Posts Tagged ‘photography’

Missing Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC - ©TimeLine Media

Washington, DC

It just happened, but I am already missing the cherry blossoms this year. The photos from this year’s blooms were really satisfying. The weather, and the amount of time that I had to take advantage of their peak really came together nicely. Morning, afternoon, and evening, were all available to me this time. Moreover, I did not have to rush around as in other years. There were so many photographers around the Tidal Basin this year, with all kinds of gear! There were so many that were trying different angles, and strategies to get the perfect photo. I joined them with my own attempts. Of course, not everything will work when you first try, and this was probably my biggest disappointment.

Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC - ©TimeLine Media
Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC – ©TimeLine Media

From this spot, most images are of the blossoms in the foreground with either the Washington Monument in the background towards the left, or the Jefferson Memorial towards the right. In between these two familiar sites is a clear view of the Capitol Building that is much further away. Because of the distance, it is much smaller than the other two memorials in the frame. Consequently it is not as popular a subject from here.

But I wanted to try going for it since it seemed really easy to see this morning. I used the longest lens I had in the bag, a 105mm focal length. This was giving me what I wanted as anything much longer would have made the building larger, but the blossoms would have been harder to distinguish. In the first frame above without any added light, the blossoms were really in shadow, and look like really ugly clouds or debris in front of the lens.

Sunrise Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC - ©TimeLine Media
Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC – ©TimeLine Media

My next thought was that I should add some light from a speedlight to illuminate the blossoms, and show off more of their color. I held the flash off of the camera with a sync cord so that the light would not be positioned directly in front of the blooms. Here is the result:

Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC - ©TimeLine Media
Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC – ©TimeLine Media

It was as expected, but not that great to my eye. I tried a few more frames changing the flash power, the angle of the flash, but it did not change much. Perhaps I could have tried “painting” on the light with a small flashlight or had a softer modifier for the speedlights, but I did not have any more time as the sun started to rise quickly out of the horizon really changing the look of the overall scene. Turns out – THAT was what I needed to make a better frame.

Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC - ©TimeLine Media
Cherry Blossoms and the Capitol Building in Washington, DC – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

River City Ballroom Dance Sale Ending

Professional Showcase - ©TimeLine Media

Midlothian, Virginia

So many thank need to be given for today’s post! It is so helpful to have other photographers that can cover events for you. With the Spring season finally here, there are many events where organizers are looking for great images. This passed weekend, I assisted in shooting a wedding with one photographer friend, while two others had to cover a big event for me. It is so nice to have a network of professionals that you can count on to help if you are booked, and to help with their projects if you have a free weekend!

River City Ballroom Dance Competition - ©TimeLine Media
River City Ballroom Dance Competition – ©TimeLine Media

River City Dancesport Competition

This event, the River City Ballroom Dance Competition held in Richmond, VA is another one of those times. I was covering an event this same weekend, so Jae stepped up and traveled to photograph this event for TimeLine Media. He did a great job capturing all the dancers as they danced in competitive heats, and in their choreographed showcase routines.

River City Ballroom Dance Competition - ©TimeLine Media
River City Ballroom Dance Competition – ©TimeLine Media

So many of the dancers have come to the website to see their photos, and we have to thank them especially for supporting our photography by purchasing prints and digital files from the event! THANK YOU! There is an early-bird special that has been in effect for the first 2 weeks after the photos went live, and it expires today. This is the 20% off discount on anything purchased from the site.

http://proofs.timelinedc.com

River City Ballroom Dance Competition - ©TimeLine Media
River City Ballroom Dance Competition – ©TimeLine Media

The photos will not be removed from the site until August. You can continue to view and share all the images to friends or other dancers that attended the event until then. Only the discount will disappear tonight. We sorted the photos by dancer number on the website. If we made any mistakes, or if you are having trouble finding your photos, please let me know. Firstly, you can send me an email – rassi at timelinedc.com. Additionally, you can give me call – 703.864.8208 and I would be happy to help you. I have a lot of new and fun images to share on the blog from this weekend. Stay tuned for more of those!

Professional Dance Show

Professional Showcase - ©TimeLine Media
River City Ballroom Dance Competition – Professional Showcase – ©TimeLine Media
Professional Latin Showcase - ©TimeLine Media
Professional Latin Showcase – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Tilt Shift Lenses – Part 1– Tech Thursday

Shift corrected house photo - ©TimeLine Media

Straight Lines

Very good photographers visualize the world differently. There are stories of people that claim to see the world at certain focal lengths. Commonly 35mm or 50mm on a full frame camera. I don’t know if I am that in tune with my gear, but I am getting much better at pre-visualizing an image before I set the camera.

Architects, similarly, view structures in much the same way. My father was an architect, and I watching him draw buildings out of a blank sheet of paper reveals how he views structures from different perspectives. Another characteristic of most blue prints is that there is no distortion of the angles in the drawings. It is important to keep them straight to make it clear to engineers and builders which angles should be straight in case there are others that they are intentionally changing for design. A tilt shift lens will allow you to straighten all the angles in an image, and remove the distortion that comes from the angle of the camera to the building.

Uncorrected house photo - ©TimeLine Media
Uncorrected house photo – ©TimeLine Media

Above is an example of a non-corrected image from a 24mm lens. Because the camera and lens is pointed up towards the building, it makes the top of the house look like it is falling away. The straight sides of the structure seem to be converging at the top of the frame. This is an angle that would not be drawn by an architect. It would be confusing, and not representative of how they would want the structure to be built. Here is a corrected version of the same scene:

Shift Correction

Shift corrected house photo - ©TimeLine Media
Shift corrected house photo – ©TimeLine Media

The camera position was not changed between these two images as it was mounted on a tripod. Only the shift function of the tilt shift lens was changed, and the camera angle pointed straight towards the building. This is the magic of the tilt shift lens. You remove the distortion by straightening the angle of the camera to the house, then shift the lens so you can still capture the entire front façade of the building in one frame. I will show how the lens looks and how it makes these changes in a future post.

Tilt Shift comparison - ©TimeLine Media
Tilt Shift comparison – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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