Doin' a drive-by...

One thing I love about my commute is the constantly changing scenery. Every day the oaks and grasses in the lower foothills take on a different look. I hope to continue to post new images as my "drive-by shooting" techniques improve.

Time to improvise...

With increasingly less time to shoot these days, I have decided to improvise. On my commute to work I have noticed this lone oak tree on many occasions. For whatever reason I haven't been able to stop and set up a shot. So for this shot I just held my camera out the window as I drove buy. I had preset the focus and exposure and took a guess at the appropriate framing. The blur is of course a result of traveling 65 mph.

'round midday

Most outdoor and nature photographers will tell you the best time to photograph is during the "magic hour." Great light does in fact occur thirty minutes before and after sunset and sunrise. Landscapes and other subjects tend to be bathed in a warm, russet light that can make for spectacular photographs. During the rest of the day colors can tend to be flat and muted and dynamic range can be extreme. However, if we limit ourselves to only this time of day we are missing out on 154 hours per week of potential photographs. Another great aspect to black and white photography is that it lends itself to the high contrast scenes of midday. So next time you find yourself putting your camera away because the sun is straight overhead, reconsider the scene in terms of contrast and tonalities. You might be surprised at what you can create.

Dealing with lack of color...

Once again I had a landscape image in Afghanistan that lacked any real color at all. The leftover Jeep carcass had some subtle greens but that is about all. However, after converting to black and white the contrasts in the scene begin to stand out much better. Typically the eye will travel first to the areas of highest contrast, then brightest parts of the scene, followed by warm and cool tones, then to areas of shadow with detail. Once I converted this image I began to see just how that works. After looking at the color version many times, I found myself searching the image much more in the black and white version.