Sunset in Bolton

Sunset Over a Sheep Farm

This shot was taken in Bolton, CT. Until I looked at it at 100% to check for noise or over-sharpening, I thought this was a pig farm; so, that's what I named the file. Once I saw it at 100%, I realized there were no pigs on that farm; they were sheep. I think I need to change the name of this shot or my eye glasses.

This beautiful sunset was a wonderful way to end our ride.

Dawn Sunshine Skyway Bridge

I'm always trying to find a different perspective when I'm photographing a familiar site. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Ft Desoto, Tierra Verde, Florida is one of my favorite scenes to photo. Not only because it's the Skyway, but because I love to photograph bridges. I'm always on the lookout for a new one to photograph.

It's strange, I've photographed this bridge, especially at dawn and sunrise, hundreds of times and most of them from the same location on East Beach, and never thought to turn the camera on its side. I was pleasantly pleased with this shot.

Whenever I'm out with my photography students, I tell them to not be a "walk-up-shooter". Spend some time exploring the view; look up, look down, walk all the way around the subject if possible, take shots from near, from far, well you get the idea. I tell them this because it's one of my faults that I'm trying hard to overcome. I'll have to practice what I preach more often.

Safety Harbor Pier

Yes, this is yet another photo of the Safety Harbor Pier taken from the Safety Harbor Marina on our regular Monday Meetup. When I saw this image import from my media card, I couldn't believe my eyes.

I remembered making these photos, but thought they were lost on the card. However, the other night my roommate asked me to take a couple pictures for him, and I used my Canon 20-D, instead of my usual 40-D. Now I know where the photos went! It really stinks getting old. :)

Most of the time at the Monday night meetups I don't shoot any photos. But this particular evening, I just had to capture these amazing clouds and reflections on the still water. This is one of the compositions I made.

Settings used for this shot were ISO 200, 1/80 at F9.0 to get a decent depth of field. If I had bumped up my ISO to 400, I would've been able to use F11, but that would've meant I'd have to deal with some digital noise in my shot. I'd rather not have to deal with it if it can be avoided. The camera was set in Aperture Priority mode and I used partial metering on the sky to be sure it wouldn't wash out. I used my Canon 18-55mm IS lens at 18mm, also to get a good depth of field and a nice wide angle of this scene.

St Petersburg Skyline

My friend, Frank, and I went to The Pier in St Petersburg last week to try to capture the sunset over the St Petersburg skyline. We didn't get a lot of clouds, but the color was awesome.

This is one of our favorite haunts. We go up to the 5th floor observation deck where Cha Cha Coconuts restaurant is and shoot to our hearts content. The best thing is the wait staff will serve us out on the deck.

This is one of my favorite images from the shoot. It was shot using my Canon 20D with an 18-55mm lens. I usually don't shoot this skyline wide angle, but for some reason, I decided to give it a try and I like the results. Settings were 1/40th at F4.5 aperture, -1/3 stop eV, in aperture priority mode and average metering at ISO 400 at the 18mm focal length. I chose these settings because they're a little different from my normal settings and was looking to shoot this differently than I usually do.

I've been striving to capture images differently than what I usually see looking for the creativity in my vision. I'm very happy with the results.

Winter Wonderland

Well I just got back from a 3,000 mile road trip up north to see my kids and grandkids and SNOW.

I got my wish on the snow, that's for sure. This image was taken in S. Windsor, CT from my son and daughter-in-law's home. As you can see, there's plenty of snow.

Since I hadn't taken any photos of snow in many, many years, I had to play to get the exposures correct. It's just like riding a bike, though. Once I took a few shots everything came back to me, including how cold it is.

I wondered what possessed me to go up north this time of year. Oh yeah, I know; I missed my kids and grandchildren. In addition, I got to see my brothers who, we figured it had been 16 years since we saw one another. My visit was wonderful and I really enjoyed seeing everyone and the snow.

I'll be posting more images from up north very soon, so check often.

Fountain

This is a very old fountain found on the wall of the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, Tampa, FL. If you click on the photo, you can see the amazing detail and all the work that went into creating this fountain.

Throughout Ybor City, one can find some amazing Cuban relics and ornate decor from beautiful mosaic tiles along with sculptured stonework and fountains like this one.

We had a meetup on Monday to do an Ybor City walk-around. For Florida, the weather was quite chilly (60 deg. F)--especially for this time of year. Yet, 23 members showed up for the walk. We split into groups of 5 or 6 and wandered around the city looking to photograph anything we spotted that might be interesting. For me, the most interesting thing I noticed is that the streets were virtually empty. Ybor is one of the busiest places I can think of in the area. The night life is usally blazing with crowds out having a good time.

Most of you from the North would think that 60 deg. is fairly warm, but with us surrounded by water, it really is very chilly. I can remember my daughter visiting one April from upstate NY and it was about 64 deg. F. She was so cold, she went out and bought some sweats to wear. She couldn't believe how cold 64 could feel when we're so close to water.

Daybreak, Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Yet another trip to check where the sun would rise. I'll be doing this until I catch the sun rising right between the spans of this bridge.

This morning, though, I got a very pleasant surprise. I also caught the moon setting. In all the times I've been here, I've never seen the moon set over the bridge. It made me happy I didn't opt to sleep in today.

This image was taken from the turn-around on East Beach at Ft Desoto Park in Tierra Verde, FL.

Cumulominbus Cloudscape

Florida has some of the most amazing clouds. This one was shot a few weeks ago in Safety Harbor, FL at the marina.

Cloudscapes are pretty easy to capture. All you do is meter for the sky, watch your histogram to be sure you don't overexpose, and there you have it. Sunsets and sunrises are captured the same way.

Sometimes I might underexposed by 1 stop for sunsets and sunrises to get more saturation in the colors.

I also shoot just clouds to use to sandwich with another photo when it's overcast with gray skies. Blending the images, if done right creates a beautiful photo from a dull gray day. The added benefit is that the overcast sky has a softer, more diffused light and saturates the colors, so by blending, I get the best of both worlds.

If you like my work and would like to see more, visit my website here.

Until next time,
Loyce

Lightning

I've been trying forever to catch a great lightning shot. Finally, last evening, just after sunset, I was able to catch this one.

While it's not great, it sure is a lot more than I expected. It's fairly easy to catch lightning photos at night, since all you need to do is leave the shutter open on Bulb and close it once you catch the shot, but this one was beyond my greatest expectations.

I guessed at the settings, and while this one was a little underexposed, I was able to pull it out by shooting in RAW mode. Lucky for me, it hadn't started to rain, yet. As a matter of fact, it never did rain. All we got was an excellent light show.

Let me know what you think of this one.

If you enjoy my photos and would like to see more, check out my website at: Loyce Hood Photo.
All you need to do is click on the link.