Moon Over Manhattan

Hello, fellow photographers. I'm returning after the holidays with a fascinating subject: Night-time Photography. The first requirement is a reasonably sharp lens. The second is a tripod

or stable surface, and third, a shutter release cable. I photographed the Chrysler Building with the moon in the background. The image was taken from atop the Empire State Building. I used a Nikon D200 with a 85mm lens. Camera settings: 1/6 of sec. , F/4.0, ISO 1000. Photographing at night takes practice, so don't give up!

Vietnam Memorial 2010

The Vietnam Memorial is located near the Lincoln Memorial on the west side of the National Mall. I have photographed this subject many times, as it is my favorite monument.

The image was taken in the early morning hours of late summer. I used a Nikon D200 with a 35mm F/2.0 lens. ISO speed rating at 200, and exposure at 1/125 sec at F/3.2. The image was processed using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

Red Tailed Hawk

Hello, photo buddies. I'm moving into the Fall season with one of my favorite subjects: Birds! I go on the hunt every fall to capture images of local birds around the Washington, D.C. area. I found this Red-tailed Hawk resting in a tree on the National Mall, while visiting the Vietnam Memorial. I pulled out my 80-200mm zoom lens and, bingo! I guess the early to rise photographer catches the bird. This bird was plotting to catch a squirrel, one of its favorite meals. The settings of my D200 were ISO 400, aperture 5.0, and shutter speed 500/sec. I hope to capture it on the wing next time.

Bahama Storm

Happy Summer, everyone! I hope you all got to take a vacation from the work world. I took the summer off from this photo blog. Now, I'm back with a new image. Can you guess what it is? The photo was taken in the Bahamas during a lightning storm. I pointed my digital SLR camera up toward the sky, and just set my camera to the bulb setting. Wow! this is what I got.

Watch for next month's post...

April Tulip

I take photographs of flowers every spring and summer. The tulip is one of my favorites. The tulip you see here was converted from a raw file using Adobe Lightroom 2. The technical information is as follows: Nikon D200, 24-85 F/2.8-4.0 lens, ISO 100, F/4.0, 1/50 sec., white balance/daylight, fill flash. In Adobe Lightroom I adjusted the clarity, brightness, and contrast, with no change to saturation.

Bumble Bee in the Garden

The various flowers of spring present the photographer with many photo opportunities. The flower lover doesn't have to go far to photograph the beauty, color and splendor of this living thing of the horticulture world. In this photo I was trying to compose this flower with the strong color of the green background. The bumble bee happened to land on it and made the shot more interesting. I used a Nikon D200 with a Nikkor AF 24-85 mm F2.8-4, with 5-1 macro capability. I also used a wired cable release to minimize camera shake. Using a tripod for this shot was not possible, so the cable release came in handy. The soft golden light came from the late afternoon sun.

Iguanas of Puerto Rico

The Green Iguana is found in Central and South America in moist and dry forests. They spend their time doing activities like
swimming, sun bathing and tree climbing. The Iguana is omnivorous, so it eats both plants and meat, especially leaves and fruits. I photographed these iguanas, while on a photo adventure in San Juan, Puerto Rico.