Blog Archives

The Gifts and Traps of Maturity this Saturday

2/24/2014

Is it a Gift to Be Unfinished"?

Even before we're "finished," we can be amazed all through each day, like coming around a corner and seeing these stunning grape hyacinths hugging a 100 year old tree.

There seem to be more and more gifts that come to me, but I figure it's because I've been taken in by my own negative traps and short-sightedness, and that's why in contrast to my own traps, I see more Beauty and kindness and thoughtfulness.

Saturday, March 1, with lots of new nature photography, quieting music, and poetry I'll be reflecting at Arti Gras on the gifts and traps of maturity, how some rituals lose their meaning, hope becomes so different, and what and who we cherish become so precious.

Arti Gras is sponsored by the Spirituality Network in Columbus. Here is the link to register on-line. http://www.spiritualitynetwork.org/2014artigras.html

Location: Trinity Lutheran Seminary 2199 E Main Street, Bexley.

I hope you come. My website under "Contact" then "Workshops" has the outline for each 1 1/2 hour offering. www.photographybyjohnholliger.net

Photographing Ice and Snow

2/17/2014

Sharpening ice and snow. Be cautious. Sharpening primarily affects the edges. So while sharpening might apply to the edges of a snow flake, it would make the naturally smooth curves of ice acquire an edge it didn't have before, that looks strange.

With a Canon 5D Mark III an ISO of 400 works fine, but it would not work well for smaller cameras. They would add noise. I regularly use that sensor speed in order to get more depth that will be in focus, and to stop action. Best to run tests and find out when your camera starts to show noise; start at an ISO of 100, and keep doubling,(ISO 200, 400, 800, 1600 ) with an f stop of f8. Then download all of them onto your computer and enlarge each one by 50% to see when the noise becomes objectionable. I general enlarge images by 50% which is larger than print size by quite a bit. And then when working with a filter, I'll notice immediately any adverse effects.

This was intended to be a little introduction to photographing ice and snow--which are tricky. Write me if you have questions and would like a different photographic issue addressed. Also, keep in mind that your camera has to be pretty sophisticated (not cell phone shots) and your development software has to be at least Photoshop Elements to apply what I described. My software is Adobe Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, Imageonic Noiseware Professional. The Canon 5D Mark III has a full size sensor that grabs far more information from everything it sees, than the human eye can see. Kind of frightening, isn't it? But this level of camera can deal with the most complicated lighting. Check out Mid West Photo's website on North High Street in Columbus, or visit them with your camera and ask what you might be able to do with the next level, compared to what you have already.

A little technical piece.
The photograph to the left
was taken on a cloudy day and under-exposing the ice enough so that the brightest part of the ice could be made brighter without blowing out every detail.

The brightest places are where the snow landed on the tops of the cascades so the exposure adjustments were made to accommodate the snow.
.
For those who can make adjustments in your software in "contrast," up or down, I've found that the temptation is to increase the contrast, but that would blow out the snow too. So I sometimes reduce the contrast if the brightest parts are blown--no detail, just white. This is not easy or simple.

Snow and ice in the early morning or just before dark, turn blue from the lack of light. A slight blue tint then is authentic, and makes the image even "colder."

The background, behind the ice, was darkened to black to add contrast between black and the ice, and make the ice come toward the viewer, and the black the recede from the viewer. The background behind the ice distracted from the ice.

This is a carefully chosen selection of a larger file--cropped. If you've seen
group photographs of humans, then the really good groupings have the heads going up and down,
rather than straight across.
i applied the same logic here, choosing a selection where the ice goes up and down and makes for an intriguing composition.

Calling All Facebook Friends, just once, check out my blog

2/12/2014

If you click here this will link to my blog address http://www.photographybyjohnholliger.net/blog.html

I write about the context for some of my best photographs, reflect on the natural history of the area, offer what I've learned the hard way: which means, after i do it wrong, then I do it right... that's the hard way.

You can scroll down and see how much variety there is over time.
To receive the blog as soon as a new one appears, click here and this will link you to the site where you just click, subscribe. Imagine that, a subscription that's a freebie. http://www.photographybyjohnholliger.net/1/feed

I hope you take a look.

Let me know what you think.

John

Fallen Moss Laden Trees

2/11/2014

Fallen Moss Laden Trees

After days of rain

In free fall,

The clouds

Moved on,

Empty.

The mosses

Vivid,

Bright

The liveliness

Of their youth.

Looking closely,

Every lichen cup,

With one

Spherical drop.

The wood

Soaked

Saturated.

In Ebony black.

This beauty,

From broken,

Fallen trees,

Revealing their essence:

Giving themselves away

To moss and lichens,

And to billions

Of insects and microbes

Within their fibers.

Having lived upright a hundred years,

The trees become

Lived in,

Giving to creatures invisible to us,

Another hundred years.

Elders are like that.

John Holliger ©2014

Soulful Barn, Faithful Tree

2/7/2014

    Soulful Barn, Faithful Tree

The wood, darkened red and grey,

Here and there, as it wants.

The doors,

Open.

They will not close.

The doors are what they are

How they are meant to be.

Inviting entrances

Into the barn’s interior mystery.

Hints of distant fields

Through the cracks and slats of the barn,

This eccentric leans away from the westerlies,

And curious.

Who am I?

What have been my westerlies?

I don’t know about hers.

Probably not so different from my own.

She is resilient

As the winds, rain, sleet, ice, the long summer’s heat

Tore against her.

But

She stands,

Leaning,

Like her enduring, faithful companion,

The tree,

Also leaning away from the westerlies.

The Soulful Barn’s face

And the Tree’s witness their initiation

Elders now,

Who would do no harm, cause no suffering.

The tree with thick arms leaning with her companion,

Reveals her admiration and gratitude for her faithful companion.

“Now,” the tree says, “now,

Just be,

Just be here,

Inviting the hungry to stop

And saunter cautiously, if they must, to your entrance,

And lean inward

To absorb your steadfast resilience."

Because we lean,

We are imperfect but safe companions,

Even as the next westerly

Approaches in the distant dark clouds.

How I long for companions who are resilient

And safe and faithful as you.                                                                         copyright 2014 John Holliger

February 02nd, 2014

2/2/2014

Stop