I mention this because recently I was on vacation @ St. Marks National Wildlife refuge in Northern Florida and on the last day the sky was overcast and a bit drippy , I almost bagged it. Almost, I gathered up my gear and headed to the ponds and pools where I had seen some beautiful birds earlier in the week to see what I could get. I was looking for a few great shots of American Wigeons, Long Tail Ducks, Northern Shovelers etc… What I actually found was far more meaningful and reminded me of why I love photographing nature and wildlife so much.

Earlier in the week we saw a hawk swooping and cruising low over the grasses of the refuge, this grass is probably 3-4 feet at this time of year and this hawk was at times just hitting the brakes riding the wind and hovering inches above the grass like a helicopter it was amazing. I have seen Red Tailed hawks, Red Shoulder Harks, Eagles, and so on who hunt from above but not like this. So graceful and fluid it was awesome to watch. I tried to get a clean image however could not , I need more panning practice…lol. Anyway I started my morning by the lighthouse and as I was focusing on on a long tailed duck who was paddling apart from the main group of nearly 85-100 assorted ducks, the lot of them all 100 or so took of and flew by with a startling affect. Having been so focused on the lone duck I g=had to look about for the cause, thinking it was a alligator snatching one of the flock or a pedestrian clumsily walking along the waters edge I was surprised to see the Hawk gliding over the water just 4-6 inches from the surface talons empty. He glided over to where I knew the path/trail opened up so I quietly headed that way w/ my camera, 600mm lens and tripod trying not to act like the little boy I felt like at the time. I approached the bend in the trail steadily and stopped dead in my tracks mouth agape. Just 40 yards down the path I mean smack dab in the middle of the path was the hawk.

It was a Northern Harrier, which after reading Sibley’s Bird Guide trying to Id this guy by his tail is what I thought it might be, just sitting there on the ground. I set the tripod down and held my breath. He was staring right at me over his shoulder as his body was facing away from me as if he were walking in the same direction as I. I set up as slowly as a person practicing TiChi controlling my breath as  I went praying I  wouldn’t spook him.  After approximately 5 minutes I inched forward first moving the tripod ahead 2 feet then smoothly placing one foot close to the new position of the tripod and lifting my other leg (which was supporting most of my weight on the knee) and moving that ahead as well. Then, pressed my eye to the viewfinder and ripped off 8-12 frames – checked what I had and repeated these moves again. Every other time I did this he would fly down the path another 50 feet or so and land. This went on for 15-20 minutes. Then I moved up 3 consecutive times and he never moved, he just began preening his feathers. There was a heavy mist the night before and it was still burning off however his feathers were still heavy with dampness and he was working on drying them and was content to allow me tone present and observe. I was truly honored and awed by this Hawk. The patterns in the feathers on the cap of the head and the two spots that resembled knees on the underside of this raptor were stunning.

We danced for 20 minutes I guess then there was this 5-10 minute period where it was like I wasn’t even there, he just preened his feathers from wings to tail feathers. Ruffling all his feathers and getting puffy looking about then right back at preening. He would glance at me from time to time only for an instance and then went about the business of preparing for the day. As he flew away to hunt I had this giddy feeling and a grin you could not have smacked off my face if you had wanted to.

The light was not great nor the weather however if it had been ideal light and weather I probably would not have gotten so close for so long. So I was truly lucky at that moment on that day to not just capture the images but for the experience overall. It was a peaceful moment in time I’ll not soon forget.

So do your homework plan for the best and do not let less than ideal conditions discourage you or dissuade you from going out. You never know what will come your way.

Happy Snapping

They lure me back no regardless of how many I have seen, sat next to and photographed the magnetism is difficult to explain. I am not particularly interested in the geology of the falls or the evolution of how they came to be, no my interest is more spiritual or soul based. I am relaxed, open and childlike when I am in their presence, I revel in their presence.

My affinity for them has led to some beautiful images and even better walks and contemplations. Travelling several hundred miles and hiking 9-12 miles in a day is not uncommon in my quest to see more and more picturesque falls and to capture more stunning images.

To wake an hour before dawn to be at the beach for sunrise is standard fare for me and I enjoy this solitude 2-3 times each week always with my camera. I enjoy the walk amongst the waves, sand and photography equally. The peacefulness before dawn is soul centering, the lack of crowds, the unique colors that predawn uses to light the world are surreal, comforting, and a wonderful start to any day. My predawn affinity stems from the promises a new day offers, all things are possible and the possibilities, endless. It is up to us which opportunities become reality and that just sits right with me on a deep, deep level. I hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed being present in the moment when they were made. They are available on my website @ http://www.danielpstudios.net and at The Main Avenue Galleria in Ocean Grove NJ http://www.mainavegalleria.com

Thank you for reading and checking out my site, become a fan on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/Danielpstudios

Dan

While I was occupied with the falls Niki and her daughter went exploring in the stream beds and trail close by, they had a blast turning over rocks and such to see if any salamanders or frogs were hiding out. At one point Niki caught a med sized bull frog; he wasn’t as thrilled about it as she was however. Outings in nature provide great opportunities to just talk and catch up away from the hustle and bustle of life one of the reasons Niki & I enjoy hiking so much. We worked our way down thru all six of the falls and each one was progressively more complex than the previous one. Longer drops, deeper plunge pools, opposite angles of falling water in a single fall, splitting flow around a large boulder, fallen trees and more difficult wading all made this a keeper of a trail. It also made each falls interesting to compose and capture the beautiful serenity they provide. I took several minutes to just observe and take in each of the falls to find the best placement of the camera and composition within the frame. Then I played and just enjoyed being there.

By the time we arrived back at the truck for our packed lunch it was close to 2:30 and we had no idea we were there that long, the proof of our immersion was the lost concept of time. Forgetting about time is liberating and a luxury many don’t often indulge in. Oh what they miss…

For those who have read TAking Creative control these images are a perfect example of that article. By adjusting the F/Stop and shutter speed I was able to convey the motion of the water in these still images.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I did making them, if you would like to own one; they are available on my website at http://www.danielpstudios.net and at The Maine Avenue Galleria in Ocean Grove New Jersey http://www.mainavenuegalleria.com

Thank you for checking out my site, stop by again soon,

Dan

Enjoy some pics fro the event……

Once the circle of confusion becomes perceptible to our eyes the area is no longer in the “depth of field” and no longer sharp.  In short an acceptably sharp circle of confusion would be one that in an 8 x 10 enlargement viewed from a distance of approximately 1 foot would go unnoticed. Please bear in mind that Circle of Confusion is a human imposed parameter that varies according to human perception.

Now that you are totally confused, no pun intended, let me discuss the 2 main components in determining DOF (Depth Of Field), Aperture and focal distance. Large apertures (small F-stop #’s) and close focal distances create a shallow DOF, while smaller apertures (larger F-stop #’s) create greater DOF. Depth Of Field is an optical phenomena defined as “the area in front of and behind a focused subject in which the photographer’s image appears sharp”.

So let me use this example :

A 50 mm lens focused on a subject 10 feet away at an Aperture of F/5.6 and using a circle of confusion of 0.0333 mm will have a near focus distance of 8.17 feet & a far focus point of 12.88 feet. It will have a depth of field of 4.72 feet (12.88 ft -8.17 ft = 4.72 ft. Stop down to F/16 and DOF becomes 22 ft.

So rule of thumb, DOF extends from 1/3 in front of your subject to 2/3rds behind it, you have twice as much DOF behind your focal point as you will in front of it.

So why is DOF important? Shallow depth of field lets you draw the viewer’s eye into specific parts of the image, creating a visible distance between subject and the rest of the otherwise flat, two-dimensional photograph.  On the other side, using a large focus point will ensure that things like sunsets or group shots of people are sharp from corner to corner in your image. Implementing these two basic techniques of depth of field allows you to choose how the viewer of your photograph perceives everything and allows you to be creative with what is and isn’t in focus.

Tulips taken @ F/2.8 & 1/500 ISO 100 to create a shallow DOF

In this stunning waterfall photo the entire scene is sharp and in focus.  Utilizing shallow

depth of field would not have made sense because no one part of the image is more

important then the other.  While another technique is used here–  long exposures

–the depth of field concept is still the same.

Waterfall taken @ F/11 & 1.0 second ISO 100 for a deep DOF

The smaller the Aperture the longer the shutter remains open to properly expose the image thereby allowing more of the image to be sharp.

I hope this helps and happy snapping!

Now the whole SOLO thing sounded so cool (and it still is) then reality sets in and you wonder IF, that dreaded word. WHAT IF my images, WHAT IF…. you get the drift. Well let me tell ya you have to answer those questions quickly. I did. I worked through my library and did a first cut, then a second and a third before I asked 2 others to review my selected images. One was my Uncle Sam who was a professional photographer and the other was Nicole – my girlfriend. I know what you are thinking and you’d be wrong, she is tougher on my work that I am at times and always, ALWAYS gives me honest feedback. From this there was a 4th cut and viola 45 Images to show.  Then the fun began.

Mats, Frames, Backing, and what color mats, how would we mount them and so on. We did have fun getting this all together and here we are. Monday just 5 days until the opening and I will be hanging the show Wednesday this week. What a ride to get  to the trail head, Saturday night April 2nd at 6pm the journey begins. Nature’s Palette my solo show opens for all to see my body of work, talk about feeling naked. Nervous, excited and I feel like I am at a crossroads to boot. I can not wait for Saturday!

ndThen we were getting the word out and we still are. Handing out flyers to every restaurant a business who would accept them and getting a few posters up here and there. It has been a learning experience and a damned good one. Regardless of what happens I am so grateful for this opportunity!

If you happen to be in Monmouth County NJ near Asbury Park drop in to 658 Cookman Ave and check out both The Gallery 13 and my show there Nature’s Palette and say hello. Nature’s Palette is a collection of images inspired by Mother Nature’s vast and endless combinations of colors, textures and moods.

I look forward to meeting you at the Gallery. Happy Snapping.

Dan

Click on the thumbnails to see the full images….

You already use composition probably unconsciously, each time you look through the view finder. The tricks and guidelines of composition will aide you in producing consistent results and help you improve the more you practice them and experiment. Let’s discuss some basic rules.

Format & Framing

First and foremost you need to decide if your subject will look best horizontally framed or vertically framed. People often call vertical shots portrait format and the horizontal shots landscape because way back when this is how each was traditionally shot. Photography like all things is sometimes best when you take the path less travelled. Tall landscapes (landscapes shot vertically) can be quite appealing and provide a sense of height; you can also include more in your foreground by shooting vertically, so break the rules and play.

Lead-in Lines

Lead-in-lines are lines or sweeping curves that you can position to lead from the edges of your frame into the main subject or focal point. They will direct attention onto your subject. They can be straight lines or even clouds and water etc… Again play and explore.

Rule-of-Thirds

If your camera has a LCD viewer there is a function that places a tic-tac-toe grid across it and conveniently the lines form thirds vertically and horizontally. GREAT so what are they for? These guides can help you to position your subject off center in a pleasing manner. If you place your subject dead center it could be boring or static, same goes for the horizon. If however you position your main subject in the upper right tic-tac-toe box and your horizon slopes down through the middle third you can have an interesting image that lead the eye in a pleasing ans easy manner.

Framing the image

This is anything you have in the area that allows you to edge or “frame” your subject. You can use a tree to frame one side of your subject and use a nearby building to frame the other side and so on. It is an element that is used to naturally frame your focal point. It can be branches that have a clear area in them and you position your subject in that open area. It keeps the attention squarely on your subject and the eye is drawn and held there.

Foreground Interest

When you place something in the foreground of your picture it acts as a lead in to the focal point of your image. It creates a sense of scale with which to compare the size of the object closest to them and the one farthest away. This is very effective when you want to evoke a sense of space.

So there are some basic rules, play around with them, break them and experiment and find what style suits you. Remember art and photography are very subjective, there are rules and then there are rules that are meant to be broken. See what works and until the next time Happy Snapping!

By The Makers of Practical Photography

We started in Plymouth, Vermont at Head North LLC, the birthplace of President Calvin Coolidge. Todd Parkins has a fantastic house on a picturesque 10 acres for rent and they can tailor a week, weekend or more to make your stay memorable and relaxing. The house sleeps between 12&16 including the cabin by the pond. Close by are Okemo and Killington ski areas, Woodstock is just minutes away. I began photographing the property for their marketing materials last winter and we were there for the fall shoot. The weather was not cooperative however Thursday cleared just long enough to get in a few shots. The house is comfortable, warm and inviting with first class accouterments. The fireplace well lets just say it is THE place to sit and have a glass of wine post activities and then there is the front porch looking out over Okemo and Killington mountains. Did I mention the fishing pond in back, no well just outside the cabin is the fishing pond – stocked mind you, and in summer there is a swing to launch you into the refreshing waters. Check them out at http://www.HeadNorthllc.com

On Friday we set off to Maine headed for Millinocket home of the Pelletier Bros. from the Discovery show American Loggers. I do not know what they pay the logging truckers but they earn every cent! We saw moose, fox, eagles, grouse and deer what a trip and what fun! We hiked nearly every day the weather, fantastic and the company perfection. It was nice to unplug and just be with that special someone for 9 days uninterrupted. The views were not too shabby either. I did notice this year more oranges, yellows and gold’s than in previous years, very few reds and when they were there they were either very sparse, de-saturated or in small bunches spread out. I was disappointed in the fact that I saw so many animals and was never in position or had enough light to capture a good crisp image, however, I will be back next year that is for sure.

I cannot comment enough about how friendly everyone is there and the food! Good ole New England comfort food, standard fare as my mom would say nothing fancy however fancily done. We ate at Ruthie’s in Millinocket and my friends; she fed us like kings and queens for a very reasonable sum. So much so that we pretty much ate there every night and a few mornings too. Ruth and her daughter run the place and I mean run it. So Ruth THANK YOU and we will see you next year. So if you are passing through or going to Millinocket ME stop in to Ruthie’s on Medway Rd and ask for the corn chowda! Tell ‘em Jersey Dan recommended them.

AS for our accommodations, Katahdin Cabins on Medway road was where we called home for a few days. Our cabin was clean and comfortable with heat, running water and reasonable as well around $50.00 a night. Skip and his wife were wonderful and the cookies were delicious!

We started our outdoor adventures at Gulf Hagas it was a wonderful hike, all 8.7 miles of it; the falls spectacular and best of all the company was grand. There were so many things to see and do that it will take another trip or two to get around to them. We visited Jo Mary Lakes area to hike and explore, drove the Golden Road and cruised Telos road where we saw an enormous bull moose.We had no schedule no “plan of attack” we were there to unwind, reconnect and soak in the beauty that is nature and Maine. Worth a Trip, Worth a lifetime is what was on the sign welcoming you to Maine and all I can say is how true how true. Here are a few images from this trip, these are for sale through www.danielpstudios.net and sizes range from 5×7 to 36×24. Enjoy and be well!

Last year I heard about this movement, Help Portrait, so I investigated it and was surprised to discover the simplicity of its tenants. Find people in need Take their portrait Print it Give it to them I mean how powerful is that? It’s just a picture you say, not even close. It is a memory captured vividly forever, your memory of that day can fade a bit, or stray from how it really was yet a glance at a picture refreshes it as if it were yesterday. A photograph tells a story, it can symbolize a turning point, a milestone or more. I was amazed at the number of people I spoke to over the last year who have not had a family picture taken in the last 5 years, I was blown away at a few who had no pictures of the whole family together ever. These are memories that will leave a legacy to those who follow.

So what is it? Help Portrait is a movement, a shift in photography that in 2009 resulted in 1700 photographers, in 540+ locations in 42 countries around the world who, with the help of 5500 volunteers gave 41,000 portraits to people in need. That’s right; Jeremy Cowart and a troop of believers took this from idea to the aforementioned stats in 90 days. I discovered it online in November of last year and just could not pull an event together for 2009. As I watched the videos pour in from around the globe from the events that were held and then the videos that the HP group edited I knew that 2010 I had to organize an event near me.

Happily on December 4th 2010 at Bull Dog Clip Productions, located in Asbury Park a group of local photographers, Hair and Make Up Artists, Video techs, Interns, general volunteers and photo editors will be taking portraits for 300 families who ordinarily could not afford a professional portrait. Jeff of The Photo Center in Brick, NJ is donating all of the printing services for these portraits, and Tom Gilmour and Nick Strickland have donated their staff and studio, Bull Dog Clip Productions for the entire day. Photographers (so far) Tracey James, Lauren Penza & Alix Passage  of Gallery 13, Mike Bagely, Victoria McDougal, Danise Cavallaro, Dena D’Zio, Kate Denberg, Kathy Vitulano, Daniel Falvo, David Scelflo, Michelle Parks, Kevin Alex Paul Christensen,Cory Dibiase, Juliane Markow, Ken Salerno, Ian Tseng, Jay Ambrust, Toine Leerevtveld, Jennifer Martin, Sara Pritchard and other members from the Red Bank Photo Club,  Hair & Make Up Christine Carrillo & Josefina T , Photo Editing Laura Trommer & Mike Damon. The vendors who have donated for our event include Shore Awning in Eatontown NJ (a tent), The Photo center in Brick NJ (Print services), The BDC for donating their studio,

I am very excited for this year’s event for many reasons; firstly, we are working through The Mercy Center of Asbury Park NJ to insure we serve families who will benefit most from the time and talents being donated by every volunteer. Second, the generosity of Nick Strickland and Tom Gilmour of Bull Dog Clip Studios for donating their studio and their staff for the day and for Jeff of The Photo Center of Brick NJ for donating the printing services really just makes me feel good as a human being knowing that others see the benefit in helping people out, all three of these men jumped into this without a big pitch and without hesitation. Lastly and most importantly I cannot describe how good it feels to partner with a group of like minded and talented people like these for a cause larger than ourselves.

So checkout www.helpportrait.com to see how you can make a difference The Photo Center located in Brick NJ for camera equipment and photo printing services http://www.thephotocenter.com/ Bull Dog Clip Productions a full service digital media production company http://bulldogclip.com/

I wish you and your family a happy, healthy, joyous holiday season. In this materialistic and commercialized time of year in light of all that has transpired with the economy these past couple of years I ask that you try something different. This year lend your time, talents or even a few bucks to a local organization to better some one’s day it could provide a hot meal, a small gift in a bleak year or simply place a smile on a child’s face. Either way it will be repaid tenfold and perhaps even warm your heart or make this holiday season that much brighter and happier.

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!

As my applications have become more involved I have taken to the habit of messing with them late at night when the load would be less. But this is a horrible way to go about doing things and so I took another look at WAMP as even moderate changes are best made without the world seeing your “efforts” (usually spelled ERROR)  in real time as you make them.

Aside from that being able to develop applications and run a server right from you desktop it is simply easier to open up and edit local files move them around and load them. You don’t have to deal with temporary delays in either the internet or the remote server. In short you can just operate through the development cycle much faster leaving more time for beer, women (men?), gaming or whatever tickles your fancy.

So here is a list of what I encountered going from installation to use with my sites. Some were related to settings others where a result of programming errors. In either case I am listing them here in the hope that someone else might benefit from this information and might experience for themselves the pure JOY of developing from their desktop instead of live where the people get so0000 cranky when they see “Internal Server Error”

PHP short tags don’t work by default.

Solution: click on the wamp tray icon > PHP > settings (make sure Open Short Tags is checked).
It is also worth considering not using short tags as this will ensure you pages work where short tags are not allowed.

Concatenating a variables doesn’t work as expected in WAMP.

e.g. $MYVAR.=”"; without first declaring $MYVAR=”"; creates an error
Solution: Simply declare the variable as empty before trying to concatenate to it. Make logical sense that you should have to do this and in truth is probably just good practice but like many things it always seemed to work OK on my Linux systems so I never worried to much about it and therefore developed the habit. It doesn’t work on WAMP. Similar to advice offered above, it is better to simply follow standard practice and declaring the variable will also work on systems that don’t require it.

Mod REWITE doesn’t work in WAMP.

Solution: >>click on teh wamp tray icon > Apache > Apache module > (make sure rewrite_module is checked)

…more coming as I encounter it

…as promised here are some more.

Register Globals is OFF by default

I have to be honest in saying that much of this has been a pretty humbling experience to me as a programmer. I gave up on WAMP and tried XAMPP only to find similar and even more sever problems.

I was about to give up on both to them when something about the fact that my get variables where being ignored and I realized the register_globals must be off. So if your interest is just in making the thing work follow the instruction at the bottom….BUT….you might consider adopting the approach I am and starting coding properly and registering your variables.

The failure are not with WAMP they are with the code you are trying to run. Most hosts configure their servers to register_globals and suppress the error reporting. Both of these issues are a result of bad coding.

So enough with the speeches on my own personal revelations here is how you can get WAMP to run with all your poorly written scripts.

Turning off error Reporting

click the wamp tray icon>PHP>PHP.ini You need to edit the PHP.ini file. Search for a line that reads error_reporting.

By default it is set to: error_reporting = E_ALL
Change it to: error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE

All your errors should not be “invisible”. And by invisible I mean you haven’t fixed them they just aren’t appearing on the screen any more. See my previous statements about proper coding.

Registering Globals

I began coding before Registering Globals was considered a bad idea (and it is). But I nonetheless perceived it was OK and developed the habit of relying on Registering Globals being available for much of the code I wrote. By default in WAMP it isn’t. Many commercial hosting account have it turned on because frankly there is alot of horrible coding out there which would break if it wasn’t.

OK, enough with the pontifications… the solution is super simple.
Click on the WAMP tray icon> PHP > PHP Settings >Make sure register_globals is checked.

Some Final Thoughts after Day 1

WAMP works beautifully. After making the above changes all the scripts I through at it ran perfectly, ModRewrite worked perfectly, get variable flew around in urls and made things happen as expected. In short I made WAMP accept the crappy code I was giving it. And that leads me to an unexpected conclusion. I have to change my coding habits.

I have been design websites and coding since 1997. I have in that time picked up some pretty bad habits. I am making a decision and promise to be a better coder. The benefits to it are simply too numerous. Not the least of which would have been that I wouldn’t have had to invest and entire day trying to make my sites run on WAMP.

The fault is not with WAMP it is the code your giving it.