I would recommend reading it through as it is a quick and easy read. Once you have read it in its entirety I’m sure you will start planning your D.C. photography trips and use this book as a reference guide for your trip and future trips to D.C.
Angela goes over the locations she recommends in the National Mall area, but also includes some lessor know locations near the National Mall that are great photo opportunities. Even has a few that are just outside of the D.C. area.
She includes transportation information, the best time to shoot at the location, some of her photography from that location, and imparts some local knowledge of the area.
If you are planning a photography trip to Washington D.C. and want to know the best times to go to a location, how to get there, and how to get a different photo that everyone else in D.C. then this book is for you.
Currently sold only through Amazon. You can get your Kindle or Paperback
I was up in Hershey PA over the weekend at my high school’s homecoming activities so, of course, I had my camera with me.
After meeting up with all my fellow Milts, I wanted to get a sunset picture from Founders Hall on the school campus. So I walking out onto the patio to get some shots of the sunset that was directly ahead of me. Things were not that impressive due to lack of clouds and started heading back inside, but then I saw this interesting look and had to take a picture.
Sunset reflection on the glass of a door and the chandelier from inside
Yes, not the most impressive picture I know and it is far from a perfect edit yet, but it is more to the point of don’t forget to look around as the best picture might be behind you, or beside you and not where you thought it might be.
Edited this one in On1 Photo Raw 2017 using layers and the develope module and it is composed of 2 images so I could get the complete chandelier in this image. Each image had a different part of the chandelier showing due to the how the lights were cycling.
It is going to take me awhile to go through all my images as I have over a 1000 bracketed photos to go through to see which are the best, but here is a quick edit I did with the full eclipse in the background and the various stages in the foreground.
One note as I have to switch around the order of the images. Currently, the shadow timeline goes right to left instead of left to right. Meaning, the start of the eclipse is currently on the right and goes to the left.
This was just a quick piece together and my no means the final version.
Enjoy
Update: Here is the final version polished up and the order is now right to left.
A panel of the moon path across the Sun and the total eclipsed sun with corona and Bailye’s Beads during the Great American Eclipse of 2017
Although Light City Baltimore has been running for a few days now, I have not had a chance yet to go down and check out all the wonderful light art that is on display. From the pictures I’ve seen and posts I’ve read, it is much larger and even better this year.
Here’s hoping I can get some great shots like these from last year’s Light City Baltimore
On a recent Sunday, I planned on getting up early to get Sunrise pictures. This is not something that I do easily as I am not a morning person. I normally do not get up until well after the sun has risen as I work the later shift at work.
Well on this Sunday I did my best the night before to check what the forecast would be. Based on what I saw I thought it was worth getting up early and driving down to the Baltimore Inner Harbor to get the sunrise as it had the potential to be a spectacular sunrise.
I arrived early enough to find a nice cloud deck above, the water was still, and there was a small sliver of an opening on the horizon. Well, the appointed time for the sun to come up came and went and it never made an appearance on the horizon as the clouds were just too thick. So my chance of an epic sunrise was a bust.
So I made the best of disappointment and decided let’s see what else I can get photos of. I ended up driving to four different locations this day as it was one of those rare warm days in February. Here are some of the pictures I got on my 102-mile round trip.
Since the water was still in the Inner Harbor tried my best to get a few reflection shots. Here is one of them.
West side of the Inner Harbour on a still Sunday morning
It was so early I was able to get a shot of the visitors center without all the folks walking around. Sometime I’ll actually be down at the Inner Harbor when the visitors center is open so I can go in. It is supposed to be a very nice visitors center.
Baltimore Visitors Center
Next Stop, the Under Armour Corporate Headquarters and the pier nearby.
Seagulls on the Pier
I don’t have too many usable pictures from this location as I was testing out some manual lens that I had acquired. Seems I need to learn a few things about them still as things didn’t turn out as I had hoped for some images.
Off to North Point Park to meet up with a photography buddy, but along the way, I took a picture of some street art that I have been meaning to get for some time.
Unknown artist’s work only Key Highway
Last spot of the day, Fort Howard Park
Still working on editing some of the other images, but found this one dark room in one of the bunkers that had some artwork painted on the back and had some fun going a little overboard on the editing as I though it just lending itself to the wild side. So here are 2 different versions.
The first is a standard HDR shot.
BY THE LAW OF THE SISTERHOOD OF THREE AS IS DONE TO THE INNOCENTS THRICE SHALL IT BE
I didn’t like the fact that the words were covered so I’m trying my hand at some photoshop techniques. Still learning and this is my first attempt at combining 2 shots together to get the words. Not quite happy with this version yet, but still figuring things out.
Let me know what you think of this or any of the images in this post
Took a little photo trip recently out to Cunningham Falls in Thurmont Md with a friend of mine.
I don’t get out as much as I should, but my partner in crime for the Photography Nation Magazine, Sean Simmons, came out my way so I had no excuse not to go. I’m still working on the photos, but here is a quick preview with an iPhone panorama of the top of Cunningham Falls, near Thurmont Md.
Cunningham Falls, Md. Click on the image to view full size
I’m still editing the rest of the images that I took that day and will post some more here along with on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/markdoddphotography/ If you visit my page, don’t forget to like and share the page and the post. I’d appreciate it.
The Magazine
As I mentioned Sean Simmons of Clear Elite Photography and I have teamed up to create a new magazine. We had our first issue released this month. Check it out.
I’m still learning how to use my new camera and one night recently I while I was out walking the dogs I saw that the moon was setting and Venus was nearby. So after taking the dogs back inside, I thought I would see how well the new camera did in low light for astrophotography. I think this is the first time I’ve actually been able to capture the dark side of the moon clearly. Although a larger lens would be nicer next time to get a closer shot. This is the result of my trial. I used Macphun’s Luminar to edit the photo, but it didn’t need many adjustments as it was almost perfect right out of the camera.
Get it at the launch pricing for a limited time of $59 for new customers and $49 for existing Macphun customers. That’s a $10 savings off of the retail prices
So give it a try as I’m sure you will realize this is the best photo editor for the Mac for beginner to Advanced users.
Once you download and install Luminar, you will get access to a series of 26 videos showing you how to make the most of Luminar’s features and options.
Here is my first photo edited with Luminar and one of the first I took with my Fujifilm X-T2
Got up early to meet up with a friend at a recommended spot at Centennial Park. For someone that is usually not up before sunrise since I work the later shift in my office, getting up before the sun does is out of the ordinary for me. But I did it and it was well worth it I think.
Didn’t get to meet up with my friend since he had gotten a new phone and forgot to set his alarms, but he picked a great spot for a sunrise. We caught up later at another spot which I’ll post photos from later on.
The Sunrise
The water was fairly still so I was able to get a great reflection of the sunrise and the trees. Aurora HDR 2017 did a great job processing this 3 bracket shot.
Folks out enjoying the park in the early morning.
A peacefull morning out in a canoe in Centennial Lake in Columbia.Taking a break from running to take a picture of the view
Another year another calendar month that features my photo
Humbled again to have two of my pictures publish in the JHFCU 2017 calendar. This year I ended up as the main photo for the month of August and in October as a side photo. No matter where I am I’m always grateful for the exposure, so be sure to get your copy and look for my photos.
The image selected for the Month of August.
United States Lightship Chesapeake
The United States Lightship Chesapeake in the Inner Harbor Baltimore during the City Light Festival in 2016
Went on a Photowalk in Havre de Grace with a group of new and old friends.
A photographer friend of mine (Sean Simmons of Clear Elite Photography) set up a Photowalk in Havre de Grace for this past Sunday morning and invited his followers and the members of our Facebook Group All Inclusive Photography Club, of which you are welcome to join. We all meet up at the Concord Point Lighthouse and got ready for the sun to rise. Had a great time talking with friends and taking pictures. I would recommend anyone to go check out the lighthouse and surrounding area as it is a beautiful place to take pictures in the morning. Or any other time of day for that matter.
The Concord Point Lighthouse in Havre de Grace is someplace I’ve told myself I need to go to and photo the sunrise for some time now, but I never seem to get myself motivated enough to get out of bed the hour or two before sunrise to get there in time. I finally did it this past weekend, mostly due to Sean setting up the Photowalk and knowing several of the people who would be going on the Photowalk. So I dragged myself out of bed at 4:30am and hit the road a little after 5am. It is a little over and an hour drive from my house and I was hoping I wouldn’t miss the sunrise or the sky just before the sun comes over the horizon. I just made it in time.
I think all that went and I had a great time. I am amazed by the photos folks have posted in our group from the Photowalk so far. We had a variety of folks with different skill levels and various types of camera equipment from a cell phone to DSLR and Mirrorless cameras. I think this variation of folks is what makes our group great and made for a great Photowalk.
This is what I hope is the first of many photos from this trip as I have many yet to edit. So I”m sure you will be seeing more.
This photo was taken with the HDR method using 3 brackets from -1,0,+1 in exposure and combined in Aurora HDR Pro
Here is a picture edited by Sean Simmons of most of the group that got up early on Sunday to get out there and get their best photo of the sunrise and more.
