Low Light for the Fun of it.

Truth be told I am lazy when it comes to my personal photography. I tried to be like the other photographers and lug around tons of photographic equipment with me in my travels thinking I need all this crap to get great pictures. Not to mention an old guy like me walking around with twenty thousand dollars of photo gear or leaving it in a hot car or motel room was very stressful. I definitely do not like to shoot on a tripod. Most times a tripod is not permitted at some of these locations so you need to be able to travel light and shoot fast. The examples I show you here were all shot without a tripod and all but one was shot with a Canon power shot SX50 HS. I used a Nikon D3 on the first one, handheld. My point is don't be a slave to your equipment and have fun taking your pictures instead. Learn your camera and how to expose properly. Hold it steady or use a wall or brace to eliminate camera shake. Then post process your images in Photoshop CC.

Bromeliad

Colorful bromeliad at the Erie County Botanical Gardens in Lackawanna NY. I liked the swirl of color from this plant.

Fast, fast, fast...

Racing at Sebring...actually practice laps a few days before the big race.

Dark Passage of Monticello

I took this image a year ago and thought I wish I had used my tripod. When I uploaded the image, I saw it was soft and not sharp, and definitely not what I wanted. The image is of the north / south cellar passage under Monticello. They do not permit photographs inside the mansion and the temperature that day was in the upper 90's so I wasn't going to carry any extra equipment like a heavy tripod with me. I used my Nikon D3 and shot a handheld 5 exposure bracketed burst hoping to capture the scene. I used the 32 bit hdr merge and the new camera shake reduction filter in Adobe Photoshop CC to make a keeper of this dark cellar area.

Covered Bridge

Covered bridges are a favorite of mine. Photoshop CC

Software try out_Portrait Professional

Here is my first attempt using Portrait Professional. I normally stay away from programs like this because the cost usually doesn't justify its ability. I feel most everything you possibly need to do can be found in Photoshop. I must admit this program is quite nice. You can change a face from very subtle adjustments to very dramatic. I especially like the eye treatment features. I still need a lot more practice at this but I feel this program has great potential. You need to use this program like we used filters on film cameras way back when....sparingly...less is more on the sliders for the best effects. I will work more with this program and give my thoughts soon.

Autumn Color

It's beginning to look a lot like fall in western New York. Grab your camera, get out there, take some pictures, have fun. Just some images I captured this past week while traveling around my area.

How to shoot waterfalls by Gary Muth

You can sign up for our waterfall workshops to learn how to shoot great waterfall images like these. Call or contact our studio for details. The Portrait Gallery Niagara

Photographing Waterfalls by Gary Muth

Whenever I get a chance I like to get out of the studio and photograph nature. Waterfalls are my favorite subjects because they are so tricky to handle. I took these last week at a small nature park in Lockport, NY. First off your chances of success improve greatly if you photograph the falls on an overcast day. This makes handling the highlights easier but I still bracket my exposures. I prefer to use a ND filter too, to knock down the exposures even more to get a great blur on the water. We hold two annual workshops to teach the proper techniques in shooting waterfall pictures correctly. If you are interested contact our studio at: The Portrait Gallery Niagara for dates and times. 716-297-3387.

The Portrait Gallery Niagra shoots horse racing images at Fort Erie

The Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie Race Track is the second leg of the Canadian triple crown in thoroughbred racing. Our studio was there to capture some great images for our fine art collections. The image of the horses leaving the starting gate was won by Uncaptured the number one horse on the rail. We decided to name that image Uncaptured. The other image of the horses rounding the final turn is called Lucky Image after the horse who won the forth race, Lucky Image the number one horse, who by the way is in the lead and the focal point of our image. You may click to enlarge. Visit The Portrait Gallery Niagara to purchase a wall portrait for yourself.

Limited Edition Prints by Niagara Falls Photographer Gary Muth

We are now offering Limited Edition Prints. They will be limited to one 16x20 color and one 16x20 bw. Images will be framed, matted and signed by the artist. The images above are part of that collection. I took these recently of Lockport Falls a quaint little waterfall in our area. If you are interested contact our studio at : The Portrait Gallery Niagara

Spring Waterfall Workshop 2013

Our spring waterfall workshop was a huge success this year. We couldn't ask for better weather. We had overcast clouds when we needed them and sunshine when we needed it. We covered Lockport falls, Royalton falls, Holley falls,Clarendon falls and as a spcecial added bonus 30 mile point lighthouse at Golden Hill State Park. If you didn't sign up this year don't worry you can get in on our fall waterfall workshop this year. Here are some samples of what you missed. We have all our pictures at our main gallery. The Portrait Gallery Niagara. Click on any image to enlarge.

Photographing Trilliums in Niagara Falls

The trilliums are in bloom. My favorite wild flower the trilliums grow on Goat Island in Niagara Falls. On the first week of May every year the woodlands on Goat Island come alive with a wealth of wild trilliums. I always mark my calender and make a trip to the island just to capture their beauty. Here are some examples of this years crop. The trillium is the provincial flower of Ontario and is an endangered flower and is illegal to pick. Go to our main site at: The Portrait Gallery Niagara to view our entire collection of flowers.

Mel Tillis Concert

Mel Tillis Concert in Plant City, Florida.