Never Waste a Sunset!
We live in a world where time flies by at an incredible pace. We sleep less, we eat more, we work way (WAY) more and find ourselves with less time than ever before. We worry about things almost constantly. Some of these are important such as our health, our family and our job. Some of these are petty such as our height, our weight or our looks. But most are somewhere in between. We live most of our lives in such a rush, moving from one activity to another. We get up. We go to school or work. We come home. We do it all over again tomorrow.
But sometimes we stop.
We look at the world God has created for us and we admire its simple, elegant beauty. We feel the cool breeze caressing our skin as the sun slowly sets. We feel the richness of our world, our lives and our loves. And we say thank you to our Creator for each sunset.
Never, ever waste a sunset!
Before Sunset
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 28mm, f/11 for 1/10th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Four rules I always remember when shooting flowers or other foliage outdoors.
Glow
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 105mm, f/4 for 1/180th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Its tough capturing the "feel" of a place when you're traveling. There's so much to see and do that its easy to suffer from sensory overload. Whenever I photograph a Texas town for the first time I like to capture some of the little details that stand out in my mind. Its the small details, like the texture in these straw hats, that really form a lasting memory for me.
Hats
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 35mm, f/5.6 for 1/125th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional UDMA digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.
One thing you'll notice about amateur photographers is that they tend to pack up and leave right after sunset. The next time you're out taking sunset shots look around and notice that many experienced amateurs and professionals will continue shooting well past sunset. It's this time about 30 minutes past sundown when the wind becomes still and the sky turns an incredible dark blue or purple color.
This first shot was taken just a few minutes after sunset when the colors were at their brightest.
After Sunset
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 24m, f/9.5 for 1/90th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.
The second shot was taken several minutes later when the wind had stopped and the sky had turned a beautiful shade of blue. The deep, saturated colors make waiting around after dark well worth the effort.
Well Past Dark
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 32mm, f/11 for 3 seconds at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.
I took this shot last Saturday afternoon at the Mercer Arboretum just north of Houston, Texas. It was mostly cloudy that day and the lighting was perfect for photographing flowers in the late afternoon. The image was taken at f/4.5 to control the depth field and create nice bokeh in the background. I shot this rose looking almost straight down and manually focused on the center petals to make sure it was the sharpest point in the image. Its hard to go wrong when the light is soft and the subject is a beautiful flower.
The Rose
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 95mm, f/4.5 for 1/350th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Silver Efex Pro installs as a plug-in filter for Lightroom 2 and is accessible from the Photo>Edit In... menu. Edits made using the plug-in within Lightroom are non-destructive in nature, and are applied automatically to a newly generated TIFF and not the original RAW file.
Nik Software also said that they plan to make all their other Photoshop plug-ins including Dfine and Sharpener Pro compatible with Lightroom later this year. Good news for those of us using these wonderful plug-ins!
Just a quick post as you celebrate Passover or Good Friday.
"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace."
Numbers 6.22-27
Red
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 105mm, f/4 for 1/500th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Faith
Copyright 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS Rebel XT set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 17-40mm f/4L USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 21mm, f/14 for 1/80th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Viveza. Click on the image above for a larger version.
From the bottom of my heart, to all my friends, colleagues and readers worldwide. Have a joyous Easter Sunday. Alleluia, He is Risen.
Being Irish I am both a devout Christian and somewhat superstitious. Nothing too serious mind you but the Irish love their folklore. My favorite stories from my youth involved the daoine s dhe ("deena shee" as its correctly pronounced). Out of fear, superstition and respect they are often not named directly, but rather called "The Gentry," "The Fair Folk," or simply "The Folk". As far back as I can remember, I've always been fascinated by the tales of these creatures. We even have a small statue of one swinging in a tree in our back yard for luck.
Sidhe
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 95mm, f/5.6 for 1/90th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro. Click on the image above for a larger version.
There is nothing more refreshing than walking through a garden on a cool spring afternoon. The wind blows gently and the sun peeks from behind the clouds to reveal the rich colors of springtime. We savour our cool spring days here in Southeast Texas because we know the hot, humid days of summer are not too far off.
Mosaic
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 93mm, f/5.6 for 1/90th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.
Its amazing the patterns of lines and colors you find in nature. Its almost as if someone had designed all of this just for us to discover. Come to think of it, perhaps SOMEONE did!
Here's wishing you a wonderful week of discovery!
Green
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 100mm, f/4 for 1/60th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.
