Bil's Eye View

THE BEST RICE, part 2

2008-11-13T20:24:40Z

In an 11-point study in composition I got together quite a few years ago, each letter in THE BEST RICE corresponds with something to keep in mind as I take my next picture. Check the previous blog entry, called Entrance and Exit.

Now, it works for me and we passed it on to correspondents who shot pictures for the York Daily Record. But yours might be different. One reader, Brian Hermans, came up with his own at my request, and while it's different, it makes plenty of sense. I'll be including his list soon.

The first "T" to remember is the Three Hundred Sixty Degree Rule. Imagine your picture from a different angle; maybe shooting into the sun, maybe higher or lower; maybe from behind. And look at 360 degrees as time, as well. Would the photo look better in the morning sun, or evening? Maybe at night?

Or as this photo shows, shoot from higher or lower perspectives than what people usually see. Fellow YDR photographer Jason Plotkin always searches for high or low angles-- he's always searching for something 'different good". And "different good" is terrific, but "different bad" is awful. Find a different angle, but keep in mind what you're trying to show. If you confuse the viewer with convoluted lines, colors, subjects, he's gone.

This picture was taken from a man-basket dangling from a crane while workmen built a 'dish" frame (radio, telelphone, I don't remember) atop the smokestack at Pershing Avenue and Philadelphia Street in York. The Codorus Creek is near the top, with Philadelphia Street bridge over it.

Yep, we could have gotten the shot from below, but it would have shown nothing that anyone else had already seen while driving past. I was harnessed in the bucket, the workman was tied off. Everyone was safe, but the photo doesn't make it seem that way.

Entrance and exit

2008-11-11T15:01:12Z

In THE BEST RICE, a list of points of composition I put together a while back where each letter corresponds to a photographic point, entrance and exit is one "e".

Here, in this photo of Brigus, Newfoundland, the tiny road leads up to the town. From there, let your eye wander over the churches, the wall of rocky mountains, the colorful fall colors and the man walking his dog.

Newfoundland is a wonderful place to visit, and during any time of the year, you'll find photos worth framing at every turn. The ferry trip to the west side of the island is about six hours, the east side about 17 hours. Once on the island, view the icebergs, moose, whales, and enjoy the company of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. And you won't have to fight the elbow-to-elbow tourists as you would on Alaska cruises.

While at the Brigus Blueberry Festival, we sampled all the local food, including fish and brewis, fried cod tongues and cod jerky. Being an island, much of the economy is based on fishing, and they eat what they catch. For a recipe for fish and brewis, click here. For a recipe for fried cod tongues, click here. The latter recipe I gleaned from Joyces Fine Cooking. Honest. Be aware, both are very, very salty.

The scenery is varied, from Scandanavian-looking fiords to forests to sparse tundra. Remember, they don't call Newfoundland "The Rock" for nothing.

Squirrels know winter is approaching

2008-11-10T22:12:39Z

Yep, winter's getting here in a hurry and my sister in Mentor, Ohio, shoveled about five inches of snow Monday. Mentor is just east of Cleveland in the famed snowbelt area on Lake Erie, so they have learned to expect it. We have no snow yet, but...

But the critters around my house and probably yours as well, are hitting the feeders with a fury. The birds are emptying the sunflowers seeds in half the time it usually takes, and the neighborhood squirrels, well, they'll eat anything that doesn't move. I keep a tin garbage can full of corn-on-the-cob so they'll stuff themselves with that and not the sunflower seeds, but they were even walking around on the can this afternoon, trying to find away inside.

For tips on feeding birds in winter, click here

For tips on how to keep squirrels off bird feeders, click here

Now, when that doesn 't work, be careful of leaving anything edible outside. While playing tennis, I left a bag of animals crackers on the court. Within minutes, this one decided it was his/hers.

Another good lesson-- keep a camera handy wherever you go.

It's October, and winter's here?

2008-10-29T15:16:41Z

Ricketts Glen State Park is a wonderful place this time of year. The trees scream out in every color you can imagine, the waterfalls adding a central element to your pictures.

Tuesday, however, the park was buried under a foot of snow (some say), and the colors were erased with a blanket of black and white. The park office there had no power all day because of tree limbs coming down on electric lines.

On the trail below, there was plenty of color.The precipitation came down as snow only on the higher elevations. Compare the two pictures, and you'll understand. There are only about two miles of highway between the two photos.

Showing off the stars

2008-10-26T03:18:18Z

Pritchett, Colorado, is one of my favorite small towns. Sitting in the middle of the eastern Colorado plains, there are no stores in Pritchett. In fact, if someone wants to buy a loaf of bread, gallon of gas or a ball point pen, they must drive 16 miles to Springfield. Now, understand that Springfield isn't the Big City-- about the size of York County's Mount Wolf.

Years ago, we traveled the country to show what it's like growing up as a kid in the United States. We talked to and photographed the athletes, musicians, cowboys, skinheads, military. And we stopped in Pritchett to show how small-- very small-- towns worked.

Aside from the schools, where every girl in the high school played volleyball (there were four seniors that year), we showed town life. We had to show that once the sun went down, life pretty much came to a screeching halt.

So we took this four-hour exposure of Pritchett's grain elevators on the flat countryside with the stars providing the only action. What you see are star trails as they move around the North Star. You'll see few lights from cars crossing through town.

Pritchett is one of my favorite places. Quiet, friendly. I'll be returning soon to see how it's changed.

Hard frost this weekend

2008-10-19T15:00:54Z

The weather forecasters are predicting a hard freeze this weekend, so be prepared to find some artistic patterns on the car windows and some frost on the fallen leaves. Fall is my favorite time of year because of the beautiful colors, the temperatures and the hint that winter is not far behind (another good thing). Well, that and knowing I'll not have to cut any more grass.

I'll be headed north next week to find more color and expect to spend a day or two at Ricketts Glen State Park, my favorite spot for autumn photos. It's a hike down the gorge will all its water falls, but worth the effort. For more information about the park, click here

From Ricketts Glen, I'll travel into Canada for a week's vacation-- possibly leapfrogging over fall color.

To check for fall foliage maps from the Weather Channel, click here

Coal boat on Lake Erie

2008-10-12T02:30:13Z

Night-time photographs are among the most interesting, because they combine the physical aspects we always see and an element of time.

This photo is of a coal ship transporting its load to Hamilton, Canada, from Sandusky, Ohio, while passing under a bridge.

Pressing the camera lens onto a cabin window and exposing the film for about five minutes kept the ship crystal clear while blurring the overhead bridge, giving the illusion of action in a still photo.

So, this is where the ship was, and -- zip!-- this is where the ship is now.

It's easy, but makes for an interesting picture.

Weekend color in Canada

2008-10-07T09:39:56Z

While parts of York County have seen color changes (more in individual trees than locations), autumn has started its slow progression south.

In Ontario and Quebec over the weekend, the color I saw was most obvious east and north of Brockport, Ontario, and then south through the Adirondacks.

Many trees in New York haven't caught the autumn fire yet, including most in this picture. Contrast in the stark white birch tree accents the few red and yellow leaves that have made the change.

Ancient art of pumpkin jumping

2008-10-07T09:14:18Z

Without giving license to youngsters through the land, this is a photo taken years ago of one of the few sports that ESPN II hasn't yet covered.

Pumpkin jumping is the ability to jump from one pumpkin to another without squashing, breaking, cracking or otherwise destroying the season's most famous person, Jack O. Lantern.

This boy's parents ran a pumpkin farm and didn't seem to mind him hopping from one pumpkin to another. Appparently, he's become good enough at it that he knows which can be jumped and which ones will become mush.

Notice the angle at which the photo was taken. The background has been simplified, and the viewer's eye goes to what's important, not a busy background of trees, farms and fences. Bend your knees, give the viewer a scene other than what he'll see as he drives past.

A tip of the hat to Bill Engvall

2008-09-27T01:40:40Z

We've all seen signs like this. With apologies to comedian Bill Engvall, this is a "Here's Your Sign" entry.

As if a driver wouldn't notice that this road was closed. Duh.

Welcome to Indianapolis

2008-09-27T00:00:00Z

Indianapolis is the 13th largest city in the United States, and the second most populated state capital in the country, and somehow, you'd expect a more sophisticated welcome to the home of Peyton Manning, the Indy 500 and more soybean fields that you can imagine.

The state seems proudest of its breadbasket with this sign, something I came upon while on my way to an in-law reunion. Seeing humor in photos is another way to keep interest in pictures, and this one seems to fit-- Indianapolis and all its skyscrapers, welcoming visitors with its soybean fields.

Silhouettes of years past

2008-09-18T12:27:16Z

Splashing through the creek at York College could have been so much fun this summer; and you wished you could just forget about mortgage payments, gas prices, your job-- just for a moment.

Newspapers once used a lot of what we at the YDR call 'free art', that is, just photos that are fun, pretty, or unusual. Generally, however, newspapers have now steered away from this type of photo unless it goes with a story. By itself, it's too much 'fluff'. People want news, and photos that are linked only to those stories.

This photo was shot years ago on one of those miserable hot days in summer, when kids were finding ways to cool off. You see some interesting things just cruising around town...

Silhouettes are relatively easy to shoot, and often, especially with point and shoot cameras, you'll get a silhouette even when you don't want it. The light meter will read all the strong light from behind the subjects and adjust accordingly, giving the silhouette. Many cameras have a backlight mode which will allow more light into the camera, and put more detail in the subjects.

Breaking the rules, perfectly

2008-09-14T15:14:28Z

Someone once said you must know all the rules in order to break them all properly. That's probably true in any field, but certainly in photography.

One rule I've generally gone with is the Rule of Thirds, where the main subject is at the intersection of horizontal and vertical rules, dividing the photo in thirds. It seems to give photos more life, less static.

But this photo, which won a first place ribbon at the York Fair, has the main subject -- the flamingo's eye-- smack dab in the center. As an experiment, I cropped the photo different ways, taking the black upper left corner out, accentuating it, etc. None of them worked for me.

And that the picture is nearly perfectly square isn't especially pleasing either, but rules are made to be broken.

And this photographer knew the rules and broke them-- properly and perfectly.

The details count

2008-09-12T04:42:40Z

How often have you/me taken a picture of a wonderful scene, and it just doesn't 'make it'? It looks much better to your eye than in the camera.

On Monday, as I traveled through the backroads of southeastern York county, I found a serene pond, partially covered with lotus and lily pads. This late in the season, most of the flowers and color was gone. But there was a picture to be had, and as I often do, I obsessed about finding it. I spent hours staring at a single lily pad and a dragonfly (it could have been dozens of different 'flies). That's not like me; I have patience of a cocker spaniel puppy.

Found plenty of photos, made different by the fading sunlight, the dragonfly's exact position, the curling leaf.

And the pictures were interesting, including this one with the shadow of the dragonfly projected on the leaf below. It's still not as interesting as I saw. But without this shadow, a detail, the photo wouldn't be as strong.

There's tomorrow, always looking for the perfect photo. That's what keeps me going.
What pushes you to become a better photographer?

It's York Fair time, and life is good

2008-09-06T16:21:27Z

York Fair week is, in my mind, one of the best times of year, for a carload of reasons. It signals the end of a usually hot, miserable summer (my least favorite season), football season begins, autumn and all its color may be just a month away, depending which part of the country you visit.

But of course, it's Fair time. Photographs are everywhere-- kids joyfully fighting with a stick of cotton candy, the animals, the carnival workers and of course, the rides. I wouldn't pay the high prices they ask to just enjoy the ride, but to get a picture, now that's another story.

Instead of getting the usual off-ride, blurry night action picture of a ride, take a camera on the ride, hang on tight and start shooting. If you are traveling the same speed as the rider, you might get a blurry background (that's a good thing) and some terrific expressions, as in this photo taken years ago.

I'll be at the fair every chance I get. It'll be over too soon.