Nature Photography – Walking in Wildflowers

I'm almost afraid to post this week. I hate to post cheerful, colorful springtime images when my friends in the Northeast are still under a blanket of snow and those in the Pacific Northwest are experiencing their usual winter of rain, rain, and more rain!

Springtime comes swiftly in Southeast Texas and this weekend the wildflowers were in full bloom. Thousands of folks from all around the US visit the little towns of Chappell Hill and Brenham, Texas this time of year, eagerly awaiting the perfect moment to photograph the Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes in full bloom. These three visitors were kind enough to let me take a few shots as they walked through the wildflowers. Springtime in Texas is something you have to experience to believe.

Walking in Wildflowers
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 100mm, f/5.6 for 1/750th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Nature Photography, Texas Towns

Nature Photography – Wildflower Ranch

I want you to know that no retouching was done to this image to enhance the areas of deep purple. This is exactly what I saw when driving past the Citadel Ranch just a few miles southeast of Brenham, Texas.

This must be why the cows think Brenham is heaven, Matt!

Wildflower Ranch
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 58mm, f/8 for 1/90th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Nature Photography, Texas Towns

Nature Photography – Wildflowers and Fences

Last Friday I drove over 150 miles on the back roads of Washington County, Texas looking for wildflowers. Around every bend I'd find bluebonnets on the side of roads, in the farmer's fields and next to the pastures full of grazing cattle (Longhorns of course). I wanted these two images to portray the rustic beauty that can be found in the part of Texas I love the best!

For you history buffs, Washington was the site of the 1836 General Convention which decided the fate of Texas and where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed on March 2, 1836. Washington remained a county of some prominence in early Texas history right up until the Civil War began.

Wildflowers by the Fence
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 70mm, f/5.6 for 1/180th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

More Wildflowers
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 32mm, f/5.6 for 1/180th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Nature Photography, Texas Towns

Nature Photography – Yellow

Sometimes you come across a scene that just begs to be photographed. You might walk for miles in the deep woods and find it around a bend in the trail. Or you may catch a glimpse of it from the highway and just have to stop and get out your gear.

You know the feelings that comes with such a setting. The anticipation you feel as you setup and level your tripod. The quiet excitement that comes from your first look through the viewfinder. The sense of wonder that comes over you when you look at your first shot on the camera's LCD. And finally, the satisfaction your feel when what you print looks just as you remembered it the day before.

Yellow As Far As the Eye Can See
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 22mm, f/8 for 1/90th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Nature Photography, Texas Towns

Landscape Photography – A Sense of Scale

Have you ever photographed a deep forest, a huge lake or an enormous mountain range and when you looked at your images later they just didn't seem as "big" as you remember? This happens a lot in landscape photography since the camera itself has no way to record a sense of scale. Its up to you as the photographer to create this sense of scale, which is why many professionals prefer to shoot landscape and travel images that include people.

Take the image below for example. This field of wildflowers covered several acres of land and stretched almost as far as the eye could see. Without the people in the image, the sense of scale would have been lost.

Bluebonnets
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 22mm, f/9.5 for 1/60th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk Extreme III digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Landscape Photography, Texas Towns, Wildflowers

Comparing the EOS 50D and EOS 500D Cameras

Image courtesy and copyright Canon

Its only been two days since Canon announced the new ESO 500D / Rebel T1i and already some EOS 50D owners are crying foul. Especially since this new consumer grade DSLR borrows so much technology from its older sibling the EOS 50D such as its:

• 15.1 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor.
• ISO 100-3200 (expandable to 12800).
• 3.0" ClearView LCD with Live View mode.
• 9-point wide area AF with cross type center point.
• High speed DIGIC 4 performance and superb image quality.
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System.

As well as the fact that it goes one step further and provides full HD movie recording capabilities with HDMI connection for viewing and playback on an HDTV, just like the new 5D mark II.

Do these similarities really matter to EOS 50D owners or are the differences in build quality, size, weight, viewfinder, auto focus, burst rate and accessories enough to differentiate the two cameras?

Will Canon release a firmware update for the EOS 50D that enables HD movie recording or will this feature continue to grace only its consumer and professional grade cameras?

Or will the Fake Chuck Westfall spend the next few months lampooning Canon's seemingly unusual marketing scheme?

Only time will tell!

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 500D, Canon 50D

Travel Photography – Breaking the Rules

Remember last month when I posted about the Highlight Alert (blinkies) and Highlight Tone Priority settings and how important it is to make sure your highlights aren't completely blown out? Sometimes its necessary to break this rule to achieve a certain type of "high key" look in your image.

I'm somewhat of a history buff and love exploring the various historic sites in East and Central Texas. When I approached this bedroom in the 1830 s Barrington farm house, I knew I wanted to achieve a dreamy kind of soft focus look using the diffuse light streaming through this antique window. I knew that metering off the blanket chest would bring back some detail into the room but blow out the highlights in the window. So I ignored the "blinkies" and took a few exposures, adjusting the exposure compensation to obtain a good balance of light and detail. I finished the image using Nik's "Classic Soft Focus" filter in Photoshop Elements to give it that dreamy, high-key look.

Window Light
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 35mm, f/5.6 for 1/60th of a second with + 1EV of exposure compensation dialed in. Shot at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

BTW - For those of you that still think the EOS 50D can't handle low light situations without creating noise, do a little pixel peeping in the shadow areas of this image. Go ahead, I dare you!

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Texas Towns, Travel Photography

Travel Photography – More Rule Breaking

Want to know just how good your camera's exposure meter really is?

I wanted another image of this room but this time facing directly at the window. Just like the last shot, I wanted a dreamy, high-key type of exposure with the light diffused by the window and shear drapes. I also wanted the rich texture of the wood floor and details of the hats and chest of drawers to be clearly defined. Talk about a high contrast scene.

One way of going about this shot would have been to bracket a few exposures and process the image using an HDR program like Photomatix. But I wanted to see if I could meter off the floor and not completely blow out the window's highlights. I finished this off in Photoshop Elements using Nik's "Glamor Glow" filter to add some warmth to this high-key image.

Back Light
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 32mm, f/6.7 for 1/60th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Texas Towns, Travel Photography

Gear Friday – Back Button Focus

Canon DSLR cameras like the EOS 50D and 5D Mark II have an option to change the way auto focus is activated. This setting lets you customize the camera so that auto focusing is initiated by pressing the rear "AF-ON" button with your right thumb instead of by half pressing the shutter button. "Back-Button Focus" as its called, offers several advantages such as making it easier to lock focus, making it easier to override auto focus with lenses that provide full-time manual focus and making it possible to switch between focus lock and focus tracking when in AI Servo mode.

Activating "Back-Button Focus" is done on the EOS 50D and 5D Mark II by changing C.Fn IV-1 to one of the settings shown below. I'll attempt to explain what each of these mean since they definitely seem a little confusing at first.

0: Metering + AF start
This is the default setting where you activate the camera's meter and AF by pressing the shutter button half-way down OR by pressing the rear "AF-ON" button.

1: Metering + AF start / AF stop:
Again, you activate the camera's meter and AF by pressing the shutter button half-way down but now, pressing the rear "AF-ON" button locks the focus. Focus is unlocked by removing your thumb from the "AF-ON" button. This is very useful when shooting in "AI Servo" mode when you need to switch from "AI Servo" to "One Shot" mode back and forth. (Hint: This is the setting I use most often for birds in flight)

2: Metering start / Meter + AF start:
The shutter button no longer activates auto focus, but still fires the shutter. Auto focus is activated solely by pressing the "AF-ON" button. There's no locking of exposure, unless you separately press the "AE Lock" button.

3: AE Lock / Metering + AF start:
Auto focus is activated solely by pressing the "AF-ON" button. The difference between this setting and option 2 is that when you press the shutter button half-way, your exposure is locked and won't change until you pull your finger off the button entirely. If you shoot a burst of pictures in any auto exposure mode, the exposure setting used for the first shot is used for each subsequent shot.

4: Metering + AF start / Disable
This is the same as the first option except the rear "AF-ON" button is completely disabled. I suppose this protects you from accidentally pressing the "AF-ON" button (Hint: Dumb setting since this rarely happens).

Posted in Photography Tagged: Back Button Focus, Canon, Canon 50D

Landscape Photography – Just Before Sunset

Never Waste a Sunset!

We live in a world where time flies by at an incredible pace. We sleep less, we eat more, we work way (WAY) more and find ourselves with less time than ever before. We worry about things almost constantly. Some of these are important such as our health, our family and our job. Some of these are petty such as our height, our weight or our looks. But most are somewhere in between. We live most of our lives in such a rush, moving from one activity to another. We get up. We go to school or work. We come home. We do it all over again tomorrow.

But sometimes we stop.

We look at the world God has created for us and we admire its simple, elegant beauty. We feel the cool breeze caressing our skin as the sun slowly sets. We feel the richness of our world, our lives and our loves. And we say thank you to our Creator for each sunset.

Never, ever waste a sunset!

Before Sunset
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 28mm, f/11 for 1/10th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Landscape Photography

Nature Photography – Glow

Four rules I always remember when shooting flowers or other foliage outdoors.

• Cloudy or overcast days work best to provide soft even lighting for flowers.
• Control your depth of field by using Aperture Priority (Av) mode.
• Make sure your shutter speed is high enough to freeze any motion caused by the wind.
• Shoot low to capture those unusual angles.

Glow
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 105mm, f/4 for 1/180th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Mercer Arboretum, Nature Photography

Travel Photography – Details, Details

Its tough capturing the "feel" of a place when you're traveling. There's so much to see and do that its easy to suffer from sensory overload. Whenever I photograph a Texas town for the first time I like to capture some of the little details that stand out in my mind. Its the small details, like the texture in these straw hats, that really form a lasting memory for me.

Hats
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 35mm, f/5.6 for 1/125th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Texas Towns, Travel Photography

Landscape Photography – Long Sunset

One thing you'll notice about amateur photographers is that they tend to pack up and leave right after sunset. The next time you're out taking sunset shots look around and notice that many experienced amateurs and professionals will continue shooting well past sunset. It's this time about 30 minutes past sundown when the wind becomes still and the sky turns an incredible dark blue or purple color.

This first shot was taken just a few minutes after sunset when the colors were at their brightest.

After Sunset
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 24m, f/9.5 for 1/90th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

The second shot was taken several minutes later when the wind had stopped and the sky had turned a beautiful shade of blue. The deep, saturated colors make waiting around after dark well worth the effort.

Well Past Dark
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 32mm, f/11 for 3 seconds at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Landscape Photography

Nature Photography – The Rose

I took this shot last Saturday afternoon at the Mercer Arboretum just north of Houston, Texas. It was mostly cloudy that day and the lighting was perfect for photographing flowers in the late afternoon. The image was taken at f/4.5 to control the depth field and create nice bokeh in the background. I shot this rose looking almost straight down and manually focused on the center petals to make sure it was the sharpest point in the image. Its hard to go wrong when the light is soft and the subject is a beautiful flower.

The Rose
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 95mm, f/4.5 for 1/350th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Nature Photography

Nature Photography – Red

Just a quick post as you celebrate Passover or Good Friday.

"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace."

Numbers 6.22-27

Red
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 105mm, f/4 for 1/500th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Nature Photography

Travel Photography – Faith

Faith
Copyright 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS Rebel XT set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 17-40mm f/4L USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 21mm, f/14 for 1/80th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Viveza. Click on the image above for a larger version.

From the bottom of my heart, to all my friends, colleagues and readers worldwide. Have a joyous Easter Sunday. Alleluia, He is Risen.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon Rebel XT, Travel Photography