Monthly Archives: January 2011

Nature of Macro Photo Workshop

It’s official!  I’ve scheduled  great locations at Blacklick Woods Metro Park and Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park for my  Macro Photography Workshops.  This will be a fun day packed with a ton of information (maybe too much!)    Listed below is the link to the registration page complete with additional information.  Please let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks so much!   – Vince

Current Dates -

May 1 Sunday – Blacklick Woods Metro Park

October 1 – Saturday – Blacklick Woods Metro Park

October – 23 – Sunday – Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park – (just added)

 

Registration Details -

2011 Nature Photo Workshops

Compose your Background for a Powerful Image

The landscape is full of many items and finding the right subject to photograph is at times overwhelming.  I try to go into an area without any specific preconceived notions about what I’m going to photograph leaving my mind as open as possible.     My overall focus is on nature’s intimate subjects and my favorites are leaves, flowers and all of their color and textural interest.   I scan through the landscape looking for isolated items that stand out from the crowd.  Something as simple as a colorful leaf against a fallen log or a lone flower in a grass filled prairie always seem to draw my eye.  Once I find a potential subject I’ll start composing the image in my head.   I look at various perspectives from the immediate surroundings to determine how they will relate to my subject.   The background is always of utmost importance and one that I see most overlooked by amateur photographers. In this photo I wanted a relatively clean background that provided rich colors and subtle textures to compliment my main subject.    I took about 3-5 different exposures varying the composition just slightly to ensure I had the background just right.   I also selected an aperture setting of F 5.6 to provide enough depth of field on my subject but to allow me to blur the background to minimize distracting elements competing with the main subject.

Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, Ohio -

Fine Art Photography with Textures

I decided recently to give textures a try once again!  I have used such techniques in the past, but was never happy with the results.   Macro nature photographer Mike Moats has been kind enough to share a wonderful source for artistic photo textures that I really enjoy.   These textures by Shadow House Creations are a great resource to add a different look to some of your fine art photographs.   Here are a few of my latest creations using these textures along with Nik Software filters.   Give them a try and they might just add a beautiful touch to your fine art photos!   Thanks for viewing –  Vince

link –   ShadowHouseCreations

Lens and Leaves Camera Club

I am honored to be presenting tonight at the Lens and Leaves Camera Club meeting – Blacklick Woods Metro Park – Reynoldsburg, OH.  I will lead a brief discussion on nature photography techniques and post processing with Nik Software filters.   I’ll also be judging selected images from club members.  Meetings are held monthly at the Beech Maple Lodge at Blacklick Woods Metro Park.

Additional club information is available at the following links -

Lensandleaves.org

Blacklick Woods Event Page

Push your creative vision with NIK filters!

One of the most powerful tools I use for post processing is without a doubt the filters by Nik Software.   Their collection of filters enable me to push my creative vision beyond what I could only imagine.  These plugin filters run with Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture programs and are worth every penny.  My favorite filter sets are Color Efex and Silver Efex (for black and white)   The power of these programs is amazing and their creative power is endless.  Check them out at NIKSoftware.com!

This photo was shot with a Nikon D700 and processed almost exclusively with NIK Software’s Color Efex Pro -