A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

July 25, 2010

Worldwide Photowalk 2010

Filed under: General photography — Tony Drumm @ 7:54 pm

Yesterday, the 24th of July, was the third annual Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk. A photowalk is a group of people getting together to wander about somewhere, cameras in hand, and shooting photos. Scott Kelby (his blog is linked in my blogroll on the right) organized an event in which folks all over the planet gather in their various locations all on the same day.

This is the second year I’ve participated. Rochester had its own walk for the first time last year. Then, we did the shoot downtown at night. It was fun, and I don’t do much urban (can we call Rochester urban?) photography, and the night shoot was also a nice challenge.

This year, we tried something vastly different, shooting during a festival in the tiny town of West Concord, MN. One of their attractions was a vintage car show. From a photographer’s point of view, this wasn’t ideal – shooting in the mid-day sun, on a very sunny afternoon. We prefer early morning and late evening light, but sometimes you have to shoot with what you have. Much like a wedding.

Personally, I enjoy trying new things and working in less than ideal conditions. In a way, anyone can shoot a nice sunset, but it takes more thnking when the light is working against you. Like trying to light up the shadow side of a dark blue car so that its reflection looks proper. I like that. I have another shot of the headlight on the other side of this car, with the reflection of the sun-lit side of the car over there. It might be a better photo, but I like this one better because it took more planning, more skill to achieve. On the other hand, to a casual viewer, the other shot might look better. Such is art.

We wandered through town, looking for the Heritage museum, and we passed this old church. Both this and another, better maintained church, have what looks to be some very nice stained glass. It would have been nice to see them from inside. This church has character in spite of, or maybe because of, its worn siding and flaking paint. Photos of churches aren’t really a big draw for me, but there’s something I liked about this shot. Perhaps the angles up toward the heavens produced by a somewhat wide angle focal length. Perhaps its the clouds and very blue sky. Anyway, I liked it enough to upload here!

The heritage museum occupies an old school house. They have many classrooms decorated in various ways. A fun one is the 50s and 60s room with an old sofa and big console B/W TV on display. This room was decorated in its more familiar attire. I was shooting the old chalk board then turned around and saw this. I just had to find the right angle, and I knew when I took it I would be doing a sepia treatment. It’s always nice when you see in your mind’s eye the shot as you’re taking it, then produce that shot in the digital darkroom.

Others on the walk were not as lucky in this room and had other visitors looking around and, well, getting in the way! I’ll take luck when I can get it.

Sometimes, all you need is a little push, a little reason to pick up the camera and shoot. There’s no better way to learn and to hone the craft. And there’s always – always – more to learn. Here’s a new situation, here’s the lighting you have, here’s the subject: make it art. A photowalk is just such an opportunity and well worth doing regardless of skill level. For me, it was a Saturday afternoon well spent.

July 14, 2010

Shooting the Pond and Garden Tour

Filed under: Beautiful Earth,General photography — Tony Drumm @ 5:29 pm

I was asked to be a sponsor and official photographer for Rochester’s 2010 Pond and Garden Tour. The tour featured several gardens, rain gardens, and ponds mainly at residences throughout Rochester. It was an interesting day of driving and shooting. The sites ranged from very elaborate to simple but inspiring. There was a reception at Rochester Community and Technical College the evening before the tour for the sponsors and hosts.

There is a beautiful garden on the south side of the Heinz Center which includes the pond and gazebo above. Some delicious food and wine were served. I was shooting so trying to limit my wine intake! My friend, Deb Thompson, was one of the organizers and my connection to the tour. She had a busy day ahead of her.

This waterfall was at one of the first sites I visited. The water cascades down the sloping yard along side the house, ending in a small pond. I did some fairly long exposures at some of the locations to capture the water’s motion. Although I had a tripod in the car, I elected to stick with hand-held throughout the day. Mostly that worked. A tripod is always better, or at least safer. But it adds legs, so to speak, that slows you down and makes you less agile. Trade-offs.

One interesting site was essentially surrounding a city-owned parking lot. It was built to show how run-off can be controlled. It sure adds interest to an otherwise stark environment. And the butterflies (or is it a moth?) find something they like, too. You can make out a white parking lot line in the background of this shot. When I happened upon this critter, it struck me as symbolic of what this rain garden, and maybe the tour in general, is all about. I’m happy it cooperated and struck a nice pose.

This shot was taken at one of the more elaborate gardens on the tour. A large (40 foot) waterfall in back and a spring-fed fountain in front of the house. All quite beautiful.

This rather small and quaint garden with its little waterfall was actually one of my favorites because of the story behind it. It was constructed as a sanctuary during the wife’s battle with cancer. The calming sound of the waterfall was said to be heard even inside the home with closed windows. Unfortunately, cancer won this battle, but the garden remains living on. A stone is etched with an inscription that touched my heart.

Life can be cruel, and cancer takes many folks much too soon.

I found this fellow at a site which was out from the city. The featured pond was near him and used a man-made bog to help maintain the pond. It was one of the few with fish (at least, that I noticed). Nearby were other fountains and another much older pond.

A sign greets visitors to this labyrinth garden inviting them to take a worry pebble and carry it to the center of the labyrinth, where it and the worry it represents may be deposited. The thyme-lined trail was best traversed barefoot. It’s a pretty design, with many native flowers. Apparently, milkweed is among them and Monarch butterflies are a feature later in the summer.

Two of the sites were open late in the evening to enable visitors to see how lighting may be used to enhance the ambiance. This was the first I one I visited, and it had a nice waterfall into a creek running from the back of the house to a small pond in the front. I like the walking stones and the very natural look. In general, the ponds and waterfalls were all nicely done.

This was my final stop on the tour. Several of the sites had speakers to discuss various features, and here the visitors learned about lighting and the use of solar-powered lights. Lighting is melded into the landscape and water in a way that makes it blend in with the rocks and water and plants. Taking a shot like this is a similar balancing act. We want enough light to see the setting, but not enough to blast away the lighting design. Although the sky seems to show quite a bit of light, it was actually becoming fairly dark. A little bit of bounced flash along with fairly high ISO (thank you 5D MkII) and a touch of post-processing gave me the balance I wanted.

This sort of challenge is why I love photography.

July 11, 2010

Experience with the S90

Filed under: General photography — Tony Drumm @ 2:43 pm

I posted earlier about my Canon S90 purchase. Here’s a shot I’d have been a bit reluctant to take with my 5D MkII. First, it would be tough to hold it and take the shot one-handed. Second, I could drop it – yikes! I think we were in Des Moines when I took this shot, but I have similar photos taken at highway speed. The 70 mph wind makes things a bit challenging, especially when the wind is swirling around the bike and a quartering headwind makes the actual wind speed perhaps 20 mph higher. Tip: work slowly, be certain something is being held in place before letting go, pay attention to what you’re doing.

This was a cool bridge, apparently fairly new, over the swollen Des Moines River. This was taken pretty much in the middle of the day, so not the best light, but the high contrast and blue sky seem to work with the architecture.

We attended Wing Ding, the international Gold Wing Road Riders Association annual rally. One of the program highlights was Clint Ewing doing some stunts on a Honda sport bike. He was pretty remarkable, and I was able to move in nice and close to the parking lot where he was performing. In fact, I was standing well onto the parking lot for this shot – as you might imagine. This was a real test of the S90. I found the tracking-focus setting which seems to have worked pretty well. This was shot in Av mode (aperture priority) and in RAW mode letting me make all the processing decisions in Lightroom. That’s my preference, certainly.

Clint was routinely standing the bike up nearly vertical and was often on the edge of toppling over backward. He has some sort of idle adjustment on the side of the bike which he’d use to help hold the engine speed during maneuvers.

This sort of shooting highlights the shortcomings of a point-and-shoot camera. The crispness is not quite up to DSLR standards, nor is the overall focus. Considering the size of the lens and the cost of the package, though, it’s quite amazing. Think about what this camera is doing. I didn’t happen to find and turn on continuous shooting, but even if I had, I believe it only shoots about one frame per second. On my DSLR, I’d have been in continuous and just holding down the shutter button, filling the buffer.

In fact, this is where a camera like the 7D shines with a good 8 fps rate. Or the 1D Mk IV at 10 fps.

Another common event at Gold Wing rallies is the light parade. Some owners spend countless amounts adding various lights around their bikes. The advent of LED lighting gives them the option of installing many lights, mostly hidden from view, with terrific brightness, and at a pretty low current draw. There’s little worry of overtaxing the charging system of the bike.

I shot the light parade in full manual. I was a bit worried about noise if I set the ISO too high, but the new noise reduction in Lightroom 3 was up to the task. I probably could have pushed it further. Shooting this sort of photo with a less adept P&S would have been tough, I think. I feel at home in manual mode and the S90 came through for me.

Here’s a shot taken at highway speed. The camera isn’t designed for motorcycling, so I had to remove my right glove to operate the camera, as you can see. Gloves make good flags – I had to hold onto the glove carefully to ensure it continued the trip with me. Lynne’s bike has a driver backrest with a small zippered bag on the back. I’d unzip it, carefully remove my glove, and stow it in the bag. Then I’d zipper it mostly shut before pulling my camera out of my pocket. My first attempt, I found that the strap for the camera was nearly useless as a safety catch for the camera. The strap just blew off my wrist. It has no adjustment for cinching it down. It now sports an overhand knot to keep it in place.

As an Ohio native, I’m always happy to see one of these signs. Traveling the roadways of the US, there are many places where you aren’t certain if you’ve crossed state lines. One of the worst is between Illinois and Indiana near Chicago. But most (all?) interstates entering Ohio greet travelers with one of these signs.

There is a silly story to accompany this shot. I had it in mind that if Lynne was driving when we entered Ohio, I’d try to take a photo of the sign. When I knew we were approaching the state line, Lynne was driving, so I pulled out my camera and prepared. Not a trivial undertaking, as I’ve explained. I just waited patiently. Okay, this should be it – the sign should be close. Hmm. What’s going on? I know there is a sign on this highway, as we’ve passed it many times.

Oh! I’m one state ahead of myself. I was watching for the sign, but we were crossing the Illinois/Indiana border! Good grief. I guess it’s good that I wasn’t operating the bike just then. I don’t know where my head was.

During our Columbus visit, Lynne and I spent a short while at Sharon Woods Municipal Park, not far from where my folks live. Back when I was in college at OSU, a friend and I would ride our bikes up to this park and do one or two laps of the trail there. I learned about dive-bombing red wing blackbirds there. It’s a very effective scare tactic to ward off predators, unless the predator is a human who realizes a bird isn’t going to actually hit you at high speed.

All in all, the S90 came through for me. It’s unlikely to accompany me on any real photo shoots, but for a camera I can throw in my pocket, I’m pleased with its performance.

June 27, 2010

Lightroom 3 and the Canon S90

Filed under: General photography — Tony Drumm @ 3:22 pm

As we are about to leave on a motorcycle excursion, I was contemplating what camera (and lenses, etc.) to take. I decided it was perhaps time to invest in a point-and-shoot that would be compact and light. If I could put it in my pocket, better yet.

There seemed to be a few cameras that fit the bill. I’ve been watching Canon’s Gline for a while, the latest of which is the G11 which many photographers like. It provides a lot of control, shoots in RAW mode, and is relatively small. But, it really doesn’t fit into a pocket very well. This led me to the S90 which (if you can believe what you read on the net) shares the same 10 Mpixel sensor and provides a similar level of control in a slimmer package.

It has real M for manual and Av for aperture modes, and also shoots in RAW if you prefer that over JPEG. I do prefer. The G11 has a hot shoe which the S90 lacks. I contemplated that for a while but eventually decided when I need that much control, I’ll just use an SLR. This is supposed to fit the need for small and light. I briefly looked at the SX20 which was on sale for a seemingly good price at Best Buy. But it’s bigger and somehow doesn’t include RAW. As I looked at it, I had the impression I’d be better off buying one of the newer Rebels for only a slight increase in size and the ability to attach any of my Canon lenses.

This sort of purchase is tough. I want control. I want quality. Looking at comparisons between a good P&S versus a small camera with a sizable sensor, like the micro-four-thirds lineup, I wonder can I really make due with something like the S90. I had to decide what is the real motivation here? In the end, it’s small, light, and inexpensive (to not suck away money I’d like to spend on glass for 5D). The image is more the photographer than the technology, so accepting this, the S90 won.

I’ve taken only a few snaps so far, enough to try RAW mode in Lightroom, make sure my SD cards work, make sure I understand the basic handling of the controls and menus. The shot above was shot at 1/8s at f/5.0 using window light, and I’ve cropped it in pretty tightly. I have no complaints, and I have to say, I love adjusting white balance in Lightroom instead of relying on the camera’s AWB.

I thought I’d add a few words about Lightroom 3.0. I purchased the update as soon as it was made available. I wish Adobe priced Lightroom about $100 lower for new purchasers. The update price is not bad, but I think a lot of photographers, even strictly amateur or casual, would benefit.

Anyway, the huge feature for me with LR 3 is the new noise reduction updates. It’s miles above what was in versions 1 and 2. I use the Noiseware plug-in for Photoshop, but it’s frankly a pain to have to use this for a stack of photos which otherwise would be completely handled in Lightroom. Noiseware is still a more full-featured noise reduction system, but I’m sure that going forward, 90+% of my photos will have noise reduction using just Lightroom. It really is that good and the image above shows this. RAW images have no in-camera noise reduction, and even with the small S90 sensor, LR is able to produce a great looking result.

There are other features in version 3, some of which I’ve yet to explore. I’m sure I’ll use them, but this one feature was worth the upgrade. If you are fairly serious about photography, I think you could surely benefit from Lightroom. You just need to justify the initial price.

June 13, 2010

Father of the Bride photo shoot

Filed under: Rochester Civic Theatre — Tony Drumm @ 4:06 pm

Father of the Bride (click for more photos)

 Last evening, I shot the show photos for RCT’s June production, Father of the Bride. The cast, director Greg Miller, and the crew have done a great job putting on a very funny show. And, I thoroughly enjoy seeing Lynne in her element with an outstanding performance. Maybe I’m biased, but she really is great.

Some of my other favorite actors – and friends – are in the show. It was my pleasure recording them on digital film for posterity. It’s always much fun mixing my artwork with theirs. After the show, we had a party at our house. Kenton, who plays the father, brought over a “wedding” sheet cake, so we had Brad and Lindsay do the honors. I’ve included a shot with them feeding each other cake. People have different takes on the shove-the-cake-in-your-partner’s-face maneuver, but I enjoy it. What can I say. Brad and Lindsay didn’t disappoint us.

It was fun shooting this show. Each show is a bit different. Some, like Snow White, have cool sets and dramatic lighting which is both challenging and enjoyable to shoot. I get to play with the lighting and try to express in pictures the mood of the show. This show had a simple box set and even lighting, but it had this wedding theme which reminded me of shooting a wedding.

We started right off with the big wedding party shot which put me in mind of a wedding shoot right away. I suppose wedding shoots would be easier if all the attendees were actors. I’ve been lucky to have actors as bride and groom and in the wedding party at weddings I’ve shot, and they can make the day pretty fun for everyone, including me as photog.

If you look through this sample of shots, check out the expressions. These folks are staging shots just for the camera, but they express the feelings of each scene splendidly. And sometimes, you’d never guess what they are saying as they pose! And now and then, Greg makes some goofy remark, and the serious expressions turn to laughter, and we wait for them to settle back in. But it’s good when everyone is having fun and feeling relaxed.

June 1, 2010

Memorial Day at Carley

Filed under: Beautiful Earth,General photography — Tony Drumm @ 6:16 pm

Memorial Day 2010 in southeastern Minnesota was beautiful! Very low humidity and temperatures in the mid-70s. We rode our motorcycles out to Carley State Park to spend a few hours having a picnic lunch and wandering around some of the trails. The north branch of the Whitewater River flows through the park and our trail took us along the river’s edge. There was a stand of these flowers which resemble Queen Anne’s Lace vaguely, but are atop stalks seven or eight feet tall. I tried to find out what they really are online, but I’m still unsure. My best guess is cow parsnip. The other choice seems to be giant hogweed. Both are said to be rather poisonous.

In any case, they were all rather amazing. I can’t remember seeing flowers so large that weren’t sunflowers.

This guy appeared nearby. There were many of these caterpillars hanging by a thread, so to speak, in the woods. I normally have to fight with the speckled light of a bright sun coming through the leaves into the forest. It makes for exposure extremes that are difficult to cope with. But this day, I tried to work with that light, and our hanging friend above is an example. He was brightly lit by the sun, and I could move a bit to place him against a dark background making him pop.

I might have zoomed in a bit, but on this day, I was using my 50mm f/1.4 fixed length lens – no zoom. In that case, you “zoom with your feet,” but this is not a macro lens which limited how close I could be to the little guy and still be in focus. Nevertheless, I like the resulting image.

Being the end of May, there were still plenty of wildflowers around the forest floor. Here the wonderfully shallow depth of field of the 50mm lens made for a nice shot. I love the green of the woods; it makes for a terrific backdrop for the tiny flowers.

When we were preparing to leave the park, we had one more stop to make, of course. Lynne heard the shutter click and asked if I was taking a picture of the outhouse. Well, sort of. Actually, just the sign. I’m not sure why. Sometimes you find the shot and sometimes the shot finds you. In the latter case, you take the shot not knowing what it’s for or what you’ll do with it. It just needs to be taken. Maybe, you’ll just post it on your blog.

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