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.

New Articles

Lisa Englert has graciously agreed to share her money saving tips on our Helpful Tips... section on our main website. She has already started writing a few articles and has promised to add more in the near future. If you are planning a wedding soon and need some expert advise, Lisa is the person to ask. Check out her articles today to save money.

http://theportraitgalleryniagara.com

Night walk in Niagara Falls

A couple pictures from last night that show the illumination of the American falls viewed from Prospect Point in Niagara Falls State Park.

Visiting Niagara

I shot this on Thursday from the viewing area on Goat Island called Stedman's Point. Although Niagara is usually covered under ice and snow by now, we have had an unusually mild winter this year. Even so I wanted to work on some new techniques to show the falls off even on an overcast gray day. You may click the image to enlarge.

Niagara Falls Photographer on TV

Thats right folks, I am going to be on Channel 10 in Ontario Canada, soon. Yesterday the television station, Cogeco Channel 10 in Ontario sent a crew over to our studio to interview me about my new book, " Free Niagara ". It is a collection of images I have captured at Niagara Falls State Park. The book contains some of my best work with unique images of the park. You can purchase the book at www.blurb.com. Just click on the book link to the right.

Niagara Falls Weddings

Engaged to be married in July....Congratulations to Gary & Jennifer! We had a great photo session outdoors with this happy couple. Jennifer and Gary love winter activities and wanted very much to have their engagement pictures taken in the snow. Well they got their wish, even though we haven't had a signifcant snow falll in our area this year on Saturday they got their wish. Plenty of snow. During our shoot the happy love birds were visited by some real love birds. It was a magical moment to them to have these chickadees perch in their hands during the shoot. Thanks for all the fun Jen & Gary.

Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Our recent trip to Carlisle produced some great images of a quaint old town.

We walked around the center of town at dusk. It had snowed a bit the day before we got there but most of it had melted. The lamp posts were decorated for the holidays. we did find one litttle waterfall on the outskirts of town.

I was amazed at how many old buildings were preserved and the history behind their courthouse.

McGee's Mills revisited

I am working on some new post processing techniques with iPad apps. This app is called 100 cameras. Once you upload a picture it gives you 100 different looks. You can also use sliders to control the intensity of each look. I liked this effect and toned it done a tad. This image really pops now. When I took the image the foliage had already peaked and the scene was a little bland. This effect picks up the colors nicely.

New Order System

We have upgraded our ordering system. When you go in to our View your Images galleries you will notice a new look. The new system is user friendly and we think very impressive. So, revisit your gallery, try it out, order some pictures, you'll be glad you did.
www.theportraitgalleryniagara.com