Jack Carlson Photography

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Holiday Lights at Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG)

November 21, 2012

Have 2 classes on Photographing the Holiday Lights Workshop at the CBG coming up fast. Decided to get up there for some practice. Sometimes the teacher needs to teach himself. Tripod is mandatory even if you’ve switched to Decafe. Worked well tonight. If you do this, please remember to put a small flashlight in your camera bag. I didn’t. It’s manual focus just like the sunrise shot. Also a medium ISO setting, aperture setting around f 5.6 and about 1/8 second for openers. Crank up the ISO if you feel it’s that necessary. Shot will still come out but remember: you’re in full manual camera mode in addition to focusing without help.

Night on the esplanade, Chicago Botanic Garden.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Weekly Photo Tip

Filters can make a difference

18mm, f8 @ 1/30, no filter

18mm, f8 @ 1/80 with 3-stop ND Grad

I received a 3-stop, soft-edge ND grad filter from the Camera Clubhouse cats. They decided to purchase from Breakthrough Photography since I mentioned that one of my students brought Breakthrough Filters to a recent class and, on inspection, the filters seemed to be very well made. An ND Grad filter starts dark and fades to clear so the placement of the dark portion is determined by both the bright part of the scene and the photographer. This filter made quite a difference in holding down the sun in the upper part of the image. Check out the “no-filter” image and ND Grad image. The difference will amaze you. Please note: I have no affiliation with Breakthrough Photography and chose them only based on student referral. 

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About Jack

A classically trained musician since childhood, Jack Carlson always had the “ear” of an artist. It was only a short step to develop the artist’s “eye” as well.

The portfolio of this certified photographer reveals images that emphasize mood and composition. Their purpose is to present a feeling in addition to portrayal of person, place or thing. Sometimes that feeling is nostalgia; other times it is serenity.

Each photograph tells a story.

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