Tag Archives: people

Cocoa Sunrise

August 19, 2012Cocoa, Cocoa Beach Pier, INSIDE FLORIDA, Techniquebeach, landscape, people, pier, sunriseEd Rosack

Keith H. wanted to try out his 10 stop neutral density filter, so we rode over to Cocoa Beach to make some sunrise photos. It was very clear when we left around 5:30 am, but by the time we parked next to the pier, a few clouds had appeared to make the sunrise more interesting.

Atlantic sunrise.

A neutral density (ND) filter reduces the amount of light entering your camera. This gives you greater flexibility to adjust aperture and exposure. They’re often used to show motion blur with a slow shutter speed, or reduce the depth of field with a wide aperture. Ideally, ND filters are color neutral – although both Keith and I noticed some color shifts with ours. I was using two stacked 3 stop NDs and this set up worked pretty well to slow the shutter speed and blur the water, especially before sunrise. Keith’s 10 stop was a bit too much before dawn, but would be great after sun rise. Overall, we spent an hour or so working the scene and both came away with photos we like.

A bird flies above a couple making a photograph by a woman walking through the sun.

You can see more photos of Cocoa Beach in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Weekend with Wilson

August 12, 2012INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWR, Techniquebirds, boat, BPWD, fishing, landscape, people, pier, sunriseEd Rosack

I stopped by C. S. Lee Park on SR 46 in Geneva yesterday morning with Kevin, Kevin and Lutfi to photograph the sunrise. There weren’t a lot of clouds but it was still pretty – and some obliging fishermen were kind enough to point their wake into the scene for us.

Hurry, the fish are biting! C. S. Lee Park, Geneva, Florida

We were on our way over to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Kevin M. uses the Audubon Birds of North America app, which has links to bird sightings on eBird. With this, you can search for nearby birds, activity at birding hotspots, and even see reports of recent notable and rare bird sightings. Using the app, he discovered that Wilson’s Pharalopes were on Bio-lab road last week, so we decided to try to spot them.

The Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) is a small wading bird and the largest of the phalaropes. Normally it breeds on the North American prairies and in the western US. It is migratory, but according to iBird, isn’t often found in Florida, so this was a rare chance to see it.

Wilson’s Phalarope pair. Bio-lab Road, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

It was fun to see another Wilson bird yesterday: the Wilson’s Plover . These are also waders and breed on both US coasts from the equator northwards. Its common range does include Florida.

Wilson’s Plover. Bio-lab Road, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I’d seen a Wilson’s Snipe before and now with these sightings I started wondering who this Wilson fellow was. Alexander Wilson was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist, and illustrator. He’s regarded as the greatest American ornithologist prior to Audubon. Several birds are named after him, including the three I already mentioned and the Wilson’s Storm-petrel, and Wilson’s Warbler. The warbler genus Wilsonia was also named for him. In 1802 Wilson decided to publish a book illustrating all the North American birds. The result was the nine-volume American Ornithology, with 268 species of birds, 26 of which hadn’t been described.

On our trip, we also saw Alligators, Belted Kingfishers, Green Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, and many kinds of gulls and shore birds on Bio-lab Road. We drove through Black Point Wildlife Drive too, but there wasn’t as much going on there.

So this trip provided an incentive to clear out some of my birding ignorance and now I know a bit about another great American ornithologist. You can see more MINWR photos here and here, and birds photos here and here. And I have a some more Florida landscape / sunrise photos here.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Cocoa and Viera Wetlands – August 4, 2012

August 5, 2012Cocoa, INSIDE FLORIDA, Technique, Viera Wetlandsbirds, Flowers, Ibis, landscape, Moorhen, people, pier, reviews, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

I realized I hadn’t been to Viera Wetlands since last year, so I went over yesterday morning with Kevin K.

We spent a few minutes with The Photographer’s Ephemeris and found a promising sunrise stop along the way. It’s just north of the first bridge into Cocoa on SR 520. If you don’t have a copy of this software, you should get it. It’s available (for free!) for the Mac, PC, and Linux as well as (paid versions) for Android and iOS. The iPad version is especially helpful. If you have a cell phone signal, you can use it wherever you are to visualize the natural lighting. It shows the sun and moon overlaid on a Google Map for the place and time you enter. Highly recommended.

The sunrise was pretty and there was even a nice bird posing at the end of an old dock for us.

Old pier at sunrise: North of the Hubert Humphrey Causeway in Cocoa, Florida.

When we got to Viera Wetlands, there was more going on than I thought there would be. We saw Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, both White and Glossy Ibis, Moorhens, Coots, Limpkins, and Black Bellied Whistling Ducks, among others. There were even some Roseate Spoonbills there – the first time I’ve ever seen them at Viera Wetlands. A few Moorhen chicks, surprised me too – I didn’t realize they hatched this time of year.

Moorhen and chick near Ibis: “Kid – I told you not to hang out with those Ibis birds. They’re nothing but trouble”.

You can click on the images above to get to larger versions on Flickr. You can also see more of my Viera Wetlands photos here on Flickr. For a slightly different perspective, you can also look at Kevin’s photos in his set on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Queen Extravaganza at the Plaza

June 19, 2012INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Plaza Theatre, Techniqueband, concert, music, people, Queen, reviewsEd Rosack

Queen Extravaganza performed at Orlando’s Plaza Theater on Fathers Day to a sold out, enthusiastic crowd.

Queen Extravaganza at the Plaza: Yvan Pedneault, Francois-Olivier Doyon, Tyler Warren, Brian Gresh, Tristan Avakian

QE as we’ll call them, is a tribute band backed by Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. The show ‘celebrates the music and live experience of Queen’. They’re on their summer tour and stopped for one night in Orlando.

Brian Gresh solo

This very talented group of musicians put on a wonderful show and performed many of Queen’s greatest hits. I’m not a proper Queen super fan, but to my uninitiated ears, QE were really good. The very loud sound mix and very annoying lighting (which occasionally flashed strobes directly into the eyes of the audience) bothered me a bit. I suspect that the sound level and lights are purposeful and similar to a live Queen show, but I have to admit I never saw them live, so I don’t know.

Brandon Ethridge, Brian Gresh, Tristan Avakian, Francois-Olivier Doyon and Yvan Pedneault

The Plaza has been one of my favorite venues for concert photography. I think their policy used to be “no professional cameras”, but at this show their sign said “no interchangeable lens cameras” and “no flash or video”. They didn’t give me any hassle at all, but they were stopping people making videos with their phones. I’m not sure if this is a permanent change or was specific to this event. It would be a shame if it’s permanent. I really enjoy the acts at the Plaza, but one of the key draws for me is the opportunity to make some photos. If it becomes too hard to carry my camera in, I’ll probably go there less.

You can read my earlier blog entries about the Plaza here Keb’ Mo’ at the Plaza and here Hot Tuna at the Plaza. You can view more Queen Extravaganza photos in this set on Flickr, and other photos from the Plaza in this collection on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Port Orange Camera Club

June 10, 2012INSIDE FLORIDA, TechniqueCamera Club, people, Port OrangeEd Rosack

I used to live in Port Orange and I’m honored to be the guest speaker at their camera club meeting this Wednesday evening at 7pm. I plan to present ideas on local photo-ops and discuss some tips and techniques. If you can, stop by – I’m sure the club would welcome you.

6/15 update: Lynn and I had a great time Wednesday night at the Port Orange Camera Club. We enjoyed meeting this enthusiastic group of fellow photographers and I also enjoyed talking about photo-ops in central Florida. Here’s a PDF of a Port Orange centric version of my Table of Contents page. Please visit the original page for additions and updates in the future.

Keb’ Mo’ at the Plaza

February 2, 2012INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Plaza Theatreconcert, music, peopleEd Rosack

Another wonderful concert at Orlando’s Plaza Theater last night! Keb’ Mo’ was in town – if you like the blues you probably already know about him. If not, you should.

Lynn and I had excellent seats which made for great listening as well as a great photo vantage point.

Keb’ Mo’

He and his band seemed to really enjoy themselves. They played a combination of older tunes and some off of his new album (The Reflection). The audience enjoyed it too.

… And the band

If you live in or near Orlando, pay attention to the Plaza. There might be some shows you’d be interested in. It’s a great venue. If you go and want to take a camera, bring a smaller one. They don’t allow “professional cameras or flash photography”. I’ve posted a couple other photos from last night in this set on Flickr. And you can read a blog entry I wrote about Hot Tuna at the Plaza here.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2012, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Cincinnati Christmas

December 30, 2011Ohioblack and white, bridge, Cincinnati, infrared, night, panorama, people, travel, vacationEd Rosack

Lynn and I had a wonderful visit with our daughter Mary at her place in Cincinnati over Christmas. Once again, she was the perfect hostess and kept us busy with all sorts of activities. We spent a lot of time eating, both at restaurants (Nada, Melt, Christmas brunch at the Hilton, Tom+Chee, Papa Johns pizza, Cracker Barrel) and cooking (crab cakes, Quiche, salmon, gingerbread, etc.) and too much time shopping (antique mall, after Christmas sales, outlet mall). In between we went to the Nutcracker, bought hats at Batsakes, visited the local wine shop and gave her new Nespresso machine a real work out. It was primo family time, but I did sneak in a little photography:

Roebling Bridge and Ohio River at night from Kentucky

Play time at Union Station – Cincinnati, Ohio. I usually wait for people to clear out when I’m trying to make a photo. This time I went ahead and made it while these two girls played around the fountain. Since this is a stitched panorama, they show up multiple times, which I think adds to the image.

Cappuccino: We enjoyed using Mary’s new machine and overdosed on caffeine while we were there.

What a great visit! You can see more photos from our trip to Cincinnati in this set on Flickr. You can re-read my other posts mentioning Cincinnati here and here.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

The year in review: My favorite 2011 Photos

December 19, 2011VARIOUSAntiques, Arlington National Cemetery, Barred Owl, birds, black and white, Bobcat, BPWD, cemetery, Deer, Eastern Meadowlark, Florida Scrub Jay, infrared, landscape, macro, Mount Blue Sky, Mountain Goat, Mt. Evans, people, reviews, Scrub Ridge Trail, sunrise, watch, wildlifeEd Rosack

I hope that all of you, your families, and your friends have a joyful and happy holiday season!

Photographer Jim Goldstein has an annual tradition of organizing a “best photos of the year” listing. So it’s a good time to put together my own third annual “Favorite photos of the year” post. You can revisit 2009 here, and 2010 here.

Again in 2011, I’ve been blessed with a huge amount of photo opportunities. The 2011 folder on my hard drive takes up about 178 GB of space. Wow – good thing storage is so cheap now days! I’m still using the following system to rate my photos. The numbers in parentheses are the counts for 2011 .

1 star – The photo is interesting (262)
2 stars – The photo is worth showing to others (400)
3 stars – The photo is the best of (or one of the best of ) any given photo shoot (81)
4 stars – My favorite photo of a year (1)
5 stars – My favorite photo ever (none, I’m not done making photos yet!)

Photos without stars are seconds or not so good versions of other photos. I usually keep them, but they probably won’t get any more attention. I’ve been using this system consistently, and it seems to work for me. I’ve reviewed my 2011 photos and selected what I think are my best. Of course, this is all subjective and my opinion only. Feel free to disagree, but I hope you’ll enjoy looking at the ones I’ve picked.

You can click on each of these to go to Flickr and see a larger version. Or you can click this link to go to the set on Flickr.

Here we go. I have 3 mammals, 3 birds, 2 landscapes, and 3 miscellaneous subjects …

November: Bobcat in Tree, Circle B Bar Reserve. I’ve seen Bobcats in the wild before, but I’ve never been able to take a good photo of one. We saw this one resting up on a branch and it posed for a while. In this image, I think it was trying to figure out how to get through the crowd of humans at the base of the tree. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/11/24/landscapes-and-bobcat-at-the-circle-b-bar-reserve/

July: Baby mountain goat, Mt. Evans summit, Colorado. There were several families of mountain goats on the way up and at the summit. This little one posed for me so I could frame him against the out of focus mountains in the background. It’s amazing to watch them scramble from rock to rock and never slip. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/07/10/mount-evans-redux/

September: Young deer at Viera Wetlands. View large and check out the eyebrows and whiskers! More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/09/04/late-afternoon-at-viera-wetlands/

January: Barred Owl watches photographers. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/01/30/catching-up/

December: Eastern Meadowlark, Blackpoint Wild Life Drive. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/12/17/merritt-island-scouting-report-saturday-december-10/

June: Florida Scrub Jay watches us. One or two birds in this Scrub Jay family were real posers. And one of those was a “dive bomber”. It flew at our heads a few times trying to discourage us. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/06/19/a-summertime-visit-to-minwr-blackpoint-and-scrub-ridge-trail/

November: Sunrise at the Circle B Bar Reserve. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/11/24/landscapes-and-bobcat-at-the-circle-b-bar-reserve/

December: It was a little cloudy this morning. Blackpoint Wild Life Drive. I’ve enjoyed playing with an Infrared modified Olympus EPL-1 camera. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/12/17/merritt-island-scouting-report-saturday-december-10/

March: Tomb of the unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery. I’d never been to Arlington before this trip. As a US Navy Veteran and a patriot, I have to admit it made a huge impression on me. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/03/19/washington-dc/

December: Flavia, in color. American Photo Model Shoot, Orlando, 12/3/11. My first time photographing models was a real learning experience. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/12/09/orlando-american-photo-model-shoot-workshop-december-2011/

June: My Grandfather’s Pocket-watch. After the Orlando Watch Company repaired it, it’s working fine. This is a 1921 Elgin pocket-watch, marked Wadsworth Referee 20 year 5069868. More info: https://edrosack.com/2011/06/25/grandfathers-pocket-watch/

I hope you’ve had a great photo 2011 too. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some more photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

Orlando American Photo Model Shoot Workshop, December 2011

December 9, 2011INSIDE FLORIDA, Must do list, Techniqueequipment, people, reviewsEd Rosack

Intro / Description

Well this is a bit different from what I normally photograph and post about. But to keep learning, it’s good to occasionally stretch your skills, move outside your comfort zone, and try something you haven’t done before. And as your intrepid Central Florida Photo Ops reporter, I have an obligation to report on more than just the landscape and wildlife opportunities in the Central Florida Area. Right?

Flavia, in color

So last Saturday, I found myself at the American Photo Magazine Model Shoot Workshop at the Marriott World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The magazine organizes the event, hires models, brings lighting equipment and sets everything up for you. You just need to show up with your camera and plenty of memory cards.

They also bring in an instructor for the day. For this session it was New York Photographer Lindsay Adler. She provided some very good information on lens choice, lighting, posing, and creativity in two different sessions during the day. She and the other instructors also circulated and offered advice and help while we were shooting. It’s a great opportunity to learn, especially if you’re not familiar with this kind of photography.

There were 15 different models there. I’ve included four photos of three of them in this post. You can see more photos I made (including the other models) in this gallery. You can also look at other photographers’ images at this link.

Tiffany, in fur

Since I’m normally a Nature & Wildlife photographer, I found it quite fascinating to think about the differences between those genres and Fashion and Model photography:

Nature and Wildlife Photography	Fashion and Model Photography
The light is what it is. You may be able to change it a bit with flash for fill and catch lights.	You control the light. Indoors, you control it completely.
High Dynamic Range is common for landscape photos to control large contrast levels.	Since you control the lights, you control the contrast. HDR isn’t required.
You rarely interact with the subject. And if you do, you usually scare it off.	You must interact with the subject. Building a rapport and directing the pose is critical.
Very wide (landscape) or very long (wildlife) lenses are favored.	Large aperture lenses are favored: 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4, 70 – 200mm f/2.8
It’s all on you – a one person show.	You’ll require a team: models, make up artist, costumes, sets, etc.
Knowledge / experience and persistence are necessary to find good subjects.	Portfolio, reputation, and relationships are necessary to find good subjects.
You go to where the subject is.	The subject comes to you in a set or studio.
Post processing: Color adjustments, HDR (landscapes), Selective sharpening	Post processing: Color adjustments, Retouching, Selective sharpening

I’m sure I must have missed something. What else is different about these two types of photography?

Info for Photographers

Photo hints:

At this type of event, everything except you and your camera are provided: backdrops, lighting (hot lights and soft boxes), sets, models, costumes, makeup, etc. The instructors will help with light adjustments and offer advice if you’re having any problems. Flash isn’t recommended, since the lighting is provided and flash will interfere. It will also be a lot harsher than the large soft box hot lights that are used.

You do need to use a higher ISO setting. I used ISO 800 almost all day. I shot with my lens wide open and my exposures ranged around f/2.8 between 1/60 of a second and ~1/320. A capable high ISO camera will come in very handy as well as a large aperture lens with VR. The Nikon D700 and 70 – 200 f/2.8 VRII combination worked well for me. I did have some issues with overexposure. I don’t know why these scenes were fooling my meter (maybe the dark backgrounds?), but I sometimes had to dial in some negative exposure compensation. Make sure to check your histogram often.

Flavia, in black and white

White balance was tungsten on some sets and daylight on others. I shot in RAW mode, so I didn’t worry too much about it. I just set my camera in auto white balance and then corrected it (if needed) in post. If you shoot in JPG mode, pay attention to the changing white balance. I overheard a lot of discussion that day from different people about “degrees Kelvin”.

The overall experience sometimes resembled a paparazzi shoot out on a red carpet. Popular models would attract a crowd of photographers. Courtesy is very important. Take your turn and let others have theirs – there was plenty of time for everyone. It was also fascinating to be one of the photographers in the crowd and hear shutter clicks sync up when a model changed position or where they were looking.

Tripod/Monopod: Not recommended – it’s too crowded and would definitely be in everyone’s way – including yours. It would also slow you down. The models do move around, so you need to react quickly to get the compositions you want.

Lenses:

One of the event sponsors was Sigma. They brought a couple crates of lenses and would let you borrow one for a session. This is a great chance to try glass that you haven’t used before. I checked out an 85mm f/1.4 for the first session, but ended up not using it very much. I wasn’t getting many sharp images even when I stopped it down. I didn’t have time to diagnose the issue but I think my problem was a combination of very shallow depth of field and blur caused by slower shutter speeds with no VR. I switched to my 70 – 200 f/2.8 and used it the rest of the day. It was occasionally a bit long at the 70mm length, but I compensated when needed by taking multiple shots.

Jennifer, in close

Best time to visit:

You’ve missed your chance for this year. To see when they’re coming back to Orlando, you’ll have to check the American Photo Website. They told us they’d be posting the 2012 schedule soon.

Other: I had a great time, but it was a long day. You’ll be on your feet a great deal of the time, and you’ll be shifting positions often to get a good vantage point. I was quite tired at the end of the day.

Summary

You can view a higher resolution gallery of other photos I made at the link in the table below.

My Gallery:	https://edrosack.com/APMS
Their Website:	http://www.americanphotomag.com/modelshoot/
Their Contact Info:	apmodelshoot@bonniercorp.com
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	A different kind of CFL Photo Op must do!

Mount Evans Redux

July 10, 2011Colorado, Must do listBristlecone Pine, landscape, Marmot, Mount Blue Sky, Mountain Goat, Mt. Evans, people, travel, tree, vacation, wildlifeEd Rosack

I’ve been to Mount Evans before and written about it here. I got a chance to go back this week and my second visit was as good as the first. Maybe even better, since I showed this wonderful place off to Sara, Mike, and Julie.

The highest paved road in North America starts in Idaho Springs, Colorado and winds for 28 miles around tight switchbacks to an altitude of just over 14,100 feet. There’s a small parking lot near the summit, and a short (but vertical) hike to the very top at 14,270 feet. The road is quite narrow in spots, and is exciting or scary depending on your attitude and its altitude / slope. There are many places to pull over that offer outstanding views of the surrounding landscapes and wildlife.

Bristlecone pine: This species of tree is the longest lived single organism on earth

Take I-70 west from Denver and exit at County Road 103. The first half of the drive from there is pretty but not too out of the ordinary. The fee station is around the halfway point, and this is where most of the excitement begins. Pick up a brochure so you’ll have a map and information about the park.

Both times I’ve gone have been in early July so I can’t say much about the rest of the year. Try to visit on a weekday to avoid crowds, and if you can’t go on a weekday – leave early. The only day we could drive up was the 4th, so we left around 7am. When we asked the ranger at the fee station, he said it wasn’t crowded yet but would be, and recommended we go up to the top and stop at places on the way down. If you don’t, you might not get a parking spot – they get very limited at the top as the day goes on. We saw lots of cars headed up as we were leaving.

Wildflowers are abundant in July. Even above 14,000 feet where the terrain seems barren – you can see flowers in between the rocks. July is also a great time to view wildlife. On this trip we saw a Deer, Chipmunks, Elk, Mountain Goats, Marmots, and a Pika.

Baby mountain goat – There were several families of mountain goats near the summit. This little one posed for me so I could frame him against the out of focus mountains in the background. It’s amazing to watch them scramble from rock to rock and never slip.

Pair of Marmots

At the summit, the average summer temperature is ~44 degrees (F) and the average wind is ~30 mph, so we were particularly blessed with a low temp of 55 and very calm winds. The winds were so calm that on the way down we decided to stop and hike to a couple of pools of water, hoping for a photo of the clouds reflecting in the ice melt. It seemed like a really short hike downhill from the road to this pool. When we turned around to go back uphill, the car looked really, really tiny and far, far away.

Catch pool reflection and Mike admiring the view

If you’re ever in the Denver area, you just have to visit Mount Evans. It’s spectacular and very accessible. Flatlanders like me shouldn’t do the trip on their first day at altitude. I’m not in the best of shape and at 14,000 feet I found I was out of breath even after short walks. A few days to acclimate at around 5000 feet may have helped.

Click on any of the photos above to go to Flickr where you can see a larger version. You can see the rest of my Mount Evans photos from this trip here, and you can see photos from my earlier trip here.