Comfort Zone
I would describe my photography style as organic. By this, I mean nothing staged, natural light and minimal editing. I shy away from stuff like portrait, product and food photography because it takes posing subjects and a level of planning that are not as enjoyable to me. That isn’t to say landscape and nature photography don’t require planning however when doing landscape photography, for example, you don’t have control over the weather and more importantly, light. You can try to maximize your chance to have beautiful light by putting yourself in the right place at the right time, but Mother Nature doesn’t have to cooperate.
My idea for a project this year is to step outside my normal comfort zone. My goal is to improve my skill in these areas to improve my photography overall. I hope to do all 28 types of photography listed here. I will try to list what style was intended to be emulated if the photo is new. Wish me luck. Please enjoy this gallery!
Storm 3-8-24
Storm and fog at Acadia National Park. I like the Monochrome on this photo to add a bit of mystery as the fog obscures the distance. I will probably try to do another storm photo with more dynamic clouds.
Nikon Z8 at handheld at 1/250 Sec at 24MM, F/8.0, ISO 72
Architecture 2-26-24
The whole family traveled to Washington DC to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Our daughters traveled with us and our son flew in from Colorado. We took a whirlwind tour of the monuments and National Mall the second night. It was challenging to get good night photos and keep up with the tour group, but I enjoyed the endeavor. This photo of the US Capital was taken on our last stop of the tour. This version, I shot on my cell phone and I have never posted a cell picture to our site. Once I edit the ones from my camera I will post a side by side.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra at 1/20 Sec at 6.3MM, F/1.7, ISO 2500
Documentary 2-9-24
I am so far behind editing that it is embarrassing. This photo is from 8-2021 and I have not finished the edits from the event. This is from a photography session with the Ohio School of Falconry. I really had a great time however for some reason I have never finished the edits and posted these anywhere beside a select few gems.
D850 handheld at 1/1250 Sec at 140MM, F/5.6, ISO 360
Macro 1-27-24
I have so many bee photos. I think it goes along with my propensity to always take photos of flowers (only better). I am not particularly happy with the crop. I should bring it in a bit but since I prioritize viewing on a computer monitor or for an actual print, I tend to keep it a bit larger with a lot of environmental elements.
I believe I have improved since 2015 and hopefully I can get a better macro photo this summer.
D5300 handheld at 1/80 Sec at 140MM, F/8, ISO 100
Product 1-19-24
So, this is my first serious attempt at Product Photography. Watershed Distillery ran a lottery to purchase these as a special series. My wife entered, won and purchased them as a Christmas gift. We will be opening and tasting them tomorrow night as part of our monthly Poker Night. Duck not included!
A few notes on the project:
More of a challenge than I expected.
This photo was actually my 14th attempt at about 10 minutes per attempt.
These were merged in Photoshop pretty well, but they still have some artifacts (especially if pixel peeping).
I use a ball head or gimbal but after doing this a can really see the benefit of a geared head as fine tuning was a challenge.
Z8 on tripod with Focus shift of 10 shots at 3 step intervals at 1/13 Sec at 85MM, F/1.8, ISO 64
Documentary 1-17-24
I have some events planned for later in the year but for now I wanted to add this example of documentary style photography from a craft event for children. I like the character in the lady’s hands in this photo.
Handheld on d5300 for 1/100 Sec at 62MM, F/5, ISO 400
Flower. 1-10-24
This is a genre of photography I have been practicing since I picked up my first digital camera - an HP 850 digital camera featuring a whopping 4.1 MP. This photo isn’t quite that ancient as it was taken on my Nikon D5300 on 4/19/2015. Flower Photography is in my comfort zone, so I am considering this type fulfilled even if it is old. It’s not like I can stop myself from taking every pretty flower’s photo anyway.
Handheld for 1/400 Sec at 300MM, F/8, ISO 200
Still life. 1-4-24
Because this was taken at the Franklin Conservatory a few years ago, I am not considering this a suitable submission for fulfilling the linked list for the project. For the project, I will be attempting to use fresh photographs, taken with the intention of meeting the linked styles. However, I am using this older photo as an example and a beginning of this new venture.
Taken on my Nikon D5300 handheld for 1/15 Sec at 48MM, F/6.3, ISO 1250 on 1/24/2015