Just a few of my images from the zoo. The bottom three are from the new rain forest exhibit. All the images were made with a Nikon D3 and my favorite lens, 70-200mm AF-S VR 2.8 Nikkor.

Self portrait? No, but there is some resemblance. My brother took me to the Buffalo Zoo today and we made a lot of great images. The Zoo has a new rain forest exhibit and they have remodeled and cleaned up the rest of it. The place looks great and if you get some free time stop by it's worth the trip. This image is actually a female gorilla. It is amazing to watch these animals. They act so human at times. Shot with Nikon D3, 70-200mm AF-S VR lens.

Lighting Lesson 01

Today is the first installment of my better lighting workshop to help you understand how light effects your pictures. I start with this example above. I took this dark corner to show you that without light you have no image. The first picture was actually totally black, no image. I then turn on the lamp and I get an image but in order to see the photo on the table I have to over expose the lamp light. This is not a pleasing photo. In the middle photo I add a flash to the camera and take another image. I get lucky on the first attempt because I don't get any reflection from the glass in the photo in the picture and it is lit fairly well, but I get very unlucky with harsh nasty shadows from the lamp and picture frame in the background. The photo is not satisfactory. In the last photo I add off camera lighting. One pointed to the ceiling to bring up the ambient light levels in the room without casting harsh shadows.. One with a snoot to highlight the picture frame. And one with a snoot to highlight the lamp. Both lights are to camera right and add just a hint of light to our scene to give our final image depth and dimension and still remain realistic and natural. Depending on your level of photography and how much effort and equipment you have will limit what you can and can not do. I just want you to see how light makes or breaks a good photograph and maybe it will inspire you to go out and apply better lighting techniques to make better images. Click on image above to enlarge. Stay tuned for more workshop tips.

We did some photography at Sal Maglie Stadium last weekend. Niagara Falls High School played the Frontier Falcons. The lighting wasn't good and it started to rain but I did manage a few images of the game. NFHS lost this opening season game to Frontier 28-7.

This image of Nathan was taken yesterday at the same time as the ones below. We see the same ole' baby images and same ole borders on lots on images out there . This is an attempt to leap outside the box ( maybe ). I think possibly this has merit if the hand prints were really Nathan's. Any opinions ?

More of Nathan

Here's Nathan! Little Nathan is now 6 months old and the cutest baby ever. We baby sat for him today and I snapped a couple pictures before he took his nap. I used two speedlights in our living room to light him and give his face some modeling and add depth to the background. Here are a few of my favorites. Click on image to enlarge.

Green heron

I shot this green heron in a creek bed in the southern tier. The high iso performance of my D3 came in handy because the creek was in deep shade and I didn't have a tripod with me. I loved how the colors of the trees reflected in the water. This heron was intensely fishing for minnows but he still kept an eye on me and didn't let me get too close.