Category Archives: Photography

Preparation, Anticipation, and Preparation

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Getting prepared for a photo outing is sometimes a lot of work but necessary work nevertheless. It’s the anticipation that helps motivate me to do the necessary preparation.

Checklists are made and double checked, bags are packed, and as gear is loaded the anticipation for the upcoming photo shoot keeps me going. I even imagine the kinds of images I hope to capture on the upcoming trip: let’s try to get some nice close-ups, how about some wide landscapes, and maybe some beautifully lit subjects at dawn or dusk. You see the anticipation not only drives the necessary preparation, but even makes it more manageable.

What do you do to prepare for a photo shoot? What does your routine look like? Do you imagine yourself out there in action before the action begins? It seems to me that mental preparation is about as important as the physical preparation.

I am ready to go shoot!

Plebe Summer

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Spending several days at the United States Naval Academy is a treat any time of the year. There is so much history, architecture, and more! I prefer the hot summer days mainly because this coincides with Plebe Summer–the six weeks new midshipmen endure their initial training at the Academy.

I was privileged to see a lineup before lunch on Monday and the Brigade marching on Monday evening. The photographs here that I captured during the marching maneuvers show some of the facial expressions, which show some of the wear and tear of Plebe Summer. There are a few light-hearted expressions, too, which goes to show that at least some fun is sometimes had even in the midst of a grueling hot summer evening for the Plebes.

These young men and women are going facing tough times this summer and over the next four years. All of it, however, is designed to prepare them for their commission upon graduation. I am so proud of these men and women. Their willingness to endure tough times, better themselves, and work as a team in protecting the freedoms our country stands for are just some of the reasons I respect them. It truly takes a special breed of person to be so willing to endure so much. We all could learn a lot from their dedication, commitment, and courage!

Look through these photographs. Study the facial expressions. Imagine the tough conditions these young men and women are enduring. Think about their commitment, dedication, and courage. What do you see in these photographs?

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Free Lightroom Effects Presets

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Effects in Lightroom can change the appearance surrounding a photograph by creating an outside border. This is helpful when desiring the main subject to stand out. Oval and rectangular shapes are available to create special borders around a photograph.

Here is a link to five free Lightroom Effects Presets that I created yesterday. The thumbnails show a small version of the finished product. Download these effects and give them a try today.

http://bobshankphotography.com/Lightroom%20Templates%20and%20Presets.html

Directions can be found at the bottom of the web page on how to download and use these files.

Tractor Power

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The Blue Mountain Antique Gas & Steam Engine Association is  holding their 40th Anniversary Tractor Show this weekend.

James and I attended the show today and were greeted with beautiful weather and tractors galore! We had a fantastic time looking at the Hit ‘n Miss engines, walking through the flea market, and, of course, looking at all the beautiful tractors. There is just something about a tractor that thrills me. Seeing a tractor restored to its original condition is certainly breathtaking, but I also like the tractors which show their wear and tear from time spent in the fields. Tractor power just plain rocks in my humble opinion!

Here are a few photos I took today. As you can see, my son and I are partial to the Red Power of the Farmalls. They are beauties in our eyesight!

More on the USS Wisconsin

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We had the opportunity to tour topside on the USS Wisconsin this past Saturday and my son and I had a ball!

Of course, I had my camera out the whole time taking photos. We no sooner parked the truck when we saw a great angle of the ship from our vantage point in the parking deck. Then as we walked closer I was absolutely amazed at the view of the ship from straight on. We learned that this battleship is 108 feet wide because the Panama Canal is 110 feet wide so this ship will just fit. But I have to say, looking at the ship from straight on sure makes for an interesting and somewhat strange sight!

This battleship was originally designed to carry about 1,800 crewmen, but that was increased to just over 2,900 crewmen. This resulted in some extremely tight quarters and sleeping arrangements. Most of us do not realize the many sacrifices made by the men and women who serve our country in the armed forces. We are one very fortunate country and owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who are willing to sacrifice so much to protect our freedom.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who serve this great country. I for one appreciate it immensely!

 

You Just Never Know

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This past Friday I drove to Norfolk, Virginia to pick up my son from Sea Cadets Boot Camp. He was there for the past two weeks so I was there to attend his graduation and pick him up. He also wanted to tour the USS Wisconsin afterward.

I gladly attended his graduation ceremony but was not nearly early enough for my liking. I usually like to get to an event with plenty of time to spare so I can check out the best photo shooting angles, the lighting, check out any obstacles, and more. Well, the graduation ceremony location changed due to impending bad weather and heavy traffic were both reasons to delay my early arrival. I think I arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled ceremony began.

I was given a program as I entered the facility, which was actually a hangar and now a makeshift graduation hall. I looked for my son’s name to figure out which company he was in so I could be close to him. I eventually found his name on the very back page and noted that he had some fancy brackets around his name. This indicated to me that he might be receiving some kind of award or recognition, so I positioned myself up near the side/front of the room to get a shot of his face if this actually happened.

The ceremony started. It was difficult to hear the speakers because sound doesn’t travel well in a hangar. A few cadets received awards and then the biggest, most prestigious award was being announced. It was the Battalion Honor Cadet Award, which is awarded to the most impressive cadet who is a cut above the others–above over 170 cadets in this particular case. They announced the recipient and sure enough it was our son, James Shank!

This proud papa kept his composure and shot away with the Nikon D300. I was equipped with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and a SB-900 speedlight. Here are two photos I snapped as James received his award and then was later marching with his company.

James checked out of his barracks, we grabbed a quick snack at a convenient store and headed over the USS Wisconsin. This battleship has a gloried history and is now open for topside tours. We had purchased our tickets online days before I departed for this trip to be sure we had a spot on a tour this specific day. The tour was led by a veteran who served on another Iowa-Class destroyer. He was fabulous and we learned a whole lot of details about this ship and how it was equipped for battle over the passing years. This ship saw active duty in World War 2, Korea, and the Persian Gulf!

Here are two photos I took on the deck of the USS Wisconsin, an amazing battleship with an impressive record of service.

The events of this day reminded me that you just never know what’s going to happen or what you might see, so have your camera ready at all times. I had hoped for better preparation and an earlier arrival, but all in all it wasn’t a bad day!

Free Lightroom Collage Templates

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Yesterday I was inspired to write a blog post about creating a Lightroom template that looked like a matted print. This forced me to troubleshoot a specific problem: how to post the template file on my photo website so guests could download them. The solution didn’t take long to figure out and I quickly installed the iZip software on both my desktop and my laptop. I zipped the template and was able to post the zipped file on a page on my website to share with others.

So then I thought I should also share some collage templates for anyone who might want them. You might recall that in two previous blog entries I shared some insights on several different collages I created in Lightroom. Some of these collage templates are now available on my website and you download them here. I hope you find them helpful and useful. They are easy to use and should at least provide some thoughts for you to consider when creating your own collages in the Print Module.

Directions are provided on my website as to how to download these templates. Once they are installed in your version of Lightroom all you have to do is click on the title of the collage in the left column, which brings the template up in the main screen area. Then just drag the photos of your choice from the thumbnails at the bottom of the screen into the cell boxes on the template. It’s that easy! I prefer to first create a Collection to narrow down which photos I want to use in a specific collage.

I hope you find this helpful. Drop me a line and let me know.

Thanks!

Bob

Fireworks on My Birthday

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This 4th of July I had the chance to photograph fireworks. Yes, my birthday is actually on July 4th. I’ve been called a firecracker and many other names over the years, but I am blessed to have fireworks on my birthday! This year my family took me out to dinner and then fireworks. For the first time in a long time I really tried to capture with my camera the breath-taking images the fireworks produce.

I first read an article online to refresh my memory and learn a few tricks to take with me. I actually printed the article out so I could take it with me as a reference. I set up my tripod in the middle of a swampy area because it was free of power lines and other obstacles. The mosquitoes were active but not overbearing. I was set up and prepared before darkness set in and well before the fireworks display started. This was helpful because I could still see the dials and switches on my camera. Otherwise I would have needed a flashlight to be sure all the settings were correct.

I set my camera in the manual mode with the bulb shutter speed and an aperture of 11. I was rather surprised to find out I was almost too close to the fireworks because I had to shorten two legs of my tripod dramatically to get the proper angle for my camera to see the fireworks. This provide a more unsteady base but I managed to keep the tripod still and sturdy throughout the fireworks display.

I used a cable release with the bulb shutter setting, so the shutter was open as long as I held the button. I experimented with various times and found my favorite to be pressing down on the cable release when I though the firework was just about to explode and then release it when the brightest light had just flashed. I wished I had more time to experiment because the display seemed to be over before I knew it!

Here are some of my favorite shots from this July 4th. It was a great way for me to top off a great birthday! Do you like any of these photographs? Which one is your favorite?

Just Got Back from the Farm

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That’s right, I just returned from a week on the farm. Literally. Heifer International has several farms in the United States where they teach participants about their goal to end world hunger and poverty. We ate farm-grown vegetables all week, learned about composting and gardening, did daily chores with the animals, and, yes, I took a ton of photographs!

One photography learning I took away from this week is a lesson I should have learned a long time ago: Always keep your camera within arm’s reach because you never when or where the next great photo op will happen! This was so true throughout the week and I was more than happy to tote around my Nikon D300 with the 24-70 f/2.8 lens. This combination allowed me to capture the daily routine and those unexpected surprise moments that popped up now and then. This lens is becoming one of my favorites!

Spending the last five days on a farm brought back memories of long ago for me. I used to work on a dairy farm and some of those remembrances came flooding back to me. The smell of hay and manure carried my mind back many years to tasks and chores of long ago. The sights and smells of the animals and milking a goat were all I needed for a great time! Oh, it didn’t hurt that I had my camera in hand to record these events in a pictorial format. We all know the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and this week’s experience on the farm convinced me that some photographs even have the ability to bring back memories from our precious and long-lost past. How many times have you rediscovered an old photograph of a family member or some vacation, which carried your mind right back to a special memory?

I created a photo gallery of the photos I captured on the farm. You can view the gallery here. Take a look and see if your mind goes back to a time when you were on a farm. I think this is just one more added benefit of our passion for photography–the ability to bring back memories of the past with our cameras. There’s nothing quite like it!

Here are four photos from my farm gallery to get you started.

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Adobe Lightroom Plug-ins

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Yeah, I like Lightroom. One way I use it often is to create web galleries to post on my website for players and parents to view photos after a baseball game or musical. This is a quick method for me to get my photos out in front of others quickly and without a lot of messing around. The current plug-in I use allows me to create the gallery in a format that even accepts PayPal payments if someone wants to purchase one of my photos. Plug-ins are great!

Plug-ins abound but I still haven’t found that I am 100% satisfied with or that completely meets all my needs. Customization and tweaking are just in my blood I guess. In my defense, I strongly believe that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. I am fussy and I do have high expectations. I just want things to look a certain way. After all I am a photographer!

So today I am venturing into unknown territory–creating Lightroom plug-ins of my very own.

I do have some very basic programming skills thanks to one college class I had at Temple University in Fortan language. Over the years I also have acquired a few more programming skills and do design my own web pages. Still, this is going to be a monumental task for me. Wish me luck. And if you have any advice, please let me know. I can use all the help I can get!