PAINTOGRAPHY FOR LILY MONDAY
More Lily Photos. http://www.trueportraits.com/nature_photos_lily_pond.htm

+Lily Monday Curated by +Bob Rutan and +Ray Bilcliff
+Paintography Curators +Sherry McBriar +Gail Beerman +Ray Bilcliff
#lilymonday #paintography #PlusPhotoExtract

#PortraitTuesday by +Laura Balc

Monday Albums of Inspiration: Cinque Terre

A few years back when I just started getting into travel photography, my wife and I visited our good friends near Florence, Italy. There, sitting in the living room was this amazing picture of colorful Italian buildings built into a seaside mountain. For me It had every visual element of a great photograph. At the time I had no idea that The Cinque Terre region even existed, let alone that it contained such unique and special beauty.

"The Five Lands" is composed of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside.

For +Monochrome Monday, allow me to recycle my "Hochalm in Clouds" photo. I found the b/w images of +Jesse Speer so super inspiring that I wanted to try my hand at a dramatic edit of this. Of course, my scenery is far too complex and rich in detail to be on par with his unique, calm and minimal expressions, but I'm quite happy with the result right now. ;)

#mountains #monochrome #monochromemonday #austria

(and also, I have the feeling that I need to post more b/w again or else +David Bowden will kick me out of his circle;)

Sharp Rock - Marshall Beach - Golden Gate Bridge
In another week I will out exploring new places. Places that have been on my list for while now, but haven't had the time to visit. In the mean time, here is another one from Marshall Beach.

"Inevitability"

another in my quest to photograph sporophytes. Now I'm paying attention I notice that each species has a slightly different look to them. This messy little bunch was on a boulder overlooking Pulpit Brook. Shot w/the OM 90mm legacy macro at about f5.6. Ah #macromonday !

Panic at the Disco

"Haena Surf" , Haena beach/tunnels, Kauai, Hawaii

As the sun rose, a storm brings big surf to the north shore of the island of Kauai.
(Expand post for details, and click to see the big version!)

Details

Canon 5D
Canon 17-40L @ 22
1/30th-second exposure @F8
LEE soft ND grad (100x150mm) 0.9 + 0.6 ( 5 stops total)
Lee foundation kit filter holder with Lee 77mm adapter ring
ISO 50
No polarizer
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
Small Slik Sprint mini II tripod
Manfrotto 322RC2 pistol-grip ball head

The Story


In the winter, large waves break in portions of Haena Beach that are not protected by the coral reef at the famous Tunnels snorkeling spot. This wave is over 10 feet tall from its base. The wide angle makes it look smaller. They can get even larger during large winter storms.

This was a rather tricky shot to get right because so many things were happening in a chaotic order. But I wanted to show all the best things happening at once. After every shot, I had to run, as I planted the tripod right in the path of the waves to get the closest view. Standing back on the dry part of the beach makes the action look distant, even if you zoom in. It is more dramatic to use a wide-angle and get close! These waves looked best just before the break, as the light penetrated through them. The sand glistened and moved for just a second before drying up, so timing was important.

Other stuff

My pictures are featured on the front page of California Governor, Jerry Brown's website http://gov.ca.gov

Resources

I wrote a 325 eBook that describes exactly how I went about learning photography starting in 2006. I did not learn the usual way. I have studied the great masters of painting and hope to find that light in the real world.

http://www.patricksmithphotography.com/Photography_Book.html


A great weather mashup map of the world with local temperatures, weather and nice popups. See where it is hot and not! (Must wait for slow commercials first, but worth it!)
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/

Simply the best way to scout out locations that there is. You can see sun angles and pre-visualize light under lots of different conditions. Sometimes you can actually pre-compose your shots! This has saved me many thousands of vertical feet of climbing by avoiding spots with blocked views etc.

Satellite imagery (choose 'National' for a local US region or use your fave website)
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/?wfo=mtr

Tide charting and preditions: (chose your area in US, other countries have similar websites)
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=235

Wave Heights (I choose 'North Pacific from Global')
http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/index2.shtml

Or Here:
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/RP1bw.gif

Photos of every inch of the California coastline from a small plane. Excellent for close in detailed views.

http://www.californiacoastline.org/

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