Heron at Sunset

Heron at Sunset, originally uploaded by the patter.

This heron was in a pond where I work. Well, I mean I don't work in the pond...it's on some land my employer owns. So I grabbed my 28-300mm lens - on another day I might have grabbed my ancient 300mm 5.6 manual prime. But lately I've been experimenting to see what I can get out of my lenses in different situations.

Anyway, I was half expecting to only get one frame, if that, before the thing flew away. Instead, I was able to shoot quite a few frames in t

hree different positions. This is a good example of how moving a few feet from your original position can completely change the image. Below are a couple of shots from the first two locations. The one at the top of this post is my favorite, which came out of the third (and final) position I used.

In the first couple of shots, I could tell the setting sun was giving me some nice reds and oranges where you wouldn't normally see them, but it wasn't until I moved to the final spot with the heron being back-lit by the sunset that I was really happy with the shot. So if you have the opportunity, keep moving and looking for ways to improve the shot!

Nikon ViewNX v1.2.0 Released

Nikon has an update to ViewNX, v1.2.0. You can find the product here:
Nikon ViewNX

ViewNX is a free software utility which lets Nikon users do some RAW processing, file conversions, etc. It has become a key piece of my RAW workflow in recent months.

You can read my earlier review on it here:
ViewNX - March 08

Columbus International Festival - Taiko

International Festival - Taiko, originally uploaded by the patter.

Earlier this month the Kirkersville Honors Taiko group performed at the Columbus International Festival in Columbus, Ohio. The group consists of students from Kirkersville Elementary School and Watkins Middle School. The drumming is very dramatic, it's movements filled with symbolism.

The kids are dedicated and do a great job thanks to the direction of their instructor, Mrs. Ungericht.

Before our group took the stage, a dance group was performing. There was an old lady in the audience who was truly enjoying the music. When the dance group invited everyone to join in the dancing, she was immediately on the dance floor. You can see from the images below how much she was enjoying herself. Here is an example of living life to its fullest!

I shot the event with existing light using 50mm and 135mm lenses.

Blue Sunset

Blue Sunset, originally uploaded by the patter.

As I drove home from work one evening, I saw the sun setting over a nearby field. The sky had an unusual purple quality to it. Just a couple of minutes down the road I came to the farm house, which sits on the corner of the small road you see in the photo. Turning down that road, I saw the image I wanted. I pulled over, got out and grabbed a couple of frames. By now the purple was not nearly as intense as it had been, but it was still beautiful.

But the final image was a bit dull compared to the moments before I could get to this location. So I brought back some of the color intensity by adjusting the white balance.

Barred Owl

Barred Owl, originally uploaded by the patter.

I'm lucky I even got this shot. But I did back the car up to check out the strange shape at the top of the small tree. When I realized it was an owl, I backed the car even further, just out of sight of the owl. I grabbed my gear (I had a 135mm manual telephoto on the camera at the time), added a 2x teleconverter, and walked back to where the owl was.

I managed to grab several frames before it flew off. The morning light was still fairly dim, so the shot is not as sharp as I would have liked. Sometimes you take what you can get and feel blessed to have been a witness at all!

I've seen the owl on that same tree a couple times since, but have not had any luck improving on this shot. But I will keep trying...

A Fly Flew By

Remember the scene in 'Karate Kid' where the student tops the master by catching a fly with chopsticks - something the master had never accomplished after years of trying? Is this shot the same sort of thing? A happy accident where the fly flew into focus at the precise moment? Not exactly, and the Flickr description is far-fetched...click on the photo to jump to the Flickr image.

Some Recent Images

It's been a busy summer and though I've shot a lot, I haven't posted any of it here. In fact, I have a lot of processing to catch up on.

In the meantime, I thought I would start posting a link to some of my favorite shots as I get them processed. So here is the first installment. The Green Heron capture is from a pond where I work. I found the tree frog in my yard this past weekend (before hurricane Ike blew through). The same goes for the toadstools. Click the image to go to the slideshow.

Close Encounter with a Red-Tailed Hawk

This encounter is the closest I have ever been to a Red-Tailed Hawk and the best view I've had of one eating. I was walking on the same trail where I have had a couple of other close encounters. This time I was really fortunate to even have noticed it because it was basically at ground level on a log, surrounded by an environment that it blended into very well. The truth is, I don't remember if it was a sound or the shape of the bird that I detected first. All I know is in an instant, I was aware that the hawk was just up the trail.

I started shooting and cautiously moved forward. I could see that it was eating something and that whatever it had was a fairly good sized meal. After shooting only for a minute or so, I heard voices coming down the trail from the other direction. I figured my time was about up with the hawk as I snapped a few shots. Instead, the hawk watched them carefully, apparently unwilling to leave its meal. The people walked by unaware of the hawk, but stopped to speak to me. By now I was changing cards, as I had filled up the space I had available on the first one. After a brief conversation, I moved up closer to the hawk since it was not ready to fly off.

Eventually I was able to move up the hill so that I was shooting down toward the hawk. Several more hikers passed me, some noticing the hawk I was shooting, others ignoring me altogether and not seeing the hawk. I was pretty close by now. As close as I would dare to get to an animal while it was eating and closer than I had ever hoped I could get. I was quickly running out of time and would have to leave soon, when I heard another hawk. This was the angry call that I heard last spring when I saw some fledglings and the parents were not too happy about the hikers who were walking through the area.

At the time, I was not sure if the cry was directed at me or the dining hawk. I soon realized it was directed at the hawk, because as I headed back up the trail to my car I saw three Red-Tailed Hawks swooping after each other and calling that same call. It was a battle over territory, and not a beef with the photographer.

New Art Director

These four shots are my son's idea. I was shooting his portrait when he said, "Hey Dad, wouldn't it be funny if I..." and proceeded with all four poses.

I didn't give him any direction once he started. He even managed to put his right foot forward in all four shots - not bad for an 'almost 6 year-old'!

Summer Afternoon By the Creek

This is an image I happened on while walking a trail at a MetroPark last year. Some kids were walking in the stream that runs through the park and had left their shoes next to the water. The sun was just making it through all the leaves and illuminating the shoes.

I shot a couple of frames and moved on. Every once in a while I think of this shot, so I finally did something with it. To me, this shot says 'summer'. You just know there are barefoot kids around there somewhere enjoying the warm day and the cool water.

Drive By - The Water Balloon

This is another example of why I carry my camera with me as much as possible. I shot these images about a year and a half ago on my way to work one morning. I saw the balloon ahead descending into the reservoir...I jumped out of my car and ran to the water's edge and got these shots.

Nikon's ViewNX

I recently discovered that Nikon now has a software product called View NX. It appears they added this product in October, and in my opinion it fills a major gap in the consumer level RAW workflow. At least for Nikon shooters. If you shoot RAW the most painful part of the workflow is the conversion from RAW to some other format. And if you have to adjust anything - say, white balance - it can become really painful. If you use Photoshop Elements, it becomes really daunting because you have to view and edit each image, one by one. There may be some short cuts, but they only lessen the pain a little.

Enter ViewNX. It is a RAW viewer and a companion product to CaptureNX. Best of all, it is a free download from Nikon's site. They have a Mac and PC version. (I just checked the new version of their site and it is not easy to find the download now, so you need the link above.) ViewNX lets you view your .NEF files in thumbnail format. It has basic controls that let you adjust white-balance and exposure compensation while viewing the thumbnail, or you can launch a utility to do some fine tuning.

What makes this so great is that you can see all of your .NEF files at once and make basic compensations right there. You can select more than one image, make an adjustment and it is applied to all selected. Then, when you are satisfied with your files, you can select multiple files and convert them to .jpg or .tiff format. That's right, you can batch process your RAW files and you don't have to spend a dime to do it.

Now this product won't compete with Lightroom and the likes. But it beats the other free RAW processors that I've run across hands down and definitely a time saver for any basic Nikon workflow.

About My Hawk Photos

NOTE: I thought I'd cover some of my favorite hawk photos and how I got the shots. This first one is not the earliest encounter, but it was the first in a series I've gotten in the same section of woods in a Columbus MetroPark.

I ran across this hawk while I was walking a trail in a nearby MetroPark. I saw movement across the trail ahead of me and immediately realized it was a hawk. I could tell it was carrying something. The most amazing thing was that it landed on a branch nearby, hardly taking any notice of me at all! I had to move a bit to get a decent view of him and while I was carefully moving over, he ate his lunch, probably a garter snake.

Since he was sitting still and so close by, I decided to try to get my flash out, and grab a few shots with some decent lighting. Before I could really get set up though, he had taken off to another location that was still visible to me. While I kept an eye on him, I finished setting up my lighting gear. I had my Vivitar 285HV on a light stand, triggered by my "eBay" slaves. The hawk's new location was atop a thin, dead tree at the bottom of a ravine. I made a fairly easy decent halfway down the hillside to a location that was somewhat shielded by trees. I set the light stand against a tree and aimed it at the hawk.

The day was overcast enough that the flash did make a difference. I fired a few shots from this location and then decided to venture further down the ravine. The Red-Tailed Hawk kept an eye on me, but didn't seem to mind my presence too much. I probably had a good fifteen minutes of shooting, moving further down, shooting some more. Finally I decided that if I was going to get a better shot, I was going to have to go back up the hill to get my light stand and move it closer, back down the hill. I did just that and even managed to get a few more shots before the hawk took off for a remote section of the woods.

You can see more of my hawk photos at PatterPhotography.com

Monstrosity Discovered in Granville

The small-town community of Granville is aghast at the discovery of a two-headed man living amongst them. One unnamed source said, "We're in shock. He seemed like a normal sort of guy. I'm really not sure how we never noticed this before."



If you think this is a Photoshop trick, you are wrong (this time). It would be easy enough to accomplish this in Photoshop, but this is one of those cases where the image can be created fairly easily in camera. So how did I do it? Click on the image - you can read the details on my Flickr page.

Barn at Infirmary Mound Park

A couple of weekends back I went out shooting while my family relaxed around the house. With the bad weather that week, I was itching to get outside and shoot.

Naturally, the day before I had seen several Red-Tailed Hawks in various locations. So of course there were none to be seen that whole afternoon while I was out. My search ended up at Infirmary Mound park. I figured if I couldn't spot a hawk, at least I could hike at the park and get some shots of the ice.

What I ended up shooting (among other things) was this great old barn. You could tell it used to be painted red, but the weathered wood was showing through. And I was there as the sun was getting low on the horizon, so I had great light to work with.

The photo was just the type of shot I have been thinking about lately. I saw an article on a sort of pseudo HDR technique, so I gave it a try. I like the result and in the process I picked up several good Photoshop tips.



So how did I do it? Well, I found the link to the technique at David Ziser's DigitalProTalk blog. To read about this technique and the free plugin, follow the link to Enigma Studios. I will say that I expanded on the technique a bit to produce this image. Give it a try and don't be afraid to experiment!

Macro Primer Pt II - Reversing a Lens

In my first article, I wrote about close up filters, an inexpensive way to get into macro photography. In this article, I will be talking about another way to "create" a macro lens. Depending on your situation, this may also be an inexpensive endeavor.

Let's say you just walked your old 50mm lens out to the curb for trash man to pick up. You used it with the old 35mm film camera, but maybe the mount is different than your DSLR or you switched camps and have no use for the old lens.

WHAT ARE YOU, NUTS?!?! YOU JUST THREW AWAY A FREE MACRO LENS! Get back out to the curb NOW!

That's right, if you have an old lens laying around, you don't have to pay another cent. The really great thing about this is that it doesn't matter what brand of lens you reverse. Canon, Nikon, whatever you have on hand

When I bought my Nikon, I thought my old lenses would fit the D50. Turns out most of my lenses are just a little too old. Too bad because I had quite a few. Then I discovered that if you have a lens and mount it to the camera backwards, voila, you have a macro lens.

There are two ways to use your lens backwards. One is an adapter that will let you mount the lens backwards on the camera. I've even seen a DIY adapter, though personally I would not use it since it is constructed of plastic and epoxy. Probably not a big deal, but the adapter will probably run you about $15 so DIY will not yield a big savings here.

The second method, which I use, requires two lenses. It turns out that the 80-200mm zoom lens that I had for my old Nikon F does fit the D50. It's not a fast lens and I probably wouldn't use it for much else anyway. I also have a 50mm f1.4 that does not fit my D50. Both lenses happen to take a 52mm filter, meaning the front of each lens is the same diameter.

To create my macro lens, I put the two lenses together, as shown in the picture below.

When I first read about this, I was eager to find out how well this would work, and I couldn't locate a macro coupler. So I improvised and used a piece of electrical tape to hold the lenses together. Since I consider this a dedicated macro lens, this works great. The original piece of tape is still holding the lenses in place a year later. I know I dismissed the DIY adapter a minute ago as risky, but really, the tape does work well.



If you want to find the macro couplers, check here.

What you need to know about this technique is that you have to be extremely close to your subject. Here is why: under normal circumstances, the lens element is designed to focus on the film plane. When you reverse the lens, that distance doesn't change - but instead of the film plane, your macro subject is in that location.

Another important fact, the faster the lens, the better. Unless you are going for a vignette effect, you want the reversed lens to be set to its widest aperture. Also, depth of field is extremely shallow with this technique.

In the previous article, I showed samples of how close you can get with the close up filters. As a reference, here are two shots from last time, and below that two shots with the reversed lens technique.

300mm, no close up filter	300mm, +7 close up
70mm zoom w/ 50 mm reversed	200mm zoom w/ 50 mm reversed

Obviously your results will vary, depending on what lenses are used to comprise your macro lens. Ready for some real world examples? Here are some critters who were cooperative enough to let me get close to them. For reference, the spider descending toward my face was approximately a quarter of an inch in diameter.





Click on the fly to see a high res version.

Drive By - Frosty Morning

This is a good example of why I carry my camera everywhere. It had rained an icy rain the night before and then turned to a very light snow in the morning. On my way to work, I noticed that the ice coated weeds now had snowflakes stuck to them. The sun was still rising, which gave me the really cool background to work with.




This particular field, by the way, has been a real treasure trove of photo ideas. I've stopped numerous times on my drive in to work. I've shot sunrises, the ubiquitous 'farm' tree, and various deer over the last few years from the edge of the road.

What Does It Take to Create a Christmas Photo?

As we have in years past, we shot our own Christmas photo of the children to send out with our Christmas Cards. Here is the shot:



So you may be wondering, "What kind of fool would do this to himself?" Or perhaps you have had too much eggnog and instead are wondering, "What does it take to get a shot like that so close to Christmas with four over-excited children?" Well, let me just say that you are very well spoken given the eggnog factor. But the answer to the first question is 'ME'. To answer the second, I offer this little slide show of the 'rejected' photos. As an added bonus, I've included the alternate, second choice photo at the end of the show.