Emerging New Series

I feel like I've been in a creative lull lately.  Well, with the CoPA Member's show and exhibit at Caggio, it has certainly been busy.  However, I've been without a real project for some time now.  I feel I need to a focus and total emersion in order to find and tell a story.  The concept is coming together nicely but now I have to get out there and explore it further.  For now, let's just say it will be urban focused . . .

More to come.

The Long and Winding Road

I've been spending more time down on the Milwaukee River these days, taking the dog for some exercise and meeting people and other dogs along the way.  The path parallels the river on both sides and at least right, while the grass is short, my dog has lots of room to roam and explore.  It's an area I plan to explore more with images.  This one, I'm experimenting with a Lightroom preset that I found online.  I find it interesting in that the image has this glow to it and the color makes it look surreal.  It certainly doesn't work for everything but I kind of like it here.  Let me know what you think!

My favorite for Breakfast

This is currently my favorite place for breakfast.  With great sausage biscuit gravy and bacon everywhere, what's not to like!

The Things We See While Driving

Whenever my wife and I travel, I drive.  For once, I asked her to drive figuring I could catch some shut eye and/or snap a few photos along the way.  I wanted to test out the 70-200mm f/2.8L version II zoom and figured shooting the scenery from a moving car would be a good test.  Well, first off, it's harder than it looks because the lens is long, the car is small and the windows were closed!  I eventually was able to get the hang of it and the lens performed very well.  This shot was taken almost perpedicular to the direction the car was traveling and at highway speeds!

More Wind Point

Just south of the Wind Point Lighthouse in Racine, WI are a series of some old Jettys.  I've stopped here a couple of times and even snapped a few images but this morning I decided to spend a bit more time.  While most of the images captured were colorful sunrise landscapes, this image was shot with the intent of a black and white conversion.  Hope you like it.

Cream City Photographers

Yesterday was the March photowalk for the Cream City Photographers.  I haven't attended for the past couple of months so I figured I should go.  The weather had turned cold and we had snow that morning. We still had about 15 brave souls who braved the wind and chill.  The site of this month's walk was the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.  Most students were away for spring break which made shots like the one above easy since the school was empty.  It was also a good respite from the cold to venture inside!

Upcoming Gallery Night & Day

The spring edition of Milwaukee's Gallery Night & Day, taking place April 16-17 promises to be a busy one for me.  I'm going to be exhibiting images at three different locations!  The current exhibit at Caggio will be moving to the Milwaukee Athletic Club in the yoga room.  New images will be shown at Caggio on Brady Street and finally, CoPA will be hosting its Members Show in the Dye Building in Milwaukee's Third Ward.  More details on each will follow so stay tuned!

Dogs at Play

They look ferocious but they're really just playing.  I've been testing out the new Canon 1D Mark IV capturing my dog and her friends in action.  I'm still playing with various settings but so far the camera does an outstanding job.  The dogs change direction very quickly and so it's hard keeping up.  I've been experimenting between using all 45 focus points and letting the camera choose and lock onto the action versus a single focus point with assist from surrounding points.  I still need to play and at least for dogs in action, haven't settled on a preference yet.  Nonetheless, it's still fun to capture the action.

The Good and Bad of This Economy

While we all feel like the economy has had more downside than up, some (few) businesses actually benefit.

Feeling Spring

While it's by no means warm, you can tell that spring is nearly here.  Today the temps are supposed to reach the upper 40s even though the morning was still below freezing.  But even then, you could tell it was going to be a warmer day.  A haze was forming in the sky and on the horizon.  Snow is evaporating and causing morning fog.  This is the time of year in Wisconsin that is often a tease.  Yes, today will be seasonably warm but will it hang around or are we due for our usual frustrations when is snows in April?

Time will tell.

Today's image is taken from the Third Ward of Milwaukee with a view of the Hoan Bridge and the Milwaukee Harbor Lighthouse during sunrise.

HDR Not Included

HDR seems to be the latest and greatest.  However, in many cases I think it's overused to the point the image looks over processed.  Now, some people do a wonderful job giving images the over processed look that it looks like something out of this world.  Other times, the image looks just a little off to me.  Finally, there are those that use HDR to solve a problem with high dynamic range images without the viewer recognizing that HDR processing was used.  It's this latter approach that I find most impressive.

I've never used HDR software and have been wanting to try.  For now, I'm really satisfied with the gradient filter in Lightroom.  I can achieve an HDR like process and expand the images dynamic range quite easily and using a single image.  The filter is really flexible and you can apply exposure compensation to achieve an HDR like process.  However, you can simultaneously adjust clarity, contrast, saturation and sharpness on the same gradient.  In this image, I used several gradients that were all high in clarity (tonal contrast) to give the overall 'graininess' effect in this image.

Land of Waffles, Chocolate and Good Beer

Well, time flies.  I can't believe I have no entries in February.  Well, I'm just back from a trip to Brussels, Belgium.  It was a business trip but I had some time on Sunday for a photographic excursion and tried to make the most of it.

Back to North Point

Sometimes it can be months between visits and then I will go there several times a week if I can.  I went back to North Point yesterday morning and was greeted by another stunning display of predawn color caused by the glow of city reflecting its lights into the clouds.   It was still dark enough for the lights to stand out.  About 15 minutes later, the scene changed so much that the city lights no longer looked as dramatic as they did here.  I never tire of this place.

Breaking the Rules?

The rules of photography that is.  When should you follow the 'rules' and when are rules made to be broken.  Typically, you would never take a landscape shot like this one and put the horizon in the middle of the image cutting it in half.  More typically, the horizon is found in the lower or upper third.  This is consistent with the photography rule of thirds which divides any images into nine sections.  Images are typically more dramatic if a subject is place in one of the outer thirds rather than smack in the middle.  Normally, I would tend to compose the same way but this image required that I break some of these rules.

The sun and its reflection are pretty much in the middle of the image.  The horizon cuts the image in half.  Yet, I think this image works very nicely because the clouds and their reflections preserve this rule of thirds.   What do you think and why . . . ?

North Point Revisited

It's been some time since I've visited North Point on Milwaukee's Lake Michigan lakefront.  Sometimes it seems like I'm there every couple of days and then I go months without even driving by.  This morning, I decided to revisit this spot as I have a current portfolio published in Wisconsin Trails magazine.  I'm glad I went.  The surf was rough and I wish I could have stayed until there was enough light to catch the waves crashing against the ice causing classic explosions of water into the air.

Instead, I caught this image looking south toward the city.  The sun won't come up for another half hour or more but there enough color in the sky caused by the reflecting lights of the city.  Good morning Milwaukee.

Canon ID Mark IV

OK, I admit it.  I love technology.  I love the latest and greatest.  I always thought that Canon's 1-series cameras were going to be just out of reach for me.  Then, a stroke of luck, some extra cash, a quick sale of an almost new 7D and here I sit with a new Canon 1D Mark IV.  I feel extremely fortunate.  It's only been a couple of days with this new state of the art machine but there's so much to love about it already:

• The new 45 point auto focus system is great.  No hunting in low light (like my 5D Mark II often does)
• High ISO shots are fabulous.  I've shot at ISO 8000 which cleans up nicely with even the default settings in Noiseware Professional noise reduction software
• The noise pattern itself is more pleasing (to me) as compared to the Canon 7D
• I think I like the 1.3 crop factor better than the 1.6 but I still like full frame (5D Mark II).
• The feature set like spot metering on the AF point
• The new AI Servo for action shots

There's much more that I have only read about but not explored.  But at the end of the day, the camera has to take good photographs regardless of all the features.  The image in this post was taken during a recent trip to Ft. Lauderdale, FL (think warm).  It was taken at ISO 6400, handheld and processed with noise reduction software.  The glow in the foreground is due to the street lights on the main draft in Ft. Lauderdale Beach.

A Classic Ford

This weekend I'm back up in Menomonee County at my Legend Lake retreat.  The weather is quite cold but calm.  We were greeted with blue skies and bright sunshine which made the 10 degree temperature feel tolerable.  I was mad at myself for leaving my tripod at home which meant no sunrise or sunset pictures this weekend.  Wouldn't you know it but there were some nice sunrises and sunsets!

I did a little driving around the lake and surrounding areas and came upon this classic old Ford pickup.  Now, I'm not one for knowing the exact year of this model but I do know I can't pass on an opportunity to photograph and old beat up truck with rust and peeling paint.  It just gives us that sentimental feeling of days gone by.  In this case, the way the light was hitting truck really emphasized the rust and textures.  I kept the exposure underexposed by 1.5 stops and added vignette in Photoshop Lightroom

Making Waves

I just published my Making Waves series to my website.  I like this series as it reminds me of warmer weather and the peace of being out on the lake early in the morning or at sunset.  The series captures the gentle ripples of boat trails creating a pattern of colored light depending on the surroundings.  Green for trees, blue for skies and many colors of sunrise and sunset.

Check it out at http://www.rjiphotography.com


Making Waves - Images by Bob Israel

A Cold Start to the New Year

Spending New Year's up north on Legend Lake was a wonderful way to relax.  It was cold though.  But there was also a blue moon.  I caught a few shots but the one shown here is a setting moon on the morning of January 2nd.  It was about 5 below zero but the winds were calm and it was quiet.  It was so quiet that all I could hear was my own breathing.  Soon the sun came up and I was able to watch my little world wake to new day.