Category: Photography

Statue of Liberty

May 30, 2019
Architectural PhotographyCanondigitalExpectationsPhotography

I recently went to the Statue of Liberty while in New York. While it was a cold and blustery day with dark skies overhead it is always a compelling place to visit knowing that millions of people had their first glimpse of Lady Liberty as they came to this nation. I did not know what kind of shots I would get on a day like this but found closeups of the statue more compelling than further ones. While I did not have a lens longer than 105mm it was long enough to get in close enough. Had I carried my 28-300mm with me I would have been able to get even closer for interesting detail shots. Next time I won’t worry about the weight.

To me Lady Liberty stands for our nation, or at least for what I believe our nation is. One of welcoming all, caring about all, working with other nations to fix problems from climate change to nations with health, food, and education issues. We are a nation for good. Or at least we used to be. Currently some folks want to go back to an isolationist idea, turning our backs on the world. Maybe that is why I like the image from the back of Lady Liberty so much – it represents where I think some people in this country think we need to be. I disagree wholeheartedly. In many ways it is a sad image. From the front it sends the idea we still accept what the Statue of Liberty stands for – Liberty for All.

As for the images, much like Ansel Adams taught photographers, see your image before you click the shutter, know the exposure and what filters you need to get the tones you want in a black & white image. In my case I knew I would darken the sky and lighten Lady Liberty to bring out the contrast I imagined on such a gray day. It is easier with today’s digital imaging to know before hand what you want it to look like and then make it happen in the digital darkroom. Although maybe not as fun as watching a print come to life in the developer.

And the big plus is shooting in digital you get both a color and B&W version of the image! Sometimes it is very hard to decide which you like better! You go with a perceived idea and come back with some unexpected images you may like better.

Enjoy,

Richard

#richardmackphoto #NewYork #StatueofLiberty #Canon #Canon5DMarkIV #NPS

Sleeping Bear Dunes

June 21, 2014
Fine Art PrintsGreat Lakes ProjectLake MichiganNational ParksPhotographyQuiet Light PublishingRichard MackRichard Mack PhotographyRichard Mack's BlogSleeping Bear DunesThe Sweetwater Seas

Last week I had the pleasure of working in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with George Elder as part of our Great Lakes Project The Sweetwater Seas a documentary on all five of the Great Lakes and their beauty and environmental issues and how we use these lakes.

We went to Sleeping Bear because it is not one of the most beautiful places on the Great Lakes it is one of two dunes which lay on bedrock so they have become tall and do not naturally sink back into the lakes. The other is the Au Sable Dunes on Lake Superior. We also went to shoot the story about of the US Fish & Wildlife and National Park Service has worked together to bring the Piping Plover back from near extinction to a growing group of birds. These tiny shorebirds nest right on the beach and continue to come back to the same areas they were born in. At one time they were down to about 7 pairs and are currently up to around 70 pairs. We were fortunate to have Vince Cavalieri and Sue Jennings work with us. While we thought we might be able to see some parents sitting on their eggs they had all hatched the few days before we got there. But we were able to photograph and videotape hatchlings only a few days old along with their parents running along the beach. They are quick little birds so it took a lot to keep them in the frame! Especially as I was using a Canon 500mm lens, sometimes with a 2x convertor to make it 1000mm!

The dunes themselves gave us a look at the beauty found in Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. Sunsets along the north shore of Michigan were stunning with clouds and fog giving us stunning views and clouds to capture on film and a background to show how people enjoy these places.

To see more of the still images I shot you can use this link: www.mackphoto.com/BlogImages/SleepingBear Fine Art Prints will be available soon in the Quiet Light Publishing shop!

Cheers,

Richard

 

Expanding Your Creative Mind… Make it a New Year’s Resolution?

December 28, 2013
ExpectationsGreat Lakes ProjectLake MichiganLighthouse BeachPhotographyRichard Mack Photographywinter

This morning I just had to get out and see what the lakefront looked like today. Of course the fact that it is sunny and warm had a lot to do with it, but more importantly I felt I just had to get down and see what kind of images I could make. How creative I could be and how I might be able to do something different than I usually shoot. The urge to photograph pushed me out the door. To see more from my shoot today use this link: https://www.mackphoto.com/BlogImages/LighthouseBeachWinter/

I’ve talked before about creative thinking and making sure you “move outside your box” when shooting. Get lower, higher, tighter, wider, details, entire landscapes with lots of sky – all of it. Yet we tend to shoot the way we shoot. I have had the pleasure of being on location with another photographer a lot lately. One who does not think or see the way I do. It is a pleasure to watch how she moves and sees the same place I do. We come back with very different images. While I like what I shoot, there are many I look at from her and say, wow, wish I had thought of that, you see the world in such a different way. We can discover the same effect by looking at other peoples work online. A lot of people influence us as photographers. We see their way of seeing. Some do this for a living, many do not, yet they seem to have an eye for composition and a way of seeing the world.

Now when I shoot, especially some place like Lighthouse Beach, as I have shot it more times than I can count, I think of how others might approach this place. I am sure if I was shooting with someone else we would certainly come away with very different images, but it is that way of seeing, your way, my way, which sets us apart as storytellers. We take each other’s work into account and adapt it to our own style.

Today I was thinking not so much of the grand openness of the landscape but of the details which would show what the shoreline looked like. How the ice and snow had piled up and looking at the connection between the lake and the ice. That line in the sand if you will. I was also fascinated by how many people were down there looking at the lakefront as well. Many climbing to the edge to peer over and see what the intersection of water and ice looked like.

One interesting observation was the old pier at the north end had been almost completely obliterated by the sand and ice. Is the sand higher because the water level is lower or has the ice just pushed the sand up and over it? Here are two images, one from a few summers ago and one from today.

To see more from my shoot today use this link: https://www.mackphoto.com/BlogImages/LighthouseBeachWinter/

Will any of these make it into my Great Lakes Project? Never know until it is finished. And might I add the working title has changed to Sweetwater Seas from Twenty|Ninety-Five. Go ahead and guess as to the meaning for each of these working titles…go ahead and make a comment below – will be interesting to see everyone’s ideas. It will look at all five Great Lakes and how we as mankind have had an effect on them only in the last 200 years even though we have been living along them for thousands of years.

My other goal for this coming year is to really get back to working on this project and hopefully have it 95% shot by the end of the year. A big task and a lofty goal but if you don’t set your goals high what are you shooting for?

I hope you all have a great 2014! Let’s see our world slightly differently this year and yet put our own style in our storytelling.

Here is to a great 2014!

Happy New Year,

Richard

 

Fall Foliage Photography Tips

September 28, 2011
FallPhotographyRichard Mack Photography

With the advent of Fall being upon us and the trees quickly turning to their bright colors I thought I would share some of my thoughts on what I think about when trying to capture the glorious colors of fall. First of all let’s look at some of the equipment which is a must have for fall foliage. Here is what I always use, a great circular polarizer to knock down reflections and bring out the colors. This is a must for fall, although I confess to having it on my lenses almost all of the time for these same reasons – it knocks down the reflections on everything from a blade of grass to the fall leaves you are trying to capture letting their color show through. And as everyone knows it will also bring out the blue in the sky if you are 90˚ to the sun. I also carry a 3 stop neutral density filter to slow down the shutter speed, great for capturing water in motion. And of course a sturdy tripod with ballhead and cable release. As for file types I always shoot RAW files because they offer the widest range of adjustments in post processing and enable you to adjust things to what you envisioned when you clicked the shutter release.

With the equipment out of the way let’s look at what to shoot. Everyone thinks of groups of trees or mountain scenes with the hillsides full of color, all great and I’ve done plenty of them. But you can also include a pathway, roadway, fence rails, old cabins or rivers, as well in the composition.

And don’t forget to look at details, of rocks with leaves on them, reflections on the water where you see nothing but the reflected light, or a combination of reflections and an interesting form like a tree trunk or rocks. Start thinking outside the normal shots of scenes we’ve seen before.

Sunny days bring out the bold colors and you can work almost every hour of the day as you play with backlighting and edge lighting between the glowing light of sunrise and sunset. Rainy and overcast days bring out colors in a soft and muted way which cannot be achieved on a bright sunny day. The giant softbox provided by Mother Nature on these days allows the colors you are trying to capture to flow through with great saturation in the soft light and without the distractions of shadows. On days like these you can often crop out the sky, or at least keep it to a minimum and focus on the land. Detail shots are especially great on foggy or overcast and rainy days. Plus you may find small drops of water to play with in your compositions! Don’t let the cold, wet weather keep you inside – these are hero days!

 

Exposures should be checked in the Histogram and for added safety check the individual color Histogram’s to make sure you don’t clip the bright reds or yellows if those are the colors you are trying to capture. For most scenes an average meter is fine but sometimes it might be beneficial to switch to the spot meter. For either check the Histogram while viewing the images.

Remember, everything seems to have been photographed these days – it is your vision which will set you apart from the crowd. Get down low, up high, delve into the details, or use a wide angle lens to show a big open image. Fall is what you make of it so get out there and enjoy it!

To see additional images use this link: Fall Images

You can leave me comments or questions there or also on my Facebook Page.

Happy Fall!

Richard Mack