Petersen Photography Blog

Web of Raindrops, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

This is a shot I took while visiting the Chicago Botanical Gardens. It wasn’t raining but there was an area that the sprinklers were turned on. It was an extremely hot day so I braved the water with my camera and found this neat shot. I used my 100mm f/2.8 macro lens. This is a very sharp lens with decent color for the price. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to get into macro photography.

So I finally broke down and bought a new 2010 MacBook Pro to use as my primary post processing machine. I have to say, after using it for a few days, I don’t think I ever want to go back to a PC. Unfortunately, my non-photography profession as a programmer is very Windows/Microsoft centric so, at least for the time being, I will be switch back and fourth between Mac and PC.

I have been lusting for a Mac ever since the first Intel Macbook Pro was shown off by Steve Job in early 2006. In mid April of this year, the MBP line was refreshed with faster processors and updated graphics cards. The new machines combined with the fact that my ancient HP laptop finally bit the dust was enough of a temptation for me to convert my workflow to Apple.

Since I knew that I would use this computer for all my photo editing needs, I also purchased Aperture 3.0 at the same time. I am still developing a workflow with aperture and I will attempt to post my thought when I get it figured out. My initial impression is very positive. Like Adobe Lightroom, Aperture edits RAW files in a non-destructive manner. If you are familar with Lighroom, Aperture will feel similar yet different. All the adjustments I am used to are there. There is a 1-5 rating system and a pick/reject flag.

If you are considering making a switch, I think you wouldn’t be disappointed.

Path through the woods, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

The title of this post should be “Why to take you camera with you everywhere”. I grabbed this shot in Tosa on my way to a business meeting. It was late afternoon and the sun was just settling to the west. I pulled over along the river and found a hiking path through the woods that had an attractive leading line with a gentle curve. I captured a few quick shots before continuing to my meeting.

I have found that almost without exception that when I don’t bring my camera with me, I end up regretting it.

Baby Snowman, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

This is another photo from my trip to Brookfield Zoo’s Holiday Magic. This is a miniature snowman that someone built on a railing. It stood about 5 inches tall. I took several shots looking straight on but the background was lacking interest. I recomposed so there were some Christmas lights in the background and the results were much better.

To capture this scene, I used my 70-200 f/4 lens set to f/4 to maximize my bokeh. For those who don’t know, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the background blur. Larger aperture (smaller f-stop numbers) give more bokeh. I also used my 580EXII flash with a diffuser. I pointed the flash up toward the sky and let the diffuser brighten my foreground.

Since it was mostly dark, I used a high ISO speed of 1600. This results in more noise but the ability to have faster shutter speeds. This shot was 1/100s which I selected in manual mode. When using a flash with ETTL, the exposure setting of the camera determines the exposure of the background and the flash automatically determines the correct foreground exposure.

Post processing was just tweaking the exposure and saturation.

Spin them faster, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

I took this shot while visiting Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, IL over the weekend. It was dark and difficult to take shots of people but I saw this merry go round in the distance that I capture. I was glad I brought my tripod along because this shot wouldn’t have been possible without it. I used my EF28-135 f/3.5-5.6 lens at 28mm to get the widest perspective and set the shutter speed to 3.2 seconds. I let the camera determine the aperture. I also used the delayed exposure mode on my camera. This setting waits 2 seconds to take the shot after the shutter button is pressed. This prevents me from shaking the camera by pressing the button as the shot is being taken.

Frozen sunrise splash, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

I took this shot last weekend at a beach on Lake Michigan. It was just after sunrise and there was ice that had formed 20 feet out from the shore. There were some waves that were breaking against the ice and making these splashes. I saw the shot that I wanted so I ventured out near the edge and laid down on my stomach. I was using my 28-135 f/3.5-5.6 lens. I set the aperture to f/7.1 and switched to aperture priority mode. I chose f/7.1 because this particular lens lacks sharpness at the wide end of the aperture and I wanted some additional depth of field. I saw that my shutter speed was going to be 1/200 or higher so I wasn’t worried about camera shake.

I used manual focus for this shot because the auto focus isn’t quick enough to focus on the splash. I also leveraged the 6 frames per second of my 40d to capture this splash right at the apex.

I did some minor exposure adjustment, sharpened and added some saturation in post.

Meter tilt, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

I was exploring Atlanta and discovered this seldom used street where all 3 parking meters were tilting toward the sidewalk that I wanted to  capture. I saw that I wanted a shot where all 3 were framed with focus on the first and the remaining two falling off in the depth of field. I used my 70-200 f/4, set to f/6.3 and in One Shot focus mode on my 40d. This focus mode allows me to have the center focus point selected and focus it on the first meter. Once focus is confirmed and locked, I recomposed the shot that I wanted.

Kids in Hana, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

On a recent trip to Hawaii, I drove to Hana and there were a group of guys jumping off an abandoned warf into the ocean. They seemed to enjoy preforming for the camera.

Kanaha Beach Sunset, originally uploaded by Dana Petersen.

I took this shot on Maui at Kanaha Beach park. We had finished a day of windsurfing and we were packing up to leave for the day. My wife saw this beautiful sunset and I ran down to the beach to take a few quick shots before the sun completely disappeared.

Drooping Daisy, originally uploaded by wndsrfrkd.

This is an interesting shot I took with a borrowed camera and borrowed lens (actually the 18-55 f/3.5-5.6). I was walking around outside my house and just testing how I liked the gear.

It turns out that the 30D kit lens is quite sharp even at f/5.6.