Lucky Break

We don't usually see white egrets in Niagara Falls. I am not a birder so he possibly could be an albino version of a great blue heron, I don't really know for sure.This guy has been stalking Gill creek for two years now that I know of and maybe longer. I catch glimpses of him occasionally on my bike rides. He will see me and he's gone, not a photogenic type I guess. This day was an exception he didn't care as much about me as long as I kept my distance, as he did about catching his lunch. Lucky break for me the sun was cooperating and so was a nice reflection in the water.

Ray of Light

This particular image I switched to a 10x ND filter. Exposure ended up at 30 sec. at f-2.8 and iso 100. I started the exposure while the falls was under cloud cover but halfway thru the a ray of sunlight came through the trees and lit up the water.

Peaceful Delight

While at Lockport falls I made some color exposures. To make the water blur you need a good tripod and a slow shutter speed. This one I used a 4X nd filter to slow the shutter speed to 6 sec. at f-11, iso 200.

A Little Waterfall

Went to Lockport and stopped by this little gem. It had been raining for the past week so I had plenty of water flow. I used an infrared R-79 red filter to make the foliage white. Long exposure of 30 sec. at 2.8 and iso 100.

Down the Stretch

A big stretch dual in the eight race with Gandys Got Gold and Rock My Soul challenging.

Big Win

Another jockey, Juan Crawford. He is smiles from ear to ear after an unexpected win on long shot Crowns Dancer.

The Jocks

Here is Helen Vanek after another successful win on Hombre Natural. She won the first three races opening day at Fort Erie Race Track for the hat trick. I used f-6.3 at 1/2000th sec at iso 900 to capture this image. The needed the fast shutter speed because the horse was still very excited after the race and moving around quite a bit. The f6.3 aperture was to acquire the most depth of field I could get an still keep my iso reasonable.

The Old Grey Mare

The old grey mare named Sandys Hurricane gets challenged by Our Gabrielle in the seventh race.

Finish with Style

I used manual mode with a start up setting of 1/2000th sec @ f-6.3 and auto iso to deal with the clouded sky. Iso in this pic ended up at 1250. I like the double image of this finish on the monitor.

Post to Post

I always try to find backgrounds that are not too busy so your focus of attention is on the action of the horses. Here I cropped out the sky and tree tops because they distracted the eye from my subjects. Use creative cropping to improve your compositions.

A Lot of Gull

Nice image I grabbed at the track of this gull flying around the grandstands. He was looking for hand outs but the bettors weren't interested in birds they were there to see horses.

The Giant Within

I love horse racing but it's not always fun and games. In the eight race on opening day at Fort Erie Race Track yesterday this great 5 year old champion named The Giant Within took a terrible fall and broke his front leg. Here is probably the last image of him healthy right before the race. Little did anyone suspect the horror that was about to happen minutes later.

The jockey, Christopher Griffith was thrown off his mount but appeared to be unhurt as he chased down the terrified horse. Meanwhile owners, trainers, horsemen, track officials swarmed on the scene.

They removed his saddle as quick as they could and tried control him. The following images are very graphic and should be viewed at your discretion.

Sadly there is nothing that can be done for this poor horse and I am sure he will need to be put down when they get him back to the stables. My heart goes out to all who suffered from this loss.

Opening Day

Traditionally I like to go shoot the ponies on opening day at Fort Erie race track in Ontario.

Hummingbird Garden Series

I like the challenge of shooting hummingbirds. I added some foreground to this image after the fact.

To Compress or Not

A nice profile shot of the same female featured below. Adding textured overlays to the background for interest. The lens I use is a 70-200mm racked out to 200mm and this compresses and blurs out the background. In most cases this is preferred but I wanted to see if a slightly muted background would make it more interesting. Any opinions on this?

She's a Beaut...Clark

Gorgeous female hummingbird shot with morning light.

Hummingbird

Experiment with shutter speeds to blur the wings to show action and movement.

So...Why Does a Hummer Hum?

Our hummingbirds have arrived this week.

Thrillium About Trilliums

The best thing I like about light painting is you're in total control of where and how the light illuminates your subject. As you can see from this trillium series I have achieved numerous looks with one single stream light pro.

Don't Move....I'm Light Painting

The trilliums I found are located in the a woodland area in the middle of the island. The slightest breeze moves these delicate flowers and makes light painting a little more challenging. I tried to find trilliums with natural obstacles nearby to block any wind so I could make 30 second exposures.

Trillium Series ( part 2 )

You can completely change the composition and your viewers perception of your image simply by changing the crop or converting to black and white. Here I have used the same flower image to demonstrate how that can be accomplished.

Painted Flower Series

I finally got a chance to shoot the trilliums of Goat Island today. The weather decided to cut me short and rained me out but I managed a few images. I wanted a different look this year so I decided to try and light paint the flowers. I used a 10x neutral density filter on an overcast day to get an exposure of iso 200, f-11 at 30 sec. I then painted in the scene with a stream light pro to make the image. I will be posting a few more of this series in the next few days.

Ryot Covered Bridge

The last of the eight bridges we toured while in Bedford county, Pa. The Ryot covered bridge was lost in a fire in 2002. The Bedford county commissioners committed to rebuilding the structure and was reopened in 2004.

Colvin Covered Bridge

The Colvin covered bridge was built in 1866 and refurbished in 1997.

Snook's Covered Bridge

Another great looking white with red accents Pennsylvania bridge. Built in 1882 the bridge is in remarkably good shape. I started out on this series of covered bridges using a tripod and seven image bursts of bracketed exposures but after the first two bridges I ditched the tripod and reduced the exposures to three bracketed. By then the sun had come out and I could maintain faster shutter speeds to hand hold the camera and still get sharp images.

Kniseley Covered Bridge

A really well maintained bridge in a park like setting. White with red accents the Kniseley bridge is not usable to traffic but you can walk across it.

Turner Covered Bridge

Another white covered bridge in Pennsylvania. The Turner covered bridge was a great find off the main road on a dirt and gravel road the bridge is still in operation. There is a five dollar fine for driving over the bridge faster than a walk.

Claycomb Covered Bridge

Gracing the entrance to Old Bedford Village is this beautifully landscaped Claycomb covered bridge. The bridge was originally in Reynoldsdale and moved to this location in 1975.

Bowser's Covered Bridge

Interestingly we found some white bridges in Pennsylvania. I have shot a lot of covered bridges and the only white ones I have seen were in Indiana. Most of the Pa bridges are red so this was a pleasant surprise. This Bowser's covered bridge is no longer in service as there is a concrete bridge next to it.

Covered Bridge Tour

The Herline covered bridge built in 1906 is the longest covered bridge in Bedford County, Pa.

This is the opposite side view of Herline covered bridge. I used a bracketed three image burst hand held for these images. Nikon D3, iso 200, f-11.

Falls...Prospect Point

Stopped by the Falls yesterday to see how all the new construction is coming along. Construction is everywhere and dosen't show any signs of finishing up soon. Checked on the trilliums and they need about two more weeks to peak bloom. I will be back in a week to check again. Here is a 5 image pano from Prospect Point just cropping out the construction on the left. It's all rainbows in Niagara Falls, New York.

First Dance

This is an image from Jeff and Janelle's first dance. Because the dancers move around the dance floor I had my assistant stand about 12 feet behind them with a flash at 1/4 power and told her to keep the dancers between us. This way we adjusted our positions as the dance moved along the dance floor so she was out of sight of the camera. Again be careful not to overpower the rim lighting. I also used on camera flash bounced off the ceiling at 1/4 power and another on a light stand from my camera left pointed at the dancers at 1/4 power. Nikon D3, iso 2000, f-9 at 1/60th sec.

Beautiful Bride

Janelle looks beautiful on her wedding day. This church pose was easily accomplished. We posed Janelle halfway up the isle and off to the right as to include the altar and stained glass window in the background. I used a remote triggered flash on a guerrilla pod attached to a pew at 1/4 power about 12 feet behind her. I've had years of practice doing this so judging the distance comes naturally but you'll need to experiment with your equipment. You want to make sure the flash just adds a kiss of rim light and not over power the veil of the bride. Fill light flash on camera was bounced off the ceiling to match the ambient room light. Nikon D3 iso 3200, f-4.5 at 1/60th sec.

Friday Wedding

Congratulations to Jeff and Janelle. We did some nice environmentals on a rainy wedding day by the Niagara river and north Grand Island bridge.