Black & White Processing with Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 Creative Presets

I sense a bit of a resurgence in interest in black and white photography. This is probably at least in part due to the introduction of Nik Silver Efex 2 software, a package that makes black & white conversion so very easy. My rather unscientific observations of black and white images presented in competitions, on [...]

Creativity Run Amok

This blog post is based on a series of images that I posted on Facebook earlier this week. I entitled that series “Creativity Run Amok” and I am sure you will soon understand why. Over the course of my development as a photographer (a process that will continue for the rest of my life), I [...]

Putting Lensbaby Through It’s Paces

This is really a continuation of my last post here. Same trip to Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA). Same camera – my Canon 30D. Same Lensbaby Composer but with the Soft Focus Optic rather than the Plastic one and using the +4 Macro filter from the Lensbaby Macro kit. I might add that while I [...]

The Sound of Silence Visualized

Back in May, 2010 I did a blog post entitled “Art & Music” in which I said “They (visual art & music) go hand-in-hand. So often I find myself looking at a composition in the field or in-camera only to have some song title or lyric or musical genre come to mind.”

So it was [...]

When Sharp Is NOT What You Want

Tack sharp! How often have we heard those words used to describe an image? And how much have we wanted to hear those words used to describe our images? We post an image and someone comments that the image is “tack sharp” and a sudden glow comes over us. But those of you who know [...]

Smoke on the Water

Luck! Sometimes I think it is better to be lucky than good. But what is luck? Sometimes luck isn’t luck at all. Sometimes it is the result of having a plan, a vision. It is the result of spicing up that plan with knowledge and experience. It is a result of being flexible and adapting [...]

“Autumn Impressions” (Part 1)

Fall is kind of an unusual time for me. I love the colors as the leaves change but I love them from afar. The closer I get to them, the less I like them. That’s when the eye starts to notice the imperfections in the leaves and you start to see those holes where light [...]