Category Archives: Parks

Tourista! A Visit to Brookside Gardens, Silver Spring, Maryland, May 2, 2016

Posted by commart on

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I had driven into Montgomery County to visit a friend who had made a hobby shooting in the butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens, so call it a social occasion, not work, and that’s how I shot: hand-held and with few notes.  Down the line by hours to weeks, one has to make the editorial decision as to the character of the display: tourist or artiste!?  I’ve chosen “tourista” on this set.

If I had shot differently and perhaps with permits, I’d have used the tripod in the conservatory and butterfly exhibition and possibly outside as well.  For the kind of day it was, and for being tired after being in the warm and moist butterfly room, I chose to mosey, lift camera, and shoot, but with just a slight change in attitude, the use of a graduated neutral density filter — I had a card with me but was on the move — would have saved or improved a few shots.

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James Rumsey Memorial Park, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, October 19, 2010

Posted by commart on
James Rumsey Monument.
Abandoned bridge pilings, Potomac River from James Rumsey Monument, Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
James Rumsey Monument.
James Rumsey Bridge, Potomac River north of downtown Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
View toward Maryland from James Rumsey Monument Park, Shepherdstown, WVA
Norfolk Southern Railway trestle across the Potomac River viewed from James Rumsey Monument Park
Norfolk Southern Railway trestle across the Potomac River viewed from James Rumsey Monument Park

CA – Photography – Technical Note

Posted by commart on

Editing Screen: LaCie 320 1600×1200

Editing Software: Adobe Lightroom 3.6; Adobe Photoshop CS4; “onOne Presets” Volumes 1 to 3.

Image Standards: Nikon RAW; Adobe DNG; Edited Final: TIFF

Image Sizing: Facebook and Flickr: 900 Vertical; 1600 Horizontal.  Note: for a short period, I was uploading full-sized images, just beneath 6,000-pixels-width, to Flickr, but I’ve settled on the standard noted for the web.   What this means for the viewer is that when the option to see the “original” or “full-sized” image on screen, it’s really about 1/3 the image size available for the file of interest.

One Chance, One Desktop, One Photographer

While my XP-era technology has aged multiple computing generations, it has within the nostalgic traditions of photography — the field is famous for its leading personalities taking great leaps backwards (to wet plates, wooden boxes, FILM, for pete’s sake) to pursue their promotion of the look of having recorded what is to become shared visual memory — rather matured.

I like it.

It and I have already fallen behind.

I don’t care.

The industry has thundered on to the next level — and doubtless has already in hand the level after that — and I’m just hanging out with a couple of old Nikons, digital and film.

Walkabout: Nikon D200, Nikkor 16-85mm VRII, basic filters plus graduated neutral density card (always in the bag), and a carbon fiber tripod.

Portraiture: Nikon D2x, Nikkor manual 105mm f/2.5.

Trestle across the Potomac River viewed from James Rumsey Monument Park.

Trestle across the Potomac River viewed from James Rumsey Monument Park.

I don’t keep track (as I perhaps should), but the Big Landscape is why I carry the graduated neutral density card.

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