Photography Archives

January 12, 2013February 21, 2015

How to Shoot an Ice Storm

From the look of the Cape forecast, you might be able to use some of these hints this week. I never was all that great at shooting ice storms. First off, I was lucky enough not to encounter all that many of them. Secondly, what you see is not necessarily what you get. Your eye sees things your camera may not be able to record, particularly if you leave it set to automatic. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

RULE 1: Move in close

I used to tell reporters and amateurs that the easiest way to make better pictures is to compose the photo until you think it looks perfect, then take one GIANT step closer. (If you have short legs, make that TWO steps closer.)

There are two things that make ice photos interesting: the detail of the ice buildup on leaves and plants and / or the magic that happens when the sun hits the glaze. That leads us to…

RULE 2: Shoot into the sun

You probably have had drilled into you that you should always have the sun or other light source behind you. Well, that’s the SAFE thing to do, but it almost always makes for a dull photograph. That’s particularly true when you want your ice to sparkle.

This shot of our back yard is far from spectacular, but it gives you a clue of how the light coming from behind the trees causes the ice to light up. You can tell from the gray skies in most of the frames that I didn’t have much help from the sun. That’s another reason for shooting the closeups.

Remember RULE 1

This shot comes close to working, but it’s still pretty dull. Notice how I followed RULE 2: you can see the sun peeking out from behind the pole. I did that so the direct sunlight wouldn’t cause lens flare.

See, Closer IS better

This is the same ice-covered fence, but shot from closer. It’s still not a stunner, but it’s a better photo than the long shot. I like the way it looks like a honeycomb.

Sounds of an ice storm

I know that ice storms can cause a lot of damage to trees and power lines, but they are still an awesome event. There’s nothing like the sounds of the ice clinking together when the wind blows, punctuated by cracks that sound like a gun shot when a branch breaks. The negative sleeve was undated, but I’m guessing these were take somewhere around 1964 or 1965. One frame I didn’t bother to process had a mailbox that read L.D. Smith and the address 168.

2010 ice storm story

I ran some other ice photos about this time of year in 2010. If you compare them, I used some high-contract printing techniques to make them more interesting. That’s usually a good sign that the photo wasn’t all that good to begin with. Notice, though, that RULE 1 was definitely followed in the closeup photos of the ice hanging from the fences. Looks like that storm lasted a little longer than this one and it was a little bit windier. The icicles are longer and point away from the wind.

January 10, 2013

Letters in the Mail

No, I mean LITERAL letters in the mail.

I’ve really enjoyed checking my real and virtual mailboxes of late. Shortly before the end of the year, I exchanged some email from a woman who asked if it was possible to buy some prints I had taken of the Esquire Theater when it looked like it might be reborn. One of the shots she was interested in was a stack of the marque letters. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

They’ll never see the marque again

I mentioned that I tried to buy some, but the supposed owner wanted to hold onto them for their original use. She said she had bought some in a local antique shop after the renovation project fell through.

We came to a mutually satisfactory agreement on the prints, and I thought that was the end of it. A couple of days ago, a box arrived in the mail. Strange boxes make me uneasy after I opened one with a live snake in it at the office. (Long story involving a staffer with a stalker ex.)

Inside it were the letters F, Z and J. Or, I guess you could say Z, F and J, or J-Z-F, depending on your perspective.

That beats a live snake all to pieces.

Wow! That’s not spam

I get a lot of messages claiming to be from the Better Business Bureau, banks I don’t do business with and the IRS that turn out to be cleverly disguised spam. At first read, I almost hit the JUNK button on this one:

Hello,
This email confirms that you have received a donation of $365.00 USD from [name deleted]
———————————–
Receipt ID: 2684-0226-3517-0502
———————————–
Donation Details
> Total amount: $365.00 USD
>Currency: U.S. Dollars
>Purpose: Ken Steinhoff / CapeCentralHigh.com

I’m going need a bigger hat

I didn’t recognize the person’s name, although I found they did subscribe to the daily email notifications, so I sent a thank-you and asked, as discretely as possible, “Who ARE you?” The response was so flattering that I’m going to have to spend the donation money on a bigger hat because it made my head swell:

I accomplished my New Year’s Resolution, to let you know how much I enjoy your web site. I go there almost every day to view your photos and read your interesting and quirky remarks and I feel like I’ve had a visit to Cape. It all started when my cousin mentioned your web site and told me I would like it. I’ve been hooked ever since.

I especially like hearing about your mother and the things your family has saved through the years, the photos of the special and historical spots around town and reading other peoples comments about the articles, and of course the river photos.

I appreciate your time, effort, and talent to make this web site so successful. Thought this would help. Thanks for starting my day with memories of Cape.

I offered to print favorite photos

I offered to have some prints made of some of the donor’s favorite photos, including the ones above. Here was her gracious response:

Picked up the photos this morning. They look good. Thanks so much. I wanted to let you know that your posting “71 years ago” is one of the reasons why I’m hooked on your web site.
A romantic story about of 2 people your viewers have come to know. I even knew who wrote in the sand because I know your Dad’s perfect printed letters. What a difference 71 years makes, your father on the beach in a suit in that gorgeous car and driving right up to the surf! Your mother is beautiful and so looking so absorbed in those vintage photos. Thanks for sharing your families’ memories.

One day it’s barges on the Mississippi, the next, Miss Ketterer yelling at wrestling match, or a birthday party on Themis…. I never know…the unexpected, almost everyday. Thanks again.

Where’s the donate button?

The DONATE button is at the top left of the page, along with a link to Amazon that gives me a cut of whatever you order at no additional charge to you. My latest donor has really put the pressure on me. When you get $365, that implies a dollar a day, which is going to force me to keep posting seven days a week. I’m going to feel guilty if I slack off. (Mother takes me to task any day I miss, anyway.)

January 8, 2013

Photo Accidents Happen

Wife Lila took over what had been a gardening blog from Son Matt. She does a really good job with her Canon point-‘n’-shoot camera and her cellphone camera, but today she came in to say she couldn’t quite get the photo she wanted of some poinsettias growing in the corner of our yard.

I handed her my Nikon D3100 camera with a Hoya polarizing filter on it and explained how to rotate the filter to kill the reflections on the leaves to make the colors more vivid. I also showed her where to adjust the exposure, explaining that most of my photos are usually underexposed anywhere from 1/3 stop to as much as 3 or 4 f/stops from what the camera wants to set automatically.

She came back saying that the pictures still weren’t right.

I forgot to change the color balance

She was correct about that. I usually leave the white balance set on AUTO, but I had been shooting under tungsten light and had moved it. That gave the photo a blue cast in sunlight.

On second glance, though I LIKED this shot. I played a little with the levels and contrast to produce a photo that isn’t the literal representation she wanted, but is still striking. It really didn’t take much tweaking. That’s pretty much how it looked coming out of the camera. Click on it to make it larger.

You’ll have to wait until she gets around to writing about her poinsettias to see the real thing.

December 31, 2012

Wrapping Up 2012

I ran this photo back in May with some basketball tournament photos, so I hope that either everybody is so hung over they won’t bother to read the page on New Year’s Day or that they have gotten to the age where their short-term memory has gone blank.The Happy New Year sign was on our living room window.

I never was fond on New Year’s Eve

I don’t have a lot of fond memories of New Year’s Eve. I never cared much for parties and particularly didn’t like to be out on “amateur night,” when the streets had drunk drivers roaming around. One night in particular, and I remember it as New Year’s Eve, but I can’t swear to it, I was on my way home when I rolled up on a fresh wreck. Car vs. utility pole with the vehicle on its side and the wires sparking all over the place.

STAY IN THE CAR

Somehow or another, I managed to convince the people in the car to STAY THERE. As long as the car isn’t on fire or about to explode, you’re a lot safer inside. The metal body works like a Faraday Cage, with the electrical charge riding the surface of the vehicle. If the occupant gets out and gives the power a chance to use his body as a path to ground, things get ugly. If you can’t jump completely clear of the vehicle, then you are better off waiting until the power is cut off.

I don’t know if I had to load my camera in the dark and in the excitement, but I didn’t get the end of the roll of film engaged in the takeup spool and it slipped off when I hit the advance lever. I was clicking away like mad, but there was no film being pulled through to be exposed. After the power had been shut off and the victims transported, I left. I’m not sure how long it was before I checked the camera and discovered my mistake, but by the time I got back, all I was able to shoot was a mugshot of a car with a power pole on top of it.

I never loaded a camera again without reaching for the rewind knob and making sure there was resistance, indicating that the end of the film was firmly on the takeup spool.

Let’s put another myth of rest: your rubber tires won’t keep you safe. I worked a cherrypicker that tangled with a power line. The voltage was high enough that the charge arched from the steel rims of the huge truck tires to ground, melting the rubber. One of the workers had the good sense to stay on the truck. The other panicked and tried to get down. He evidently had one hand on the truck when his feet hit the ground because all that electricity found him a more convenient path than having to arc through the air. THAT was an object lesson you don’t forget.

Tornado time

We had an elderly woman, Helen, living across the street from us who enjoyed Southern Comfort and shrimp cocktail. We invited her over to ring in the New Year with us. I had just poured the first drink and reached for the first shrimp when I got a call from the office: a rare winter tornado had swept though an RV park on an island in Lake Okeechobee near Belle Glade. There were reports of injuries and power lines down. It was late, but could I get somebody out there and back in time to make deadline?

I knew where the park was and I knew I was sober, so I saddled up and drove 50 miles through driving rain, dodged arcing power lines, shot off enough frames to show that SOMETHING had happened and jetted back. I made deadline with some not-so-memorable photos, but sometimes that’s all you can hope for.

So, I am going to be as happy to be sitting here at home on New Year’s Eve, hoping all that ammo our neighbors are shooting up into the sky will come down on them and not rain down on our house.