Nativity on Ice - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

For those of you who celebrate, Merry Christmas.  To all of you, thank you very much for visiting the blog.  I appreciate the comments and interaction and will  have much more to share with you in the coming year as I expand into some new projects.

Mickey's Last Christmas - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Who would’ve guessed that last year would be Mickey Mouse’s last Christmas in his own house? In an ironic twist of fate, the Mayor of Toontown lost his home – and entire city – to eminent domain. It’s rumored that the city was caught up in the sub-prime mortgage collapse. Many of the properties were heavily leveraged and could not sustain the economic meltdown. Many residents were out of work.  Goofy couldn’t afford fuel for his crop-dusting business, farms dried up and collapse was inevitable.

As a result, homes were bought for pennies on the dollar and sold to a developer that bulldozed every residence and business in the area to make way for a new theme park.  I hear it’s even going to have a castle standing on the ashes of what was once the mayor’s home. Some folks accuse Goofy of collusion with the developer in exchange for a sweet deal in the new land, but those rumors are unconfirmed. Today, Mickey roams around Main Street and depends upon the kindness of strangers.

Christmas in Las Vegas - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Most years, I spend my Christmas holiday in Las Vegas. I’m going to miss it this year because it’s actually become a very comforting place for me.  I get to see some friends who live there, get some comfort food at Mr. Lucky’s in the Hard Rock Hotel, and enjoy some cool weather without getting into snow. It’s also typically one of the less crowded periods there, so I don’t have to fight through hordes of bodies to get from one place to another and rates are very low. It’s definitely my favorite time to visit Las Vegas.

Everything seems oversized and grand along the Las Vegas Strip, including these golden presents in the Bellagio. It’s such an ostentatious display that you have to wonder what it would be like to rip it open on Christmas morning, even though I don’t really do presents. Instead, I have a bit of a routine of favorite places that I like to visit on Christmas, some favorite restaurants for my meals that day, and a wish to hit a jackpot just once.  Still waiting on that last one.

The Christmas Lodge - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Something about the enormous Christmas trees at Disney resorts just attracts photographers like flies.  Look on the right side of the tree and you’ll see a camera bag, a standing tripod, and another tripod resting on the couch.  Whoever owns that gear is very trusting! I don’t think my gear is ever out of arm’s reach when I’m out and about.

This tree is the centerpiece at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.  I decided to get up a bit higher to shoot this one, rather than work at floor level like I did for the Grand Floridian Christmas tree. Both of them have that red chair, though, making you think Santa could arrive at any moment.

Three Creepy Pigs & a Christmas Tree

Christmas Week continues on the blog with what must be one of the creepiest scenes I’ve ever photographed. These are more characters from Shrek carved in ice at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando. Like most visual treats for tourists, it’s put behind a rope that reminds people that you can’t touch or lick the ice. Clearly, these folks are far more trusting than NASA, who is the undisputed champion of having visually cool stuff spoiled by unnecessary obstructions.

Ropes aside, I was absolutely fascinated by this scene.  Not only are the pigs standing up, but they’ve been shaved bald and are wearing caps. You have to be in awe of the twisted mind who created these characters for Shrek.

Reasons to be Thankful - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

Another Thanksgiving holiday in America. Traditionally, we gather with family and feast on a turkey dinner. For many folks, it’s a four day weekend, if not a longer holiday. Sometimes I wonder how many of us really take the time to understand the reason for the holiday in the first place.

I’ve had a few knocks in recent weeks, but I think I can still find reasons to be thankful for what I have.

1. My teeth are clean.
2. The doctor passed me on my physical.
3. I’ll spend time with my family today stuffing myself silly.
4. I’ll have leftovers to bring home so I can do it all again.
5. My dogs love me.
6. I’m in a position to pursue the things that I enjoy doing.

That last one is the flip side of being suddenly unemployed. I’ve been plugging away on my own projects that, I hope, will bear fruit and sustain me.  Time will tell if I’m right or not, but for now, I have what I need to get by the next few weeks and I genuinely feel good about what I’m doing.  Even if it turns out to be a brief interlude, I think that’s a reason to be thankful.

Oh, as for that guy in the picture above – he also has a reason to be thankful.  He lives in the local zoo, so nobody is going to eat him today.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Shrek the Halls - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

I went to the Gaylord Palms resort near Disney yesterday to check out ICE!  It’s an annual event with some amazing ice carving scenes. This year (and perhaps last year, too), they went with a Shrek theme. The place is pretty dark, and also cold.  They keep the temperature at 9 degrees.  It seems an odd change when you consider it was almost 90 degrees outside today.  I dressed warmly for ICE! and I was actually quite comfortable with the temp inside. That’s good, because this was another one of those places filled with visitors milling about and it required a lot of patience on my part to get a shot without a bunch of people in parkas taking snapshots in front of the various scenes.

They did a pretty good job on the Shrek scenes, but I kind of miss some of the previous show carving scenes – they were a bit more original. Gaylord Palms brings master artisans from Harbin, China to create these scenes each year. Their creativity and attention to detail is outstanding.

Illuminations - © Copyright 2011 by William Beem

To all my American friends, Happy Independence Day.  To everyone else, we’re closed today.  We celebrate by not working (except for restaurants, theme parks, gas stations and grocery stores), charring animal flesh, and blowing up stuff. Even as I write this the night before, I can here my neighbors outside blowing off fingers and toes right now.

I took this photo on Independence Day last year, where I learned something.  Shooting fireworks is a pain. Sure, there are plenty of people who give you advice on how to shoot – exposure settings and all that.  However, nothing really compares to real experience.

First, you need to get there very early to stake out your spot.  Fireworks on the 4th are always crowded and there are only so many spots where you can setup a tripod (necessary for long exposures). Even then, people will crowd all around you, so you don’t have room to move and you have to worry about running kids knocking over your gear. When I tried this at the Magic Kingdom, I thought I had a nice spot overlooking Cinderella’s Castle from the side where there’s an interesting reflection.  However, all of the fireworks were shot from behind the castle, so the best viewing angle was in front of it.  Things didn’t look quite spectacular as I had hoped.

Being there alone, I couldn’t leave my gear to get a drink or a bite to eat – that was torture. In this shot, I’m on the balcony of the Japanese restaurant in EPCOT and they had cocktail service.  I still didn’t get to eat, but after a few glasses of wine, I didn’t care.  Either way, it was still hot, muggy and crowded.

The conundrum of shooting fireworks is simple.  Fireworks cause smoke to linger in the air, which you don’t want to see.  Therefore, your best shots of fireworks will be very early in the show.  However, the spectacular stuff doesn’t happen until the end of the show when the sky is full of smoke.

You know those wonderful photos you see of a city skyline with perfect fireworks in the sky, and no smoke?  Well, it’s sort of done with smoke & mirrors. If you want a shot like that, you need to do some compositing.  Take a shot of the scene that you want with no fireworks.  Then, take photos of the perfect fireworks explosions in the sky.  When you get back to your post processing environment, extract the fireworks and add them to your scene on a different layer.  That’s how you get the shot. Like many things elsewhere, picture-perfect is often unrealistic.

That said, Happy Independence Day.

Last week, my mother’s husband, Frank,  had a medical procedure and there have been complications. Without going into a great amount of detail, he’s been bleeding quite profusely and had to go in for some emergency surgery on Sunday. My mother is obviously distraught. I can’t do anything for Frank, but I can spend time with my mother and try to provide some comfort and distraction from what’s happening. Along with my brother and aunt, we spent time at the hospital. The surgery lasted longer than we were told to expect, which lead to more apprehension for my mother.

Now the good news is that everything went fine. The surgeon came down to the waiting room after it was over and briefed my mother on the matter, answered her questions and, I felt, gave a good indication for her to go home and relax.

It’s been hard to watch her as she’s watched out for Frank. The days have turned into a blur for her, she’s barely had anything to eat and she’s been sleeping at the hospital.  When we went down to get her car from the valet, he seemed a bit surprised that it had been there since Friday. We thought the problems were resolved a couple of days ago, so Sunday’s surgery was a bit of a surprise. Those are the kind of surprises that people don’t really need.

To me, February 14th isn’t so much about Valentine’s Day; it was my father’s birthday. That’s what I think about. Dad left us about seven and a half years ago, Mom re-married with Frank, and now things are different.

My parents loved each other until death. There was never a question about it. However, it’s different to watch my mother love someone who isn’t my father. It was very obvious today, though. As I watched her expressions and noticed her shaking hands, I could tell that she cared about Frank in the same way she did when my father was here. His last days in the hospital were tough on all of us, of course, but something about this experience brought back some of those memories. She was afraid of losing another husband today, in the same place where she lost one before.

For many of you, Valentine’s Day is about a romantic evening, and that’s a nice thing. However, spend a little time to think about all the people you love, and the people they love. I think it may be better to do it now, before you have one of life’s jolts to remind you of the time we have with one another.

Welcome, Christmas - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

On Monday, I posted a sunset shot scene similar to this one. Many of the elements were the same – rocks, water and a sky with twilight on the horizon. Although I liked the shot, I was concerned that it was bereft of an important element – clouds. Without clouds, the sunset was just a gradation of light and color, but it lacked texture or any sense of turmoil. That’s how it went on my recent trip to Captiva & Sanibel. Every sunrise, every sunset and everything in between was completely absent of clouds. A lot of people probably loved the idea of clear blue skies and 70 degree temps. I didn’t care for either, either for my photos or because I was completely over-dressed and expecting much colder weather. You try wearing a sweater when most everyone else is in shorts and see if you feel like the proverbial sore thumb sticking out.

On Christmas morning (my last day before departing), my wish came true. There were clouds in the sky. Clouds add drama to a scene by reflecting like, adding texture, and spreading color. They’re never quite the same. You may get storm clouds or just light wisps, or anything in between. Spend some time watching the light change and the clouds move as you shoot your sunrise or sunset.

Composition

Shoot the changes and try to determine which composition you like. It’s common advice to avoid placing your horizon in the middle of the scene, but it really depends on your creative intent. Sometimes I’ll shoot vertically and fill the top 2/3rds of the frame with the sky if I feel it’s more dramatic than the foreground. In this image, I went against the common advice because I had elements in the foreground, middle and background. To my eye, that was the composition that pulled you into the same scene that I viewed when I was there. During my time at a scene, I’ll shoot in both portrait and landscape mode. I’ll look for other elements that may be useful as a foreground. I’ll change my angle to the sun.  I’ll shoot from low to the ground to full tripod height.  The point is to get as much variety as I can while I’m there, because there are some things you can’t do over or fix in post.

Focal Length

Ever wonder why the sun gets so large as it sets? Just look at all that light it has to soak up before it falls over the horizon. Now, why doesn’t the sun look as large in your photo? That may depend upon the focal length you chose. If you use a wide length, it’s going to seem much smaller.  Wide focal lengths spread out the scene, therefore the sun is a much smaller part of the angle of view. If you want to have a large sun in your image, choose a longer focal length.

Aperture

I often choose a small aperture, such as f/16 on the image above. It provides a great depth of field for sharpness in the details from front to back. Limiting the light also lengthens my shutter speed, allowing me to show motion or eliminate moving objects (people) that don’t hang around long enough to reflect enough light back into my image. It also works to create some interesting starbursts on light sources. That’s just my choice for the creative reasons I prefer. It’s just as valid to use a different aperture for a shallow depth of field, to speed up the shutter (which could also happen by raising ISO), or any other effect you prefer. The point is to think about what you want and then select the options that provide it.

Exposure

A sunrise or sunset is definitely an exercise in dynamic range. Your camera simply can’t capture it all. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.  You may want to focus attention on the color and light of the sun, while letting foreground images go into silhouette. Sometimes just using a shape in silhouette can tell the viewer everything they need to know. On one of my sunset shots, I captured an image with a teenage boy holding his surfboard while waiting for a wave. You can’t see who he is, but the shapes tell the story.

I tend to shoot auto-exposure brackets for sunrise/sunsets, running about nine exposures to capture a wide dynamic range. Sometimes I’ll use the exposures to create an HDR image, like the one above, but other times I’m satisfied with just one exposure. The important point for me is the same as composition – get your options covered while you’re there. By varying my exposure ranges and composition, I come home with plenty of options to use when determining how I want to present the scene. It means I have a lot of other images I may not use, but I’d prefer that to not having the image I’d want.

White Balance

Most of the time, I leave my white balance on Auto when shooting during the day. Sunrise & sunset scenes provide an exception. When I shoot an auto-exposure bracket in changing light, the camera using Auto white balance evaluates each exposure separately. There have been times when it gave me a different white balance on individual shots of the same bracket. Since I shoot in RAW, I can easily change that in post. However, why go through an extra step if you don’t need to do it? Pick a white balance so it remains consistent throughout your brackets and save yourself a little bit of time in post-processing.

The Most Important Part

Enjoy your time. A lot of photographers love sunrise & sunset shots because of the light. I’m no different, as I think it’s far more interesting and beautiful than a shot under high noon sun. However, I just find the experience very peaceful and relaxing. I typically arrive on a scene about an hour before the event. That gives me time to look over the scene and determine what compositions I want to make. Also, it’s nice to stake out my spot, just in case someone else may have opted to be there.  Not necessarily photographers, mind you.  Sometimes people just clutter up where you want to be, for reasons of their very own that have nothing to do with you or your picture. If you’re already there, they’ll probably go do their own thing somewhere else (most likely, right in your frame). Just go with it.  It’s an imperfect world and you can’t control it. All you can do is pick your spot and enjoy the ride.