Bradenton, FL

Where else but Florida would you see a scene like this first thing in the morning in January.

This shot was taken from the parking garage at Manatee Memorial Hospital early this morning. I love how the Palm trees dot the horizon.

Normally, I wouldn't cut the picture in half with the horizon dead in the middle and with an uninteresting sky, but for some reason this composition works for me. Sometimes you just have to break the rules.

For my non-photographer readers out there. the "rules" or guidelines of composition state that the horizon should not be dead center in the middle but rather at the intersection of thirds. For me, I just like this shot this way.

For my photographer followers, does this work for you as well? Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Safety Harbor Marina

Monday nights at the Marina, my photography club has their weekly meetup. While some of us shoot photos, most of us don't; we just sit around trading tips and techniques.

This Monday night, I saw these amazing clouds and liked the way they formed a semi-circle with the reflections in the water. I knew this called for a wide-angle lens. I love the way this came out. Usually, I have to tweak stuff a little bit in Lightroom and/or Photoshop. I didn't touch this one, other than resizing.

Funny thing, I like it and it's not really my style at all. I hardly ever use a wide angle unless I have to. I'm beginning to think it's time to explore what I can do with this lens.

Settings used for this image were 1/250th at F10 using 200 ISO and +1/3 exposure compensation with partial metering off the water to be sure I'd capture the reflections of the clouds at 18mm with my 18-55mm lens. The shot was made at 5:15 pm.

Safety Harbor Shoreline

This beautiful scene was shot the same morning as I shot the pier at sunrise. This little part of the shoreline is to the left of the pier. I've seen this many times, but during the day it looks kind of bland. It just goes to show you how the various qualities of light can affect a scene.

When you've found a beautiful landscape, you should always photograph it at different times of day. You'll never know what beauty you can find otherwise.

Settings for this scene were as follows: It was shot at 6:50 am, just 20 minutes before sunrise at ISO 200 for 13 seconds at F16. I chose ISO 200 so I'd get less digital noise (grain) and F16 for two reasons; I wanted to be sure everything was in focus from near to far and I wanted a slow shutter speed to blur the water and make it smooth. I used Aperture Priority mode so I could set the aperture, with 0 exposure compensation and partial metering on the grass (which is as close to 18% gray as I could get. Since the light was changing very fast, I set my White Balance to Auto; not that it makes a whole lot of difference when shooting RAW. The focal length was 18mm with my 18-55mm lens.

North Beach, Ft Desoto

Last night, I went to a conference at North Beach in Ft Desoto in Tierra Verde, FL. As I walked along the beach, I couldn't help but notice the quality of the light. There's nothing like the late afternoon light to bring out the best in a photograph.

I spotted this lone umbrella between the sand dunes. There was quite a bit of beach stuff all around, and the people it belonged to were no where in sight. They were most likely enjoying Ft Desoto's warm, summer water. If you've never been to Florida in the Gulf in the summertime, you would not be able to imagine how nice the water is. It's almost like taking a bath. It was a comfortable 84 deg F. No wonder the people weren't around their umbrella.

I walked around this umbrella trying to find a decent vantage point to make my photo without all the beach stuff around it, hoping all the time that the people who owned wouldn't return to spoil my photo. As luck would have it, I finally found a place to stand where the stuff wasn't showing--just a lone float and an umbrella. Perfect!

I made my image, satisfied with knowing that I had the perfect shot to show what I was feeling in my mind when I first spotted that place with that beautiful, warm, summer light.

My camera was already set at ISO 200, and I shot it at F4.5 at 1/200 sec. I probably should've shot it at F8 or higher, but it looked fine in the viewfinder, except for some dark shadows that I knew if I didn't add a little bit of light, they'd have gone black. So, I added 1 stop eV, and using about 79mm on my trusty 55-250mm favorite walk-around lens, fired the shutter to make a very nice shot. I was lucky to have that sand dune hide all the stuff around the umbrella.

It's times like this that makes me happy that I'm a photographer and can record beautiful scenes like this one. Florida is truly paradise.