held at Budd’s Creek, Maryland. It’s where semi-pros compete to earn enough points to race professionally. Even the mini’s got to ride at the end of the day, and as you can see, the light was very nice!

The pics with the sunlight through the bike were taken using Hi-speed sync fill flash, the shutter speed was 1/1250 sec. I also got out the 14mm – 24mm f2.8 which certainly adds to my excitement as a photographer – I have to get within two feet of the bike to get anything that’s close to full frame. Most of the time I don’t even look through the lens, see the 3rd pic (rider #285) and the last pic (rider #559). Most of the time I’m using the 70mm – 200mm f2.8. It’s a great lens but it doesn’t stop me from wanting the 300mm f2.8 lens, only about $5800.

Bermuda, Stonehole Bay

Ferrell — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:40:39 +0000

I came across a 5 image set taken at Stonehole Bay in Bermuda that I decided to give HDR a chance. I was pleasantly surprised even to the degree that I made this my new desktop pic. I rarely revisit folders, once I’m done processing my favorite shots I move on to future shooting ideas. This is a lesson learned, visit those old folders and see if anything jumps out that you didn’t see the first time.

11:11am on 11/11/11

Ferrell — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:46:38 +0000

This is what you do when you’re bored at work, you run out at 11:11am on 11/11/11 and take as many shots as you can in one minute. There wasn’t a whole lot to work with but I did like the yellow leaves against the blue sky and puffy white clouds. As I was heading back in I caught my reflection in the glass.