Winter Advisory in Effect!

Plow on the Move
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/400sec, 400ISO, 40mm

Here in New York City, we are bracing for the arrival of a blizzard. This winter has been pretty mild, with very little snow overall. The last time we had a lot of snow, well, really the only time we got a lot of snow this winter, was February 9th, though we got a bit on Friday, the roads were warm so it wasn't a mess. 

Confused Blossoms?
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 400ISO, 40mm

I was home for the first part of the day on the 9th, so I decided to grab my camera, with the shorty forty lens, and head into the elements to get some snaps of the neighborhood.

Ornate FDNY Call Box
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/4.5, 1/1250sec, 400ISO, 40mm

All around NYC, there are FDNY call boxes, some also have a NYPD call button, but the majority of them around northeastern Queens are strictly FDNY. There are a few different varieties, I was able to shoot one of the older, more ornate boxes, as well as a more modern one.

More Modern FDNY Call Box
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/400sec, 400ISO, 40mm

Most people were staying indoors, there were very few cars on the road, and the people out and about were mostly working on clearing snow. 

Snow Blower Jealousy from afar
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 400ISO, 40mm

Some shops were open, such as the Bagel Club, and as the day wore on, the snow stopped falling and roads were cleared as people resumed their normal lives. 

Greek Food and Butcher Shop Open for Business
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 400ISO, 40mm

Hope you stocked up on liquor before the storm!!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 400ISO, 40mm

I have a big event that loads in tomorrow morning, so I really am not looking forward to this storm. NYC Department of Education has already closed schools for tomorrow, but the event is still on! So hoping my commute in the morning will be uneventful and I get where I need to go. 

Fisheye Friday

The Revolution will not be televised!
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/25sec, 6400ISO, 8mm

Oh hello there blog. I seem to have forgotten about you. What has it been, three or four months? I'm sorry I have neglected you. You see, life got busy, then it was the holiday season, and next thing I know, it is almost March, and I haven't posted since October!

East River from Williamsburg Waterfront
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 15sec, 400ISO, 8mm

In my absence, I obtained a cheap, manual 8mm fisheye lens. It doesn't fill the frame on my full frame Canon 5DmkIII, and not quite an entire circle, but I am really enjoying using it and discovering how to shoot with a fisheye. I have found it pretty hard to nail the framing with such a wide lens, any slight movement of axis is apparent in the final image, and I love for things to be lined up just right. I also had to learn that the exposures seemed a little darker than original thought when shooting, so having to compensate for that. 

Grand Central Terminal Ramp
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/40sec, 3200ISO, 8mm

Without further ado, here are some of the fisheye shots! EXIF data is incomplete, as the lens is manual and doesn't communicate the aperture to the body. 

Grand Central Ramp Below
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/25sec, 6400ISO, 8mm

I used Lightroom's lens correction tool and cropping to fill the frame of the above shot. 

Empire Views
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/60sec, 800ISO, 8mm

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