Sunset at the George Washington Bridge

This was a simple iPhone shot on our way across the George Washington Bridge, from New York City to northern New Jersey, where we live.  Then I ran it through HDR software and it really popped.  September 13, 2014.

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Christmas Tree Light Trail

Christmas tree lights making their way up to the tree.  First year in the front window.  Looking good!

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Photos - Backyard fruit and flowers

Just out in the yard over the weekend .. We got our first crop of wild raspberries and they were delicious!  And the Rose of Sharon bushes are in full bloom.  Most shot with Nikon D7000 and 18-70mm lens with either a +4 or +10 Vivitar macro filter. Here are a few images .. Click on any image to enlarge. Use "X" to return to post.

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More Nature by Nikon photos

As the four weeks of my current PPSOP class with Kathleen Clemons called "Fine Art Nature Photography", I'm picking up more and more beautiful techniques.  Although Kathleen's favorite subject matter is flowers and intimate landscapes, I hope to apply some of these techniques to my event work.  I always want to offer my clients something more than they can get from any other photographer.  This can come in the form of personal service, fast turnaround, and in this case, their familiar surroundings seen in a very different way.  For now, here are a few shots taken for class assignments.  Just one more week to go!  Happily, there are three more levels of this class.  I hope to take the next level later this summer.  (Click on any image to enlarge):

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Nature by Nikon .. Continued

Here I am at week 3 of my Fine Art Nature Photography class with Kathleen Clemons at PPSOP.com.  We're learning to do mirrored images in CS and in PSE.  We're also experimenting with the Orton Method a/k/a sandwiching.  Here are a couple of my images:

Cicada .. Intentionally shallow depth of field using Vivitar Macro +10 filter.  Applied dry brush effect and flattened image. 

Doubly mirrored, panned image.  Mirrored first image horizontally, then used that image and mirrored it vertically.

 Applied sprayed strokes effect.  Started to clean up the water using the clone tool and decided to keep going for an implied waterline and a more graphic effect.

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Nature by Nikon

My stained glass work has taken the front seat for the past few months .. See my glass blog, click here .. I've got about 2,000 images still to edit from our Montana-Washington trip back in May.  I'll get to those.  In the meantime, I'm taking another wonderful PPSOP.com course entitled Fine Art Nature Photography, taught online by Kathleen Clemons.  Here are some of my images from the first two weeks of class.  All were taken with my Nikon D7000, my 18-105 lens and various strengths of Vivitar macro filters.

 Inside a blooming magnolia flower.

Cicadas, Brood II, northern NJ

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Early Spring moon ..

We watched "Contact" last night with Jodi Foster .. An awesome movie.  Just before turning off the lights and going upstairs, something drew me to the front porch .. this moon, two nights after full, with a ring around it.  I took dozens of photos as the clouds raced across the sky.  Here are a few of them, shot with my Nikon D700 and Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8 VRII lens.

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Photography After Dark - PPSOP.com class

More images from PPSOP.com's online "Photography After Dark" class with Kevin Adams.  Great techniques, fun results.  Check it out! 

Pointing LED MagLight directly at the camera, writing in mid air!

Two Glow Sticks tied together in the shape of an "X', with string.  Move around in front of the camera.  Expose for 20 seconds.  Repeat again and again .. Fun!

Sixteen degree night on a pedestrian overpass just after sunset.

Skinny Glow Sticks moved in front of the camera = Colorful patterns.

Full moon illumination on an old barn.

Full moon rising over Manhattan.

Mighty oak in the moonight.

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Painting with Light

Here's a couple of photos taken for this week's PPSOP.com "Photography at Night" online class.  Topic: Painting with Light.  Always fun to try new techniques and see how the camera reacts.  Keeps it fresh.

To view my NEWLY REVISED website, click here .. and to become a fan of my FaceBook photography page, please visit here.  Thank you!

Twilight Photography

When my photography work slows down each winter, I take an online course through PPSOP, the Perfect Picture School of Photography.  I highly recommend their format and assignments.  The site was founded by author Bryan Peterson, author of Understanding Exposure and other "must have" photography books.  Click here to see courses. 

I'm now taking "Photography After Dark", taught by Kevin Adams and Donna Easton. This first week we studied how to capture images in the 15-20 minute window of time just after the sun goes down. I love the inky blue skies!  These were taken at the Ridgewood NJ train station on Monday evening with my Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-105mm lens and tripod.

 ISO 200, f/11 @ 1/3s

ISO 800, f/5.6 @ .5s

Three more weeks to go .. Can't wait to see what we'll be doing next.  To view my NEWLY REVISED website, click here .. and to become a fan of my FaceBook photography page, please visit here.  Thank you!

Artsy experimental photos

Sometimes its fun to just see what will happen .. A couple of shots taken for a recent PPSOP.com class.

Dropping an orange slice into a vase of water and using flash to freeze the action.

Tracking the trail of light coming from an electric yo-yo using rear curtain sync.

 Exercises courtesy of PPSOP.com .. a great online learning resource for slow times and when you need some inspiration.  Five stars, highly recommended.

Visit my newly designed website .. Click on left photo on home page, Proof Positive Photography. 

Homage to photographer Tim Walker

On July 5, 2010, The New Yorker Magazine published this wonderful photo by Tim Walker, former assistant to fashion photographer Richard Avedon. I kept it in my archives, hoping one day to mimic his technique. Here's the shot, entitled "The Dress/Lamp Tree", taken in England in 2002. And here's his website.

And here's my homage, shot with my D300s and 18-70 mm lens. I shot about half an hour after sunset, on aperture priority to pick up the color of the sky. I used a 2-flash set up.  The first was an SB-700 mounted to my camera and set to 1/32, angled away from the subject. The second flash, an old Morris midi slave, was hidden inside the blouse, suspended from the hanger.  The string was removed in post.