Landscape Photography in Black & White

There is something almost etherial about black & white images. Perhaps its the stark contrast between the dark and the light. Perhaps its all the shades of gray in between. Whatever it is, you can't help but be drawn into a black & white landscape image and almost feel that you were there in person. Color adds depth and feeling to an image but for me, black and white images can transport you to another place and time altogether.

McKinney Falls State Park
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/22 for 1/15th of a second at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik's Silver Efex Pro plug-in. Click on the image above for a larger version.

If you're like me and enjoy black & white photography then I urge you to check out Derek Shanks work on his blog. Its some of the best black & white work I've seen in years!

Posted in Photography Tagged: Black and White Photography, Canon, Canon 50D, Landscape Photography

Lightroom 2 on a 13″ MacBook Pro

As most of you know, Apple made some major product announcements earlier this week at their worldwide developer conference. While the new iPhone 3Gs looks very cool, it was the new 13 MacBook Pro that really caught my attention.

I've always liked the light-weight and small form factor of the my 13 MacBook, but really lusted after the more powerful graphics processor, larger hard drive and aluminum unibody construction found in the MacBook Pro models.

Now we have the best of both worlds in the new 13 MacBook Pro and I went ahead and ordered mine a few days ago. Setting it up and migrating all the programs and files from my old MacBook went perfectly and only took a few hours to complete.

And what a result! Lightroom 2 really flies on this machine and with the faster CPU & GPU, I don't hear the constant whine of the fan every time I start working in Lightroom. If you use Adobe Lightroom 2 on an older MacBook you really should look at the new 13 MBP. It's one sweet machine.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Apple, MacBook, MacBook Pro

Landschaft by Jürgen Heckel

Anime Art by Alla Tsyplakova

Landscape Photography – Columbus Tower

As many of you know, I love wandering around small Texas towns with my camera in hand. Each town I visit has a rich and varied history as well as some of the most wonderful architecture a photographer could ever ask for.

Columbus, Texas is no exception. After a serious fire gutted the town's livery stable and hotel in 1883, the county commissioners authorized construction of a round brick water tower, constructed from some 400,000 locally made bricks. The incredible brick walls in this tower were built almost three feet thick to support a metal water tank atop the two-story structure. Beneath it, the city's volunteer fire department had its office and fire fighting equipment. After the early 1900 s the water tower fell into disrepair and in 1926 the United Daughters of the Confederacy got county officials to agree to let them use the tower as their meeting place. It stands proudly there to this day as a wonderful historical marker.

Tower in Columbus, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM hand-held. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/6.3 for 1/640th of a second at ISO 200 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik's Color Efex Pro plug-in. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Landscape Photography, Texas Towns

Self Assignment – BMW / Mini Cooper Autocross

After reading all of Scott Kelby's recent racing posts, I thought I'd give myself a little self assignment and shoot the BMW / Mini Cooper Autocross event this Sunday morning. My brother-in-law is driving in this event and it will give me a chance to try something new in my photography.

An autocross is not exactly racing. It consist of timed laps around a course laid out using traffic cones. The objective is to drive around the course without hitting any or missing any gates. The main attraction of autocrossing is that it allows drivers to compete in a safe environment. Not only are the speeds low (generally under 60 miles per hour) but the course is also laid out so that the only obstacles are traffic cones.

I'll try to post a few shots early Monday morning before I leave for the Texas Hill Country for a few days of travel, landscape and nature photography. There might be a wee bit of Guinness involved next week as well!

Posted in Photography Tagged: Racing Photography

Travel Day Post

I apologize for not posting something new but Monday was a travel day and I had no real chance to shoot. So I'm posting a sunset image taken last year at my favorite spot in Sugar Land, Texas.

By the time you read this post I should be photographing Gorman Falls in the Colorado Bend State Park, near Lampasas, Texas. It's a 2 mile hike to the falls and if everything goes as planned I should be there at first light. First I have to drive about 30 miles of winding dirt road in the utter dark. And I mean DARK!

I had planned on hiking the trail to the falls late Monday afternoon but the 100F heat made me think twice. My hydration/camera pack from ClikElite only holds 1 liter of water and that wouldn't last for 2- 3 hours in the scorching Texas sun. Better to leave a first light when the temperature's around 75F.

Water Tower Sunset - Sugar Land, Texas
Copyright 2008 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 36mm, f/9 for 1/6th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 using Nik's Silver Efex Pro plug-in. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Landscape Photography

Landscape Photography – Break Some Rules!

Chase Jarvis tweeted earlier today, "if you can't take a picture the way you want, it's probably because you're playing by the rules". Now that I've shamelessly plugged his blog and Twitter feed, here's the deal. He is exactly right!

Everyone knows that in landscape photography, its bad form to place the horizon line directly in the center of the frame. If fact, if you open any recently published photography book you'll find this "rule" cited time and again as a way to prevent beginners from shooting boring landscape images. I'm going to be completely honest here folks. This rule stinks and should be thrown out the window in my (not so) humble opinion.

Sunset Over Lake Lyndon B. Johnson
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM tripod mounted. The exposure was taken at 40mm, f/13 for 0.8 seconds at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done entirely in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Here's a better rule as taught by folks like Moose Peterson. "Regardless of where the horizon is, a good landscape images needs an interesting foreground, middle-ground and background to pull the viewer into the image". In this image the water is the foreground element, the trees are the middle-ground elements and the hills in the distance and the dramatic sky are the background elements. I framed this image to pull the viewer in from the water to the trees, to the mountains and then to the sky. Notice that the actual horizon is almost dead-center.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Landscape Photography

ColoRing Furniture by Jo Nagasaka

Jo Nagasaka, the president of Schemata Architects, designed this magnificent collection of wooden furniture called ColoRing.

See more on weezbo.com

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60+ Free Responsive WordPress Themes

During the past few years, many web designers have adapted responsive web design for their websites. Responsive web design is a web design approach which aims at creating web sites which can provide optimum viewing experience over a wide range of devices (with different screen sizes). Nearly all the clients these days demand for responsive layouts so that it can display ideally on all types of devices. In this showcase we are going to feature many amazing Free Responsive WordPress Themes. This collection will be regularly updated with new themes. You can freely customize and use these themes to create a new WordPress site or to change the theme of your existing site. It's a treat for the WordPress users.

Download All Free WordPress Themes Here

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5 Zesty Resume Layouts to Call the Attention of Recruiters

Still not getting any feedback regarding your recent job application? The problem may not lie with your credentials and qualifications but it could possibly be with the curriculum vitae that you are using. Sure you may be the most qualified candidate technically but that edge could be easily undermined if the details are not well-presented and styled to call the attention of the person that you intend to see it. Regardless if you're the best person for that certain position, you won't even get that job interview invitation if you can't pursue recruiters to glance at that piece of document that has that valuable information. It has to be unique and visually inviting to read. If you need some creative designs for your CV then here are 5 great layouts that you may like:

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