Today was one of those days. Just a horrid Monday.

And the fact that the only color outside my window at work is grey. Lots and lots of grey.

So just a quick post today to remind everyone what a sky with some color looks like...

I did get some good news today, though. I got an email from Adorama saying that my new Sigma 150-500 is shipping. So hopefully before the end of the week I'll have a new toy to play with, and some photos to share from it.

One of these days I'll get back to a normal routine. Till then, enjoy the sky with something other than grey in it.

- Bill

I am trying to get better about this - once things warm back up again, I'll try to get back into the habit I started of carrying my camera with me full time. For now I feel the repeated heat/cold wouldn't be a good thing for the camera. Anyway...

Sometimes you don't need to travel to far off locations to get great shots. Remember - look for creative photos in what you see almost every day.

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 27mm, 1/250 sec at f/11, ISO 400. No post production. Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA.

Why This Shot: I've always liked the architecture of the Mellon (I still like to call it the Civic) Arena. As Anya and I stood in line to get in to a game (actually on the same day we got engaged over 200 miles away in Niagara Falls), I looked up at the large steel support structure and decided I should click off a couple shots.

What Works: Strong composition of the photo seems to draw the viewers eye through the shot. The repeating patterns of the support structure and the roof tiles allow for a lot to look at in an otherwise simple composition. The bright blue sky finishes things off nicely.

What Doesn't Work: The shot is ever so slightly off level - though easily fixed with some minor rotating and cropping. The sky is just a bit over exposed, and the position of the clouds is somewhat distracting - had they been in the open area of sky, they may have been more pleasing.

This image might actually be better done as a bracketed set or HDR image to be able to gain the crisp detail in the arena and yet get the best pop out of the blue sky. Perhaps some day I'll head down there to try this one again. Though I guess I shouldn't procrastinate too too long - it will be sad to see the arena go away. It has so much character and I for one will miss the Igloo!

I hope to get to start collecting more architectural images in the future. It is an area I am interested in and so often overlook. I just need to remember what amazing photos I can get in my own backyard.

- Bill

Something I've learned is to work a scene until you're pleased with the results. Sometimes I am better than others with maintaining the patience necessary to do this. Quite often I'm guilty of not spending quite enough time to get the shot I want, but I'm working on correcting that.

Another item is to feel free to clear up distracting elements in your shot. Most of the time with outdoor photography, this is random twigs or dead leaves. They usually take away from a shot, and a few moments makes for a much cleaner shot.

At the same time, however, one needs to weigh how much of a change you want to make to an environment - certainly I don't condone doing anything that would affect any wildlife or even the micro-environment in which you're working. As a outdoor photographer, you almost automatically have to be a conservationist.

Anyway - back to the item at hand. Working the scene.

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/60 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, No Flash. No post production. Cedar Creek Park, Westmoreland County, PA.

It is a little tough to see from each of the small photos (but you can click on them to see larger versions), but through the series of taking these photos, I went through the following changes to finally get the shot I liked most:

• Changed focal length from 20mm to 10mm
• Removed random distracting debris (dead leaves)
• Tried multiple small angle adjustments (especially leveling the horizon)
• Turned off the flash
• Took several more shots to get a favorable capture of the stream motion

The first shot is very dull and probably would have been deleted if I didn't specifically keep it as a reference to remind myself to do these kinds of things to get a more favorable shot. In the end, I have a shot that I like very much and has a much more powerful effect.

Had I not removed the dead leaves, the scene would easily be identified as a small rock in a stream - without that distracting debris, the scene looks like it could be a very large boulder instead. The removal of the flash certainly adds to that illusion of a larger subject.

I took these shots while leaning over another rock into this stream. I was not able to look into the viewfinder for any of these shots (another technique I like to use from time to time which I'll discuss some other day).

As I think back on it, it felt like I spent much longer at this spot than I really did - the timestamps of the files only differ by about two minutes. I guess this is another argument for the benefit of reviewing your photos while still out in the field. I was able to go from a poor image to a half-way decent image with a lot more character.

Whether you spent two minutes or twenty minutes or two hours, remember to try and work the scene and walk away with an image you are happy with rather than regretting not spending the extra time and having nothing else to show for it.

- Bill

Welcome to my photography blog. Admittedly, I do not know everything there is to know about photography. Heck, I wouldn't even call myself anything more than an enthusiastic novice that gets lucky now and again and sometimes gets a few decent shots from time to time. But I'm learning, and that's the key. Which is the point of this blog - to help myself learn by forcing myself to explain things, and by extension, hopefully help others to learn as well.

So that explains why I'm here. Hopefully you see something here that gives you reason to come back! This will be a journey. A journey through learning about photography and everything that is a part of it - the technical stuff, the equipment, the financial aspect, the emotional side of photography - just about anything and everything that has anything to do with photography is fair game here I think. Hopefully soon some folks with follow this blog and provide their own insights and it will function on multiple levels. For right now, I'm just forcing myself to get going and hope it takes off.

Which brings me to the photo for this post... I had another photo that was more of a sunrise photo, but frankly I didn't like it as much for my first post, so I'll use it later maybe. But anyway, I think I'll experiment with how I want to discuss photos. I think starting out, I'll do four sections for each photo: Technical Data, Why This Photo, What Works, What Doesn't Work. They should be fairly explanatory once you read them, so I'll just get to it.

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 20mm, 1/320 sec at f/18, ISO 400.

Why This Photo: I took the photo because I liked the sun coming up from behind the Pittsburgh skyline. I had gotten to work early this morning and done some work and then headed out to take some photos of the replicas of the Columbus ships. I had wished to beat the sunrise, but as you can tell, I missed. I liked the small group of ducks drifting down the river. I chose this photo for this post as a kind of nerdy symbolism of 'dawn' - I thought it fit with the beginning of my blog.

What Works: I feel the composition is ok - even though I break the rule of thirds with the far shore of the river, I think I picked it back up with the placement of the tops of the buildings against the sky and the placement of the group of ducks sits right on one of the power points. I also liked the repetition of the shape of the point with Point State Park and the formation of the ducks.

What Doesn't Work: Obviously, the fact that I missed sunrise by a long way off, and resulted in a heavily blown out area in the center of the photo. While I like the sunburst effect of the sun peaking out from behind a building, I think I missed here and produced a fairly distracting blinding spot in the center of my image. This ends up washing out the colors of the sky, and reducing the detail of the city and any foreground elements. The reflection of the city off the river would be much nicer if this wasn't washed out too!

So there you have it, my first post. I'm not going to just put photos here and expect people to read this if all I do is claim my photos are flawless - that's not the point here. I'm trying to learn from my photos, and hopefully teach others from them as well.

I really hope you enjoyed this first post and stop back for more. I also plan on getting a full equipment list of what stuff I am shooting with (and what I might have collecting dust), a set of links (for places to go for more info, more photos, sales, etc), possibly reviews of the various equipment and books I've owned or read - the sky's the limit, and hopefully I'll get something useful going here.

Anyway, thank for stopping by and taking the time to read this!!!

- Bill