Waterfall Workshop was a blast.

Wow! Wow! Wow! Is all I can say. Our 2012 spring waterfall workshop was a huge success. If you missed our anual spring waterfall workshop then shame on you. What a great time we had. We managed to shoot six waterfalls out of the seven we had planned. Royalton falls was just to hazardous to get near it, but we did get to shoot Lockport falls,Medina falls, Clarendon falls, Holley falls, Indian falls, and Akron falls. One hundred and thirty miles and eight hours of the best waterfall shooting ever. The weather was perfect, we got a slightly overcast day, excellent waterfall shooting weather. We managed some great hiking. We took a lunch break at Sam's Diner in Holley for a wonderful meal with great old time ambiance. The water levels were perfect. Here I have added some sample images from the shoot. Click on any image to enlarge. I will be posting more images shortly.

Cunningham Falls

This is a nice close up of Cunnungham falls, Frederick county, Maryland. We still have two openings left for our May 2nd waterfall workshop. This is a great opportunity to learn. The cost is $200 and we will start at 9 am, tour five local waterfalls with a new bonus waterfall this year to make it six. Includes transportation from Niagara Falls and lunch. Get personal hands on training with camera techniques. Call 716-297-3387 for more details.

The battle that saved Washington D.C.

We took some time out to visit the historic Monocacy battlefeild in Frederick county, Maryland. Monocacy is famously known as the battle that saved Washington D.C. During the civil war General Lee devised a plan to send 15,000 Confederate soldiers up the Shenandoah Valley to Monocacy Junction and then move east to attack the Union captital. This would alleviate the pressure on General Lee's march on Gettysburg. The Union troops were eventually defeated in Monacacy and forced to retreat. Although the battle was a military victory for the Conferates and their only victory in the north, it was also a defeat, because the time spent fighting the battle cost the Confederates a crucial day of marching and provided the Union time to send reinforcements to Washington D.C. The battlefeild now lies quiet and peaceful with rolling hills and wild flowers. We were lucky enough to to catch some civil war re-enactors at the visitors center to give us a signal corps demonstration on how the soldiers communicated during battle.

Niagara Falls flower show

The trilliums have begun to bloom on Goat Island this week. Along with numerous other wild flower varieties the trilliums stand out as one of Niagara's greatest assets. Located on the paths just east of the parking area, one can easily accesss the area. The trilliums are an endangered flower so be careful not to tramp on any. I highly recommend you take the time to go enjoy these flowers now, because they only last about 3-4 weeks.

Big News

We have a new grand baby in our family. Alexander James Burger. He is now one month old and cute as a button. We went to Maryland over the weekend to see the new baby. His parents, Adam and Amy are so happy. Congratulations to them on the birth of their son. We took a few pictures of the baby while we were there.

Get your Dog on

My daughter Lisa and her husband Jeff invited us over for dinner last night. They have two of the sweetest dogs. I took the opportunity to take a doggie portrait for them. Oscar and Nittany don't like to sit still much so we used their bed to kind of contain them in to one small area to get a nice shot of them. I bounced 3 speedlights off left and right walls and one off the ceiling to light my subects.

The Crystal Lake Sychronized Swim Team

I had the pleasure of photographing the senior womens synchronized swimming team of Crystal Lake in Avon Park, Florida last week. They train all winter and do a final proformance for the residents of the park in March. Don't let their ages fool you, these ladies know how to put on a show. They perform an amazing variety of swim techniques all choreographed with music. These women are definately talented and obviously in good shape. Here are a few images from their show. Click on any image to enlarge.

Denton Lake

We took a trip to Florida last week. This is one of the places we stayed at in Avon Park. Denton lake is a spring fed lake and one of the deepest in Florida. A great place for scenic pictures.

Street Scene

Here is a redo of a street scene in Carlisle. We were walking around town at dusk waiting for Chelsea to get out of work so I took few clicks. You can read more about Carlisle here. This image was processed in ACR and Photomatix to give details to the shadows with an hdr technique I am learning from Trey Ratcliff. I find when planning an hdr image it works better if I under expose the images a bit more than usual. This seems to work best for me. Because of the moving objects in this image I did a single image hdr to avoid getting blur in my image.

Workshop...Spring Waterfalls

Spring waterfall workshop will be on May 2nd this year. The workshop will cover 5 area waterfalls. We have two openings available. The cost is $200.00
for the one day. Includes transportation to all five waterfalls, personal photography instruction on proper techniques.and lunch. If you are interested contact us at 716-297-3387 or gary@theportraitgalleryniagara.com

Area waterfalls will consist of Indian falls, Holley falls, Akron falls, Royalton falls, Clarendon falls. This is an amazing opportunity for any level landscape photographer. You must have a dslr camera and tripod, and maybe a pair of rubber boots.

The Mosquito Inlet Light, later known as the Ponce De Leon Inlet Light is the tallest light in Florida. you can read more about the light here: Ponce De Leon Inlet. I took this picture while in Florida last year.

Portrait Lighting

Portrait lighting is a subject that many photographers neglect to learn. There are many techniques and everyone needs to have their own style, but you need to learn good lighting skills too. I took this simple one light portrait of my brother and I think it is one of the best pictures I have of him. I used my Nikon D3 with a 24-85mm Nikon lens and a SB-900 Nikon speedlight. I used a technique I learned from Neil Van Niekirk using his invention BFT the black foamie thing. Basically you are blocking the light hitting your subject from your camera position while you are bouncing your flash off a nearby wall. This particular image utilizes a 3/4 lighting pattern know as Rembrandt lighting. It gives great modeling to the face and adds depth to your image. You can see more examples of this light here: The Portrait Gallery Niagara

February Special Deal...

You are running out of time on the February Valentines Day Special. There are only five days left to get in on the $100 discount.
As an added bonus, today only, February 24th the first caller to call in and mention this ad, recceives a free portrait session worth $75.00. Call now to claim your prize. 716-297-3387.

Photo Walk with Gary Muth

I spent a little time in Lancaster, New York today and decided to do a photo walk around town. Here are some images I liked from the day. The images above consist of the Lancaster Opera House, The Masonic Temple on Broadway, and Town of Lancaster Historical Society. The day was over cast and cold, 39 degrees. All photos were taken with Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-85mm. Click on the image to enlarge.

February Special

If you got engaged for Valentines Day you may get $100 off booking a full coverage wedding package from The Portrait Gallery. Just book your wedding during the month of February and mention this special to receive your discount. Call today for an appointment. 716-297-3387.