Sunday, September 21, 2008

Cave tour







Saturday Wendy and I went to the Lockport Cave, Lockport, NY. The cave is a hydro conduit built in the 1800's to power 3 industries of that era. The men who dug this cave worked 12 hours a day were paid 17 cents a day and given a shot of whiskey every 2 hours until the job was completed. They averaged digging out 2 feet a day. Our guide takes us on this tour which is part walk and part boat ride and explains the history and geological aspects of the cave. It is a very interesting tour and worth the trip. Here are some images I took inside the cave. Click to enlarge.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Simply Amazing


The Nikon D3 has outstanding resolution and cropping abilities. I was about 30 yds away when this shot was taken. I used Nikon 70-200mm AF-S VR 2.8 lens at 200mm. The original was then cropped 100% and post processed in NX2. Click on image to enlarge. The detail and facial expressions are extraordinary.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Work Shop Series... Creating Amazing Circles



Here is an interesting and easy technique I learned using Photoshop. I have no idea what practical purpose these have but they are fun to make and have interesting designs and shapes and no two are identical. I suppose one could use these for backgrounds. I use simple exercises like this to sharpen my Photoshop skills and sometimes come up with great ideas for future works. Start your project by opening Photoshop. Any of the newer versions should do. On the tool bar go to file and open your image to the desktop. Any image will do. Experiment with different types of pictures to see how many different types of designs you can achieve. Today I have chosen a flower image with vivid color and texture.




You now need to make a selection that is squared. Choose the crop tool and set your width and height to the same number. Five and five works fine here .


Now select the area you want and crop.

Now apply filter polar coordinates.



Be sure to check the polar to rectangle button.



Now you should have an interesting image, but it is not finished yet.



Now rotate the image 180 degrees and filter polar coordinates again only this time toggle the rectangular to polar button.






Now you have a way cool image.



You can use this image like this or elaborate on this with some of your own Photoshop techniques. You will be amazed at what your imagination can come up with. Here are a few examples of some images I have made.





Sunday, September 14, 2008

Celtic Festival






We went to the Celtic Festival in Olcott, NY on Saturday. Turned out to be a rainy day. Admission was $15 for 2 people. They did have a very organized program of events for the 2 day festival. We watched the Scottish Highland Games tournaments and didn't understand much but it was exciting. We watched Celtic dancers and listened to Scottish music. We even partook in some Scottish foods. All in all it was a very nice festival. Here are some shots from the day.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008




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.