Best Made s German-made Box of Tools has everything a kid needs for their next carpentry project. The Box of Tools comes with a bevy of implements, including a fretsaw, clamp vise, screw driver, file, hammer, push drill, awl, and a square...
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The Field collection is all about not forgetting your roots. The products stand for the outdoors, It's a relaxed and casual range, featuring a new washed leather right next to its rugged canvas companion. Details of wool and our classic tan leather lift the pieces in a refined yet down to earth niche.
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Here's another shot I took last weekend while looking for some birds in flight to shoot. I must have waited 30 minutes for this Anhinga to move, spread it's wings or fly away. Better luck next time.
Anhinga
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon 50D set on aperture priority (Av), using an EF 300mm f/4L IS USM with an EF 1.4X II extender mono-pod mounted. The exposure was taken at 420mm, f/5.6 for 1/250th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. All post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop using Alien Skin's Bokeh plug-in. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Convention wisdom has it that its best to shoot in the first few hours of the morning and the last few hours of the evening. The light is generally softer and warmer and the shadows much more interesting. Most magazines like National Geographic or Texas Highways won't even consider publishing a landscape image that wasn't taken during these "golden hours".
So what's a serious amateur to do with the rest of his or her time? One answer is to look for subjects or locations with enough contrast that even shots taken at high noon look interesting. Anything metal like a car or truck generally fits this profile as you can see in this image. Urban settings abound with possibilities.
Sugar Land's New Ladder Truck
Copyright 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 31mm, f/11 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 Color Efex Pro plug-in filter. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Another possibility is photograph high contrast subjects and then process the images as Black & White as shown below. Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro plug-in for Lightroom and Photoshop does an incredible job converting color images into high contrast black & white images.
Sugar Land's New Ladder Truck
Copyright 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 31mm, f/11 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 Silver Efex Pro plug-in filter. Click on the image above for a larger version.
One thing to remember about "rules" in photography, they're meant to be broken. Many of Ansel Adams' most popular images like the Taos Pueblo Church (1942) were taken in the mid-day sun.
One final thought. Don't limit your photographic explorations to only a few "golden" hours each day, no matter what anyone says. When you have the chance to go shooting, spend as much time as you can looking for locations and subjects that excite your vision and sense of adventure. The Lord has provided us an incredible planet to explore and only a short lifetime to explore it in. Grab your camera and your creative spirit and get out there.
Life is Too Short (LTS) !
I just read an interesting post from Dave Cross that got me thinking about giving credit where credit is due.
So here goes.
All of my images are inspired by the Lord God and by all the wonderful images taken by folks like Scott Kelby, Matt Kosklowski, Dave Cross, RC, Moose Peterson, Laurie Excel, Chase Jarvis, David duChemin, Matt Brandon, Gavin Gough, Joe McNally, John O'Connor, Bill Neill, Sam Abell, Kirk Tuck, Ansel Adams, Joe Kidd, Diane Varner, Rob Sheppard, David Hobby, Rick Sammon, Vincent Laforet, Zack Arias and a host of others I can't even remember.
Generally speaking, all of my post capture techniques were learned from someone else including all the wonderful instructors at Kelby Training. Not one iota of my post capture technique is original unless you go back to my films days in the 70 s. I stole every good Photoshop and Lightroom technique I could find and happily put them to good use. I continue to practice this post capture plagiarism today by learning everything I can from the beautiful images posted by folks like Diane Varner, Mark Krajnak and Derek Shanks.
Any information I post on this blog is the result of a mental compilation of the last 50 years of my life and its doubtful that there's an original thought in the bunch. I've read hundreds of books, looked at thousands of photographs and listened to hours of podcasts, so you understand that anything I post that remotely seems original is purely by accident.
Now that I've confessed all my sins, we can get back to enjoying our photography!
PS: Never give a smart-ass Irishman a pulpit!
There is something almost etherial about black & white images. Perhaps its the stark contrast between the dark and the light. Perhaps its all the shades of gray in between. Whatever it is, you can't help but be drawn into a black & white landscape image and almost feel that you were there in person. Color adds depth and feeling to an image but for me, black and white images can transport you to another place and time altogether.
McKinney Falls State Park
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/22 for 1/15th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik's Silver Efex Pro plug-in. Click on the image above for a larger version.
If you're like me and enjoy black & white photography then I urge you to check out Derek Shanks work on his blog. Its some of the best black & white work I've seen in years!
I've always liked the light-weight and small form factor of the my 13 MacBook, but really lusted after the more powerful graphics processor, larger hard drive and aluminum unibody construction found in the MacBook Pro models.
Now we have the best of both worlds in the new 13 MacBook Pro and I went ahead and ordered mine a few days ago. Setting it up and migrating all the programs and files from my old MacBook went perfectly and only took a few hours to complete.
And what a result! Lightroom 2 really flies on this machine and with the faster CPU & GPU, I don't hear the constant whine of the fan every time I start working in Lightroom. If you use Adobe Lightroom 2 on an older MacBook you really should look at the new 13 MBP. It's one sweet machine.
