On Another World - Scott's Newest Print Releases Today

Today I'm happy to announce my newest landscape print, and it's really recent. Titled "On Another World", this shot was actually take last night during sunset along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park.

“On Another World” - by Scott Turnmeyer

This was taken at Crescent Rock Overlook, which is a fantastic overlook for sunset shots this time of year, during one of my Sunset Photography Workshops in the park. 

It had been a beautiful day all day long, but just about an hour prior to sunset the clouds rolled in. As we setup for sunset you could see a lighter area near the bottom of the clouds, and there was hope that the sun would show itself. 

As time progressed the clouds parted just enough to allow this perfect setup, almost as if we told it to be exactly where it was to be. There were still enough clouds and atmosphere in between us and the sun to cut down the brightness and allow this stunning show, which was an immediate 1:3 panoramic in my opinion. 

When I first looked at this photo I instantly imagined myself being on another world seeing this kind of view as we don't see this very often. Hence the name, "On Another World". 

Please do me the favor of sharing this with you friends and family on social media. It is available for purchase on our website HERE, or stop in our location at 407b East Main Street, Front Royal, VA 22630. 

Skyline Drive Series - Hogback Overlook

Sunset at Hogback Overlook, but Scott Turnmeyer

Greetings everyone. I’m starting a new series in my blog posts where I go through the ins and outs of different areas in the Shenandoah National Park and along the Skyline Drive and Blueridge Parkway. I’ll showcase hiking trails, overlooks and more from a landscape photographer’s perspective.

As you may or may not know, this is my back yard. I’ve spend 99% of my life in the this area and most of that taking photos in and around the park. I’m always being asked where the best spots are for sunrise, sunset, etc. So I’ve decided to kick off this new series in my weekly blog posts geared to areas within and around the Shenandoah National Park, from a landscape photographer’s viewpoint. I hope you find each one and interesting read. As always, please share with your friends and feel free to comment.

First up, one my two favorite overlooks along the Skyline Drive, within the Shenandoah National Park. This one is Hogback overlook.

Sunset at Hogback Overlook, by Scott Turnmeyer

Hogback mountain is the highest peak in the northern section of the Shenandoah National Park, the section between Front Royal and Thorton Gap. It’s listed with an elevation of 3,474 feet above sea level and it has three separate overlooks on it. We’ll talk about the other two overlooks in later blog posts. Today it’s all about Hogback. Given it’s height, some days you will find a dense fog at Hogback, but that is usually easily seeable well before you get to it.

You can find Hogback Overlook near mile marker 21, and you cannot miss it. It’s probably one of the largest overlooks in the park as it literally sweeps around the mountain. It’s always a favorite spot for sightseers, and occasionally you will find research vans with their radio tracking equipment sitting at the while they listen in on where the different animals that they are tracking are located. The high elevation and wide open views make it a perfect spot.

I’ve been utilizing Hogback for my photography for quite some time. It’s roughly a 45 minute drive from Front Royal. I love Hogback because I find it to be one of, if not the most versatile overlooks in the park. It’s one of the only overlooks in the park that you can, at certain times of the year, use it for both sunrise and sunset. That’s right, most people don’t realize that in the summer months even though Hogback is an overlook on the western ridge you can actually get an amazing sunrise photo from there. More on that in a bit.

I started utilizing Hogback for my photography workshops a few years back and it’s almost always a go to for either sunset, sunrise or night sky. Let’s talk about each of these in a little more detail. View My Upcoming Photography Workshops

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Winter time sun angles at Hogback Overlook

Summertime sun angles at Hogback Overlook

Sunrises at Hogback Overlook

Sunrise at Hogback Overlook, by Scott Turnmeyer

From the late spring to early fall Hogback is actually a fantastic spot to see the sunrise. The sun is slow moving north along the ridgeline until the summer solstice, when it turns and starts heading back south. If you are on Hogback for a sunrise you won’t really see the sun as it breaks the horizon off in the east, but you will see if break the horizon over the Blue Ridge Mountains, which is by far a better and more interesting shot. I try to always get there at least 45 minutes before sunrise as that’s normally when the best color happens (see photo above)

Sunsets at Hogback Overlook

Sunset at Hogback Overlook, but Scott Turnmeyer

Since Hogback is a westerly facing overlook, which one could say northerly as well, it is well suited for sunsets through most of the year. You will find that as the year progresses you will have to utilize different areas of the overlook for the best sunsets. There are even two times a year where the sun is setting directly behind the Shenandoah River below in the valley, but you’ll have to join me on a workshop to get that info. :) Sunsets are pretty straight forward but just remember, you will more than likely NOT get a great viewpoint shot with the sun going down. It’s a bit too bright and you’ll only get silhouettes and some slight detail.

PROTIP: As the sun about to go down, keep a watch on the other side of the overlook. You have an amazing view of the Browntown, Virginia area below with beautiful shots of the mountains. With the right weather conditions you will get plenty of color on the clouds to give you a fantastic shot.

Night Sky at Hogback Overlook

Night Sky Photography at Hogback Overlook, by Scott Turnmeyer

Night sky photography at Hogback is fantastic. If you are into astrophotography then you know that the northern hemisphere has a stronger view of the Milky Way in the summer months, and this is when Hogback shines. I consider one of the top spots in the park for night photography due to its higher elevation and the ability you have to literally walk around the side of the mountain to block out more light pollution. You don’t want to shoot much pointing North or East because of the light pollution, but there is enough sky and some fantastic trees to do unique things with.

So that about sums up Hogback Overlook. I absolutely love being on Hogback. Standing on the rock wall and getting a sense of out beautiful our land is. It helps to put life into perspective and quickly makes you realize that there is a lot more to this earth than just us.

If you enjoyed this blog post, please do me the honor of sharing it with your friends and following me and our Gallery on your favorite social media platforms.

Sony's New A1 Camera, Is It The One For You?

Photo Credit. Sony

Some of the hottest news in cameras recently was the launch of the very impressive flagship prosumer camera from Sony, the A1. As a Sony shooter myself, seeing these specs would tend to show this camera as a phenomenal tool, but is it right now you? Today, I’ll break down what some of these impressive specs actually mean, which should help you determine if this camera, with a heft $6499.99 price tag, is right for you.

Let’s start with the sensor. It’s a 35mm full frame Exmor RS CMOS sensor providing 50.1 megapixels of resolution. That will guarantee some extremely crisp and high definition photos for sure. This is a huge plus for portrait, landscape and wildlife photographers, but this comes with a drawback. More resolution will mean larger file sizes when pulling those photos into your workflow. Space will fill up faster, computers will chug a bit harder, etc. It’s just something you should be mindful of. I shoot with 200gb memory cards, and cards of that size should do well with this camera. By the way this has two slots so you can record on them simultaneously like I do with the A7Riii.

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ISO sensitivity is fairly standard in the Sony line. Expanded ISO ranges from 50 - 102400. I absolutely love having those two extra stops going to ISO 50. For long exposure landscapes like I shoot, it is amazingly helpful and keeps me from needing to utilize ND filters for most waterfall shots.

The battery life may be something labeled as a drawback. One thing I love about my A7Riii is the absolute amazing battery life. I can shoot through an entire wedding, waterfall photography workshop or bald eagle shoot at Conowingo Dam on one battery. The new A1 is specing at a battery life of 430 shots, which sounds extremely low. So if you buy this guy then you probably want to grab some extra batteries as you will more than likely be swapping during your excursions.

Now let’s touch on the speed of this. Most people do not care much about the speed of the camera unless you are doing a lot of sports or wildlife photography. Most cameras stick in the 12-15 range unless their are geared for that type of photography, which usually allows them to crossover to do some sports or wildlife with not much drawback. If you do shoot a lot of sports and wildlife, then this beast throws down 30 frames per second with the AF/AE focus tracking and 50 MP file size. That literally works out to the fact that you could shoot 155 RAW files before the buffer is completely full on the camera. Throw in a high speed memory card and viola, wildlife and sport shooter heaven.

Photo Credit: Sony

Of course, this is a mirrorless camera, which I love. Sony has been doing amazing things with mirrorless for many years now. I always like the smaller form factor and lighter weight as I travel and hike as much as I do. The A1 continuous that smaller size.

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I mentioned focus a moment ago, so let’s segway into that discussion now. The Sony lineup has always impressed me with their auto focus system, and it looks like the A1 isn’t going to disappear there either. The A1 as a Wide AF coverage of 759 point phase-detection and 425-point contrast detection AF points. It also has the real-time Eye AF for humans and animals. If you don’t know what this is well I can tell you it is amazing. With this turned on the camera looks for eyes, which we want sharp shooting portraits or wildlife. Once it finds an eye it will lock on and as long as you are in continuous focus wherever that subject goes it maintains AF on the eye. It works fantastically and would be a must in this camera. But Sony has taken it a step farther. Knowing that wildlife shooters will love this camera Sony has built in a new Real-Time Eye AF Bird Mode, which ensures tracking is maintained in flight, even if a sitting bird takes flight. Now that is impressive.

Now let’s turned briefly to video. I do utilize my A7Riii for some video, and I love it’s video capabilities in 4K. The new A1 does all of that and now allows for 8K video at 30p, while doing 4K at 120p. Honestly, I don’t know how many people would use the 8K, I probably would not, simply because there won’t be screens really able to showcase the quality. But the 120p at 4K will be nice.

There are many more specs for this new camera that you should take a look it. The release date for the new A1 is slated for March 3, 2021. You can find it at most of the usual places. What will I do? I’ll rent it to try, but I don’t believe this is a camera that I need. Tell me in the comments what you think? Will you get one?

Thanks for reading. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and other social avenues for more blog posts updates, etc. Want to learn more about photography or attend a fantastic outdoor workshop? Check out my website at www.turnmeyer.com for all of my classes and workshops.

iPhone 12 - How Awesome Are the Cameras?

The iPhone 12 was announced this week, and as always the camera system on the phone is touted to be absolutely amazing, but is it? I have not had one in my hand as of yet, but from my experience I wanted to go through the specifications of the new camera system and provide my thoughts. While the specifications that I list here are straight from Apple’s website, the views expressed here are my opinion. Also, let me start off by saying that I use Apple, and have for years. I am in no way paid for this post.

Only a couple spots left!!!!! First weekend in November. Click for more info.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s look at the stats as laid out on Apple’s page at https://www.apple.com/iphone-12/specs/

Camera

• Dual 12MP camera system: Ultra Wide and Wide cameras

• Ultra Wide: ƒ/2.4 aperture and 120° field of view

• Wide: ƒ/1.6 aperture

• 2x optical zoom out

• Digital zoom up to 5x

• Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control

• Portrait Lighting with six effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, High‑Key Mono)

• Optical image stabilization (Wide)

• Five‑element lens (Ultra Wide); seven‑element lens (Wide)

• Brighter True Tone flash with Slow Sync

• Panorama (up to 63MP)

• Sapphire crystal lens cover

• 100% Focus Pixels (Wide)

• Night mode (Ultra Wide, Wide)

• Deep Fusion (Ultra Wide, Wide)

• Smart HDR 3 with Scene Detection

• Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos

• Lens correction (Ultra Wide)

• Advanced red‑eye correction

• Auto image stabilization

• Burst mode

• Photo geotagging

• Image formats captured: HEIF and JPEG

Video Recording

• HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 30 fps

• 4K video recording at 24 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps

• 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps

• 720p HD video recording at 30 fps

• Optical image stabilization for video (Wide)

• 2x optical zoom out

• Digital zoom up to 3x

• Audio zoom

• Brighter True Tone flash

• QuickTake video

• Slo‑mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps or 240 fps

• Time‑lapse video with stabilization

• Night mode Time‑lapse

• Extended dynamic range for video up to 60 fps

• Cinematic video stabilization (4K, 1080p, and 720p)

• Continuous autofocus video

• Take 8MP still photos while recording 4K video

• Playback zoom

• Video formats recorded: HEVC and H.264

• Stereo recording

TrueDepth Camera

• 12MP camera

• ƒ/2.2 aperture

• Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control

• Portrait Lighting with six effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, High‑Key Mono)

• Animoji and Memoji

• Night mode

• Deep Fusion

• Smart HDR 3 with Scene Detection

• HDR video recording with Dolby Vision up to 30 fps

• 4K video recording at 24 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps

• 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps

• Slo‑mo video support for 1080p at 120 fps

• Time‑lapse video with stabilization

• Night mode Time‑lapse

• Extended dynamic range for video up to 30 fps

• Cinematic video stabilization (4K, 1080p, and 720p)

• QuickTake video

• Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos

• Lens correction

• Retina Flash

• Auto image stabilization

• Burst mode

Great, we have three cameras that has all kinds of cool numbers, but what do they all mean?

First we will start with the Dual 12MP camera systems. They have two cameras here, an Ultra Wide and a Wide camera. The Ultra Wide is a f2.4 aperture (the size of the hole that allows light in) and a 120 degree field of view. The Wide is a f1.6 aperture. In aperture land, the lower the number means the wider or larger the whole that allows the light to come in. In wide angle lenses, which are used more for landscapes, I hardly ever have the need to go as wide as I can. I am assuming they did this because they need to get more light into the cameras so they do not need to increase the ISO (which is how fast the light is absorbed into the camera sensor, higher number means GRAINY photos). We have seen iPhones supposedly getting better and better in low light situations, this is why.

What do you lose with small apertures? Probably not much unless you are trying to take a photo of some up closer to you and still have the background in focus. Most people are all about the bokeh, or blurred background, in photos. It’s great for portraits and help draw focus to your subject. You do not want this in landscapes however. So this is where these small apertures break down.

Now let’s talk about the Wide versus Ultra Wide. Here is actually where I think they throw an extra camera in here just to say they did. If you have small apertures, made for portraits, why do we need to wide angle cameras? Fact is you probably don’t.

How about the zoom? Okay, here is the first reason why your iPhone will never compete with a true DSLR camera. Digital zoom! Anything that says digital zoom is horrible, don’t do it. In my cell phone classes I teach people to zoom with your feet. Never ever pinch and zoom in. Why? You are stretch the pixels, and you don’t have a lot of them, so now you are creating distorted and blurry photos..

Yes, Apple says there is a 2x optical zoom, isn’t that better? Sure, but its a zoom out, not in. So if you want to get an even wider shot then no problem, go for it. :)

These two cameras have all of the modes for portraits, advanced bokeh (have no idea why it would be advanced because either it is blurry or it is not). Optical stabilization is in the Wide camera, and other features that are very standard these days.

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Okay, first two cameras are out of the way, now let’s move to the third camera, the TrueDepth camera. This is another 12MP camera with a f2.2 aperture (see a trend?) along with all of the same other modes for portraits and bokeh control. This is your working lens.

It seems from the specs that this lens is used for the majority of everything on the camera. Animoji, Memoji, Time Lapse, burst mode, auto image stabilization and more. Not much that stands out from the norm these days.

So, let’s get down to my thoughts.

Every new release Apple talks about how fantastic the cameras are on their phones. I watch the events and every year I am extremely disappointed. The phones take great photos, I use my phone to take photos all of the time. But when is happen going to give us more pixels to work with?

For years the cameras on the iPhones have been capped at 12MP. That means 12 million pixels per square inch. This is great for social media photos and sharing on the web, but if you try to print this photo you cannot go much larger than an 8x10, or 10x20 since I shoot panos, without seeing serious distortion. My Sony A7Riii has 42MP, and my 5 year old backup camera, my Sony a6300 has 24.2MP. So why is Apple constantly trying to throw smoke and mirrors, and cameras but not paying attention to the real issue. More MP!!!

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2020 Open Photography Competition Winners

Due to technical issues during the live we had to break this up into two videos

Happy Hump Day!!!!

Hello everyone, thanks so much for checking out my newest blog post.…

Look for more blog posts to be coming out at least weekly beginning now.

Stay safe out there and keep that social distancing and sanitation up. We will get through this, but our world will be very different. In many good ways.

Don’t forget to follow me and share with your friends!!

Scott

Ask Scott Anything and Photo Critiques LIVE April 18.2020

Hello everyone, thanks so much for checking out my newest blog post. Today is my first vlog (video blog) where I talk about how I got the shot above. It’s unique because you see stars during the day.

Look for more blog posts to be coming out at least weekly beginning now.

Stay safe out there and keep that social distancing and sanitation up. We will get through this, but our world will be very different. In many good ways.

Don’t forget to follow me and share with your friends!!

Scott

Introducing Portfolio Reviews

Hello everyone, thanks so much for checking out my newest blog post. Today I want to talk a bit about portfolio reviews, something I have had a lot of people ask about over the past year or so.

I have never really performed portfolio reviews officially. I’ve always been happy to take a look at a photo or two and offer constructive input, but I find myself being asked more and more about what I think or what would I do different. I feel like given the current situation with COVID-19, and how things are slow in our gallery and my classes, then it is the right time to formalize the offering and kick it off.

So what is it? Some people are well aware of what portfolio reviews are, but some are not. In general a portfolio review from me can cover many areas. Like most I will look at photos that the individual provides, which normally are ones that they believe are their cream of the crop, and I will provide as valuable and constructive feedback as possible. This might be lighting or composition considerations, speaking about balance and distractions. It might entail some discussion about post processing or different shooting options and settings. The goal is for the individual to get an idea of where they can grow, what can get them to the next level.

Why are they important? Simply enough, social media is not a good litmus test to your photos and that is where most aspiring photographers or hobbyists get feedback. If you throw a photo out there and you get 100 likes, that is great, but these are from every day users, usually your friends, who have no idea what makes a photo good or great. Professional critiquing is really the only way to get an idea.

With the photos it is pretty straight forward, but I am doing more in my portfolio reviews. I want to also help aspiring photographers get their photos to a level of marketability. Whether they are portraits, landscapes or whatever, there are things to think about, ways to market that I can help with. I can look at your business workflow and find some areas that you may want to improve upon. Think about it as photography business consulting.

I think this service can be very valuable to a large number of people. Hobbyists who want to perfect their craft and take really great photos (perhaps they want to win some competitions), aspiring professionals who really want to differentiate themselves and show that they are not just another one of the thousands of photographers out there, or already professionals that just want to get another opinion on what they are doing and another set of eyes looking at their work and business workflows. I have had many years in this industry and I shoot pretty much everything in one aspect or another. I have a very strong information technology background that lends itself perfectly to helping you. Would you like for me to help you?

I am launching my portfolios in an hourly basis. $100 for an hour and $180 for two hours. I would expect that we could get through 10-12 photos per hour to help you gauge the time you might want. We have the product in our E-Commerce site for our gallery, Turnmeyer Galleries, and you can find it here.

Once you purchase your review I’ll send you an email and we can converse to figure out what you want to get out of it and schedule the review. I’ll ask that you send me a link to the photos or upload them to an online shared folder (which I’ll provide) so that I can look them over and gets some thoughts together prior to our discussion.

I hope the community finds this valuable and the many individuals that have asked if I do this service take advantage of it.

Look for more blog posts to be coming out at least weekly beginning now.

Stay safe out there and keep that social distancing and sanitation up. We will get through this, but our world will be very different. In many good ways.

Scott

Brand New Photography Classes and Certificates Announced

For over 5 years I have been teaching photography in a classroom environment as well as private lessons. Virtually any aspect of photography has been touched upon in one way or another. I have found recently that there are a number of people who wish to start their career, or grow it into a business. I have always been there to help if I can. More than one occasion I have been asked on whether I would do a full curriculum on certain training for people, a certificate if you will stating that they had been trained by me. I always thought that was a unique idea and I liked it, but figured there was no need.

Now that our new gallery is open and I have my own teaching environment I find myself being asked for more and more classes in the different aspects of photography. More than just the basics of lighting and composition that I teach now along with the entry to shooting in manual mode for your DSLR camera. It made me step back and look at the possibility of offering full curriculums for different aspects.

As I approached the subject I wanted to follow our motto in the galler, “Something for Everyone.” I am a photographer that pretty much does it all, or have, so I didn’t want to single out anyone moving down a certain pathway. I also didn’t want to alienate those wishing to keep it as a hobby either. It was a long a time consuming process to look at what “might work”. In the end, I think we have come up with a very cool curriculum that truly is something for everyone. I have developed different “pathways” to learn what you would like and see where you might head. If you are not interested in a pathway and want to take a specific course, then feel free. That option is always there for everyone. But if you do want to see what could come next for you as you grow, then this should help you out, and allow me to help teach you to get there.

With that said, I’d like to officially announce the 2020 Scott Turnmeyer Photography Training Pathways.

Scott Turnmeyer’s 2020 Photography Training Pathways

In the table above, you will see the different classes that I offer. Some are brand new and are about to be released, like the “Photography as a Business” and others. Don’t worry, they are coming in the next few days. :)

In the Columns in orange you will see the different pathways. They range from Introduction to Professional level, with many in between. As you can see, there are three that mention certificate. They are in fact that. When completed you will simply need to submit your request for certificate listing the classes or workshops that you attended, their dates and I will verify and issue you a certificate stating my acceptance of your knowledge as demonstrated in that tract. A cool conversation piece for friends and family on your wall, or some even more impressive to show prospective clients to verify that you have in fact put forth effort to provide quality for them.

Is this sponsored or accredited?

No, I am speaking with a couple of universities about offering this through them, but this time it is only through me. I do see this going that route in the future though and am working towards that goal.

How do I sign up?

It’s simple, you see the courses laid out here. Simply visit my classes page and sign up for ones that are currently registering for the topic that interests you. Just as people always have.

What workshops are required for the Advanced or Professional Certificates?

There is no requirement for which workshops you join, but there is a specified number required. I need to verify that you understand how to handle yourself in the field to be able to check off for that certificate. If I have to explain and show you how to make every setting change, then you aren’t there yet and I’ll recommend joining another one.

So I hope this excites some people. Please shoot me a message if you have any questions.

Have a great day. If you enjoyed this post please do me the honor of sharing it with your friends on social media. I greatly appreciate it.

Have a wonderful day!

Scott Turnmeyer

Countdown of My 25 Favorite Photographs of 2019

Scott Turnmeyer’s Countdown of My 25 Favorite Photographs of 2019

Here we are, approaching the end of 2019, and it’s been a fantastic year. Tons of photos taken, opening of our own gallery, many successful workshops and classes. It’s safe to say we are gearing up for a huge 2020, hopefully it will be one to remember.

In looking back over 2019, I wanted to take some time and count down my favorite 25 landscape photos that I took this year. This was not an easy task :) Many could have easily made this list. Some you probably have seen, and for some this is the first time being shown to the public, but will be released soon. All are special in some way, and have a story, and all are available in the gallery, or will be soon.

With that, let’s get this countdown started.

Number 25: Bellagio At Night

#25: Bellagio at Night by Scott Turnmeyer

In May of 2019, I was in Las Vegas for a trip to some street photography on the strip. One night I went for a long walk and did shots as I went. There are some fantastic shots along the lights and beautiful buildings on the strip, like this black and white shot I got of the fountains at the Bellagio.

Number 24: Fall Leaves on the Water

#24: Fall Leaves on the Water by Scott Turnmeyer

This shot was taken in the Shenandoah National Park during my Fall Weekend Workshops in October (next year’s is already registering). We were hiking along the Rose River Trail and this spot was magical. The water level is usually much higher on the Rose River, and the water pouring over these falls, but this time of year the level has dropped and you have whispy small falls into a crystal clear pool. With the lower flow of water in, I could get a clear shot of the leaves in the pool and the rocks underneath.

Number 23: Beacon of Light

#23: Beacon of Light by Scott Turnmeyer

There is a lighthouse in Aruba named the California Lighthouse. It is a beautiful beacon during the day, and lite up with spot lights for an even more beautiful scene at night. This trip to the island we found that one of the spotlights on the Northern side of the lighthouse was out, which screamed photo op to me. With the light out I was able to do a much longer exposure without over exposing the lighthouse which now allowed me to get STARS. Always watch for those unique moments.

Number 22: Selfie of the Heavens

#22: Selfie of the Heavens by Scott Turnmeyer

This shot may have been one of the most fun shots to take this year. This is a selfie of me along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It was taken during one of my 2019 Night Sky Photography workshops in the park.

Number 21: Reflections in Fall

#21: Reflections in Fall by Scott Turneyer

Here is another shot taken during my Fall Weekend Workshop in the Shenandoah National Park. An extremely fun and nice couple who came all of the way from Columbus, Ohio was down for the full weekend of photography. They brought along these cool mirrors to try to do some unique shots. In this spot I decided to take a try at a shot with one. Here you will see the mirror is laying up on a rock wall and I used depth of field to blue all of it while focusing on the waterfall reflection in the mirror. Definitely my most unique of the year. Great fun.

Number 20: Belle Grove Sunrise

#20: Belle Grove Sunrise by Scott Turnmeyer

One of my partners is Belle Grove Plantation, located in Middletown, Virginia. This is a historical site dating back to the Civil War. They finished a large refurbishing/renovation of their barn this year and I came out one morning for some sunrise photos of it.

Number 19: Mystic Clouds

#19: Mystic Clouds by Scott Turnmeyer

This year was about a lot of waterfalls and night sky. I had more workshops in these two areas and we had some great times. Here is a shot taken during my latest one in December. Most people would say you need a clear night for night sky photos, but you never know. Our eyes could not see all of the stars in this whispy clouds but my camera had no problem seeing them.

Number 18: Rose River Falls

#18: Rose River Falls by Scott Turnmeyer

This shot has been one of my most popular of the year, selling a few times in the gallery already. It was taken along the Rose River Falls trail in the Shenandoah National Park.

Number 17: Rattlesnake at Night

#17: Rattlesnake at Night by Scott Turnmeyer

When I take a group of people up into the Shenandoah National Park for Night Sky Photography Workshops we of course are going for the stars and the Milky Way. But I always break out a flashlight and do some light painting as well, which is always a great time. In this shot I used long exposure to get the stars while shining a flashlight at the tree to get the details of it as well.

Number 16: Tree in the Woods

#16: Tree in the Woods by Scott Turnmeyer

One morning in July I was up near Big Meadow preparing for a Waterfall Workshop. It was a great foggy morning, which meant some cool dreamy foggy photos and great conditions for waterfalls. I grabbed this shop near the parking lot area.

Number 15: Sunset on Old Rag

#15: Sunset on Old Rag by Scott Turneyer

This shot is Old Rag, one of the most popular peaks in our area. I don’t get many shots of it as the primary subject so I stopped here late fall after a waterfall workshop to grab this shot just after sunset.

Number 14: Into the Heavens

#12: Into the Heavens by Scott Turnmeyer

Earlier I showed a shot of a night sky shot at Rattlesnake, where I also did light painting. Here is close to the same shot without. Look at the Milky Way.

Number 13: Fall from Stoney

#13: Fall from Stoney

This is proof that you just never know what you will find. During my Fall Weekend Workshop in October, we had a .5 mile hike that Friday for sunset photos. The weather was great, except for some clouds, but I went up anyway. So glad that we did. While the clouds didn’t break to get the sunset, we had fantastic views from this rock cliff of the beautiful colors below.

Number 12: Fall Leaves

#12: Fall Leaves by Scott Turnmeyer

Most people head to the big falls on the trails for photos. I, on the other hand, prefer the smaller cascades. They take more climbing and work to get to, but the rewards to me are always worth it. Like this shot take close to Dark Hollow Falls in Fall.

Number 11: Foggy Morning

#11: Foggy Morning by Scott Turnmeyer

Perspective means a lot. This shot was taken one foggy morning in the Shenandoah National Park, but what makes it more unique is the perspective. My camera tripod is very low to the ground, giving these tress a more massive appeal.

Number 10: End of the Day

#10: End of the Day by Scott Turnmeyer

This is probably the newest photo on the list, taken Christmas Day, 2019 in the Shenandoah National Park. My wife and I decided to head up in the afternoon to see what the sunset brought us. And here is what it brought.

Number 9: Gazebo with LOVE

#9: Gazebo with LOVE by Scott Turnmeyer

Ah, probably my most popular photo of 2019, it definitely rates in my top 10 favorites. This is a new perspective of the Gazebo along Main Street in Front Royal, Virginia, just after they turned on the holiday lights for the season. For only a few days the LOVE sign was there, so I could not miss the opportunity.

Number 8: Purple Sunrise

#8: Purple Sunrise by Scott Turnmeyer

The colors in the shot, especially seeing a print of this in our gallery, definitely make this a top 10 shot to me. I took this at Hogback Overlook along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park in July during one of my sunrise photography workshops.

Number 7: Butterfly

#7: Butterfly by Scott Turnmeyer

I don’t do a lot of macro shots, but this one I would consider my favorite and it was exactly what I wanted to get. Taken in a butterfly farm in Aruba.

Number 6: Winter Night

#6: Winter Night by Scott Turnmeyer

Here is another example of dealing with what you got. During my Night Sky Photography Workshop in the Shenandoah National Park in December, we had some clouds. Looking north the lights from nearby Front Royal, Virginia caused issues doing star photography. Instead, I decided to utilize this cool looking tree as a silhouette to the clouds and went with black and white for more detail between the contrast. The hint of the stars at the top of the photo just added to it.

Number 5: Fall in Dark Hollow

#5: Fall in Dark Hollow by Scott Turnmeyer

This year’s colors in the Shenandoah National Park, especially above 2500 ft elevation was absolutely stunning. One of the best years that I have seen yet and we had peak color for my Fall Foliage Weekend of workshops. This shot was taken along Dark Hollow Creek.

Number 4: Lunar Eclipse

#4: Lunar Eclipse by Scott Turnmeyer

This shot is a top 5 choice because of one thing, the stars. Taken in January of 2019, this shot of the lunar eclipse allowed me just enough exposure time to grab some stars in the background without over exposing the moon like you would on a full moon lit night.

Number 3: Fall Sunrise

#3: Fall Sunrise by Scott Turnmeyer

The same Fall Foliage Weekend as shown in previous photos didn’t disappoint when I took our group to Hazel Mountain Overlook for sunrise on Saturday morning. We had a small break in the clouds just as the sun rose and look what it gave us. Almost made #1 for me.

Number 2: Dark Hollow

#2: Dark Hollow by Scott Turnmeyer

This has been one of my favorite photos of the year since taken in July. I have taken a lot of Waterfall Workshop Groups to the base of Dark Hollow Falls, but this morning was special. It was a foggy morning, which I had not seen before, which helped me get this stunning shot.

Number 1: Waking up the Mountain

#1: Waking up the Mountain by Scott Turnmeyer

And rounding out the list at #1 this year is this shot. It’s a sister to the Hazel Mountain Overlook shot taken at #3 on the list, but this shot was about 3 minutes before that one. That small break in the clouds gave my group of workshop goers and unbelievable sight as the sky lit up over the fall foliage of Hazel Mountain. Absolutely stunning, and it just as amazing to be there and see it first hand. You know you have a good one when everyone in your group gasps when the colors hit.

And that rounds out my top 25 shots that I took in 2019. I’d like to thank all of my workshop participants who joined me on the mountains this year. We had a fantastic year of sunrises, sunsets, night sky, waterfalls and fall foliage. I’m already registering for workshops and classes for 2020, so don’t miss out on even more opportunities and special times like the ones above.

Quick Photography Tip - Cropping to Make a Difference in your Photographs

Hope you enjoyed these quick little tips. Post some of your photos on my Facebook Page and let me see what you are catching. Or tag me in your posts on Instagram or Twitter.

Don’t forget to follow me on the social medial platforms to more tips and tricks, and come out to some of my classes and workshops where I teach you to get the

Catching the Hummers

I grew up with my mom always having hummingbird feeders around, so naturally we do the same at our house. It is always fund to sit out and watch the amazing little animals duck and dodge and fight for their food, it’s quite entertaining if you’ve never watched them.

From a photography standpoint hummingbirds can be quite difficult at times to get a good shot. In the past few weeks I’ve had a number of people ask me for critiques or tips on getting hummingbirds. I thought it would be great for a blog post and to share a few shots our our hummers.

So there are a number of things that you have to think about when you want to get photos of your favorite little buzzers around the backyard.

1. Lighting

2. Composition

3. Speed (they are fast)

Let’s talk about each one of these.

First Lighting

Hummingbirds are active during the day, but are much more active when it is cooler, like the early morning or late evening. This causes problems because you need to use a faster shutter speed to catch the action, which closes out the light. If you try to shoot them during the day you will find hard shadows and horrible lighting conditions, although you have plenty of light. The best option is to find a nice shady spot for the feeders, or get your shots on a cloudy day.

Composition

Hummingbirds are easy to get photos of actually. We bait them into an area every single day.. But shots with the feeder in them are unnatural to me and I want shots that show them in their wild settings, such as the ones you see here. What do I do? I actually pay very close attention to the birds, they are creatures of habit. The same bird will fly the same pattern again and again. Be prepared for the next time it flies that way and get your shot. Might take a while and some patience, but it will pay off.

Speed

It is actually very easy to crank up your shutter speed to some outrageous number to freeze the action. I, on the other hand, want to shot motion in my shots. I want some blur in the wings to showcase how this little creature is flying. I like to keep my shutter speed under 1000 to get that blur, the ones on this page were shot at 750. This also gives you a benefit of lighting, because you aren’t closing down the camera as much. So you late evening shots are a bit easier and you won’t have to crank up the ISO as much.

Hope you enjoyed these quick little tips. Post some of your photos on my Facebook Page and let me see what you are catching. Or tag me in your posts on Instagram or Twitter.

Don’t forget to follow me on the social medial platforms to more tips and tricks, and come out to some of my classes and workshops where I teach you to get these type of shots!

Photo Tip - What I carry In My Bag

Scott’s Bi-Weekly Photo Tip

Hi everyone, hope you are having a great week. I’m always being asked what I use or what I take with me, so this week I’m going to go through what I carry in my bag every time I go out, whether its for Portrait Sessions or Landscapes, you’ll always see these items in my back.

I have 2 camera bags, a larger Tamrac bag that I bought many years ago, and a much smaller Alturo bag that I picked up a couple of years ago before Pam and I headed out west for a road trip. I lean towards travelling as light as possible, even when doing portraits close to home, so I rarely use my larger Tamrac these days.

I always have my bag packed and ready to go. These items are a staple of my bag:

• Microfiber cloth - I have a few packs of these as they are invaluable for a multitude of reasons.

• Spare Memory Cards - My primary camera has dual memory card slots so I have redundancy there, but I always have a spare in the bag just in case.

• Backup camera - I shoot everything with my Sony A7Riii, but in my bag, charged and ready to go is my Sony A6300 just in case. It is no where near a comparison of the A7Riii, but it’ll get the job done in a pinch if something drastic were to happen.

• Spare batteries - I have great results with my Sony cameras and their batteries. They do not kill a battery through multiple sessions, so normally I’m in the clear. On super cold days I’ll always find the batteries drain faster of course, and you never know what might happen, so I always have at least 1 space (fully charged) batter for each of my 2 cameras.

• (2) Head Lamps - You just never know. I have thought I would never use these and they have come in handy so many times I’ll never go without.

• Lenses - I usually carry my 10-18mm wide angle and my 24-70 2.8 lenses with me. Sometimes I’ll take my 70-200 2.8 if I know I need a little ready or for portraits, but rarely these days.

• Filters - I do have some neutral density and polarizing filters that I take along in case I want to do long exposures in a brighter setting. I honestly don’t have the use for them much anymore since my A7Riii can go to ISO 50.

And that’s about it. Light and nimble is my motto. Of course, if I’m going to do landscape photos them I’m carrying along my carbon fiber tripod as well, but I can easily attach that to my backpack and through it on my shoulders and hike as long as I want.

What are the must haves that you want in your bag every day?

Don’t forget to check out my workshops and classes to learn more about photography. We have so many different ones to offer and they are always a great time.

Have a great night.

Scott

Full April Weekend of Classes and Workshops Coming Up

Hello everyone. Thanks for following me.

Spring is upon us, flowers are sprouting and blooming, grass is starting to green up and the temps are slowly climbing. That means we are approaching one of our busiest weekends of the spring.

Next weekend, April 5, 6 and 7th, I’ll be doing multiple workshops and classes, and topped off on Saturday evening by our 2nd Annual Spring Photography Exhibition and Show.

This time a change of location. I’ve been doing my classes and exhibitions in Front Royal, and for this spring weekend we will be in downtown Winchester. The workshops of course will be outdoors, hopefully in the National Park (if its fully open by then). We are super excited to visit our friend and fans in Winchester and cannot wait to see you all.

Here is a run down of the full weekend. Registrations for the classes and workshops are still open and can be done HERE!!

Friday, April 5th:

I have 2 events this evening, both are outdoor workshops, so weather permitting.

1. Sunset Photography Workshop with me in the Shenandoah National Park (or other location picked by me if the park is closed) - in this workshop we get out the tripods and shoot the long exposures of one or more of my favorite sunset spots. Location of the workshop will be determined by the weather as always. I’ll be there to give you tips and tricks, read the weather, get you framed up with composition and more. Cost $30 (spots available)

2. Astrophotography Workshop with me - I always try to have this one in closer proximity to where we do the sunset one, so I can make it there and people can join both if they like. This is always fun as I help you with long exposure astrophotography. I help with tips and tricks, framing the shot, different techniques and we may even do a little light painting if you like. Cost $30 (spots available)

Saturday, April 6th

1. Photography Class - Composing Your Shot 9:00am - Cost $25 (spots available) - This is one of the fundamental classes that I recommend to EVERYONE. Composition is one of the 2 most important aspects in taking good photos, and this class will instantly make your photos better. Good for any type of camera, even phones.

2. Photography Class - Reading the Light - 10:30am -Cost $25 (spots available) - This is the other fundamental class that I recommend to EVERYONE. Lighting goes hand in hand with composition to create the photo. Without understand and being able to read the light, your photos will not excel, and you will not get better as a photographer. Good for any type of camera, even phones.

3. Photography Class - Shooting in Manual Mode Part 1 - 12:30pm - Cost $45 (spots available) This is my most popular class, I call it the money class because this class separates the photographers from everyone else. If you have a camera that has manual settings and you are shooting everything in automatic mode, then this is the class for you. I teach you with in class instruction, hands on learning and a 30-45 minute outdoor session on how to get off of manual mode and get the real power out of your camera. You’ll learn ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed and more. I go through real world scenarios to teach you my thought process in figuring out what settings to start with.

4. Photography Class - Shooting in Manual Mode Part 2 - 3:00pm - Cost $45 (spots available) This class is the more advanced followup to the Part 1 class above. Learn more advanced techniques like long exposures, high speed shooting, low light shooting, exposure and focus stacking and more.

5. 2nd Annual Scott Turnmeyer Spring Photography Exhibitions/Show - Cost FREE - View on our Event Page - Come by and show me your support by visiting us for the Exhibition. No cost to the public, and no buy pressure at all. Come in a view my work first hand, printed and mounted. There will be well over 100 different photos of mine from around the area (and world), and I’ll be there to talk about how I get them, tell stories about our escapades, talk photography or answer questions. Of course, everything will be for sale as well, and items will range in pricing from $5 - $500, and everything in between. Guaranteed to have something for everyone. There will be door prizes given away as well!!!! We’ll have prints in paper, mounted on foam and METAL (Gorgeous), holiday cards, ornaments, puzzles and a ton more.

Sunday, April 7th:

1. Sunrise Photography Workshop with me in the Shenandoah National Park (or other location picked by me if the park is closed) - in this workshop we get out the tripods and shoot the long exposures of one or more of my favorite sunset spots. Location of the workshop will be determined by the weather as always. I’ll be there to give you tips and tricks, read the weather, get you framed up with composition and more. Cost $30 (spots available)

Thank so much, and we sincerely appreciate the following and support of our fans. We hope to see all of you next weekend either at a class, workshop or especially our Exhibition/Show. Please check out all of our events HERE on our Facebook page for location information and other upcoming events.

Have a great evening,

Scott

Public Photo Critiques - March 9, 2019

Good afternoon everyone, thanks for following.

I’ve started a new bi-weekly public photo critique that I’ll be doing here on my blog, as well as tied in with my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages. I’ll be posting the call for photos every other Wednesday, and you have until Friday evening of that week to send me something that you would like critiqued. I’ll do a blog post like this and post the critiques to all of my social media accounts that evening or the next day (today is Saturday because I was super busy last night).

That’s it. I would love to see more people take advantage of this.

Most of my photo comments will come from the items that I teach in my composition and lighting classes, which you can check out here. Those two are good for all photographer levels and any camera (even phones).

Let’s get to the photos.

Our first photo is from Sydney Haney from our Facebook page. Sydney sends in a landscape shot with a beautiful waterfall, some still water, and cliffs. Looks to be in the fall time range maybe. Here is the shot.

Thanks so much for submitting. I appreciate it.

Okay, so this reminds me of some photos that I have done in the past. It’s clear to me what you are trying to show me. It’s obviously a long exposure shot of a gorgeous waterfall (where is this BTW?), and looks to be late fall time frame since I see the ice around the waterfall.

This photo I like, look likes you did very well on the long exposure. You possibly exposed it too long as the detail in the waterfall’s center is hardly noticeable. When taking a shot like this I would take multiples and varying exposure lengths to see which one I liked. You may have, and this may be what it is, not sure. I do find interesting the look of the water below the waterfall. It’s not a glassy and flat as I would expect it to be with a really long exposure, so given the fact that its a cloudy day I would say this is possibly a 2 second exposure? I like very much that the waterfall, as well at the surface of the water are on the rule of thirds lines, I am clearly drawn there first.

With that said, I am a bit lost in the left side. I feel like the photo is over-weighted to one side because everything in the left is small and busy. What I do catch is the one tree half way up and what looks to be a walkway, which instantly makes me cringe. :) Sorry, the reason I say that is I am thinking nature nature nature, beautiful waterfall, nice cliff, tranquil water, man made walkway. Ugh. Now, you cannot move it, for sure. So what I would do differently is forget about the landscape orientated shot. I would love to see more reflection of this waterfall in the water, so I would turn the camera to portrait mode, put that waterfall in the top of the frame and have it’s reflection in the bottom of the frame. Almost a mirror image in it. I could see that working out well and you lose the walkway and “sort of” deadspace on the left. One other little personal note, it looks like you have a filter on this for something. I am not a fan at all of filters, but that’s just my personal taste.

Still a great photo. Thanks for sharing. Hope to see more.

Next up we have a landscape photo from April Atwood from the Facebook page. April sent in a landscape type shot, but not your wide vista type. This is a small scale shot of a tree during a snow event. Here is the shot.

Thanks for submitting April. I really appreciate it.

In looking at your photo I actually have more questions that I feel like I have answers. My main question was what are you trying to show me here? I believe it is the tree with the snow. I feel like the photo is very busy with a lot happening in it, which is where I am getting a bit confused on what I am trying to be shown. To me, I feel like the wood behind the tree is very distracting, as well as the huge fence behind it. I get caught up in the color off to the left and the slight red (possibly a tail light) on the right.

I’m going to go with you are showing me the tree. I do see the limbs on one of the rule of third lines, I like that. It catches my attention. I do like some of the snow on the ground a bit.

What would I do differently? I’d look for a less busy spot. I feel like shots of the snow coming down are very difficult. You walk a line of landscape and action photography that I don’t think I’ve ever been happy with any of the ones that I’ve taken :). If I was shooting just right here then I would get down on the ground and take a shot along the top of the snow. This will give a different perspective that may work out. Another thing that you could do is crop the photo to be less busy. You are already cutting off the top and some branches, so maybe trim is some more. I took the liberty to show an example. Just what I would do,

Thanks again for sharing. Hope to see more.

So that’s it for this photo critique. Thanks again to those who submitted. I’ll be looking forward to seeing more photos for my next one in 2 weeks. Until then, don’t forget to follow me on all of the social medial platforms and check out my events page for a TON of upcoming classes, workshops and exhibitions.

Getting Ready for Spring and Summer Hiking and Photography

Hello everyone. Thanks for following me.

I’m going to write a slightly different blog post tonight. It is photography related in a way, but I’ve been working very hard on getting back in shape and I have had a ton of people ask me what I did. So one of the main reasons why I did it was to be in better shape for our landscape photography sessions and hiking, I figured I’d do it as a blog post. At the time of writing this I have been doing this for 2 months and have lost 30lbs and over 8% body fat. How I got here and what I did is listed below, but it is a multi-pronged approached, as you will read.

Now I will first start off with a disclaimer. I am not a certified physical trainer, nutritionist or anything in that area. I know photography and that I was out of shape and needed to fix that. So what worked for me may or may not work from you. As with anything physical or dietary, consult with your doctor first, and if you don’t feel right then STOP!

How it started:

So coming through the holidays last year I was approaching my heaviest that I had been probably ever. Scaling in at 247 lbs. I have always been an athletic person, so while this did affect me on our hiking to do our landscape photos, I still stayed very active. I use our gym at work and usually would hit it 3 or 4 days a week, but maybe for 30 minutes at a time.

What I started with:

First off I did my research. There are so many diets out there these days and they all have the pros and cons. KETO is the big thing these days, but I know that I need my energy, so I was not wanting to completely cut out the carbs. I knew I wanted to keep them low because carbs retain water just like sodium does. 1g of carbs holds on to 2g of water. Most people think sodium makes you retain water, well that bag of no sodium chips does the exact same thing!!!

So I knew I was going to go Low Carb and Low Sodium, which isn’t the easiest as a lot of the Low Carb stuff like jerky is high in sodium.

To keep track of my meals I’ve been using Under Armour’s app on my phone “My Fitness Pal". I’ve been using that app for a long time but not REALLY using it. It allows you to keep a food diary during the day and set you goals and limits for calories, protein, carbs, sodium or any other macro nutrients that you want to track.

The next prong of attack:

I knew what I wanted to do with my diet, now I went to my exercises. I knew I needed to step up my game. I had been doing 15-20 minutes on the elliptical in my gym then would do some weight lifting. I decided to take the first week and incrementally increase my cardio on the elliptical up to 45 minutes, then shortly after that I challenged myself to do 60 minutes and had no issues.

Before you start doing your cardio or exercising get you a good band, watch or whatever that will show you your heart rate and track you exercise. I have an Apple Watch and us the Under Armour “Record” app on my watch and phone. Works amazing, and the Record app ties in directly with the My Fitness Pal app so when you finish your workouts it sends what calories you burned over to My Fitness Pal.

Why do you want to monitor your heart rate? Well your hear rate has different zones. Most people get on the elliptical and just slowly move along looking at only the time. You MUST get your heart rate into the proper zone for fat burning, which is called the aerobic zone. Usually that is around 128-138 beats per minute, but it is different for each person. A quick Google Search on how to determine your Aerobic heart rate will bring up multiple calculators where you can calculate what yours is. If you go too high you switch into Anaerobic, which your body starts burning sugar and not fat, which is not what you want.

After I do my cardio I also do some light weight/high number of reps weight training. I do that for another 30 minutes or so. Pick lower weight that you can do 15-20 reps and do 3 sets of those with 30 seconds rest in between. Key here is you are building lean muscle that will burn more fat and you are keeping your heart rate up. I like to mix up my weights and continuously go. Example - bicep curls, tricep push downs, drink of water and repeat, without stopping.

Another prong of attack:

Okay, if you are overweight then there is a high probably that your brain is confused and completely controlling your eating.

I went out to eat 2 days after I started this and decided I was only going to eat half of my dinner to see how it worked. I ate half, asked for a box, and walked out of Carraba’s completely content. I realized right then that my brain had been seeing food in front of me and telling me that I had to eat all of it. Perhaps this came from my childhood of “eat everything on your plate”, LOL I don’t know. What I do know is that after doing this for about a week I had completely reprogrammed my brain into stopping when I feel content, not stuffing myself. That has literally cut my calorie intake in half without even making myself starve.

Putting it all together:

Pretty soon after all of this started I began to feel and see a difference. Low carb, low sodium and my calorie intake was lower. By pushing my cardio to 60 minutes (at 138bpm) and doing weights after I soon was burning 1500 and now 2000 calories a day. All of this while only consuming 1000-1500 calories a day in food. If you figure I’m in a calorie deficit from my workouts and that is not even figuring in my normal daily metabolic rate of calorie burn, the fat is burning off so quickly.

I’m also looking for other ways to exercise, not just the gym. We take the dogs for 3 miles walks around our neighborhood. We try to do at least a 3 or 4 mile hike each weekend if the weather allows it. Anything. Walk some place if you can. Do whatever you can.

The biggest thing that I cannot stress enough. Set small goals for yourself and check the scale once every 2 weeks. Don’t do it every day because you will have good and bad days. And push yourself. If you feel great then don’t stop at 60min of cardio, go more!!!!!!! Always challenge yourself to do more!!!

I hope this helps someone out. This has worked out really well for me and I’m still going. I’m ready for some long hikes to get out and get some great photos.

Enjoy and be safe!!!!

Trip Report: FREE Diving With sharks in florida

Thank you so much for checking out my blog and following me. Occasionally you’ll find me posting about travels that my wife and I take for photography purposes.

Today we are talking underwater photography. Sharks to be specific.

i have always loved the water, the ocean, and especially sharks. They are the apex predators of the ocean and arguably one of the most important species in that eco system. One of my bucket list items has been to cage dive with sharks and get some photos of these amazing animals.

A couple of months ago my wife and I decided to do a quick trip to Florida in February. Partly to get away for some photos, but also to escape the cold weather a bit and act as a recharge to get us to spring.

As I was planning the trip I decided to check out what kind of diving options there were in the area. While there are many options throughout Florida I found the little company in Jupiter, FL that offered shark cage diving. I was on it!!! Trip booked!

Fast forward to mid February and we are getting in the boat to head out. The weather is perfect, mid 70s and bright blue skies with a few clouds.

We headed out bouncing the swells for quite a few miles, I think we were close to 5 miles out. During the ride out our guide was telling us that Jupiter is different than anywhere on the east coast of Florida because the underwater shelf that drops off drastically is the closest to the coastline. It’s easier to get out to it and that is ideal for diving. That’s where we were headed because we were going for Bull Sharks and they like to stay along that ridge and come up, where more shallow water Lemons would be found closer to the coast.

We also got some good “training” on swimming with sharks on the way out. Wait, what? Where does the cage come into play. We found out very quickly that the cage was staying on the boat and we were free diving with the sharks. Okay, was hoping to start in the cage and then venture out, but it looks like I was going to speed that up. 😊 I’m game.

The guide started telling us about the sharks and what to expect. He said that sharks are not looking to kill everything in the water. He compared them to dogs, where they are more inquisitive to find out what we are. He said that the Bull sharks would stay deep and occasionally come up to grab the bait in the water and maybe check us out. Whereas the Lemon sharks stay shallow and do a lot more “bumping” into everything to find out what it is. We were instructed to not reach out and touch the sharks but if we need to guide them around us then feel free to lightly push them to the side.

Finally, we arrived. All wetsuits were on, masks and snorkels ready to go, and fins handed out. The guide takes a fin and smacks the water really really hard to make a loud SNAP. Then the chum and the bait hit the water. We were told that the smacking sound is loud and the sharks will come to check out what is going on, where they find the bait and stay. I am sure the sharks have realized some reward coming with that sound as well because within 5 minutes we had 7 or 8 Bull sharks below us. Time to hit the water.

Obviously I am about taking photos, so I had two setups going in the water with me.

1. I had my backup camera, my sony a6300 ready to go in an underwater housing. I was shooting in manual mode and had set my settings to what I thought was a good start. I knew there would be motion, but probably not too fast. 1/400 of a second for shutter speed should be fine, but I could adjust. For my aperture, I wanted to make sure that I had a deep enough depth of field to have most things in focus. I went with f8 to start with. Now ISO was a bit tougher as I had not seen the lighting conditions. I knew I may want to put some shots in a larger format, so a I wanted to keep it as low as possible. I decided to start with 400 ISO.

2. My secondary camera, which I was using as a backup as well, was my goPro Hero Black 7. This was mounted on my mask and I decided to do 4K video the entire time because I probably could get still shots from it if needed.

It’s time for me to hit the water. I was ready. GoPro started, Sony attached to wrist, away I go jumping in with sharks. I hit the water and immediately my underwater housing for my Sony starts alerting me to a water leak. Wasting no time, I come up and turn back to the boat. I unstrap the camera from my wrist and hand it to my wife. I figured I acted fast enough that it was hopefully okay, but I had sharks to swim with. It was now GoPro only. I turned away from the boat and headed out to sea. Sharks were everywhere and they were beautiful.

For the next 30 minutes I swam with Bull and Lemon sharks. Some as close as 1 foot to me. I can guarantee you that it was an amazing experience and not one time did I feel in danger or that they wanted to bite me. These creatures are sleek and stealthy, disappearing in the deep and then suddenly another one appearing somewhere else. Absolutely unbelievable to witness first hand.

I ended up getting 26 minutes of 4K video and happily got some shots for stills. I was so happy that we went out in the afternoon because they sun was directly at my back as I swam. This caused this amazing looking in the photos from my shadow and the sun rays.

After it was all said and done I made a few mistakes. I should have jumped in the water and then had them hand me my camera (there was only a drop or two in the housing, camera is fine). Secondly, I need to learn which angle is better for my GoPro on my mask. I found that i had it tilted down a bit so when I looked at something it actually was shooting lower than i thought. My field of view on the camera was wide enough so i was fine, but I can do better. This was also my first time diving with this mask and a GoPro, so i learn something ever time out. I will do it again, so i will be back to get even better shots.

I hope you enjoy the video and shots, and enjoyed reading this post. Please feel free to share with your friends and follow me on social media. Please understand that sharks are not enemies to us. They are very important to the earth’s oceans and are some of the most amazing animals on it. I know that Hollywood likes to make them out to be massive killers like in the movies Jaws and The Meg. They paint sharks in a horribly incorrect light, it’s truly not how they are or how they work. Hopefully this post will help some people understand that.

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

Scott

Photo Tip - At Least Two of Everything!

Scott’s Bi-Weekly Photo Tip

Good evening everyone, thanks for checking out my blog. Now that 2019 is going strong we have reworked a few things. I’ll be doing bi-weekly public photo critiques and bi-weekly Photo Tips that alternate. So one week you’ll see me to critiques and the following week I’ll post a tip.

All of the photo tips are things that I teach in my classes and/or private lessons. Most are things I’ve done or noticed through my many years of shooting, and each should help you in some way. They will be short and sweet most of the time. I welcome any questions on any of the social media platforms or on here, comments are allowed.

This Photo Tip is titled “At Least Two of Everything”, and I mean everything.

When you go out to shoot, make sure you have extra everything, ready to go. I have learned my lesson so many times, getting there and not having cards, or the cold zaps my batter and I didn’t bring a second one. You just never know what will happen, so do your best to be prepared.

I’ll start with some items that I make sure I at least double up on each time I go out.

Memory Cards - Memory cards can break very easily, no matter what type you have. I have been instances where I’m shooting away and suddenly I get a message that my card is corrupt. Ouch, that one hurt. At the time it wasn’t for client related work so I was okay, but I learned my lesson. Now I not only bring multiple cards but throughout my shoot I also switch the cards out so if one crashes I don’t lose everything. My latest camera actually has two card slots so I have each photo writing to both cards for redundancy.

Batteries - This is a no brainer, but you would be surprised as to how many people don’t have backups. You should have a fully charged backup at all times, but especially if it is cold. The cold will zap your batteries very quickly.

Flashlights - When I go out before sunrise or after sunset I usually have a headset to light my way. What happens if that dies? I always have two just in case.

Tripod - If you are out taking landscape photos, especially long exposures, then you MUST be using a tripod. If you are in a position that you have to use a tripod, then always bring a spare. I have had people show up at workshops and their tripod breaks. Luckily I usually hand them mine, but if I didn’t have one then they would be lost.

These are just a few things to think about before you walk out the door There are many more, but these are always on my mind.

Don’t forget to check out my workshops and classes to learn more about photography. We have so many different ones to offer and they are always a great time.

Have a great night.

Scott

Public Photo Critiques - Feb 1, 2019

Good afternoon everyone, thanks for following.

I’ve started a new bi-weekly public photo critique that I’ll be doing here on my blog, as well as tied in with my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages. I’ll be posting the call for photos every other Wednesday, the next one will be Feb 13, and you have until Friday evening of that week to send me something that you would like critiqued. I’ll do a blog post like this and post the critiques to all of my social media accounts that evening or the next day (today is Saturday because I was super busy last night).

That’s it. I would love to see more people take advantage of this.

Most of my photo comments will come from the items that I teach in my composition and lighting classes, which you can check out here. Those two are good for all photographer levels and any camera (even phones).

Let’s get to the photos.

Our first photo is from Jose Pacheco from our Facebook page. He sends over this cool little snow man looking to be in an urban area with a lit tree up behind it.

Thanks so much for submitting Jose. This is a very unique snowman. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with the foil and scarf like that, and I really like it. I can definitely see why you wanted to get a shot of this.

So when you have a subject like this you really have 2 options. 1. Treat it like a portrait 2. Add more background into it to create a little more like a landscape. Here it looks like you went with Option 2, and I believe it was probably because of the lit tree in the background. Great thought, and it would work out great probably if you didn’t have all of the urban lights behind it.

Given the background here, I probably would go with Option 1, treat it like a portrait. This means you will crop into the photo and remove most of the background. You lose your lit tree, but with it being so busy behind it I think you would have to do that. Also the tree is blurred from the depth of field that you had, so It is what it is.

Another distraction in the photo is the pole on the left. Long lines grab the audience’s attention more often than not, and I personally find myself looking right at that pole. So when you crop the photo I would get that out of it as well.

I took the liberty of throwing a quick crop on to demonstrate what I was walking about, I hope you don’t mind.

Another think I like about this crop is that it puts the face on the rule of thirds, which really brings the focus into that area. Which I believe you want.

Thanks again for posting. Hope to see more photos!

Next up we have a landscape photo from Nancy Hausrath from the Facebook page. Nance sends in this small scale landscape photo taken in the winter near a river. Some nice frozen drops and moss on the rocks. Thanks for submitting Nancy.

I like this photo a lot. The frozen branch at the bottom creates a long line and really draws you right in. The moss adds in some detail and color into the composition as well. I feel like I could easily put myself right here and feel the experience.

One thing I would do here is a crop on the photo. You have a shallow depth of field, which is giving you plenty of blue in the background. I’d forget the little fall in the back and focus on the super sharp foreground with those unique ice formations and the reflection in the water (that kind of hides itself in this shot because there is so much more going on).

I’ve taken the liberty to do a crop to explain what I meant, hope you don’t mind.

As you can see, it completely changes the photo. I LOVE it like that. The background is no longer busy, focus is brought in on this very cool ice formation and the stick and reflection balance each other out.

Now that I’m looking at it cropped I’d say the whites are a tiny bit blown out. Maybe just a little less exposure on it and you’d be there.

Great photo. Thanks again for posting. Hope to see more photos!

So that’s it for this photo critique. Thanks again to those who submitted. I’ll be looking forward to seeing more photos for my next one in 2 weeks. Until then, don’t forget to follow me on all of the social medial platforms and check out my events page for a TON of upcoming classes, workshops and exhibitions.

Gear Review: KUVRD Universal Lens Cap

Evening everyone, thanks for checking out my blog. I’m going to start doing more gear reviews and such, so I wanted to get started with probably my favorite tool in my bag right now.

Have you ever lost your lens cap? Have you had your lens cap get knocked off in your bag or if you hit it just the right way when hiking? All of these have happened to me.

When I’m out doing my landscape shots, my wife and I are trekking everyone. Rocks, boulders, hiking, sea spray, sand, dust, you name it, we’ve seen it. I found these awesome universal lens caps a couple of months back and decided to try one.

Here is my Sony A7Riii with my Sony 10-18mm with it on. My landscape setup.

There are a few out there, but I went with the KUVRD Universal Lens Cap. They claim it’ll fit 99% of DSLR lenses and has a limited lifetime warranty. This thing is silicone and from what I’ve seen the best lens cap out there. It’s water, sand, dirt, whatever resistant, and is even shock absorbent when you are banging around. In fact, you can take a lens that is not on your camera and put one on each side for a great lens protection in your bag.

You simply slide it over your lens. The silicone allows it to expand onto different sizes without a problem. If you get some dirt in it, simply rinse it off. It’s great and I need to get more.

You can find them on Amazon really easily and they come in packs from 1 up to 10. Pricing is around $24.99 for 1 and you get price breaks the larger the pack you buy. Here is a link to them on Amazon.

Thanks for checking out my blog. Don’t forget while you are here to visit my workshops and classes section for all of my upcoming events. Also my store has a ton of items available.