Monday, May 31, 2010

Textures


Seaside, originally uploaded by Cocoabiscuit.

When composing a photo, consider how different textures might add interest to the photo. In this photo, Seaside, taken in the pool area of the Gallows Point complex in Cruz Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands, there are a variety of textures. There is the smoothness of the palms and the cotton candy sky, the shiny metal of the chairs, the backs of the chairs that are semi-transparent so that you can see yet another texture behind it, and the choppy texture of the water (both of the ocean beyond and of the small area of pool in the foreground).
This photo was taken with an infrared converted Nikon D70, mounted on a tripod to get the maximal depth of field, f 18 and a shutter speed of 1/80 sec. The image was then processed in Photomatix to givea high dynamic range (HDR) image to mimimize the differences in lighting in the various areas of the shot.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Swim With the Fishes


Swim with the Fishes, originally uploaded by Cocoabiscuit.

Somehow, still images just didn't capture the rhythm of this school of fish as they swam along the reef.
These photos were taken with an Olympus Tough, a point and shoot camera for up to 15 feet deep. I took a combination of still and video and unfortunately left the power cable home, so these will be the only pictures from this camera. Luckily I have a back up camera assuming there are no more equipment malfunctions (or packing malfunctions rather).
I'm still working on figuring out how to best take underwater pictures, so stay tuned.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Worth the mosquito bites?


Gallows Gazebo, originally uploaded by Cocoabiscuit.

Often times there's a moment when the rest of the world fades away. This moment with the sun setting behind this gazebo was so ethereal that I unfortunately did not notice the swarm of mosquitos that had landed on my legs. Oh well, it was worth it.
This shot, Gallows Gazebo was taken at Gallows Point on St. John, US Virgin Islands. The view is looking over Cruz Bay at the British Virgin Islands.
I shot it on manual settings of 1/6 sec, f10, ISO 400 (on a tripod) with my Nikon D300. Then I processed it with a little bit of HDR in Photomatix to bring out the colors of the sunset but also still have some detail in the gazebo.