A Bug’s Eye View

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Craig

Did you ever wonder what you look like to a bug when you’re looking at him through a magnifying glass?

Boy looking through a magifying glass

Grandson Chase spent most of the day using this magnifying glass to sort through old coins, and I immediately thought of fun photo opportunity. I thought it might be tricky to focus, but I didn’t expect it to be as difficult as it was. Portrait photographers are always told that you have to get the eyes in focus, or at least the near eye. I don’t know if that was the closest eye, but it’s certainly the only thing in focus.

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Six Photographers at Death Valley – but where are they?

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Craig

Here’s a fun picture that I just dropped off at the Morgan Elser Gallery in Delavan. The photo was taken at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park on the morning of a full moon. The moon is just setting in the west as the sun is coming up behind me. You can see the sun just starting to light the mountain peaks on the west side of the valley.

Zabriskie Point at Death Valley

The fun part though is the nearly hidden detail. This is another of my HyperDetail photos, and the original is around 300 megapixels and nearly 10 feet wide without enlarging. That much resolution captures an extraordinary amount of detail, including some photographers on the trails and ridges. As the title of the photo implies, the challenge of this “Puzzle Piece” is to identify the six photographers.

Two photographers at Death Valley

Here’s a close-up view that shows two of them. Of course, you can’t see them in the small photo above, and you can barely even tell that this section is from the left hand side of the photo. This area is about one inch wide in a three foot wide print, and the two photographers are very clearly visible – but you do have to look closely..

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Sometimes You Just Need to Turn Around

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Craig

The other day I posted an image of windmills at sunset. I really like the graphic simplicity of that image, but it needs the clouds to help make the sky interesting. Unfortunately, as the sun got lower on the horizon, the clouds were moving rapidly overhead from west to east –  leaving nothing but clear sky to the west. Does that mean it’s time to pack up and go home?

Looking east at sunset

The answer in this case was simply to turn around and look east. The clouds that had been in the western sky were now in the east, and the setting sun was creating a wonderful, reddish glow on the nearest clouds and beautiful pastels everywhere. The result was a completely different look. The color palette tends more toward blues and reds instead of bright yellows, and the dominant feature of the clouds gives a much softer feel to the sky.

The two photos were taken about 20 minutes apart, but they’re 180 degrees apart – both literally and figuratively.

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Dr. David Vroman is on Playing Peoria

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Craig

Bradley University Music Professor Dr. David Vroman

Have you ever wondered what a band director does? Be sure to read my latest post on Playing Peoria at www.playingpeoria.com. This week’s feature is Dr. David Vroman, Chairperson of the Bradley University Music Department and Director of Bands. He also directs the Peoria Municipal Band during the summer.

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More Mills in the Wind

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Craig

It seems that I’ve been fascinated with windmills lately. They make great, graphic subjects, and I always know where to find them. I like the simplicity of this composition, and the clouds add a nice framing element.

Windmills at sunset in a corn field

Photos like this one where the camera is facing right into the sun are hard to pull off technically. The two big challenges are controlling flare from the sun, and balancing the foreground with the much brighter background. A technique I use occasionally is to take multiple exposure, one for the foreground and one for the sky. I also take additional frames using my hand to block the sun. Of course, my hand is in those frames, but everything else is much more clear since there wont’ be any lens flare. Then, I can use Photoshop to piece together the final image using the best from each frame.

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