Sleepy Hollow Cemetery WAW

Sleepy Hollow Starbuck
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/100sec, 1600ISO, 24mm

Halloween is just around the corner, and I found my travels taking me to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. No headless horseman, but lots of cool old tombstones and mausoleums, including a Rockefeller. 

All the walking made me dead tired, stopped at this Starbuck, but it was missing the S. 

Museum Monday Lamps

In honor of #MuseumMonday, here are some of the lighting fixtures hanging in the Contemporary Arts + Design Wing at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Teardrop
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/800sec, 6400ISO, 55mm

Bottledrop
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/800sec, 6400ISO, 24mm

Glass Vase
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/800sec, 6400ISO, 45mm

Duo
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/800sec, 6400ISO, 67mm

Dancing People
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/500sec, 6400ISO, 58mm

Closeup
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/500sec, 6400ISO, 105mm

OctoLamp
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/800sec, 6400ISO, 73mm

Watkins Glen Long Exposure HDR

In the beginning of August, my family took a trip to the Finger Lakes. That included a hike through the Gorge Trail of Watkins Glen State Park. We had taken this trail when our kid was 10 months old, so she was in the Baby Bjorn. I didn't have a nice travel tripod at that time, and had thought about how cool it would be to do some long exposure shots of the waterfalls. I have since obtained the Joby GorillaPod travel tripod for my dSLR, and made sure it was packed. What I didn't take with me on the hike was a polarizer filter, to cut down on the light reflections off of the water, leaves, and rocks. 

My family was constantly waiting for me up ahead, as I was stopping to frame a shot, take a couple exposures, possibly reframe. A lot of the time was me just waiting for people to move out of the shot.

This water fall photograph is composed of three images blended into a High Dynamic Range image. The exposure times were 4 seconds, 8 seconds, and 15 seconds. After the image was combined, I also then create a layer of the 8 second exposure ontop of the HDR image, and erased everything but the waterfall. I wasn't happy with the way the waterfall looked in the HDR image, so the "normal" exposure shot was used. 

Watkins Glenn Waterfall Long Exposure HDR
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/16, 4s + 8s + 15s, 320ISO, 105mm

Goodbye Summer Wide Angle Wednesday

Coney Island Beach View
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/320sec, 320ISO, 24mm

Last day of summer today, it always flies by fast. Autumn approaches, and it is my favorite season! Halloween, Thanksgiving, fall foliage, apple cider donuts!

And happy 100th post to this blog!!

Museum Monday (Lino Tagliapietra's "Endeavor")

I have recently posted about the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, and wanted to share a few more shots of Lino Tagliapietra's "Endeavor" in the Contemporary Arts + Design Wing.

Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/500sec, 3200ISO, 24mm

Going not that long after the museum opened allowed for less people, so I was able to get these empty shots.

Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/500sec, 3200ISO, 47mm

The daylight filtered through the skylights and the white walls made photographing this wing a breeze after bumping up the ISO to 3200.

Birds, ships, or whales?
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/500sec, 3200ISO, 55mm

Atlas Wide Angle Wednesday

Atlas
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/1000sec, 640ISO, 24mm

This past weekend was Labor Day weekend, and I ended up working Saturday and Sunday. On Labor Day Monday, my wife and I took our 5 year old daughter into Manhattan, as she had received an American Girl gift card. The location is right across the street from Rockefeller Center. 

We went inside, and I was floored. Very pricey store, and so many areas. There was hair styling area, a doll hospital, a cafe, private shopping. Many different ways to get you to part with your money. Our girl isn't into dolls, she's more into stuffed animals. She decided on two dogs which are the pets of the dolls. We did ask if she was interested in a doll, but she seemed to only want one to pretend to walk the dogs. So to my daughter, the doll is the accessory, and the accessory is the primary toy. 

After we left the Palace of Dolls, we went through Rockefeller Center and spent the rest of the day at the American Museum of Natural History. Since we already looked like tourists with the American Doll bag, I wore my camera on the shoulder sling and snapped a shot of Atlas and also the composit of St Patrick's Cathedral, which is made up of 17 images that I combined in Microsoft Image Composite Editor. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral
17 shot composite
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/1000sec, 640ISO, 24mm

Sunset on the Farm

September Sunset on the Farm
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/14, 1/80sec, 2000ISO, 35mm

One of the venues that I end up at frequently is Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Westchester County. It is a nice break from the urban environment of the city. Autumn is coming, which means that the scenery will be all sorts of shades of ambers and browns, my favorite time of year!

I snapped this shot when we were waiting for the wedding ceremony to end in another area of the property. The sun was setting, the cattle were grazing, and a flock of birds kept flying about. I love how long the shadows are in this shot.

Queens Museum Wide Angle

Queens Museum
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/100sec, 800ISO, 24mm

I love an empty museum! During my parents' recent trip to NYC, I was able to take them to the Queens Museum to see the Panoramic of New York City, as well as some more glass in their Tiffany lamp collection, and other World's Fair memorabilia. 

Throwback Thursday

The Hideaway
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/125sec, 640ISO, 24mm

Our recent Finger Lakes Vacation, my wife had found a cottage rental in Trumansburg, NY a couple of years ago, and we were finally able to rent it for a few days. It sat on two acre of land. Our dog really enjoyed running around the large field. Off to one side, across a creek with a wooden bridge, there was this seating area in a clearing between two creeks and the trees. Coffee was had as we would sit and relax a bit before our adventures for the day. 

Wide Angle Winery Wednesday

Six Mile Creek Vineyard in Ithaca, NY
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/640sec, 640ISO, 24mm

The Finger Lakes region has over 100 wineries, and is New York State's largest wine producing region. Our recent vacation took us to the area between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake.

Wagner
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/250sec, 160ISO, 24mm

We made sure to make room in our car for a case to bring back to Queens. Our wine rack had been close to vacant anyways. 

Montezuma Winery
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/200sec, 160ISO, 24mm

Wide Angle Watkins Glen

My family and I recently just took a short vacation to the Finger Lakes region of New York State. One of the activities we did was a hike through Watkins Glen State Park through the Gorge Trail. The Finger Lakes has been experiencing a drought, so the water levels were really low compared with past trips my wife and I made, though it was still stunningly beautiful. 

Gazing at the Gorges
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/160sec, 1600ISO, 24mm

This shot was captured from the Central Cascade Bridge, close to the lower entry point. This is actually a composite of two images, both shot from the same vantage point. The first image was the Central Cascade sign sharp in focus, and then everything else blurred out. The second shot, everything below the bridge was sharp and the bridge was out of focus. I combined the two images to try to get an entire shot in focus.  

Museum Monday Corning Museum of Glass

I visited the Corning Museum of Glass recently, and took an obscene amount of pictures. Still going through them, but I wanted to post a photograph I am really proud of, as it looks like it could be the advertisement for the Museum's Contemporary Art + Design wing, which just happened to open last year. 

Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/500sec, 3200ISO, 24mm
Nancy Bowen's "Red Root + Running Cold" in the background of Lino Tagliapietra's "Endeavor"

We had arrived at the museum two hours after it opened, so I was expecting people everywhere. When we first entered this room, a tour was happening just left of the frame of this photo with about 15 people. I looked at some of the other pieces, learning the light in the room and seeing what worked for shooting the glass art pieces. I noticed that the room was starting to clear out, and was able to grab this shot with no people in the frame. 

If one ever finds themselves anywhere near Corning, NY, I highly recommend a visit to the Corning Museum of Glass. It surpassed my expectations, and all in our party enjoyed it, even the (almost) 5 year old!

Throwback Thursday

Art of Animation Resort, Cars Wing

One year ago on this date, I was in the Magic Kingdom park of the Walt Disney World Resort. It was a hot sticky day, much like it is here in NYC today.  We had stayed at the Art of Animation on the property, and ended up spending 10 days, 4 of which were at the parks, and 2 travel days. We saw some old family friends when we were in Orlando, also went to the beach in Tampa. However, the highlight of the trip was the four parks, EPCOT being my favorite followed by Magic Kingdom. 

Parade!

Bear Country Jamboree!

Just thinking back to the fun of a year ago, have to start planning to go back!

The Castle at night with Video Mapping

More fireworks shots here: http://skingld.blogspot.com/2015/08/walt-disney-world-wide-angle-fireworks.html

Little Bay Park Wide Angle Wednesday

Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/400sec, 3200ISO, 24mm

Summer evening usually involve a couple trips to watch the sunset from Little Bay Park, a park near the Throgs Neck Bridge in Bayside, Queens. There had been construction on the parking lot near this rock jetty, so now that it is back open, there are a lot of people out on the rocks at night. Some people are out there fishing, some practicing their photography, others on dates, or simple selfie taking time.

Wide Angle Wednesday

I recently discussed how I was able to upgrade to a full frame body. I am still using the Tokina wide angle lens, but it is really designed for the crop bodies. Even though it can mount to the camera, at the widest setting, 11mm, it does not fill the sensor. I can still use this lens, but it is more of a prime lens now, as 16mm is the only focal length that fills the full frame sensor. 

Circle of Confusion
Canon 5D Mark III, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/25sec, 160ISO, 11mm

MCU Sunset

One of the things we like to do when at Coney Island is attend the Cyclones games, a minor league baseball team, at MCU Park. The are a farm team for the Mets, so even better!

The tickets are reasonably priced, usually the weather is nice, and some nights, they have fireworks after the game. 

During the game on July 3rd, there were enough clouds in the sky to create a stunning sunset. Though the sun was setting behind my left shoulder from this shot, it bathed the sky in a beautiful glow.

Cyclones Sunset at MCU Park
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/200sec, 3200ISO, 24mm

Wide Angle Wednesday

Disappearing Mural
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/640sec, 320ISO, 24mm

This past Sunday, my little family took an outing to Coney Island. Having seen "Finding Dory" the day before, we had to visit the aquarium and take advantage of our Wildlife Conservation Society membership. 

Junk food was consumed, a little time frolicking in the sand for the 4 year old, a beer or two for the adults, and a minor league baseball game were some of the highlights. 

I was sad to see the above mural had been painted over. I had always enjoyed it on past trips to the boardwalk. It is located between the boardwalk and the Cyclone roller coaster, right next to the Aquarium. 

Here are a few photos of the same mural on past events:

Fireworks Friday!!

Okay, maybe I'm stretching for a theme here, especially for someone that doesn't stick to regularly scheduled posts. But it is the Friday before the Fourth of July, and fireworks are on my mind, so Firework Friday!

This past Wednesday, one of the New York City parks, Fort Totten (mentioned here and here in previous posts), had a fireworks display. Last year, the fireworks were a smaller affair, launched from the soccer field, which is the old parade grounds for the Fort. This year, it increased in scope. The fireworks were launched from a barge in Little Neck Bay, the area of water between Bayside area of Queens, and Little Neck/Great Neck.

The barge leaves the port as dusk fallsCanon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/160sec, 1600ISO, 80mm

The above shot was about when we arrived. We didn't know where in the bay the barge would be stationed. We met up with my daughter's friend from preschool (last year) and her family. My daughter had not enjoyed fireworks in the past. Last year, she complained and covered her ears the entire time. When we took our family trip to Walt Disney World last August, she was not happy with each of the fireworks shows at the parks. So this year, we thought we wouldn't be able to go, but she had a playdate on Monday with her friend, heard she was going, and decided she wanted to go. We brought some hearing protection, and she seemed fine this year, mostly because was with her friend.

First Boom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 24mm

Arriving closer to the fireworks start time meant ideal spots where gone. I had brought my tripod and camera though, so I was going to try shooting no matter, it's digital! The first couple looked like we had a great spot!

Flower Boom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 4sec, 100ISO, 70mm

I'm not sure if the barge was moving, but it seemed to move behind the large tree on the left. I was still able to get some shots of the larger ones above the tree, but lost some trails.

More boom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO, 50mm

Exposure times were kept to a couple of seconds, left the ISO long and narrowed the aperture to ensure I would be able to get the streaks of the fireworks.

Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 55mm

Basically, the fireworks were lightpainting the sensor. Because the fireworks ignite at different times, so sometimes the clouds will appear in two different positions with different color. That is due to the shutter being open for ~3secs, so one shell explodes in red, illuminates the smoke in red, then a half second later, the green ignites and illuminates the smoke that had moved with the wind.

Trippy Clouds
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 55mm

One has to get a sense of timing for fireworks as well. We were close enough where I could hear the faint sound of the elevation charge igniting, so I would try to open the shutter a split second later to get the trail of the shell flying upwards (not all shells have the blinking tail), and most of the explosion in the air. A lot of bad shots in the beginning until I got my timing right.

Glittery!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO, 105mm

Double Feature
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/10, 8sec, 100ISO, 55mm

I love fireworks by the way. 

Boom Boom Zoom!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO

I also wanted to try a technique I had seen other photographers publish, which is when doing a long exposure, near the end of the shutter being open, you move the zoom from one end to the other. I started zoomed in, and then yanked it out towards the widest setting. The above photo is my attempt at that, the only one that didn't look like garbage.

Red White and Blue
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 3.2sec, 100ISO, 55mm

That darn tree!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 5sec, 100ISO, 24mm

Stars!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 4sec, 100ISO, 50mm

I hope everyone has the opportunity to see some fireworks this weekend, and that y'all have a happy but safe three day weekend!

Wide Angle Wednesday

Flying her BB-8 Kite at Jones Beach
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/250sec, 100ISO, 28mm

Last week I was lucky enough to obtain a new camera, a full frame Canon dSLR. The Canon 5D Mark III is the new body, and it is amazing compared with where I am coming from, the EOS 60D. A few of my favorite features from moving up are that the viewfinder shows 100% of what will be in the shot, the autofocus system is so much better, and the low light sensitivity of the full frame sensor is leagues better. I was shooting an event with the ISO set to 12,800, and the 60D, I'd be afraid of going above 1,600. 

I took the camera to the beach late Saturday afternoon to capture some shots of my daughter as the sunset approached. The photo above was shot at 28mm, which is wide angle on a full frame camera. On my 60D, a crop sensor body, the focal equivalent would 44.8mm, which would mean this lens at this zoom setting would not be a wide angle on the crop body. 

I'm looking forward to learning this camera and producing new work with it.

Sitting by the dock of the bay

Water Taxi Tiki
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-105mm f/4, f/8, 1/640sec, 1250ISO, 105mm

Shooting into the sunset, I captured this last week while working an event on the Hudson River far uptown Manhattan.

Museum Monday

Yesterday was my fourth Father's day as a dad. I had spent the day before working, and my daughter and wife are going out of town for two weeks without me soon. So I wanted to spend the day with her, just her and I.

I offered my daughter the choice of three places, the Natural History Museum, The Met, or the New York Hall of Science in Queens. At first, she wanted the Natural History Museum, I mean, what 4 year old doesn't love the dinosaur bones?! But the Hall of Science had a Brickfest, a Lego installation around the venue. So I was able to talk her into that since they had a bunch of stuff for the Brickfest that was only going to be there yesterday.

Woody
FujiFilm FinePix XP90 f/4.4, 1/25s, 200ISO, 7.7mm 

We traveled light, we took the LIRR to the subway, as I didn't want to deal with Mets traffic, and the kid likes an adventure like that as well. I chose to leave my DSLR at home, and brought a little Fuji XP90, a waterproof and shockproof camera. We picked it up recently to use in the water, and to allow our daughter to have a camera that is okay if it gets dropped.

She loves the "robot", a interactive version of the Mars lander. Kids can send a sequence of movements to the lander, and then watch it carry them out.  She also likes the interactive environment in the Great Hall, which is video that shows different climates. You can redirect the water on the floor, plant seeds, chop down trees.

Rocket Ship
FujiFilm FinePix XP90 f/6.2, 1/350s, 100ISO, 5mm

There was also free mini golf that day, the playground was open (where she wanted to spend a ton of time on the pyramid rope thingy), and free face painting. After our trip there, we ate at a Mexican joint in Corona I have been meaning to try. And ended our outing with some lemon ices from the Lemon Ice King of Corona.

Taco Quartet
FujiFilm FinePix XP90 f/3.9, 1/8s, 800ISO, 5mm