Before this, I had experimented with different types of landscape photography, but not much on flowers.  I figured it was time for me to give it a try and work with a subject, background and lights to make the shot.  I used a simple black poster board for the background, which I later made solid black in post-processing.  For lighting, I used a single Canon 430 EX II speedlite, however I didn’t want it mounted to the top of my camera, so I held it and used 2-4 second exposures and manually tripped the flash for each exposure.  I manually set the speedlite power, the distance, and angle until I got a picture I liked of the amaryllis.  The results turned out better than I expected and I have a new appreciation for those who spend time photographing in a studio.

On a side note, I will start posting galleries of some of the places I have been mid-week over the next several weeks.  

This third picture comes all the way from Juneau, Alaska.  Many people don’t know this, but there are no roads that connect Juneau to the mainland North America, so the only way to get a car there is by ferry.  Around the area are many small islands with cabins that can be rented during the summer.  I was fortunate enough to be able to spend two nights in one this past August. The boat was our transportation to the island.  The clear weather was a blessing and I thought this picture gives an idea of the tranquility of the place.  

This second picture demonstrates some of the unique results that can come from a DSLR.  At an aperture of f/1.8, there is only a small area that is in sharp focus.  This is achieved through a very open aperture, meaning more light is let through the lens.  As the f-stop gets smaller, the lens is more open and the depth of field decreases.  To get an idea how the f-stop works, turn off all of the lights in a bathroom and then turn them on while watching the pupils of your eyes.  When it is dark, your pupils get larger, allowing more light into your eye so you can see, similar to a camera lens.  When it is lighter, the pupil gets smaller so a larger f-stop can be used on a camera to maximize depth of field.  

I took this picture last fall on a walk looking at all of the trees in my neighborhood.  There were some spectacular colors, however I thought this shot captured something not usually seen or seen and overlooked.  I liked how the shallow depth of field focuses on the few leaves in the front.  I converted it to black and white from the yellows because I felt it better represented what was to come with winter.      

This is my first blog post so I figured I would give you some information about this site.  As seen in my bio, I bought my first DSLR in the summer of 2010 and started taking pictures.  I have had some great opportunities to photograph places around the world and I wanted to share what I have done.  To do this, I will start with posting an entry every week about the photographs in my portfolio, in order.  I hope you enjoy this and please leave some feedback either on the entry or the picture.  Thanks.

The first picture in my portfolio may be my favorite and it was not even taken with a DSLR, but the small point and shoot I traveled with.  I had the opportunity to travel to Florence, Italy for a conference and on my time off I explored the city.  This picture was taken from a window in the Campanile di Giotto, featuring part of the Duomo or Florence Cathedral, one of the iconic buildings of Florence.  The climb to the top of the bell tower gives magnificent views of this ancient city, but as I climbed down the stairs I saw this view and took a few seconds to compose the shot.