Armand Bayou Abstract #3 -- Free Download

Here's another abstract from Armand Bayou last weekend -- out of focus water, creating a bokeh pattern in the reflections. I've posted this as a high resolution jpg. Please feel free to download and use it in your Photoshop work -- and please post a link back in the comments. I'd love to see how it's used.

Armand Bayou Abstract #2 -- Free Download

Here's another abstract from Armand Bayou last weekend -- out of focus reeds and water, creating a nice soft bokeh. I've posted this as a high resolution jpg. Please feel free to download and use it in your Photoshop work -- and please post a link back in the comments. I'd love to see how it's used.

Armand Bayou Abstract #1

I was out at Armand Bayou on Saturday testing out a lens. And just like any time when you want to test focus and sharpness, there was no wildlife within 80 yards. That's always the way. The tide was high and the sun was bright, so my focus tests ended up being wildflowers in the reeds. And when I get bored with that I start doing unusual stuff with my lens. Here I rocked it up and down while on a tripod during the exposure. 1/13 sec at f/32, 400mm, ISO200.

Summer Portrait #4

The photo above was taken earlier this month at Butler Longhorn Museum. This is Jen Watts, one of our models for the morning. Technically, this photo is a bit of a departure from my usual portrait style. Normally I shoot in full manual mode with a radio trigger, which limits my shutter speed to 1/250 sec. When I took this I was shooting with Norma DeLaGarza, a fellow Nikon shooter, and as we shot and the light became more intense I thought it would be interesting to try Nikon's CLS high speed sync -- using our pop-up flashes to trigger the flash. Specs of this portrait were: 1/1250 sec at f/1.8, ISO100, 85mm, off-camera light from a Nikon SB900 in a Westcott Rapid Box Octa -- about 1/8 power from camera right, on-camera pop-up flash zeroed out in the exposure -- just used as a triggering mechanism.

Sol Duc Falls #3

The photo above was taken in April in Olympic National Park at the lower section of Sol Duc Falls. There are times and shots as a photographer that become very memorable, and this set of shots fall into that category. It seems like the elements often play into these memories, and I guess it's part of the photographer's job to try and tell those stories, or try to impart to the viewer what it felt like when the photo was made.
It was sunny and cold when we reached the trailhead to the falls, so we headed out on about a mile-long hike to the falls. The farther we got along the trail, it began to rain, so the snow along the trail became slush. We made it to the upper falls, and it was a vantage point where you actually stood above the falls, so with the heavy rain and spray from below I decided the best shot was a spot I saw along the hike -- in the lower section. There's a small bridge across the falls that you see here, so in a pretty heavy rain and about 36 degrees I pulled out my camera and took about 40-50 shots. The one you see here is from alongside the falls -- probably the best angle. Since I was limited in so many ways (rain, cold, slippery rocks, raincover on the camera, raincover on me) I didn't attempt the vari ND filter, so I went ISO100, f/22 and my shutter speeds ended up around 2-3 seconds, which created a pretty nice blur on the water.

Summer Portrait #3

This photo of Roxann was taken earlier this summer at Clear Lake Park. I've been experimenting recently with the Skyland Texture set from Paintcandy, so I blended in a sky from the package. 1/160 sec at f/4, 85mm, light from a Nikon SB800 in a Cowboy Studio beauty dish from camera left.