Field Trip

Field Trip

February 16, 2012. Field Trip. A late evening field trip tour is less than enthralled with the made up stories told by a historical re-enactor guide on Saint George Street in Saint Augustine, Florida.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/15. f/2.8. ISO 1600. LR 2.

Bridge of Lions - One Particular Harbor

Bridge of Lions - One Particular Harbor

February 16, 2012. Bridge of Lions/One Particular Harbor.

The Bridge of Lions in Saint Augustine is a Florida landmark. Originally built in 1927, this drawbridge spanning the most charming harbor in Florida was re-built over the past few years to bring it up to modern standards.

I never travel with a tripod. This long-exposure shot was taken from a park bench overlooking the waterfront. I use the lens cap as a wedge to get the correct angle and set the exposure to timer mode to eliminate hand shake.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 15 seconds. f/8.0. ISO 400. LR 2.

Smiles

Smiles

February 4, 2012. Smiles.

Nothing is absolute, but folks in Central Florida tend to be pretty friendly, like this Parrot Head in the Universal Studios parking lot.

My family used to go boating out on the Harris Chain of Lakes northwest of Orlando when I was a little kid. One of the things that I remember most fondly about those trips was that everyone waved hello, from one boat to another, when they would pass in one of the canals. I remember asking my parents why people waved at each other when they were in boats but not when they were in cars.

"It's just the thing you do."

Maybe it's something that everyone should stop and do more often.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/250. f/8.0. ISO 800. LR 2.

Fins to the Right

Fins to the Right

February 4, 2012. Fins to the Right.

If you've ever wondered what became of Gilligan and Captain Morgan, now you know.

A staple of every Jimmy Buffett concert is the song "Fins."

A version of this song is also played when the Miami Dolphins score, which isn't often.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/500. f/8.0. ISO 400. LR 2.

Staring

Staring

February 4, 2012. Staring.

Do you sometimes get the strange feeling that everyone is staring at you?

This guy does.

As you probably guessed, this is a continuation of the Orlando Parrot Heads Jimmy Buffett pre-concert pictures.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/250. f/8.0. ISO 400. LR 2.

Upstream

Upstream

February 4, 2012. Upstream.  A quick photo of a school of Parrot Heads swimming upstream through the crowds at Universal Studios' City Walk for the Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett pre-concert event.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/250. f/8.0. ISO 800. LR 2.

Curious George

Curious George

February 4, 2012. Curious George.

Another in the Jimmy Buffett pre-concert series. Common items at Jimmy Buffett concerts include parrot hats, shark fins, beach balls, flip flops, aloha shirts, and grass skirts.

Inflatable monkeys are a little less common. They are still welcome, though.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/250. f/8.0. ISO 400. LR 2.

The Groove

The Groove

February 4, 2012. The Groove.

The second in my series of shots taken right before the Jimmy Buffett concert in Orlando a few weeks ago. I love the diversity of people and expressions in this shot.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/250. f/8.0. ISO 800. LR 2.

Parrot Head

Parrot Head

February 4, 2012. Parrot Head. Near Margaritaville Orlando.

There are few places on earth better for documenting the strange condition of Floridians than at a Jimmy Buffett concert. The next several blog posts will document the pre-show behavior of a number of these eclectic weekend pirates. I hope you enjoy.

Die hard Jimmy Buffett fans are kind of like Dead Heads, but more beach bum than hippy. Called "Parrot Heads," some of them take the nickname more literally than others.

Jimmy Buffett is to Florida what Celine Dion is to Canada. Most Floridians have at least a little place for him in their hearts, and Mr. Buffett has loved Florida right back. He's been involved in efforts to save the manatees, preserve Florida landmarks, and to clean up the mess caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

Buffett mentions Florida in quite a few of his songs. One of my favorites is "The Bob Roberts Society Band." It reminds me of the Florida that I grew up in and love the best. It still exists in some places, if you look hard enough.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/500. f/8.0. ISO 200. LR 2.

Phone Date

Phone Date

February 3, 2012. Phone Date. A young couple each seem more focused on their phones than on each other on a romantic Friday night in Winter Park, Florida.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/125. f/2.8. ISO 1600. LR 2.

Sting Ray

Sting Ray

February 3, 2012. Sting Ray. A student in a Corvette t-shirt catches up on some quiet reading late one evening at a sidewalk table outside the Park Avenue Starbucks in Winter Park, Florida.

I typically avoid ISO 3200 on the Leica X1 due to how noisy it gets. This was shot on an exceptionally dark evening, so I decided to break with my normal pattern of shooting 1600 or slower.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/125. f/2.8. ISO 3200. LR 2.

Three Masks

Three Masks

February 4, 2012. Three Masks. Located right across from the new Amway Center, where the Orlando Magic play, the Three Masks African art store is one of the notable changes in the Parramore/West Church Street neighborhood, where construction of the new, redundant arena has given a jolt to local business opportunities when multimillionaire NBA players aren't on strike.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/500. f/8.0. ISO 200. LR 2.

Colony Theater

Colony Theater

February 3, 2012. Colony Theater. Winter Park, Florida.

From 1939 to 1975, the Art Deco Colony Theater was an active theater and one of the hot entertainment spots for Orlando area residents.

Now, it's Pottery Barn #431, just a short walk from The Gap.

Leica X1. 24.0 mm. 1/60. f/2.8. ISO 1600. LR 2.

Learning Photography and Your Camera's Settings, One Step at a Time.

I've found that a lot of folks really want to learn photography as a hobby, but they just don't know where to start. This step-by-step roadmap will help you to learn how your camera and its settings work. Hopefully, you will find it fun and easy!

Learning Photography and Your Camera's Settings, One Step at a Time:

• Start in point and shoot mode, and get used to framing subjects well without having to crop later. (Rule of thirds, golden triangle, golden spirals, etc...). Google these terms and read up on them. You'll see plenty of examples online.
• Next, pick an ISO setting and stick with it while you shoot. In film days, you had to do this, and it changed how you composed shots quite a bit. It's still good learning. I'd recommend shooting 100 or 200 ISO outdoors under a variety of light conditions, and start to see how it affects your shots.
• Next, keep it at that ISO and shoot in Aperture Priority mode. If you haven't already, learn what an f-stop is, what it does to depth of field, and what bokeh is. Then experiment around with your lowest f-stop setting, then f-8, and then f-11 to 16 taking some outdoor portraits of people or close objets with some space behind them and background objects. (If I am in a rush, I still shoot in aperture priority mode, usually with my f-stop cranked as low as it will go.)
• After you've mastered that, shoot Shutter Priority Mode. NOTE: At first, your lowest hand-held shutter speed on a DSLR will probably be around 1/60 a second. If your lens or body uses image stabilization, you can probably go a bit lower still. Get used to shooting stationary objects using this shutter speed without shaking your hand at all. Try to go down to 1/30 of a second, and then even lower without moving your hand and without a tripod. Train your hands not to move the camera at all until after the shot is completely done. Next, take pictures of moving objects at 1/60, 1/90, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, etc... Notice what it does to your aperture (f-stop) setting. Notice how it affects how your focal object looks. Try some pictures of falling or dripping water from a fountain, waterfall, or spigot at these settings. You'll see huge differences.
• Try different ISO settings indoors, in a dark room at night, keeping the rest of your camera's settings the same. When you download the photos to your computer, notice the differences in file sizes at each ISO and noise (graniness) as the ISO increases. Learn where your camera starts showing noise that looks "bad" to you.
• Now that you're used to the limits of your camera/lens combo and your own abilities, put them all together by shooting full manual. You'll have to get used to setting aperture, shutter, and ISO yourself. You make the calls. It will be slow at first, but you'll get faster and faster, and you'll get better at fine-tuning your shots in camera. Shooting at absolute limits in terms of ISO, f-stop, and shutter speed when you are first learning gives you total control over your camera later. You often won't shoot at absolute limits later, but then you have full freedom of knowing where the limits are and using these to create the image you want.
• Finally, do some reading online on EV (exposure value), and how ISO, f-stop, and shutter speed work together. Read up on what a histogram is, how to read one while you are shooting, and how to use under/over exposing images in camera so that nothing clips out (washes out) when you are shooting a range of dark shadows and brightly lit objects and sky.
• Start looking at the work of photographers that you like, and then learn what they do to make their compositions great. They usually have mastery over their settings, but great settings don't make a great photographer. Imitate the things you like, and make your own style. Don't just become an imitation of someone else.
• Now that you have your own style, which takes a while, look at your equipment and see if it is suited for the style that you want to shoot. The style you want to shoot, along with a knowledge of how everything works together in the camera, will make it much easier in the future as you start to buy more lenses and bodies in the future. Given the choice between upgrading your lens or upgrading your body, typically go with the lens. You'll have the lenses for life, the bodies for only a few years. The lenses are what lock you into shooting Nikon or Canon or some other body in the future, so make sure you're happy with the body that you are using before you spend a bunch on glass. You are somewhat marrying yourself to that manufacturer's future, unseen cameras once you start investing in lenses.
• Have fun. If it isn't fun, it's not worth doing!

I hope these suggestions help, and I look forward to seeing your shots over the next several months!

Bird Dogs

Bird Dogs

2010. Exact date unknown. Bird Dogs. Near Clermont, Florida, on the west side of Orlando.

On the same hunting trip/photo walk mentioned in yesterday's post, I took this picture of a hunter recovering a downed quail from his German Shorthaired Pointer.

This shot was a key moment in learning photography for me. Something about how the action of the dogs extended off of the frame (this photo scan is uncropped) helped me to appreciate the power of an incomplete picture. I also love how it captured the loving relationship between dog and master.

Pentax ZX-7 35mm Kodak Gold film, ISO 200, unknown settings. Print scanned using a Kodak Photo Scanner model s1220. Scanned photo had mild processing done in LR 2.

On Point

On Point

2000. Exact date unknown. On Point. Taken somewhere just west of Orlando, probably Clermont, Florida.

Back in 2000, I had the opportunity to go quail hunting with a bird dog trainer, a friend, several English Setters, and a German Shorthaired Pointer. Not having a shotgun, I decided to shoot film instead of shooting bird shot. Few photo walks have been as relaxing as this one was.

These shots were taken on my Pentax student camera when I was first starting to learn photography and were scanned by E-Z Photo Scan in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Pentax ZX-7 35mm Kodak Gold film, ISO 200, unknown settings. Print scanned using a Kodak s1220 Photo Scanner. Scanned photo had mild processing done in LR 2.

Devil's Millhopper - Photo Scan

Devil's Millhopper - Photo Scan

November 26, 2003. Devil's Millhopper, near Gainesville, Florida.

Going through some of my old photos that I had scanned a couple years ago, I came across this shot taken almost a decade ago at Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park near Gainesville, Florida.

The Devil's Millhopper is a deep sinkhole a couple hours north of Orlando. It's not on many tourist maps, but it should be.  The special conditions here give it a rainforest appearance year-round, and it hosts some unusual plant species that aren't normally found in Florida.

It's not a street shot, and it's not a particularly clear shot. It does make me want to go back to the Millhopper to shoot again sometime soon, and it makes me appreciate just how much I learned using that old Pentax ZX-7 film camera, not knowing whether my shot was good until I got my prints back from the lab.

Pentax ZX-7 35mm film, unknown settings. Print scanned using a Kodak s1220 Photo Scanner. Scanned photo had mild processing done in LR 2 to compensate for fading over time.