A short music clip I performed, filmed, and edited this morning at home.
Acoustic Guitar – Washburn
Denville, New Jersey
Filmed in 1080p
Tamron SP 90MM F/2.8 Di VC USD 1:1 Macro lens
Canon EOS 60D DSLR
RODE Videomic GO
All audio and video is exclusive property of:
Dave Blinder
Using a telephoto lens to compress the shapes of distant hills into “waves” is a time-tested technique that can produce great aesthetics. For this photo (taken yesterday), I aligned some small trees for a foreground element to present the distant hills. The key to getting the foreground just right was to not overpower the scene, but also to take up a bit of the negative space.
Layers of rolling hills weave through the frame as distant tones of blue and a peaceful meadow draws the viewer in. Photo taken with the Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens and the Canon EOS M.
Above photo taken with the Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens and the tripod-mounted Canon EOS M mirrorless camera. Exposure settings: 1/125 F/11 ISO 100, 251mm
In my experience, the best opportunities for snow and ice photography are along streams and rivers. You will often get a nice juxtaposition of stationary elements alongside a capture of motion in the water. Have I shot this type of scene to death? Could very well be! I was still very happy when I saw my the preview of my first RAW appear on the LCD. In my eyes, it’s a pretty surreal and tranquil sort of image. I will look to do some snow and ice abstracts when they present themselves this year also, to further challenge my creative skills.
Silky and fresh cold water in a stream is complimented by a small icecap in New Jersey. Photo taken with the Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens and the Canon EOS M.
I’ve been reading more about the founding painters of the Impressionism movement, and one of their effects I envy most is that the brush strokes almost imply movement in stagnant subjects. In my recent New Jersey nature photo below I think the tree branches are nearly boiled down to their essences because I moved the camera during the exposure. The premise of the photo is really the shapes of the ends of the branches, everything else is just an embellishment.
An impressionistic view of a New Jersey forest in mid-November. Photo taken with the Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens.
This morning I wanted to record HD video with a very closeup view of my fingers on the fretboard of my acoustic guitar. I also hoped to get high quality audio from the brief recording. All of this can be quite a challenge for a hackjob of a guitar player like myself!
Anyways, I aligned my Canon EOS 60D DSLR into position, manually prefocused my Tamron SP 90mm VC macro lens, moved an articulating LED lamp close to my hand for lighting, and dialed in my exposure settings on the camera. Many many takes later I did an acceptable job of playing a short musical package, and was able to get some portions of my hand and fretboard partially in focus while doing so. The post-processing was no walk in the park either!
Below is a conceptual art photograph I took outdoors today in Essex County, New Jersey. I think we all interpret electrical towers as looming and seemingly dangerous objects. One can’t help but ignore their unmistakeable hums and huge physical dimensions. To my eyes, this multiple exposure photo adds extra drama to create a menacing industrial scene.
Conceptual art photo of a vivid mid-day sun and large looming electrical towers in New Jersey. Photo taken with the Tamron 16300mm VC AllInOne lens and the Canon EOS M mirrorless camera.
Photo taken with the Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens and the Canon EOS M mirrorless camera. Exposure settings: 30s F/22 ISO 100, 50mm
I was trying to make some creative blur photos of trees in a parking lot yesterday, but was frustrated when a lone driver began making his way through my frame. What’s a photographer to do? Pan with the action and try to take an action shot of the Prius in motion. I like the contrast between the car and the leaves in the photo, and I was able to capture the Prius in a nice rule of thirds composition.
A creative motion photo of a Toyota Prius set against woodland trees. Photo taken handheld with a Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens and a Canon EOS M Mirrorless camera.
I was responding to an online classified this morning for local real estate photography in New Jersey. The qualifications listed included panoramic shooting, basic flash usage, and owning professional equipment. Feeling qualified for the position, I decided a simple and neat relevant PDF would be the best way to apply for this job opportunity. I always make sure to include an interactive hyperlink to my website when designing promotional PDF’s and also make my email address “clickable”.
Cover of a PDF I recently designed to advertise my services for architectural, real estate, and panoramic photography in New Jersey.
I did film a good amount of HD DSLR video this summer, especially closeup views of herpetiles (reptiles and amphibians) and dragonflies. I just edited a little bit of footage of two different species of snakes found in New Jersey, and threw in a bit of my guitar playing for good (or bad) measure.
Northern Watersnakes are very common and sometimes large serpents that are most often seen in or near fresh water rivers, ponds, and lakes. Northern Ringneck Snakes are not commonly seen above ground, so that was a quite a lucky find by me.
Filmed with the Tamron SP 180mm macro lens and Canon DSLRs. I use my phone for the audio recording of my Yamaha nylon-string guitar.
I will admit that I didn’t know Pentaptych was a word until I researched the terminology tonight. I still struggle to spell the word correctly after reading its definition online. I’d tried to to shoot with the intentions of creating a triptych in the past, but the images lacked enough continuity for me to piece them together. The photos shown below were taken in a sequence, and the exposure and focal length are constant. The variable is the focusing of the lens, which I changed manually between each shot. All five individual images were taken with the Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens and the tripod-mounted Canon EOS M mirrorless camera.
Five frame sequence displayed together to form a cohesive pentaptych. Closeup views of a bridge at midday. All photographs taken with the Tamron 16-300mm VC All-In-One lens and the Canon EOS M mirrorless camera.
Exposure settings: 4s F/9.0 ISO 100, 300mm.
Dave Blinder Nature Photography 