Well, there’s no doubt in my mind… they’ve pretty much got it right. All in one interesting document. Good stuff.

Take a look when you get a chance… it may help you with some questions that you have with SEO and SERPS.

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Many thanks to everyone that helped my image “Rail” make it’s way to the top page of 500px.com the other week. It was actually positioned at number one for a bit of time before its surging slowed down.

“Rail” was a photo that I took on a crisp fall day when my parents and Aunt and Uncle were up to visit. We had been bouncing around town, and I decided to take them up to the White Mountain Cider Company in Glen, New Hampshire for a fresh donut, and yes… you guessed it… hot cider.  Behind the Cider Company is the railroad for the Conway Scenic Rail. I always like to take a quick walk on the tracks and shoot when I’m there… it’s a really beautiful spot, and the river is gorgeous. So, there we all were, and as I was shooting, my Uncle Rich suggested taking some shots from a lower perspective… as soon as I got low, I saw what he meant… and the shot was captured. In a lot of ways, it’s hard to say what can surge on 500px… it’s a wide range of photographers, but one thing is for sure…. you only put your best work on 500px.  I fell in love with this shot the moment I looked at it in Lightroom, and the rest is 3 minutes (or around that, anyway) of 500px fame.

Here’s the shot. Make sure to  check out my 500px portfolio here.

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Recent work completed for On Target Magazine.

Cold weather didn’t stop us from getting some great shots for On Target’s December/January Issue.  We ended up shooting three entirely different features that day… using a good bit of various lighting setups, and ammunition.  Overall, we came up with some very compelling shots, highlighting some very cool products. 

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We were excited as all get out when Scot Henley thought of us to produce some fun collateral and a microsite for the Mount Washington Observatory’s new Partners site. 

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An awesome bit of magic… found at http://www.creativesomething.net/post/14309368349

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Yep. Another day at the “office”. 

A quick video featuring behind the scenes footage from some recent tactical and rescue  photo assignments. Hard work, and great fun.

Assignment locations in the video:

We work hard as hell to get what you need. Although these shots are a bit intense, we’re at home behind a camera in any situation. 

Video shot with:
Sony Bloggie HD cam (which I take on all of my shoots with me)
Nikon D3s

This footage contains explicit language.

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I spent a bit of time checking out my new favorite photography site 500px.com the other day, and was really taken by a few assorted shots that involved water.
Reflections, droplets, ink flowing through water; all really nice images. I got the idea in my head to try my own special capture of  some water droplets.

Shooting water is about the surrounding light, not about lighting the actual water. The highlights and reflections are tremendously important to take into consideration. You need to fiddle with reflecting angles and strength of the lights… I opted to set my drop-shoot up at my kitchen table. Trust when I say, I was totally flying by the seat of my pants on this one.  I feel like it might be good knowing how to light other shoots, or use Speedlights. If you need help with strobist techniques, head over and check out Strobist. If you’re into lists, here’s what I used for my shoot.

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A few weeks back the folks at LensProToGo.com (my favorite place to rent equipment) let me know that I was chosen to be a part of the “Coast to Coast” contest. The idea is to take four Lensbaby Composer Pros with the Sweet 35 Optic, and send them to across the country, stopping at the chosen photographer’s locations for a few days. Each shooter gets to fire off a bunch of shots, and check out the Lensbaby setup, and then it goes to the next lucky contestant. It’s a truly cool idea. I was super stoked to have the chance to shoot with this lens. If you’re not familiar with the Lensbaby type of glass… well… you basically have a lens that you can tilt and swivel which creates a very dramatic flex and bend of your depth of field (see the shots below). Here’s a quick lowdown on the big action… the build, the performance, and some sample shots.

The build

Really good. The glass is flawless, and the focus is really smooth, as is the tilt. I did notice that when you have an extreme level of tilt (which really wouldn’t be great for images anyway) the focus ring becomes a bit “crunchy”. You can feel a kind of clicking or grinding, which made me a bit nervous. After the first time I shot with that extreme level of tilt and then reviewed the shots, I knew I’d never tilt it that far again, because the results were crap. All in all, the build is really nice, and Lensbaby seems to have a very high-level attention to detail.

Shooting with the lens

Frustrating. At first. It slowly gets better. I can definitely say that there is a pretty steep learning curve to the lens if you’re looking for really tight, professional quality shots. The sensitivity at tighter aperture settings is unreal… I can completely understand why Lensbaby has the “Control Freak”‘ lens… I would have appreciated a lot more control over the lens and be able to lock it in place for a few of the shots I was taking. Focusing on your objective is relatively easy, but when you start to bend the lens at all, you can rest assured that you’re going to have to tweak the focus again before you get it everything set to click the shutter.

What it’s good for

Artsy shots with very wild, bent out DOF. That’s about it. Is this a lens that I would purchase? At $400 retail, I would probably opt to go after the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 G, or a Nikon 35mm f/2 D , and then work a bit of Photoshop magic with a few layers to create a similar (but not the same) effect.  Note: Photoshop might get close to reproducing a Lensbaby-Like effect, but it really never can reproduce the chromatic abberations, bent depth of field, and all-around artsy-fartsy kookiness that you can get with the lens. I’ve seen a number of tutorials on how to create a Lensbaby effect on Youtube, etc. and they really didn’t make the magic happen. Honestly, it’s  really about the organic experience of shooting with this lens (does that sound weird?).

All in all

There’s no doubt that shooting with the Lensbaby Composer Pro with Sweet 35 was an interesting experience. It’s a well built lens, and creates some really cool effects that are very difficult to reproduce with software. The coolest thing about the lens was the organic nature of shooting with it. You’re forced to be a photographer. You’re forced to really concentrate on composition, focus, and depth of field, and how the lens can bend it all. Would I buy this lens? Not likely. You really have to love the effect, or have a specific style that jives with it, or it’s going to spend a lot of time in your camera bag. It’s more of an artsy toy than a tool. Again, a great reason for me to rent when the need strikes me.

For an amateur photographer, I would totally recommend renting it from Lensprotogo for a weekend. For a beginner, it’s a great exercise in practicing your composition, control of DOF, and it’s a hoot to shoot with when you get the hang of it. For a professional, well… you probably know what it is capable of, and it either will work with your style or assignment, or it won’t.  I will say that when I put the lens back into it’s case, and sent it away, I wished that I had it for a few more days to really push the limits with it.

The shots

I took a number of shots with the Lensbaby, and I feel like I put it through it’s paces as best as I could. Landscapes, natural light, low light, on camera SB-800 speedlight, 2 remotely triggered SB-600 speedlights… I went after it when I had the lens. Take a look below. The effects that the Composer Pro creates are pretty compelling. Let me know what you think, and make sure to fire off your questions in the comments below. All of these shots were shot with my D-90, not with the D3s.

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You’ve got to push yourself harder. You’ve got to start looking for pictures nobody else could take. You’ve got to take the tools you have and probe deeper.
– William Albert Allard

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Fun project… start playing Pendulum and random electronica, grab your led lights and Cyalume sticks, and start painting with light! We had a great time dancing, singing, and running around.

Equipment = LED lights , Cyalume sticks, 2x SB-800 Speedlights, and some rhythm! Some great examples of lightpainting.

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