Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! It buzzed by like a speeding bullet. Up and down. Left and right… all around it went. Too fast for this old man to lock on with my Nikon in hand. And then as luck would have it, it stopped on a dime. Right on a lily pad bloom. But there was one problem… …it was fifty feet too far. Even for my short Telephoto lens at 200mm. And I couldn’t get closer. I wasn’t about to wade in the cold marsh water. Even if I could, I’m sure...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! X-Marked the spot. Or in this case… a “camera.” I was ready. Prepared. Packed. And focused. I’d been planning this landscape shot for weeks. But, there was one small problem. No one mentioned anything about a steep and a very rocky road to the top of the mountain! And if you remember from last weeks newsletter… about our brakes… ...well this rendezvous probably contributed to the pads wearing thin too (and the hole in the...
13 days ago • 1 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! My wife (Tammy) panicked as I backed out of the parking lot. “Do you hear that?” she asked.“Umm… no,” I replied. And away we went... it was time to head home. We twisted and turned. Up and down. It felt like threading a needle at 60 miles an hour. Sharp curves. Sudden drops. No room for mistakes. It was both breathtaking and brutal, like the mountains were daring us to keep up. Oh, and by the way… we were in West Virginia...
20 days ago • 2 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! I drove 1,359 miles to photograph birds.Well… sort of. Truth is, I’d been on a multi-state road trip, shooting landscapes all along the way. But I’d heard whispers about the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge (in Florida). Supposedly a goldmine for wildlife photography. So I figured, why not? That day, the place was alive. Birds, gators, iguanas… nature was showing off. Then I saw it… an American White Ibis. My...
27 days ago • 1 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! One photo.Two photo.Three photo.Four. How many compositions can you create and more? At this spot in Letchworth State Park,I found new scenes from one quick start. 23 images this morning and 8 keepers. All in the same cool morning light,Each frame revealed a brand new sight. I walked the edge along the rim,Letting the landscape guide my whim.Each time a fresh view met my eyes,I stopped, composed, and pressed the prize. And...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! I knew as soon as I created the image... it was garbage. What do you think... Straight out of camera! Things wrong with this image... the sky is boring it's not edited well, that's about it For some reason I was disappointed with the sky and just disliked the image. I did do a quick "auto" edit and wasn't impressed. So, it hung out in my LR catalog for the next 16 months. Every time I scrolled by the image... I cringed....
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! Part 2 begins where we left off last week... 67 photos later and... 5 1/2 keepers! Maybe... ...... I'll admit... I wasn't ready for last week's newsletter. I had yet to cull + edit... and I ran out of time. Sorry for the cliffhanger! But, it was fun... ...wasn't it? ..... OH! You want to see the photos you say? ..... After getting home, downloading and importing... this was the first that grabbed my eye... I decided to go...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! There I was, atop a 300 foot platfrom with 20 other birders and photographers. It was a disappointing morning, to say the least... for the Festival of Hawks. Every year, in September, thousands of Hawks migrate from Northern Ontario into the states. There's one place, a marsh, in southeastern Ontario where they flock to before veering towards the Detroit River... ...where they follow the bending curve of the river, further...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! 6:31 a.m. - That marked the time of the very first photo. 7:46 a.m. - The end of the mornings photoshoot. All said... 154 photos created! Let's break it down... 82 horizontal compositions 72 vertical compositions 66 unique/different compositions And a deep dive... 63 photos due to exposure bracketing 8 images for a panorama {two attempts... 4 images each time} 17 blurry images... shutter speed too slow. It wasn't so much...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Parker Photographic Insiders Photography + Editing tips Hello Reader ! I took the wrong turn… Before John M. and I left our hotel… I thought I knew the way. After all, we had scouted the area the day before. Who needs GPS? But, it was now pitch black and… …we ended up at the airport… not our photographic destination. I panicked. Here I am… the mentor. And I wasn’t prepared. We were going to miss Blue Hour, I thought. John, calmly entered in our destination via his iPhone for directions. On...
2 months ago • 4 min read