Lights! Camera! Robins!

I heard a commotion near my front door about a week ago. A series of shrill warbles that sounded like a robin. Upon investigation, I found that a female had built a nest in a yew bush right outside the door at about eye level. I presume the commotion was to announce the laying of a clutch of four eggs.



Not being one to waste an opportunity when it's handed to me, I've scouted various angles of view, planned placement of lights and cameras, and will document the robin family over the course of the next three or four weeks.

Mama's already gotten a taste of being in the limelight. The top picture looks as if it were taken in the late afternoon sun. Oh, no. Mid-day. Flash on a light stand ten feet away, zoomed and gelled to simulate late day sunlight and put a catchlight in mama's eye. White balance on camera adjusted to heighten the effect.

Mama took it all in stride. No prima robin she.



More to come.

Let it snow

Sit down and soak your feet

Lots of rain recently has our streams and rivers jumping their banks around here. Nothing like what's happened to places like Nashville, of course.

Roadways get wet. Parks get flooded. Ducks and geese have a great time.



The above photo was taken where a swollen stream met the swollen Fox River in Geneva, Illinois, creating a swirl of turbulence. Happens every spring, and most people here are used to the temporary inconvenience.

Photographs © 2010 James Jordan.

The first and last

I spent the better part of the day yesterday photographing landmarks in Elgin, illinois as part of the Elgin 1440 photography event. Sponsored by the city's Cultural Arts Commision and a local newspaper, the event is designed to capture a day in the life of a city through the eyes and cameras of its inhabitants. The numeral 1440 refers to the number of minutes in a day.

I started the day at about 5:00 a.m. intending to catch the sunrise from the downtown area. While en route by car to downtown, the sky lit up with a sun pillar, a phenomenon where the first rays of sunlight beam straight upward in a pillar of light. Being in a moving car and not able to easily switch from the wide angle lens to a telephoto, I did not get a clear shot of the pillar. Ah, well. I hope someone else did.

I'm posting one of the first photographs of the day and one of the last. The photo above is the Elgin skyline at sunrise, featuring the Elgin Tower Building. The photo below is of the newly built Sherman Hospital at dusk with its geothermal lake in the foreground. In between were about 200 assorted pictures of places and people doing their thing on a pleasant spring Sunday in Elgin.



At midday, I met a reporter from the local paper who chatted with me for a bit about the 1440 Event and my part in it. The result of that conversation is a mention in the lead of a story in today's paper and a couple of quotes from me. Nothing terribly profound, I'm afraid, but at least they spelled my name right.

News story on Elgin 1440.

Photographs © 2010 James Jordan.

One of Jack Frost's better efforts ...

It fogged. It froze. It looked pretty. I shot it. Pretty simple. Simply pretty.

Bumped the contrast and pumped a little color saturation in the final image. Okay, a lot of saturation. The original image was nearly monochromatic. Pumping the color brought out the blue, which adds to the "brr chilly" aspect of the picture. And then, I added a warming filter, of all things to round out the tones.

Sometimes it pays to go counter intuitive.

Photograph © 2010 James Jordan.

The obligatory "first snowfall of the season" shot

Because the first snowfall of the season happened overnight and I needed a photo to post today. Taken with a rental Nikon D90 fitted with a 17-55mm f/2.8 lens. That lens alone is a honkin' big hunk of metal and glass about the size of my D60 and its kit 18-55 lens together. But it do take some sharp, purdy pitchers.

I'd love to have both items on a permanent basis, and I probably could if I could talk all of the companies I pay bills to each month into letting me go a month without sending them any money. Hey, I'm just one guy and they probably wouldn't even miss it.

"Worm's eye" photo taken by holding the camera an inch from the ground (even I'm not crazy enough to lay on my belly in the snow, even though I've done it before to get a picture). I let the D90's 11-point autofocus do its thing.

Let's see. Wireless flash triggers, Nikon D90, mondo lens. I wonder if Santa reads blogs?

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Birch tree-o

A three-pronged birch tree in my neighborhood in Elgin, Illinois. Played with really narrowing the depth of field. This shot is a panorama of 38 separate images shot with a 135mm f/2.8 lens and stitched together with a software program called Hugin (free download). By the way, Hugin is nice in that it takes into account the focal length of your lens and camera sensor's crop factor before starting the stitching process to ensure that distortion in the final image is kept to a minimum.

The cemetery shot from yesterday was also made using this technique and was composited from 26 separate images. Useful if you realllllly want to separate a subject from its background.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Self portrait with garage and driveway, 6:30 a.m.

So why am I taking pictures of myself in my driveway at 6:30 in the morning? Because I can, that's why. Actually, I have an engagement photo session this evening and want to try out some off-camera strobe-assisted shots of the happy couple in an urban setting around sunset. So I'm using myself as a guinea pig to test some lighting setups.

I'll be working simply -- one strobe with an umbrella on a stand, balancing flash with ambient light. Shooting pictures of myself over the last couple of days in different scenarios has helped me to be able to quickly determine my camera settings when faced with a tricky lighting setup. This shot, which includes interior and exterior house lights, a strobe and the pre-dawn sky, took just three shots and adjustments to balance. It has also helped me to come up with a routine to quickly set up, tear down and move the strobe/umbrella combo from location to location. I may even try something in the middle of the street at a crosswalk.

And I'll have better looking subjects to work with.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Bird's eye view

So, continuing on the subject of having lived in the Chicago suburbs for almost two decades and not getting around to seeing what's out there ...



This is a view of the French Market in Wheaton, Illinois, taken from the roof of the building across the street. Every Saturday during the summer months, dozens of vendors spread their canvas awnings and offer fresh produce, baked goods, arts and crafts, meats and cheese, clothing, fresh flowers and garden plants to all who will come. And they do come. The market opens at 8 am and usually by 9:00 or 10:00 the place is packed and rocking.

The manager of the market, who is undertaking an expansion of the French Market concept to another city, asked for some photos to help sell the idea to local chambers of commerce and municipal decision makers.

I played with some selective de-focusing to give the market a miniaturized feel, but there isn't much miniature about the Wheaton French Market. The photo above shows roughly half of the market space. The awnings stretch for nearly a city block. Below, a vendor strolls the aisle prior to the opening of the market - the calm before the storm.



Below are photos which give but a glimpse of what's available at the Wheaton French Market.









The Wheaton French market is located at Main and Liberty streets in Wheaton, Illinois and is open from 8 am to 2 pm on Saturdays. Bensidoun USA, the Paris-based company that operates the markets, also offers French Markets in several other locations in Chicago and the suburbs.

Photographs © 2009 James Jordan.

Working on that smile

One of the things I'm struggling with at the moment is deciding whether to mix my personal photos on this blog with my professional photos. When I first started Points of Light four years ago this month, there was no issue mixing professional shots with my personal shots. There were no professional shots at that time. I was shooting for the pure enjoyment of learning and improving my craft.

I've gotten to the point where people are willing to part with some money to have me do my thing. On one hand, it's a different type of photography than shooting whatever happens to interest me at the moment. On the other hand, it's a part of my life as a photographer. I have another blog that's strictly business. Should I also have one that strictly personal?



After seeing how photos of Benjamin and his mom, Melissa turned out, I couldn't resist the urge to post them here. Melissa was part of a quartet of longtime female friends who had gone their separate ways to begin families. They decided to reunite for a weekend in Chicago earlier this month and searched for a local photographer to take some portraits of the group and individual mommy/baby combos (thanks, Google!).

On the morning of the shoot, little Benjamin was not feeling well and could only manage a worried looking scowl the entire time the other babies were smiling for the camera. I offered to return after Benjamin was feeling well again to do some retakes. These photos are some of the the results of that session.

Benjamin has a new set of chompers and likes to rub the lowers against the uppers, hence the slightly off kilter alignment of teeth in the top photo. It didn't diminish his cuteness -- or his sparkly eyes.



These photos were shot using the "magic" setting on my camera. Okay, my camera doesn't have a "magic" setting. I have to set it myself. If you're shooting portraits, try these -- aperture priority set at the lowest number setting for shallow depth of field to throw the background out of focus; medium zoom (I used 35mm, which is equivalent to about 55mm given my camera's sensor size); placed subjects in the shade. If I allowed any sun in the shot, I made sure it was either behind or to the side of the subject. I gave the exposure a +1 compensation, focused on the subject's eyes and fired away. And I made sure to keep an eye on the background and repositioned myself as necessary to minimize the distractions that always lurk there.

Photographs © 2009 James Jordan.

Trolley triptych

Three photos from the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin, Illinois.

Keep your wheels safely rolling this weekend. Have a good one.





Photographs © 2009 James Jordan.

Garfield Farm

One of the perks of living on the northwestern/western edge of the Chicago suburbs is that I’m never very far from open land and farms. My wife and I were heading back home from our recent trip to Tennessee when I noticed a nice sunset developing. At the time we were about 4 miles west of Geneva, Illinois driving through a developed area of retail stores. We turned west on a state highway and headed for open space.

We’ve chased sunrises and sunsets before and learned that once you are clear of suburbia, you need to turn perpendicular to the sun (head north or south) as quickly as possible in order to find something of interest to frame against the sky. Driving toward the sun just doesn't work unless you want a picture of a road and the sun.

I determined to take the first road that allowed a turn north of the highway we were on and see what turned up. What turned up was a 1840s vintage barn and farmstead. We had stumbled onto the Garfield Farm Inn and Museum located west of Geneva, Illinois.

Timothy Garfield and his family built a brick inn on the family farm in 1846, which became a center for community activity. The inn hosted hundreds of teamsters and travelers, served as a ballroom for 4th of July dances, a meeting place, and a place to drop in for good company and a mug of cider.

Three original buildings -- the 1842 hay and grain barn, the 1849 horse barn and the 1846 inn -- survive along with three barns built between 1860 and 1906. The farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites.



We arrived just as the site was closing for the day, but a worker graciously allowed me to take some photos of the sky behind the barn and other buildings. I took a number of shots of the barn with the sun setting behind it, bracketing my exposures and blending them together in a software program called Photomatix Pro (available as a free download and a $99 upgrade). The result is a high dynamic range (HDR) image that captures a much fuller range of tones than a single digital image, coming close to what the human eye can distinguish in a scene.

The site is extremely picturesque and we’re definitely heading back sometime for more photos. On purpose.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Killer commute

One morning a couple of weeks ago, I was out photographing in a suburb that tries hard to retain a rural feel. This scene is in Sleepy Hollow, Illinois, just a mile or so from Elgin, a city of more than 100,000 people.

I had just photographed an old barn and was waiting to cross the road to get back to my car. The bicyclist peddled along in the middle of a string of cars headed for the city.

I like the fact that he is traveling in the middle of the lane and not giving any ground to vehicles that outweigh him by a ton or two. The little sign telling motorists where to go is a nice touch, too.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Of the land

I returned to an old barn that I photographed a month ago. It's as worn and bedraggled as the trees and field around it. The only difference is, in another month or so, its surroundings will spring to life while the barn will still be old and bedraggled.

To the left, just over the rise, are a lamppost and a corner of a suburban CVS pharmacy adjacent to where this barn sits. Over the hill to the right is a subdivision of homes. More a piece of history than anything useful, the barn waits for it and the land on which it sits to make a common transformation into something new.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Golden walkway

The morning of the Elgin 1440 project started out gray and dreary, but the sun eventually made its appearance and stuck around for most of the rest of the day. This photograph is one of five of mine that were accepted into the Elgin 1440 exhibition.

The morning sun provided a nice backlight for a row of trees along Riverside Drive, turning them into a glowing canopy. I also liked how the lamp posts mimicked the row of trees. A 200mm focal length compressed the elements of the photo together, creating a tunnel effect with the perspective. Focus was set on the nearest tree. I let the camera call the exposure on this shot, which included boosting the light in shadow areas. There was very little adjustment that needed to be made in Photoshop afterward.

The Cultural Arts Commission here in town is considering another 1440 project for sometime in February with a winter theme. I'm there.

Have a great weekend.

Click on this post's headline for image EXIF data. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Snowy oak

Photographically making the best of being located in the suburbs. I took advantage of an early winter white-out to photograph some nature nestled among the houses, stores and highways. For those readers in the northwest Chicago suburbs, this was taken from the entrance driveway of Harvest Bible Chapel on Randall Road in Elgin. For those readers in the UK, Canada or Singapore, it's right here.

Look closely in the lower left of this photo and you'll see traces of a Home Depot store.

Color was added with a graduated 2-stop tobacco filter (I didn't name the color).

More thoughts, tips and examples of making naturey-type pictures in the 'burbs on my photography advice blog.

Click on this post's headline for image EXIF data. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Things I'm thankful for #4

A goldfinch eats his Thanksgiving dinner at my backyard bird feeder.

God feeds the birds and He clothes the flowers. It's good enough for them. It's good enough for me.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Bee knows how to work it

Late afternoon. Walking through Dundee, Illinois. Pass a house with lots of colorful coneflowers in front. Note that most of the blooms have been eaten by Japanese Beetles. Notice that one bloom has a large bee on it. Watch bee work. Set camera on Super Macro using Aperture priority on widest opening for shallow depth of field. Move camera lens within a half inch of bee. Notice that bee is ignoring camera and focusing on its work. Cool. Note that ISO 200 is forcing slow shutter speed. Bump ISO up to 400.

Take several shots, noting that bright, out of focus background is creating a nice effect while color of bee and flower is coming out nicely saturated. Time shots to keep the bee in profile, separated from the mass of the coneflower. Succeed. Process images. Post a couple here and at Flickr.

Photographer knows how to work it, too.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Wading through the sky

A fisherman tries his hand in the Fox River in Dundee, Illinois. I don't think he caught anything worth keeping. But I did with my camera.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Towering clouds

I was out on Saturday afternoon scouting locations for an upcoming photo shoot that I have with an area Christian rock band. They’re looking for a gritty urban feeling for their backdrops, so I started close to home in the Chicago suburb of Elgin, Illinois. While the downtown area has been undergoing development over the past several years and a lot of progress has been made, there are still many pockets of nitty-grittiness to be had.

This particular shot was taken from Walton Islands on the Fox River that runs through the downtown area. The building is the Elgin Tower building, dwarfed by the roiling cumulonimbus clouds that overshadowed the area all day. Sort of a “nature is bigger than we are” type of shot.

Photo blogging: Another pro shooter blogging from the Olympics in Beijing. Fascinating stuff. And check out the equipment he took with him … he says it took months to pack it all. I believe him.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.