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Amusements parks, carnivals, fairs, and similar are popular summer attractions. The next time you visit such attractions, be sure to take your camera gear (including a tripod) and ... make sure that you stay until the lights come on. To be more "attractive", amusement rides are typically well-lit at night and these rides (along with other signage) can make colorful images.
 
The first step: before you leave home, make sure that you know the park's rules for photography. The bigger the park, carnival, etc., the more likely that your activity will fall under regulation. The Ferris wheel shown here was captured at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, PA (America's largest free-admission park). This park requires permission for "Professional Photography".
 
Also before you go, scope out potential opportunities using the park's map, satellite imagery and photos found online. Look for colorful rides that move significantly and have lots of lights on the moving portions of the ride. While motionless lights can be attractive in images (especially if out of focus), moving lights can be made to cover much more of the frame, replacing dark sky with bright light. Spinning rides often work well, but roller coasters often do not.
 
A perfect night photography ride example is the big Ferris wheel at Knoebels. The park has recently installed a new LED lighting system that displays constantly changing colors as the big wheel spins. The ride looks impressive and attracts many spectators in addition to riders.
 
Though it has excellent image quality, my choice to use the Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L Lens for this image was foremost for the ultra-wide focal lengths. Because of the many obstructions around (notably, trees), I wanted to be as close to the ride as possible and also wanted the close, looking-up perspective. This position also helped avoid people (the spectators I mentioned) in the frame (and the model release complication they could potentially add).
 
There are many options for photographing amusement parks in the dark (or just before dark), but I like to fill a significant amount of the frame with light. In this particular case, I liked having the entire wheel in the frame while shooting (I was over 11 hours into my commercial shoot and had gone to bed at 3:00 AM that morning, so I can't argue that my decision making ability was not slightly clouded at the time). During post processing, I decided that I liked the wheel cropped tighter, showing even more color in the frame and making the support structure larger in the frame. That the 5Ds R has such extreme resolution enabled me to crop significantly into the frame and still have a high resolution image remaining (roughly 22 megapixels). And, I still have the full size image available if wanted at a later time.
 
Camera exposure settings for lights moving in the dark are often determined by aperture and ISO. That was the case here. Since the lights in the middle of the wheel are not moving as fast as the outermost lights, there is an overall exposure balance required. The LED lights were very bright and ISO 100 with an f/11 aperture worked well in this case (I reduced the brightness somewhat in post processing). I adjusted the shutter speed (in manual mode) to capture the complete movement between wheel spokes without overlap (which would cause overexposure), generating a complete circle of light that, with the changing lights, resembles a pinwheel.
 
Dark park photography will test your visualization ability, but it is great fun to anticipate and view the results. It is not hard to create attractive blurs of light at these venues. Give after-dark amusement park photography a go! It shouldn't be hard to entertain the kids while you do.

With a seven hour round trip drive included, fitting the PDN PhotoPlus Expo trip into 24 hours makes for a huge day. Increase the drive time to 10 hours (thanks to traffic), include a 1 hour wait at the show admission line due to a system outage (yes, I was preregistered), attend seven planned meetings plus a dinner meeting and I am left searching for a word that means much bigger than huge. Perhaps mammoth?
 
Still, with the show floor closing at 5:00 PM and rest seeming so unproductive, I decided to plan a shoot between the show and the dinner meeting. This year, I headed over to Brooklyn Bridge Park near Pier 1 (in Brooklyn) to the pilings shown in this picture.
 
I got onto the shoreline rocks beside the boat ramp and positioned the camera so that the opening between some of the pilings curved into the frame. I adjusted the focal length (with some mostly minor variety used) for a good size balance between the buildings and the pilings. An ultra-wide angle would emphasize the pilings while a standard or short telephoto lens would place more emphasis on the buildings. Another consideration is the levelness of the camera. With the camera vertically level, the buildings toward the sides of the frame remain vertically straight in this image.
 
The Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS USM Lens mounted to the Canon EOS 5D Mark III was the perfect choice for this scene. Perfect for both the angle of view/focal length range and for the impressive image quality it provides.
 
I was in position in front of the piers as the sun set. While I have images captured during sunset that I like, including the sun against the horizon with the last sunlight of the day reflecting on the water, the city lights were not showing at this time of the day and the colors were not as attractive to me as the late blue hour example shown here. I also have some shorter exposures of this scene, but the choppy river did not attract my eye like the buttery-smooth blurred alternatives. I used neutral density filters and adjusted the aperture slightly (between f/8 and f/11) to keep my exposure times at or near 30 seconds as sunset turned into blue hour and then into dark. I started with a 6-stop ND, moved to a 2-stop ND and removed that filter as darkness came.
 
While this may seem like a long time to shoot a single scene, this was the shot I wanted and I wanted a variety of options to choose from. I was shooting 3 bracketed frames (this is an HDR image) with the longest exposure at or near 30 seconds in duration and I had long exposure noise reduction enabled, meaning that dark frames were captured for an equally long period of time. This means that I was spending several minutes for each potential final image. With exposures that long, one cannot predict the large boats and other detractants that will possibly influence an image and I threw away some frames for this reason. In the end, I had a nice amount of images, but not a crazy number.
 
Likely, only a few of the images from this shoot will see the light of day. But, I really like those few images and consider the time and effort well spent. I can cross "Pilings at Brooklyn Bridge Park" off of my location bucket list.
 
The day started at 5:00 AM and ended at 2:45 AM the next morning. The overall results from the day, including the meetings and the show, were totally worth the effort.

Want to shoot bright white subjects (especially reflective ones) under a full sun at f/1.4? You will likely need a circular polarizing filter or a neutral density filter to reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor. Otherwise, even the 1/8000 sec exposure available on Canon's higher end DSLR cameras will not be fast enough to prevent the whites from being blown.

While this image was created to illustrate one of the unique capabilities of the lens being used, I thought I'd share the process behind creating the wedding ring, Bible, love verse and heart shadow photograph.
 
Obviously, to create an image similar to this, you need a ring and a book. Most large books and round rings can be used, but a wedding ring is the most common type of ring photographed and the Bible then becomes a very appropriate book for holding the ring. Note that if the ring is not round, creating a heart-shaped shadow immediately becomes more difficult, if not impossible. The heart-shaped shadow is not required, but ... it too is very appropriate for a wedding ring photo.
 
Love is the strong theme we are building on here and 1 Corinthians 13:4 is a favorite verse for this theme. While all Bibles will have this verse in them, not all Bibles will have this verse in an appropriate position on the page.
 
Getting the ring to stand up without a form of adhesive is another challenge. Doing so is easiest with some curl toward the inside of the pages, supporting the ring higher on its sides. The amount of curl also influences the heart shadow's shape.
 
This verse is closer to the end of the Bible than the beginning, meaning that there are more pages to the left than the right, creating unbalance. This makes creating the curves needed for the ring to sit in the pages somewhat more challenging, a challenge I met with a pair of A-clamps. My ill-designed-for-photography clamp jaws were red and required some black gaffer tape to eliminate the red showing in reflections on the ring. Reflections such as this are easy to miss when photographing, so be sure to check images of reflective subjects carefully.
 
Creating a shadow with an obvious shape requires hard light. This means the light source must be small in size relative to the source of the shadow. The smaller and farther away the light source is, the harder the shadow will become.
 
The right angle of the back-lighting is necessary to create the heart-shaped shadow in front of the ring. Aligning the flash with the crease between the pages will create a symmetric-shaped heart (if the pages are equally curved). The higher the flash, the shorter the heart. Figure out what works best for your composition.
 
Try handholding the flash and moving it around until you see the results you want. If using E-TTL and the camera's self-timer, the pre-flash will give you a preview of the shadow and give you a moment to adjust it prior to the picture being taken. Simply test-firing the flash will also help accomplish this task. Once you know where you want the flash positioned, fix it in place.
 
There are a million methods of holding a flash in place. I happened to have a lens box the right height at my immediate disposal and ... I simply used it. The box was not an especially secure option, so I had to be careful.
 
I wanted a hard shadow, but I didn't want the image to appear harshly lit. Since my working space was tight, I went high-tech with white copier/printer paper reflectors. I gaffer-taped one piece under the lens and another over the flash. Because rings are reflective, the paper reflectors were especially helpful in illuminating the front of it.
 
Bibles have a lot of pages and the pages are usually made thin for a compact and light overall book size and weight. Thin pages can become somewhat transparent and other print may bleed through the page being photographed. You can put a white paper under the pages, but that does not keep the print on the reverse side of the page being photographed from showing and this strategy potentially increases emphasis on that print. Find a Bible with thicker pages if you feel this issue is negatively impacting your results. The light bleed-through I encountered did not bother me.
 
I was reviewing the Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8L Tilt-Shift Lens, a superb product photography lens, and was looking for an interesting subject. Especially with its macro capability combined with the tilt movement, this lens can draw a viewer's eye to the intended subject and to illustrate this ability, the ring image concept shared here worked perfectly. Tilting the lens fully upward (10°) permitted the camera to be used at a relatively high position while creating a shallow slice of in-focus area that nicely encompasses the ring and its heart shadow along with the verse intended to be emphasized.
 
When one views this image, their eye is instantly drawn to the in-focus subjects.
 
Here is the setup:
 

 
The Canon wireless flash system made this lighting setup very easy. Hopefully you "love" the result!

The historic Inner Harbor seaport is a showcase of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. While I was looking for interesting and creative photos in general on a day trip to this location, my ultimate goal for was to come away with a picture that captured the spirit of Inner Harbor in a single frame. Since I had only the latter part of the day to shoot, I was targeting sunset and the blue hour for that photo.
 
My afternoon scouting showed that the west side of the harbor offered my favorite view, one that included the most photogenic landmark buildings including the National Aquarium and Baltimore's World Trade Center. From the selected vantage point, the Hard Rock Cafe and Phillips signs also stood out and all of the colorful lights reflected in the water.
 
Not all waterfront is harbor, so the Lightship Chesapeake and the USS Torsk submarine docked in the background helped depict this waterfront properly as such. Of course, what finishes off the capture of the spirit of Baltimore's Inner Harbor better than a boat aptly named Inner Harbor Spirit docked in the foreground?
 
After selecting the specific location I wanted for my key photo, I captured a variety of photos using various lenses and focal lengths (there was no getting closer happening here). The scene shown in this sample picture was my favorite and I have it captured at various times during sunset including some with nicely pink clouds in the sky. The image shown here was captured just before total darkness. At that time, a 30 second exposure allowed a smooth motion blur of the very calm harbor, an f/16 aperture caused the lights to show a starburst effect without imparting a too-severe amount of softening of the image (due to diffraction) and the combination of 30 seconds and f/16 allowed a deep blue sky color to be retained.
 
The Canon EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens is a nice lens and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III is of course an awesome camera. This photo is basically as-shot. Based on the Standard Picture Style (in DPP), I cloned out a few paint tiny imperfections on the ship and reduced the brightness of the Hard Rock Cafe sign, Phillips sign and the side of the aquarium using an HDR technique that utilized a darker exposure showing through the primary exposure at those positions in the frame.

Lots of sweeping lines go through this picture of a brightly-colored ferry boat.

Saint Patricks Cathedral in New York City is a spectacular piece of architecture. The problem, from a photographical standpoint, is that it is always full of people. The solution is to shoot upwards. The other problem is that it is extremely dark inside. Image stabilization allowed this picture to be taken handheld.

A shallow depth of field picture of a piano keyboard. Lighting is from a simple overhead music light.

Well, about as close-up as you want to get to a working track loader at least. Dangerous equipment is a good reason to use a telephoto lens.

Anyone familar with track will instantly recognize this as a starting line. While capturing your sports and other events, look for shots that represent the event in addition to the actual particpants doing what they do.

Shot from ground level with an ultra-wide angle lens, these barn doors and especially the columned porch over them appear to get narrower as they go up.

Here is the situation. I was in a residential neighborhood in the dead of winter. Everything living was dead (if that makes sense) and the color was far from exciting. Across the street was a huge pile of dirt that an excavator created the day before this shoot. But I had a beautiful subject.
 
I was evaluating the Zeiss Otus 55mm lens. I added a B+W XS-PRO CP filter and got down flat on the ground (the camera was against the street) to remove everything but the sky (and a street lamp) from the image.

At a 17mm perspective, these New York City skyscrapers tower far overhead.

This day was spent at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, a US Olympic & Paralympic training site, and the BMX stunt bikers were delivering incredible stunt after incredible stunt. While it was tempting to just watch the impressive action, images create a longer memory, and I had a job to do.

Fortunately, the Canon EOS R6 Mark II and Canon RF 135mm F1.8 L IS USM Lens made capturing peak BMX bike stunt action easy.

The camera position for this image provided a beautiful blue sky background, and the camera angle took full advantage of the circular polarizer filter's effect. Despite the polarizer reducing light, the ultra-wide f/1.8 aperture allowed an action-stopping 1/1250 shutter speed at ISO 100.

With all focus points selected, the R6 II would pick up the stunt rider entering the frame and track them for the extent of the burst. The R6 II's 40 fps continuous shooting rate ensured that the perfect moment of every stunt was on the card.

While it was fun to shoot the stunt riders with wide-angle lenses on the ramp, the mid-telephoto 135mm focal length was ideal for keeping the rider large in the frame at the peak of the stunt, while still showing the ramp for perspective.

Note that a preproduction R6 II camera and RF 135 lens captured this image.

This well maintained porch and entrance on an old house invite photos. Lighting is ambient only.

Having 10mm in the kit is game changing for interior architecture photography.

To garner this church's best symmetry, the camera was centered over the centerline of the floor tiles. Remember this easy strategy for your next shoot.

This is an HDR image.

Not your conventional New York City Empire State Building picture - but I'm always looking for new ways of looking at things. I like the leading lines drawing the viewer's eye toward the distant subject.

Essentially all lighthouses attract photographers and casual observers alike, but not all are similarly photogenic. While it is hard to take a bad photo of the Portland Lighthouse, I found the Sanibel Island Lighthouse to be more challenging (especially with the weather conditions I was given). If you search for images of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse, you will primarily find the normal from-the-side, from-a-distance variation. While some of these images are great, I was looking for something different.
 
The skeletal, pyramidal iron structure of this lighthouse is somewhat unique, and that uniqueness captured my attention. One way to emphasize part of a subject is to make that part closer to the camera than what is to be de-emphasized. Using a wide angle focal length is one key to de-emphasizing more-distant subjects and that is the tactic I used for this image.
 
To get this perspective, I was flat on my back under the lighthouse. For the record, no, I wasn't napping (but it was a comfortable shooting position). It is of course not possible to get under most lighthouses, but the design of this one makes that position possible and that makes the image even more unique.
 
While this shooting location and position brought my state of mind into question from other observers (I received some light-hearted attention), the wide 15mm focal length and careful framing made this image happen.

Sprint car racing and other dirt track events provide great photography experiences with easy access. Check out the Dirt Track Racing Photography Tips page to learn much more about this topic. The 1D X Mark II and EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II make a great combo for this event.

To get this shot, I held the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4 L USM Fisheye Lens just above the 1992 MasterCraft ProStar 190 ski boat's windshield.
 
The circular fisheye field of view causes the lettering across the top of the windshield wrap nicely around the image border.
 
I had my bother drive the boat toward the sunset while I shot handheld in this awkward position. The sunset and clouds of course provided lots of color reflections from the water, boat bow and windshield (and combinations of those).

Sometimes, 24mm is not wide enough. With a bus parked immediately behind me, the 20mm focal length was the key to this Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church composition.

Most full-frame general-purpose lenses start at 24mm, but the Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G Lens is a game-changer in that regard.

With the 20mm focal length affording the angle of view needed to comfortably frame the three doorways (love the red doors), positioning the camera perfectly leveled and centered in the middle door was the next task. This vertical angle was selected to split the height of the bottom visible step and comfortably contain the doorway roof peaks.

The addition of a new lens can add life to a kit, sparking creativity and inspiring a new look on old subjects. One such lens example is the Irix 11mm f/4 Firefly and for most photographers using full frame gear, the extreme wide angle focal length is the big appeal for this lens.
 
Shared here is the Irix 11 view of the Pennsylvania Capitol Rotunda ceiling. While this appears to be a simple image to capture, establishing the perfect camera alignment is very challenging. Any decentering within the space causes opposing side detail alignment mismatch and forces slight camera tilt to establish balanced framing with the latter quickly being made apparent by converging lines.
 
While software can be used to correct some issues such as perspective, it cannot easily move the relationship of near and far details. Getting it right in the camera is a much better option.
 
With those bright lights in the frame, an HDR strategy was needed for this picture.
 
Consider getting the Irix 11 or another lens that would be useful to you and provide a creative spark. The holidays are great time to use such a lens and your Christmas tree makes a great 11mm subject.

The strong, clean lines of this house are framed on the top against a blown (over-exposed) sky.

This concert hall is an impressive space — and fun to photograph.

The image shared here is a combination of three exposures.

The goal of the primary exposure (1/50, f/2.8, and ISO 400) was to capture sharp performers moving under the bright stage lights. While a 1/50 shutter speed is slow for freezing moving (mostly swaying) people, individuals were small enough in the frame for their details to not cross pixels in that timeframe.

Three brightness variations of this image were blended to even the stage lighting (it was hot in the center) and improve the transition to the darker environment. Utilizing a single image for this blending meant there was no difference in the image content, including no chorale member movement to edit for. The Sony Alpha a1's incredible dynamic range easily accommodating the brightness adjustments in both directions.

The 12mm focal length at f/2.8 provides a significant depth of field at this distance, but it was inadequate for absolute corner sharpness. A 10s, f/11, and ISO 100 exposure met that requirement. While f/8 should have been adequate for depth of field and would have produced slightly sharper details, using f/11 provided stronger sunburst effects from the lights.

The f/11 image provided all of the sharp detail required to finish the picture, but time permitted a third image capture, this one at 5s, f/16, and ISO 400, for inclusion in this blend. The narrower-still aperture result is softer than the f/11 result due to diffraction, but this setting creates slightly larger sunbursts from the lights. Only the lights from this photo are included in the final image.

Why ISO 400 for a stationary subject? The songs did not always last long enough for the additional 30+ second exposure required, and the changing light colors were another problem. The a1 shows very little noise in normal ISO 400 exposures, and you can't tell that these bright lights were not photographed at ISO 100.

Let's talk about the camera location choice for this image.

A completely level camera centered in the room is usually a great choice for photographing symmetric venues such as this one. The level and centered camera keeps the vertical lines parallel with the edges of the frame and helps avoid perspective distortion. That shot was available, and I captured some images from that location during the rehearsal.

However, I opted to shoot the live concert centered from a higher level. Ultra-wide-angle focal lengths emphasize what is closest to the camera. With the audience seated, the back of heads immediately in front of the camera would have been what was emphasized. At least as important to the decision to move up were the leading lines created by the colorful lights illuminating the ceiling architecture.

In short, I gave up big heads for emphasized colorful architecture.

Not evident in this photo is the tripod position required for this photo. The primary issue was a pair of large lights mounted directly below and extending out from the rail in the center of the hall. Those lights were prominent in the frame until I determined that two small posts used in the light supports could be utilized for tripod feet, along with the railing that was sloped toward the stage. Because the supports were not centered in the room, uneven tripod leg lengths were required to center the tripod head. This screengrab from a phone video shared with me might help that explanation.

Right, that is a risky setup, and I did not have cables along for security. While no one was at risk below me, the thought of the a1, Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM Lens, and RRS TVC-24L Mk2 Tripod with BH-40 Ball Head hitting the ground was nauseating. That scenario meant my hand had to be grasping the camera or tripod or completely encircling a tripod leg at all times. While not comfortable, we (photographers in general) do whatever it takes to get the shot.

When getting the most architecture in the frame is the goal, move the camera as far away as possible. When photographing a ceiling, the floor becomes a hard limiting factor in this regard, making the ultra-wide 10mm angle of view a differentiator from most other lens options.

For this image capture, the Canon EOS R5 and RF 10-20mm F4 L IS STM Lens were locked onto an RRS BH-40 Ball Head on an RRS TVC-24L Mk2 Carbon Fiber Tripod. Taking the most architecture in the frame theme to the limit, the TVC-24L's legs were angled fully open, bringing the camera within a few inches of the floor. The vertical side of the MC-LS Universal L-Plate was removed, permitting full rotation of the vari-angle LCD for straight-up composition.

For precise symmetry without converging lines, the lens must be centered in the scene and leveled, leveled in a straight-up angle in this case. Floor tiles and the lines between them are frequently helpful references for finding the absolute center of a building. After positioning the lens over the center of the center tile, adjusting the camera to perfectly straight up was the next challenge, one that required finessing, trial, and error.

With the camera a few inches above the floor, staying out of the 10mm angle of view meant me going nearly flat on the floor while the HDR brackets were captured. Never before have I seen this much of the St Patrick Cathedral ceiling in the frame.

Now is a good time to add 10mm to your kit!

Distant city buildings appear compressed by the 1200 focal length used for this shot.

1. Install Christmas tree and clean up (this is the hardest step)
 
2. Wait for dark
 
3. Mount the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens on a full frame DSLR camera
 
4. Mount the camera to a tripod, zoom out, move in and level the camera (both pitch and yaw)
 
5. Turn off all regular lights, turn on all Christmas lights.
 
6. Take some test shots to determine that 15 seconds at f/16 (to get the starburst effect from the lights) and ISO 200 is right
 
7. Wait for the kids to go to bed (to avoid any floor vibrations)
 
8. Shoot until you run out of new composition ideas
 
9. Brush your teeth
 
10. Make one more attempt at finding new compositions.
 
My family and I wish you and your family a very "Merry Christmas!" May all of your photos be amazing!

This particular dock is in Northeast Harbor, Maine. These boats are used to get to the lobster boats moored in the harbor.

It seems that most of us photographers are intrigued by the circles created by motion blur. I don't know exactly what it is about spinning subjects, but ... when blurred, they frequently make good compositions. Amusement parks, fairs and other events featuring rides are great locations to find circular motion.
 
Creating the blur simply requires a tripod and the exposure duration long enough to get the desired amount of blur effect. Since long exposures generally require low light levels, dawn and dusk (as seen in this example) are good times for this type of photography. Alternatively, use a neutral density filter under brighter lighting conditions.

Lively signs add color to the already colorful Bar Harbor town shops in Maine.

The pink Huguenot Church is one of my favorite subjects in Charleston, SC, and this entrance is especially eye-catching.

From a distance, the depth of this doorway is deemphasized, but moving in close with an ultra-wide-angle lens reveals that attribute. This lens's angle of view also permits a foreground fence to be omitted while keeping most of the doorway in the frame.

The RF 16 was not my first choice for street photography while walking around Charleston with the Canon EOS R8 this afternoon. However, this little lens was easy to take along for just-in-case needs, and it proved worth having along.

The Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM Lens provides outstanding utility (and fun) for its size, weight, and especially, price. As I share this sample image, the RF 16 in refurbished condition is on sale for only $179.00.

The clouds reflect off of this dark glass building in NYC.

Well, more like crawling over each other. These starfish are in a shallow tidal pool on the Maine coast. Macro lenses are fun to explore with.

Many National parks are have good locations for car photography, including Shenandoah National Park. This speacial photo spot permits nothing but sky behind the car.

Drive the car, park, and take the picture. Simple right? Nope. It's never that easy. Photography is ever a challenge (part of its attractiveness), and in this case, the challenge was a beetle hatch.

Dozens of orange beetles were continuously landing on the car. Brush off the beetles, quickly grab a photo (while keeping a close watch on traffic), and repeat. The Photoshop healing brush easily took care the bugs that landed after the brushing.

I had to go back for a second attempt.

Just outside of Badlands National Park is the small town of Wall, SD. Wall is best known as the home of the massive roadside attraction Wall Drug Store.

Describing the Wall Drug Store is beyond the scope of this post but calling it unique is a vast understatement.

Inside, the narrow Wall Drug traveler's chapel seemed inviting to the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM Lens's ultra-wide-angle view, and I spent a few minutes capturing it.

I had this image queued to share, and as I was preparing the post, I realized that the room was not squared in the frame. I had carefully leveled and centered the camera during the capture and didn't otherwise pay much attention to that aspect of the image while processing it.

With that realization, I was no longer satisfied with the image. Considering the age of the building, I even wondered if the problem was caused by the structure itself. A quick search of other Wall Chapel photos shows similar crookedness.

Still, I was bothered. So, a second attempt was made a year later.

This time, I was acutely aware of the first attempt's shortcomings, and while the second attempt's results were better, I still wouldn't call them perfect. Photoshop to the rescue.

This image required HDR compositing due to the bright lights and stained glass windows. Layer opacity adjustments handled that task for this image.

There are few churches with a view comparable to that from The Chapel of the Transfiguration in Grand Teton National Park. I'm thinking that this view would be a strong distraction from the sermon.
 
The next time you visit Grand Teton National Park, make sure that The Chapel of the Transfiguration is on your to-photograph list. It is as attractive outside as it is inside. Morning is the best time of the day to photograph at this location as the tall mountains go dark when the sun sets behind them. A visit timed for the right week (late September) results in brilliantly colored aspen trees for the mid-ground layer of interest (though the aspens are only barely visible in this image).
 
Obviously, I went inside to capture this photo. My goal was to see the mountains through the window while capturing most of the interior of this little log-constructed church. My preference was to see the mountain peaks in the window and this meant a low shooting position at the back of the sanctuary was required. That position seemed to work well for the rest of the scene, so I went with it.
 
Though a steady stream of people were coming through the little church, there were enough breaks that patiently waiting was all that was needed to capture a wide range of exposures. Because the dynamic range was extreme, the wide range of exposures were required. I later used a manual HDR technique to composite several of those images into a balanced final result.
 
The Canon EOS 5Ds R and EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens were the perfect combination for this photo.

Standing on the street, looking straight up into the Manhattan sky. This is one approach to eliminating the clutter (signs, power lines, traffic lights ...) of the city.

The Canon 100mm F/2.8 USM Macro Lens makes a good product lens.

Not a typical team picture, but a picture of the word team. The wide open aperture combined with a short focus distance creates a shallow DOF along with natural lens vignetting to focus the viewer's attention.

For those unaccustomed to the full frame 10mm focal length, the extraordinarily wide angle of view it provides is certain to bring a big smile to their face and a new look to their images. Those already acclimated to this extreme view know that it can bring the drama needed to set their images apart.

While creating Venus Optics Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF Lens review, I needed interesting large subjects, and the PA state capitol building's atrium and House of Representatives chambers were the choices. While the Senate chamber is also a great subject, it was under construction.

As the title implies, this image shows the PA House of Representatives chamber. After capturing the requisite centered images of the room, I mounted the Laowa 10 to an EOS R5 and moved to the far left of the visitor seating area for a different look, another one that only an extreme wide-angle lens can capture.

This image is an HDR capture processed in Photoshop.

If your kit does not have 10mm covered, consider adding the reasonably affordable Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens to it. Then go visit your favorite architecture.

The grand George Peabody Library in Baltimore screams for an ultra-wide-angle lens. While many Sony wide-angle lenses would easily handle this job, the Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G Lens is the only Sony full-frame standard zoom lens that takes in angles of view this wide.

The other requirement for photographing this architectural marvel is working around the no tripod requirement. The interior is dark, so obtaining the highest image quality requires support.

When is a tripod not a tripod? On this day, the Really Right Stuff TFA-01 Ultra Pocket Pod with a BPC-16 Microball with Panning was no-tripod acceptable.

When photographing a symmetrical scene, find center. Use a perfectly centered and horizontally level camera. Or, don't. Make the composition uncentered enough to make it the uncenteredness and crookedness appear to be a clear decision, artistic instead of sloppy.

The annual Christmas tree photo session was late this year, but ... I'll take satisfaction that it happened before Christmas.

Our space calls for an ultra-wide-angle focal length, and a wide max aperture lens typically makes the starburst effect from individual lights pronounced at narrow apertures. Last year, the impressive Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens got the call for this job. Another impressive lens, the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM, was a recent addition to the kit and a perfect choice for this year. That lens choice made the Sony a7R IV the easy camera choice.

When shooting the same scene every year, the composition selection tends to become established, and I didn't get too creative this year vs. last year, choosing again to utilize the wall unit as a right-side frame to the full room scene. The straight vertical lines of the wall unit lead me to a level (for pitch and roll) camera as those lines need to be straight along the edge of the frame (or they can be angled enough to appear intentionally so). The leveled camera position then determines the composition.

Note the lack of geometric distortion in this uncorrected 12mm capture.

With the close foreground, this composition requires f/16 for adequate depth of field, and narrow apertures produce larger starbursts. However, f/16 is considerably narrower than the a7R IV's DLA (Diffraction Limited Aperture), meaning that the image becomes very noticeably soft at f/16. Since this lens produces nice starbursts at f/11, I opted for this aperture for the base image and composited the closest subjects and the candle starbursts from an f/16 image via layers in Photoshop. Otherwise, this image is right out of the camera.

With that, another Christmas tree photo is in the archives.

This picture is super-easy to create. Put the camera on a tripod, add a sheet of printer paper and wirelessly fire a remote flash being handheld above the egg.

Water drops stand out in this 3-leaf clover picture.

A skyscraper reflects in the windows of another.

Some of the best trip pictures require you to simply take the effort to stop and take the shot. While traveling in the Florida Everglades, I came across this Swamp Love mural painted on the side of a small store. With the PowerShot G1 X in the rental SUV console, I simply pulled in and took the picture. This shot turned out to be one of my favorites from this trip - and was well worth the small inconvenience of stopping. Especially with the extremely convenient G1 X by my side.

No, I was not driving. Just wanted to get that straight
 
This yacht was torn from its mooring during the fall 2010 tropical storm that hit St. John with an exceptional amount of rain. The 18mm focal length gives the shipwrecked yacht a pleasing (to me at least) perspective.

Moving in close provides a unique perspective of a ski boat and its tow vehicle. A circular polarizer filter was used to cut some of the reflections.

Just because you are using a wide angle lens does not mean that you have to frame the big picture. Move in to capture the details with a unique perspective. In this picture, I avoided lines intersecting the edge of the frame as much as possible and kept the top of the windows parallel with the top edge of the frame.

While 10mm is this lens's most differentiating capability, the rest of its focal legnth range is also useful. This image was captured at 20mm.

This is an HDR image.

The hardest part of capturing this shot was getting the coin to stand on its side at the right rotation. Otherwise, this is a an easy shot.
 
The coin is a near-perfect, highly-reflective 2010 American Eagle Silver Dollar in proof condition. The background is black velor draped over a box. The coin is sitting on very clean back-painted black glass (my desk). A tiny piece of card stock is under the coin to prevent it from rolling. A Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT in a small softbox was triggered by a Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT. The softbox was directed downward onto the coin (I should have moved it back slightly to get an even reflection across the entire top of the coin).
 
Insure that nothing reflects back onto the coin. Then use a macro-capable lens to capture your shot.

Nature provides great patterns for photographing. The orange background is a Nasturtium flower.

There are only a small handful of DSLR lenses that can take in a view this wide. Basically, excluding fisheye lenses, the Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM Lens or one of the three Sigma variants including the latest, the Sigma 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM Art Lens are your choices.
 
With the senate recessed for the holiday, I made a visit to this location to give the Sigma 12-24 Art a workout. The angle of views afforded by this lens are a blast to use and with the widest, I was able to capture a great deal of the French Renaissance architecture in the senate chamber.
 
While the 12mm angle of view was great to have, the bright lights were a bit of a problem from an exposure standpoint. But, they were very beautiful and I wanted to see some of the detail in them. Thus, an HDR technique was needed.
 
The primary image was captured at 2.5 seconds with a second image captured at .4 seconds (2 2/3 stops darker) to retain some of the detail in the lights. It can be very challenging to composite two images captured at such drastically different brightness while retaining a natural appearance, but here is a technique that proves rather easy.
 
First, stack the two images in Photoshop with the brighter image on top. Then add a layer mask to the top layer and select the layer mask. Select the brush tool, select black as the color and reduce the opacity to something low, such as 10%. Select a brush size appropriate for the area that needs detail added (areas too bright in the original exposure) and adjust the brush hardness as desired (softer may be better in this situation). Then paint the blown areas until just the right amount of detail shows through. The process is easy and the results appear natural.
 
When photographing a symmetrical scene such as this one, it is usually desirable to have the scene perfectly centered in the frame (for perfect balance) and to have the camera perfectly centered in the room (to avoid perspective-caused converging horizontal lines) and horizontally level (to keep horizontal lines parallel to the frame borders). As you can figure out from the resulting image dimensions, I cropped this image very slightly from the top left to perfect my capture. Note that no distortion correction was used. Even at 12mm, this lens is a good performer in this regard.

By placing the camera's line of sight perpendicular to the plane of the plant leaf, much of the leaf remains in focus even with the shallow DOF producted by the f/2.8 aperture at this close distance. The more distant leaves obviously go out of focus. The primary leaf is fully contained in the frame, but the background leaves go beyond the frame into the corners.

Putting up and decorating is a big family tradition at our house and the annual photographing of the tree is my own sub-tradition.
 
The photo setup starts long before the camera comes out, beginning with the position of the tree. In addition to the location selected in the house (ours has a very logical one), make sure that the tree appears vertically straight (regardless of the trunk's curvature) and, if the tree is being centered on a feature (such as a set of windows), fine tune that position.
 
The next item on the checklist must be attended to before you string the lights on the Christmas tree (I know, that is the favorite job). The key is to make sure that all of the strings of lights have bulbs with the same brightness (or that they are dissimilar enough to look proper). Perhaps I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack as I skipped this step (thought we corrected this issue last year) and ... apparently there are two different Christmas light models in our tree kit. At least I have a dark-light-dark-light pattern going up the tree. Hopefully most will think that design was intentional.
 
After the tree is fully decorated, clean up the area around it – minimally all that will be included in the frame. This task may include smoothing the carpet if it shows tracks.
 
The Best Time of Day to Photograph the Christmas Tree
 
A Christmas tree can be photographed at any time of day or night, but the best time of the day is when the ambient light is right for the image you want. A tree located in a room with many windows will, without significant shading, show mostly green with ornaments and a subdued look to the strings of lights. This is a very nice look.
 
My preference for photographing our tree, installed in our great room/living room, is to use only the light from the Christmas tree lights with very low or no additional ambient light. With windows behind our tree, I am quickly limited to the after dark timeframe. After dark comes early in late fall and early winter, but there is another issue. People walking around cause the floor to flex slightly and that makes the ornaments swing, becoming blurred in a long exposure. So, after the kids are in bed (or plan to be somewhere else in the house for a period of time) works best for long exposures sans kids in the picture.
 
Having windows in your photo quickly complicates the tree photo session for a couple of reasons in addition to the ambient light they provide. One reason is what is outside of the window. Waiting until after dark usually takes care of this problem unless there are other lights visible through the windows (such as street lights). In the latter case, blocking your windows from outside, such as with black foam core, may be a solution to the issue. In this photo, I waited until late in the blue hour on a very foggy day to get a slight even blue glow through the windows. I wasn't sure how bright I wanted the blue to be, but capturing a frame every few minutes allowed me to choose what I thought was ideal at a later time.
 
Reflections are another issue with windows. If Christmas lights are being reflected, those reflections are often beneficial to the composition. But, if something else in your house is being reflected (such as the LCD panel on the microwave or thermostat), the effect will not likely be appreciated.
 
Lens Selection for Christmas Tree Photography
 
The desired perspective should always drive focal length selection and in this case, working space may limit the perspective options. Within the bounds of walls and other furniture (consider moving it), the optimal perspective will often result in a wide angle lens being selected.
 
Experiment with perspective, utilizing the various focal lengths at a variety of distances. Also try a variety of camera heights, but do so with an understanding that a vertically level camera is going to keep vertical lines in the frame straight. Windows, corners, furniture and other items will provide those straight lines.
 
Aperture Selection for Christmas Tree Photography
 
While a wide variety of apertures can be used for Christmas tree photos and blurred Christmas trees are quite beautiful, f/16 is one of my favorites. I know, your first thought was to cringe at the softness that diffraction will impart at this aperture and that is a true concern. But, the narrower the aperture used, the bigger the star effect created by each light on the tree. The f/16 aperture is a bit of a compromise in that the images remain reasonably sharp (and sharpenable) with rather large stars being created. Experiment with f/8 through f/22 to determine your own preference.
 
While ISO 100 is ideal, I went to ISO 200 for this exposure to reduce the amount of time each frame was taking. This one stop increase in ISO meant little in terms of noise, but it took 15 seconds off of the exposure and another 15 seconds off of the long exposure noise reduction information capture following the exposure.
 
Summary
 
You have spent (or are going to spend) all that time and expense putting the Christmas tree up and decorating it, so ... plan on spending some time taking pictures of it. If you don't think the right lens is in your kit, this would be a good time to buy it. Renting a lens to use over the holidays is another great idea.

No, post-processing was not used to create that perfectly-placed shadow. Outdoor photography is often about being at the right place at the right time. On this day, my timing was about perfect for the shadow of a large university field house to fall across the lanes of the outdoor track next to it, shading all but the first lane.

Also aiding in emphasizing the "1" was the perspective. With the 20mm lens positioned closer to the "1" than the other numbers, the "1" becomes the largest in the frame and therefore the most prominent. Everyone loves number "1" and there are far more uses for an emphasized "1" than any other number.

The Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G Lens is very fun to walk around with, letting your creativity take over. The results from this lens are quite impressive.

Moving in close to the foreground presents makes them emphasized in the frame and the edges of the packages create leading lines into the frame. The strong lines entering the frame from the top-right somewhat balance the lines created by the gifts in the lower-right. This camera position allows the tree lights to reflect in the windows and the TV.

Let me introduce you to "Nala," my oldest daughter's year-old goldendoodle. I was looking for a subject to challenge the new Canon RF 70-200mm F4 L IS USM Lens for the review, and Nala happily volunteered. She maintained a great spirit for 25 minutes until the session ended abruptly when another dog arrived.

Not long ago, capturing an eye-sharp image of a big dog in a great pose while running (bouncing) full speed toward and close to the camera was extremely challenging. With the Canon EOS R5's incredible animal eye AF combined with the 20 fps frame rate and the Canon RF 70-200mm F4 L IS USM Lens in front of it, the biggest challenge of this shoot was deciding which of the 1,400+ images on the ProGrade Digital 325GB CFexpress 2.0 Cobalt Memory Card to keep.

Bright white snow is a strong auto-exposure influencer, typically causing the camera to underexpose images. With bright white snow filling greatly differing percentages of the frame during each dog pass, exposure compensation was not optimal. Thus, my most frequently used exposure mode, manual, was the ideal choice.

This shoot's goal was to challenge the camera and lens AF system, so the shallow depth of field provided by a wide-open aperture was best, providing little margin for error. The wide-open aperture in combination with the longest focal length provided the strongest background blur possible, making the subject stand out.

Next, the shutter speed was selected, with freezing motion the goal. I opted for 1/1250-1/1600, choices that proved marginally short enough for this fast dog in some instances.

ISO was the last image brightness factor to be applied. As a rule, snow in the sun should be nearly blown-out white. To determine the optimal brightness, the histogram is the proper tool. The ISO setting was increased until the brightest pixels were registering nearly against histogram graph's right side. Note that the blinkies will likely show before color channel capacities are reached. Use the histogram.

This day was cloudy, and cloudy skies often bring brightness changes. Thus, the histogram required monitoring for ISO adjustment needs.

With the R5 in face and eye detection mode and animal eye AF selected, the remaining job was to keep the dog in the frame while holding down the shutter release as my daughter repeatedly positioned and ran Nala toward the camera.

With the R5 and a good lens, getting the perfect action shots is (often) only a small challenge.

A university administration building had caught my eye. It seemed a perfect subject for the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G Lens I was reviewing and photographing it was on this evening's to-do list. During the blue hour is a great time to photograph architecture and starting with a shooting direction away from the sunset provides the earliest brightness balance between the building lights and the sky. As the sky darkened, the light balance on the other side of the building, looking toward the sunset (brighter sky), improved and that was the direction the camera was facing for this image capture.

To get a level camera for this perspective required fully extending the Really Right Stuff TVC-24L Mk2 Carbon Fiber Tripod legs and positioning the feet as close together as possible without risking stability. The camera was well above head height but the tilt LCD enabled proper leveling and composition. The low geometric distortion of this lens makes it a great option for photographing subjects with straight lines along the edges of the frame.

This was a single RAW image (not an HDR) captured with the brightest areas of the image somewhat too bright. In post, utilizing the Sony a7R IV's excellent dynamic range, the highlights were pulled back and the shadows were boosted for a balanced appearance.

It is early spring and, at least here in the mid-Atlantic and farther north latitudes, the outdoor landscape is looking rather bleak right now. The snow is gone and the green has not yet come. That makes this is a great time of the year to focus on indoor photography and interior architecture is one great option. And when photographing interior architecture, an ultra-wide angle lens becomes especially useful.
 
Most of us photographers love curves and the Italian architecture in the Pennsylvania House Chamber is filled with them. While cameras are not permitted in this space when the house is in session, selecting a non-session day cleared that roadblock. Moving to one side of the balcony gave me an angled view across the room that sent ceiling lines arching into the frame.
 
Got 12mm in your kit? That is the full frame focal length you will need to capture this image and many others like it. The Sigma 12-24mm f/4 DG HSM Art Lens on a full frame body executes this image (and those similar to it) extremely well. Even though the aperture used was not extremely narrow (f/8), the entire image is within the 12mm depth of field and the Canon EOS 5Ds R's extreme resolution was fully utilized with essentially no visible impact caused by diffraction. This image is tack sharp from corner to corner.
 
Notice that the columns on the sides of the image are vertically straight (or very close to being so)? While it is easy to have these lines angling inward or outward when using a focal length this wide (and that is sometimes a desired effect), a vertically level camera will render vertical lines parallel to each other and these lines can be parallel to the frame borders as long as the camera is horizontally leveled.
 
Spend your money on gear, not admission fees. One of the great things about the PA state capitol building is that admission is free. While you may not live close to this specific capitol building and will not likely find it alone to be worth a plane ticket or all-day drive to get there, your own state capitol building may offer the same deal. I didn't check all 50 USA state capitol buildings (or any outside of the USA), but many others also have free admission.
 
Get your ultra-wide angle lens and go photograph some interior architecture!

Old churches and the Canon RF 10-20mm F4 L IS STM Lens go well together. Especially old church ceilings feature incredible architectural design, and this lens can capture vast amounts of ceiling.

This is an HDR image.

Looking for great access to photograph a car race? Your local dirt track may hold that key for you. Sprint car racing and other dirt track events provide great photography experiences with typically easy access and lots of freedom. Check out the Dirt Track Racing Photography Tips page to learn much more about this topic.

This much graffiti on the walls corresponds to a sketchy environment, right? Not here.

Street legal graffiti is the draw to Graffiti Alley in Baltimore, and Graffiti Alley is a sure thing graffiti photography location (though non-family-friendly content is sometimes created).

Filling the frame with unique color is not a challenge here, but figuring out what compositions are appealing amongst the chaos is. While I was challenged, the Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G Lens provided the full range of desired focal lengths.

Even when 50 MP resolution exceeds the final resolution required for an image, the ultra-high resolution is often unexpectantly valuable. In this example, the selected camera position was optimized for capturing vertically oriented images of the runners jumping from a hurdle (going high in the air) while attempting to clear a water pit.

Crashes always draw attention, and the fall was the eye-catcher of this pass. However, the compressed body position and splashing water no longer worked well in the vertically oriented frame. The horizontal orientation crop seemed favorable, and the optimal framing required a tight crop, including pulling in from the sides. Despite the heavy cropping, the a1 image provided an often sufficient nearly 20 MP of final resolution.

While the Sony Alpha a1's 30 fps drive rate seems extreme, I am finding it addicting. In this case, the 30 fps results provided the ideal moment of touch down and splash combination.

Regarding splashing water, bright water droplets in front of a subject are notorious for stealing a camera AF system's attention. While a sustained high volume of water drops covering the subject sometimes eventually stole the a1's focus, the default AF settings held on the subject's eye behind the splashing very well.

The 400mm and f/2.8 combination is often perfect for photographing track and field events. In this example, the Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens renders the foreground and background diffusely blurred, making the subject and water drops stand out. Despite the cloudy day and 1/2000 sec. shutter speed, the ISO setting remained relatively low.

We can enjoy the spectacle of this water crash without feeling too sorry for the runner. Being cold is apparently motivating for running because she went on to win this event with a top 10 list time for the university.

When photographing a symmetrical subject, either take the time and effort to make it perfectly aligned in the frame ... or don't come close to doing so.

An image of a symmetrical subject that is perfectly symmetrically framed (or at least nearly so) usually looks great. An image of a symmetrical subject that appears intentionally non-symmetrically framed can also look great. It is when an image of a symmetrical subject is almost symmetrically framed that it appears you have made a mistake.

Some symmetrical subjects are far more forgiving than others. A tile floor is typically symmetrically unforgiving and note that any geometric distortion in a lens increases the in-camera alignment challenge. Another challenge is slight asymmetry in the subject.

This image appeared ideally aligned in-camera, but it still needed to be adjusted slightly in post-production to finish off that task. I thought I had the image ready to go when Sean mentioned that the monument was not quite perfectly straight. Measuring structure positions in Photoshop made it appear straight with some subject asymmetry showing at the bottom of the monument. A tile was lifted by a noticeable amount on the right side and the left side had stone showing on the outside of the perimeter drain that was not showing on the right, both creating optical illusions of asymmetry. I decided those fixes were needed and made some other adjustments (sometimes these small projects take on a life of their own). After revisiting the image a couple of times, I decided that Sean was still right and adjusted rotation slightly to move the image closer to perfection.

In this image, Abe Curland of B&H is carefully aligning his shot of the Empty Sky Memorial in Liberty State Park, NJ. The lines in tile flooring provide valuable assistance for finding center.

In light of the Should I Get the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III or EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens? article just posted, I'll mention that this image could have been equally captured with the less expensive Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens. The Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM Lens was my choice for this trip because I was shooting from a tripod and wanted larger-sized stars to be created from the city lights during the blue hour and after dark. I was pulling a Think Tank Photo Airport Security rolling case around the city, so gear weight was not an issue.

My family and I wish you a very Merry Christmas! As always, we hope that your Christmas season is filled with great meaning, great memories, and of course, great images.

Our Christmas tree represents a huge amount of work (primarily for my girls), and the results of their effort deserve preserving in a high quality image. After photographing the annual Christmas tree in the same location for 25 years, I have a few go-to shots dialed in.

An ultra-wide-angle focal length usually gets the selection. In addition to fitting the tree and surrounding space in the frame, this angle of view makes the room appear big, creating a more dramatic look.

There seems to be an outstanding ultra-wide angle lens choice introduced each year, and I seldom capture the tree photo with a lens previously used for that task. The Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM Lens captured the Christmas 2020 tree, the Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens captured the 2019 tree, and, going a bit narrower for a different look, the Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM Lens took in the 2018 tree.

Which lens got the call for 2021? The impressive Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens.

At this time of the year, I know that I need to take pictures bracketing 5:15 PM by a few minutes to have deep blue sky color showing through the windows with the exposure balanced for the Christmas lights inside. No, I can't remember this time from year to year, but a calendar item reminds me (and EXIF information from the prior year's photos can be referenced).

F/16 images from any current digital camera, and especially from cameras with ultra-high pixel density, show a slight softness due to diffraction. However, I like the starburst effect that narrow apertures, such as f/16, create from point light sources, such as the candles in the windows.

Yes, compositing pictures taken with different apertures, f/8 and f/22 for example, could provide larger starbursts and sharper images, with still adequate depth of field. However, the points on the star rotate as the aperture is changed. This means that each entire starburst must be carefully contained to only one of the images during compositing in order to avoid misalignment.

Getting technical: if in-camera focus shift correction is combining with focus breathing, one image may be slightly magnified relative to the other, further complicating the compositing process.

Using f/16 with a little extra sharpening keeps the process simple — and the results are still very nice.

With only the tree and other decorative lights on, the exposure needs to be long — 30 seconds at ISO 160. The exposure duration means that only a few images can be captured during the perfect deep blue sky time.

Long exposures also mean that the tree ornaments must be still to avoid motion blur, and the floor vibrates when walked on, making the ornaments swing. One person walking across the room at the wrong time could eliminate one or two exposures from that short period. Thus, the photo day is (usually) selected for when I am home alone at 5:15 PM.

Setup starts about 30 minutes prior to the optimal shooting time. Due to lack of space for this composition, some furniture was moved out of the camera position. The LED thermostat light is blocked with sticky notes, oOttoman wheel tracks in the carpet are pressed out, etc.

The vertical lines in the windows (or sometimes a wall unit) on the right side of the frame look best when running parallel to the edge of the frame. Thus, a camera position leveled for both tilt and roll is usually selected. In this case, the Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens especially impresses with its lack of geometric distortion (no correction was applied to this image), rendering the window frame straight.

I am fortunate to have a range of tripods to work with, and holding the Sony Alpha a7R IV and FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens combination steady indoors is not a support challenge. However, when shooting on carpet, I prefer a tripod with some weight (or spikes) to press into the carpet fibers, decreasing movement. The Really Right Stuff TVC-34L Mk2 Tripod and BH-55 Ball Head handled this job nicely.

With that, another Christmas tree photo is in the archives.

The rear tires on a Formula DRIFT (Formula D) car do not last very long and when there are only a few fast-moving cars participating in the action, short photo opportunities followed by long breaks become the schedule. The safe method of photographing this and similar subjects is to use a fast shutter speed, freezing the action for a sharp image. However, frozen action does not (usually) ideally convey motorsports action. Thus, I opted for shutter speeds long enough to result in a low success rate.

While I promptly deleted a lot of my images, I only needed a few images from this event and I wanted them to have a very strong panning blur. That plan worked.

Using a circular polarizer filter often brings substantial improvements to photos taken mid-day and a Breakthrough X4 CPL was used for this capture. To get a longer shutter speed under bright sunlight without going to an extremely narrow aperture (diffraction being the issue), a 2-stop neutral density filter was stacked behind the CPL to block additional light. Because the gear being introduced and evaluated at this event was unknown prior to arrival, I chose to take a set of large-sized filters along with a stack of step-up filter adapter rings to provide versatility and one was used for this image.

This is Dustin Miles turning right to go left and leaving tire on the track. The Canon EOS 90D with its fast 10-fps continuous shooting rate is a great choice for capturing fast action.

The Canon RF 600mm F4 L IS USM Lens would have been the ideal lens for photographing surfing this afternoon. However, the Canon RF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens was ideal for photographing a previous track and field event, and I couldn't manage both lenses.

Usually, a too-wide focal length is better than a too-long focal length. Cropping is easy. Creating a missing scene is not.

Fortunately, gaining a longer focal length for the surfing action was as easy as mounting a Canon RF 1.4x Extender behind the 400mm lens, creating a 560mm F4 lens.

Everybody loves to see a crash (with no injuries), and the Canon EOS R6 Mark II's 40 fps continuous shooting rate captured the perfect moment of this fast wipe out. The high-speed frame rate adds to the selection challenge, but the key frame is rarely missing from the results.

My family and I wish you a very Merry Christmas! As always, we hope that your Christmas season is filled with great meaning, great memories, and of course, great images.

The Christmas tree is a core of our family's traditions, and it seems that our Christmas tree adventure always has a story.

After putting the tree up, I always vowel to get a smaller tree the next year. By the next year, the tall tree issues are forgotten, but the space available for the tree is remember, and the girls pressure to go big. After getting away from carrying the tree behind the SUV, moving it to the roof, hitting things alongside of the road are no longer an issue.

However, hitting the garage door when returning home is a concern. That risk didn't materialize, but making the tree stay upright was a real concern.

This year, the girls picked a tree with about 4 or 5' of the bottom branches trimmed off (likely sold for greens, such as for wreaths). That meant I couldn't clearly discern the tree's height above the bare trunk. And, it seemed to grow a couple of feet on the ground.

When trees get that tall, the trunk becomes thick, which equates with heavy. With help, I managed to get the tree upright and moved into position.

Hours later, my daughter said "Oh!" "Oh!!!" OOOh!!!!! The extra exclamation points reference the decibel level of her exclamations.

Yep, the tree fell over. Fortunately, no decorations were yet attached. Unfortunately, about 2 gallons of water dumped onto the floor. Fortunately, a large piece of plastic caught a lot of that water.

The tree you see here is tied to the wall with fishing line. It is 20lb test line for those of you who are fishermen. It is also about 20 years old, probably the same age as the tree.

Our Christmas tree represents a huge amount of work (mostly for my girls), and the results of their effort deserve preservation in a high-quality image. After photographing the annual Christmas tree in the same location for over 25 years (I unsuccessfully lobbied for a new location this year), I have a few go-to shots dialed in.

An ultra-wide-angle focal length usually gets the selection. In addition to fitting the tree and surrounding space in the frame, this angle of view makes the room appear big, creating a more dramatic look.

There seems to be an outstanding ultra-wide-angle lens choice introduced each year, and I seldom capture the tree photo with a lens previously used for that task. The Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens got the call in 2021. Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM Lens captured the Christmas 2020 tree, the Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens captured the 2019 tree, and, going a bit narrower for a different look, the Canon RF 28-70mm F2L USM Lens took in the 2018 tree.

I didn't look at my lens choice from prior years before choosing this year's lens, had the new Sony Alpha 7R V to work with, and the Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens was the perfect match for this year's job.

At this time of the year, I know that I need to take pictures between 5:15 and 5:25 PM to have a touch of dark blue sky color showing through the windows with the exposure balanced for the Christmas lights inside. No, I can't remember this time from year to year, but a calendar item reminds me (and EXIF information from the prior year's photos can be referenced).

F/16 images from any current digital camera, and especially from cameras with ultra-high pixel density, show a slight softness due to diffraction. However, I like the starburst effect that narrow apertures, such as f/16, create from point light sources, such as the candles in the windows. Because the a7R V pixel density is so high, I opted to open up to f/11 this year. The FE 14 still creates nice diffraction spikes from the point light sources at this aperture, and the a7R V produces noticeably sharper details at f/11 than at f/16.

With only the tree and other decorative lights on, the exposure needs to be long — 25 seconds at f/11 and ISO 100. The exposure duration means that only a few images can be captured during the perfect deep blue sky time.

Long exposures also mean that the tree ornaments must be still to avoid motion blur, and the floor vibrates when walked on, making the ornaments swing. One person walking across the room at the wrong time could eliminate one or two exposures from that short period. Thus, the photo day is (usually) selected for when I am home alone at the right time.

The vertical lines in the windows (or sometimes a wall unit) on the right side of the frame look best when running parallel to the edge of the frame. Thus, a camera position leveled for both tilt and roll is usually selected. In this case, the Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens especially impresses with its lack of geometric distortion (no correction was applied to this image), rendering the vertical lines straight.

I am fortunate to have a range of tripods to work with, and holding the Sony Alpha 7R V and FE 14mm f/1.8 GM Lens combination steady indoors is not a support challenge. However, when shooting on carpet, I prefer a tripod with some weight (or spikes) to press into the carpet fibers, decreasing movement. The Really Right Stuff TVC-34L Mk2 Tripod and BH-55 Ball Head handled this job nicely.

With that, another Christmas tree photo is in the archives.

Want to add some bright red to the portfolio? Try photographing a car show.

The Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM Lens proved an excellent companion for walking this show.

Photographing entire cars at car shows is challenging for many reasons, including people getting in the way, reflections, etc. The Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM Lens invites taking in the car details, filling the frame with color and interest without distractions.

For those of us residing in the USA, today we celebrate our country's independence. Take some time to study the history, including what our forefathers said, did, and wrote on this day, one that is foundational to our country.
 
Independence Day (aka, the 4th of July) is often celebrated with friends, family, grilled food, and fireworks. The effect seen in this fireworks image is from manually adjusting focus during a long exposure. Check out the following tips articles and the gear list below them.
 
Fireworks Photography Tips
 

• Fireworks Photography Tips
• Creative Fireworks Photography
• CDLC Photographing Fireworks Quick Tips + Additional Tips from Us
• Fireworks on the Savannah River

For many households, Christmas brings with it many decorations with a tree being the primary one. Installing the tree is often a large job, the result is generally beautiful, and capturing memories of the annual tree is worth the small amount of effort required to do so.

Help the Christmas tree photo from the start by selecting a great looking tree that fits nicely in your space. "Great" is as seen in your eyes. We have a tall ceiling over our tree's location and our tree height is limited to what I can haul home and make stay upright in the tree stand. Another limitation is that the top of the tree must be reachable using only a step ladder (scaffolding is not an option) and with our space not being large in width, it is nice to have enough space to be able to walk around the tree. The kids always want taller and the parents always want shorter. The parents can better tolerate taller if narrower enters the equation. With a narrow tree, height becomes easier to manage (except for the road clearance issue faced when hauling it home across the back of the SUV's Hitch Haul).

When decorating the tree, ensure that the strands of lights are all the same brand and model, or at least that all of the strands share the same bulb color and brightness. I learned that lesson a few years back when I needed to combine multiple exposures to balance out the brightness differences of our dual-brightness tree.

Do you have windows in the frame with your tree? If so, consider photographing during the blue hour which is really the blue minutes as there will likely be only a couple of minutes of ideal exterior brightness to balance with the indoor light levels, giving your images that extra wow factor. Shooting through that ideal time period will ensure the perfect minute is captured. You likely photographed a tree in the same location at the same time a year ago. Reviewing the EXIF information from a prior year's perfect photo will provide a close estimate of the perfect time for the blue minute shot this year. Then ensure you are set up and ready for that minute to arrive.

While reviewing images from prior years, look at the angles you captured to learn what works well and what doesn't. Repeat and avoid those compositions as makes sense. Also, check the camera settings used for the previous images for guidance on this year's camera settings. Note that changing out strands of lights can change the needed settings due to differing brightness.

Often, turning off all of the lights (or at least the brighter ones) in the house, aside from the Christmas lights, will result in the ideal lighting. If there are windows in the image, watch for reflections in those. Block any problematic reflections (such as the numbers on the microwave display) and take advantage of positive ones (such as the Christmas lights). For the image shared here, a couple of Post-It Notes were placed over the thermostat display. Note that double-pane windows may create double reflections.

With only the Christmas lights providing illumination, the environment is dark. While I like to use a wide aperture lens, I don't use a wide aperture for the Christmas tree photo. Stopping a wide aperture lens down to f/16 or so makes each light into a little starburst and stopped down wide aperture lenses tend to produce the best stars. The narrow aperture also makes it easy to keep the entire scene in focus.

Unless your lights are far brighter than ours, you can expect to need a long exposure at f/16. I usually use 30 seconds and sometimes bump the ISO up modestly to keep from having to wait for even longer exposures. Thus, a tripod is needed along with either a remote release or the self-timer used. I don't mind if the individual lights become slightly blown (pure white), but if an extra-bright decoration is in the frame, I will sometimes exposure bracket with an additional image captures.

Long exposures raise another problem for some of us. While most Christmas tree displays will be motionless, they may not always be perfectly so. Unless your Christmas tree is on a concrete floor, there is likely the potential for the floor to vibrate at least slightly when walked on. Hanging ornaments will likely be the first indicators that the floor has vibrated and if swinging, they will be blurred in 30-second exposures. Planning this shoot for when the rest of the family is not home (or is in bed) is a good idea. You might need to stand very still behind the camera for a couple of minutes before capturing the shot.

Think about the camera angle. A completely level camera is often desired for interior photography such as this and adjusting the camera height and distance from the tree provides the composition desired.

For this year's tree photo, I opted to use the Canon EOS R and RF 15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM Lens. The R's 30 MP resolution was very adequate for my needs and the RF 15-35 delivers impressive image quality. In addition, the 15mm focal length was very attractive for this image capture — and it became even more attractive during post processing. Despite being very careful to level the camera, I still managed to get a slightly tilted (0.6°) image. Straightening an image requires cropping (or creating missing details) and the 15mm angle of view gave me just enough additional angle of view to make that adjustment comfortable. Note how little barrel distortion is showing in this uncorrected image.

As soon as the perfect light was captured behind the windows, I pulled the couch and ottoman out of the way and pressed the shutter release of a second camera that was already set up, providing a completely different image.

From my family to yours, we wish you the merriest, joy-filled Christmas ever!