A Frost-proof Rose Garden is Child's Play

By PF Staff in Favorite Photos on Jan 24, 2013

”With the right choice of varieties, creating a frost-proof rose garden is child’s play"

I am just a hobby photographer. I doubt I will ever make a living from my photography. All the same, there is a huge satisfaction in being able to produce something from your hobby that others consider worthwhile, and there is also the issue of financing my hobby. So, these two considerations make me very happy about the freelance photo jobs that I do manage to land now and again.

This time I had been asked to supply photos for an article in a gardening magazine about how to grow roses in Denmark, where frost in spring poses a problem. I visited the garden of the journalist several times, and photographed all the pretty varieties of roses that he pointed out as relevant. I also took “landscape” type photos of the garden, and in the end we had quite a selection of rose photos. But the editor was asking for something a bit catchier as the opening photo for the article.

The Sun at 200mm

By PF Staff in Favorite Photos on Jan 23, 2013

This is one of my favorite photos of mine. It is not because I think it is a great photo that I like it. I like it more for the reasons that I like my children. This shot took planning, a little more work than I normally put into a photo and some trust that I could accomplish what I set out to do with very limited resources. I chose to highlight this photo for these reasons, and to show like minded folk what can be done.

Predjama Castle

By PF Staff in Favorite Photos on Jan 23, 2013

When I was thinking which photo would be suitable to write about how it was done I thought of a photo that made people ask me that question more than any other. Even though it didn't require any special photographic techniques or post processing I picked a photo of Predjama castle:

1. Predjama castle from birds perspective

Making of "Edmonds Rainbow Panorama"

By PF Staff in Favorite Photos on Jan 22, 2013
Click image for large version

One night browsing around tumblr I came across a post about the "Brenizer Method;" named after the famed wedding photographer, Ryan Brenizer. His method is to use panoramic stitching to create an image that looks like it was taking with a wider lens on a medium format camera. This is normally done by using a large-aperture telephoto on a APS-C/FF camera. You shoot as wide-open as you can to achieve a small depth-of-field and shoot around your subject to take in more out-of-focus details and background. I was really intrigued by the concept and studied it all night and wanted to try it the next day. Lucky for me Western Washington was still enjoying unusually dry weather when I got antsy to take some photos, so I headed down to the Edmonds Waterfront to fulfill my urge. In my excitement of seeing the perfect rainbow-over-the-ferry picture I forgot about Brenizer and snapped away for a panorama... What came out was a "happy accident" that, although not what I was planning on shooting, still makes me proud.

Under Ben Alligan

Workflow

By PF Staff in Favorite Photos on Jan 20, 2013
Click photo to enlarge

Why This Photo?

I have chosen this photo because it is probably the photo (to date) that I have spent the most time composing, then processing and reprocessing, until I was happy with the result. The other, more obvious reason is because it is my favourite landscape that I have taken (to date).

I took this photo because I wanted a good landscape of the mountain behind, and not just another mountain picture. Although it has ended up as being a photo of a waterfall, rather than a photo of a mountain, I think that that works fine, since the waterfall was stunning in itself, with the way that it seemed to be lighting up the dark rock background that it had. The area of particular interest, for me, was the way in which the water seems to light up when it falls onto the rocks.


facebook.com/PentaxForums PentaxForums @PentaxForums News | Reviews | Forum

Support Pentax Forums Donate to Pentax Forums Support Pentax Forums