Traveling the Journey of Light | Photoblog Thoughts, feelings, and techniques behind the photography of Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston

An End of Year Retrospective for 2009 - Part IIPosted by drfl on December 30th, 2009

Yesterday, I presented 10 questions I ask myself at the end of every year regarding my photography and indeed I recommend everyone asks themselves as well.  Some of the questions can be answered with hard data and analysis.  Others require a more introspective look at our motivations, emotions, and attitudes.

As I mentioned yesterday, retrospectively, I feel that 2009 was a successful year.  I have expanded my portfolio by nearly 25% and I have ramped up some business marketing effort.  For today’s review, I have prepared my top blog articles from 2009 from a selection of over 180.  They range from the hard pragmatic to the philosophical esoteric.  Unlike yesterday’s post that contained purely subjective matter, today’s post is formed from some raw data.  I researched the articles that have had the most clicks, most tweets, most comments, most diggs, most emailed, and most discussed around the water cooler (ok, maybe not that).  Even after all that, though, I have subjectively weighted some of the articles higher.  To be fair, the most popular articles are the how-tos, what-to-dos, and why-to-dos.  Some of the less popular articles are the introspective goal, vision, etc. articles.  Indeed, it is more likely that many more people searching the web for this topic than articles on less tangible aspects of photography. So, here are my top blog picks for 2009:

#7 Returning to One’s Roots With a Point and Shoot

While the total number of views is less on this article, I included it since I believe that this has been a fairly hot topic. With more and more people getting high quality point and shoots, including professionals, I felt it important to add it to the list.

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An End of Year Retrospective for 2009Posted by drfl on December 29th, 2009

At the end of every year there is a deluge of “Best of” lists.  Wholly subjective and different for every person, these lists hopefully celebrate the successes and identify the failures so that the next year can be even better.  It is during the cold wintry months I sit down in a warm location and review my previous year. I look at my work, look at how I grew and changed artistically and ask myself a few key questions (summarized):

1. Did I accomplish my artistic goals that I set last year?
2. Were my business efforts met with success?
3. What images did I fail to capture the mood/scene/emotion that I wanted? 
4. Did I surprise myself?
5. Do I still enjoy what I am doing? (Most Important)

 
If #5 is a Yes! (and it has been year after year), I look to next year and ask myself a few more key questions:

1. What artistic goals do I have for this year?
2. What locations should I focus on photographing?
3. What types of lenses/filters/techniques should I try?
4. What business ideas should I implement or push this year?
5. What hasn’t been successful and what should discontinue?

 
So what have I found by asking myself all these questions?  To follow the lead of others, here is my ”Best Of” list to illustrate my triumphs and to help answer those questions.  This is a collection of my favorite images, perhaps not the most profitable, but the ones that I feel exemplify my artistic growth.

#5 (Tie) Glorious Sandhills Sunrise and Toadstool Dawn

One of my ongoing projects is to photograph Nebraska, especially the not often seen places. I want to show the diversity of the state and the beauty that exists. These two photographs each show a different region of the state and places that many would overlook.

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Omaha Holiday Lights Festival - 2009Posted by drfl on December 28th, 2009

I don’t usually get a lot of time to photograph the city, but every year I make it a point to go to downtown Omaha and photograph the holiday lights that the city places on the trees throughout the mall. On each visit I attempt to make a photograph from a new location or a new perspective. This year was particularly spectacular as we got over a foot of snow dumped on us. I headed down right after the snow and before many people had walked through so that I could get a shot without any footprints. I was the first to make the prints, but of course, when I was done my feet were very cold, but my car was close.

Below are links to previous year’s images. It’s always fascinating to see how the city has changed.

• Holiday Lights Festival - 2005
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2006 - I
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2006 - II
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2007 - I
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2007 - II
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2008

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/9, 2.5 sec
Omaha, Nebraska

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: Holiday Lights Festival - 2009

Links Worth Mentioning - DecemberPosted by drfl on December 24th, 2009

I wanted to list a few items I have reviewed recently.  The views found at these links may not reflect the views of… yada yada yada.

• Guy Tal’s unapologetic view of Internet marketing can be found at “The Unintended Consequences of Internet Marketing”.
• Darwin Wiggett’s thoughts on the show “PhotoeXplorers”.
• Samantha Chrysanthou’s short tutorial on vertical panos, “Getting the Long and Skinny”.

What is “Acceptable Sharpness”?Posted by drfl on December 23rd, 2009

A few weeks ago I wrote an article entitled “How to get Sharp Enlargements: Breaking the Megapixel Myth”that gave some tips on creating images that could be greatly enlarged. Now, I am going to address the issue of “Acceptable Sharpness”. In a perfect world of capturing sharp photographs we would all have a remote similar to the movie “Click” in which we could simply hit the “pause” button and everything would simply stop. At that point we could setup our gear, put our tripod in place, connect our cable release, set the mirror lockup, choose the sharpest aperture, put on the best lens, fix the lowest ISO, and then finally capture the image. Unfortunately, no such device exists and so we are left to deal with breezes that blow, animals that run, and hands that shake and As a result, not all nature images are studio perfect. When zoomed in and analyzed imperfections may be noted, perhaps a little motion blur, perhaps a bit of depth of field issues and of course, hand held photographs will almost always be less sharp than an image from a tripod mounted camera. Does this mean that these images should be tossed out due to technical imperfections? At what enlargement point would these images degrade? These are the questions that led me on my path to finding my “Acceptable Sharpness”.

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Photo Friday: Morning IlluminationPosted by drfl on December 11th, 2009

A morning that started off cloudy and not very promising turned into a beautiful morning overlooking the Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/11, 3.2 sec., 3-stop hard ND Singh-Ray Grad
Badlands National Park, South Dakota

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: Morning Illumination - Badlands National Park at Sunrise

Instead of “I Could Have Done That”, Do It!Posted by drfl on December 9th, 2009

While I was exhibiting at the DeSoto show I heard the comment, “I could have done that!” It’s not a unique sentiment as I have been there many times when I have viewed other’s photographs. But, you know what, when I was thinking it it simply meant that I didn’t do it. Sometimes, it pushes me out the door to try something new. Sometimes, I stay in my chair and continue to surf. Well, instead of “I could have done that!” make today “I did that!”

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 39mm, f/11, 5 sec., 2-stop soft ND Grad

Good Photography vs. Great PhotographyPosted by drfl on December 7th, 2009

Good photography requires a keen sense of composition and style, great photography requires forming an emotional connection with the viewer. For some connections between photographs and viewers that emotional connection is easily created, such as from a snapshot of a loved one or a remembered location. For images that have a less familiar nature, that bridge must be forged from elements and colors in the scene. For instance, a single leaf amongst a field of snow may create a feeling of peaceful solitude for one person or a feeling of hopelessness for another. If it is solitude that one is after, colors can be used to pop the leaf out of the surroundings. If it is hopelessness, muted colors or a lack of colors entirely may help shape the desired mood. Either way it is often beneficial to ask another’s opinion. When you do request a critique, instead of asking “Do you like this image?” try, “What mood is elicited when you look at this image?” or “How does this image make you feel?” If it doesn’t correlate with what you wanted go back and try again. Once your vision for an image instills the appropriate emotions coupled with a strong composition and style then you can move your photography from goodness to greatness!

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM, f/8, 1/100 sec.

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: Cold Blue - Frozen Bubble Abstract

Photo Friday: Morning RelaxationPosted by drfl on December 4th, 2009

Taken the morning of the second day of the DeSoto show, the sun’s light was filtered by some interesting cloud patterns. For just a few seconds at a time the rays would cut through.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/9, 1/10 sec., Singh-Ray 2-Stop ND Grad, Singh-Ray 3-Stop ND Grad Reversed
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa Side

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: Morning Relaxation - Sunrise Over DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

Tweet, Tweet! I’m now on Twitter…Posted by drfl on December 2nd, 2009

I recently implemented a tool called “Twitterfeed” to send my RSS feed to Twitter. This will allow anyone who follows Twitter using a mobile device or otherwise to follow my blog there. Since I am primarily a photographer and I barely have time for that, I am keeping it basic for now and only feeding my blog. Tweet, tweet!

To follow me on Twitter: @derrald

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/7.1, 1/1000 sec.
Upland Sandpiper, Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: The Watcher - Upland Sandpiper