The Painting with Light night class took a stroll down the CBG entrance road to photograph the lighted trees. Most everyone had a tripod and those students who didn't have a camera support dialed up the ISO, opened the lens to max aperture and exhaled while pressing the shutter release button. I had a quick peek at those pictures and those steps seemed to have worked. Remember those moves if/when … [Read more...]

Yes, there are several bird feeders around the Camera Clubhouse but, unfortunately for them, the birds outnumber them. That means there's a waiting list. I happened to spot a rather red cardinal in the holding area and just had to snap a picture of him. Look for colors in unusual places throughout this holiday season. Then grab your camera.  … [Read more...]

Our time at Volo Bog was as good as we wanted it to be thanks to a sunny morning and a wonderful guided tour presented by Abby, the IDNR Naturalist who lead our group. Walking along the boardwalks is actually walking through time since, she explained, it takes more time than anyone would imagine for decomposition to happen. There are many places to photograph small-scale leaves, berries and small … [Read more...]

I recently took a ride to visit relatives that I hadn't seen in some time. There just happened to be a large maple tree in wonderful colors of the season so I had to find a camera. While a polarizing (Cpl) filter works well in any season, autumn is my favorite of the 4. A Cpl  can be dialed up to darken the sky and hold color in the leaves as well. Here's the shot I managed to get during the … [Read more...]

Here's a shot that I took on my way to teach a class at the Chicago Botanic Garden yesterday about 7:45 am CDT. The sprinklers were on the grass areas surrounding Spider Island, the sun was out so I thought it would be a perfect time to grab a shot and under-expose the entire scene. Here is the camera info, and yes the shutter speed was 1/1250, f8, exp. comp -1.3, ISO 64, 18mm lens, … [Read more...]