Jul
2
2010
New Article Posted on: How to Make HDR Photos.

For those of you who liked my picture of the MidHudson Bridge from inside the Stone walkway and would like to know how this image was made I have posted an article on creating HDR Images. This article details the process that I used to create this image.
How to Make Your Own HDR Photos
no comments | tags: HDR
Mar
15
2010

The Mid Hudson Bridge (Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge) is an often used symbol of the Hudson Valley. This majestic suspension bridge connects Poughkeepsie and Highland New York. At the center of the bridge proudly hangs a large American flag. The bridge is illuminated at night by colored lights, which can be seen from drivers on route 9. The patterns of the lights are changed throughout the year with different themes.
Parallel to the bridge is a historic railroad bridge. The railroad bridge was recently converted to a Walkway Over the Hudson. Several years ago, during the restoration process I got the chance to go on the railroad bridge to take photographs. The opening of the new walkway was part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the Hudson River.

Another part of the celebrations was Bridge Music, a music project by a friend and mentor Joseph Bertolozzi. Bridge Music is a compilation of songs that were composed entirely of sounds produced by the bridge. With assistance from the bridge authority, he collected recordings from various parts of the bridge from the suspension cables to inside of the towers. After amassing a large library of sounds, he composed them into a number of distinct songs.

Last spring I stopped by Waryes Park, which is right at the base of the bridge. It was the first warm weekend and the ice had started to melt and there was a strong ice flow. On that day I captured these photographs of a tug boat pushing a barge up the river towards Albany.



no comments | tags: Bridge Photographs, Bridge Photos, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley Photographs, Mid-Hudson Bridge | posted in Landscapes, Travel
Mar
1
2010

This past weekend while my friends and family were digging out from Snowicane 2010 and hoping to get power back, I was out taking pictures of flowers at Plant Delights. Plant Delights is a Nursery in Raleigh, NC with a Juniper Level Botanic Gardens. Several times during the year the year they hold an open house, where anyone can tour their gardens and greenhouses.
These are some of the photos I took while walking around their immaculately maintained grounds.
no comments | posted in Flowers and Other Plants, Landscapes
Feb
23
2010

These photographs are from my trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. After several weeks of cold and snow, we had a nice sunny and relatively warm weekend. Of course no trip to Myrtle Beach is complete without going to the beach and seeing the ocean. So before I headed back home I stopped by the beach to take some photographs.
As it was February there were not many people on the beach, although there were a lot of seagulls. After taking photographs of the seagulls for about a half an hour the sun started to go down and I was able to capture these shots of a beautiful ocean sunset.
no comments | tags: beach, Myrtle Beach, ocean, ocean sunset, seagulls, South Carolina, sunset | posted in Landscapes, Wildlife Photographs
Feb
18
2010

These are photos that I took of some Crested Wood Partridges. These birds are native to the SouthEast Asia. They are near threatened because of habitat loss.
The male Crested Wood Partriges have a bright Red Crest or Crown on the top of their heads and has darker feathers than the female.
The female Crested Wood Partridge dose not have crest, but has more brightly colored feathers on her body.
The background of these images were converted to grayscale to emphisize the beautiful coloring of these partridges feathers.
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Male Wood Partridge
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Female Wood Partridge
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Male Wood Partridge
no comments | tags: Crested Wood Partridges, Wood Partridge | posted in Color Accents, Wildlife Photographs
Feb
8
2010

I recently took a trip to the Museum of Life and Science, in Durham, with the Raleigh Outdoor Photography Club. The main attraction that we went there for was the Magic Wings butterfly house. This exhibit is one the largest butterfly houses in the world. These are some of the photographs I took on this trip.
no comments | tags: butterflies, butterfly, Butterfly House | posted in Wildlife Photographs
Dec
10
2009

This summer E. Carrol Joyner Park was opened in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The park is close to where I work, so on nice days I enjoy eating my lunch there and taking a short stroll around the park.
There Several original structures stand on the grounds of the park, including the old barn and the log cabin featured in these shots. These structures have colorful red tin roofs and clay floors. The sunlight was perfect the day that I took these to capture these rich colors of the old barn and log cabin.
no comments | tags: clay floor, E. Carrol Joyner Park, Joyner Park, log cabin, North Carolina, old barn, red tin roof, Wake Forest | posted in Landscapes
Dec
6
2009

As I have been getting a lot of compliments on my color accents I decided to go through some of my old photographs to see if there were any images that would be improved by color accenting.
I came across these photographs that I took at the Locus Grove Morse Estate several years ago and thought the strong red color of these flowers would be excellent for this. I also love the colors in the flower bud and the details in these shots.
no comments | tags: Bee, Flower Bud, Flowers and Bees, Red Flower | posted in Color Accents, Wildlife Photographs
Dec
4
2009
ApertureRing.com participated in a Charity Art Show at The Factory’s in Wake Forest, NC on Friday, on December 4th. The show is hosted by The Red Rooster Gallery. Proceeds from this event went to needy children at a local orphanage, the Masonic Home for Children.
no comments | tags: Charity Art Show | posted in Events and Exhibits
Nov
30
2009

Over this summer while spending the day exploring Falls Creek, I came across a small marshy area that was heavily populated with Damselflies. I was able to get in close and capture numerous closeups of these insects. There were two species of damselflies, Blue Fronted Dancers and Blue Ringed Dancers.
I color accented these photographs, isolating just the blue of these dragon flies. I retained the full color on a couple of these shots where the damselflies were on rocks that were caked with bright colored clay that contrasted the blue of the damsel files.
no comments | tags: Blue Fronted Dancer, Blue Ringed Dancer, Damsel Fly, Damselflies, Damselfly, Dragon Fly | posted in Color Accents, Wildlife Photographs