What drives us to improve? In the world of travel photography I've found that judged image competitions have been a continuous improvement journey for me. The quarterly competitions drive me to improve my skills behind the camera and in the digital darkroom.
Sure, sometimes the critique is painful, occasionally off the mark, but the rhythm of the competitions, evaluations, and feedback from others has helped me learn and improve and drive me to dig deeper and learn more.
Below are a series of images that I've used in competitions this year and some lessons learned from each. Some areas in which I experimented this year have been creating panoramas, Images from moving ships, and capturing moments that tell a story.
Panoramas
One area I've continued to explore is capturing panoramas in different situations and times of day. These panoramas are multiple images stitched together, sometimes each image is a blending of 3 or more images to capture detail in very dark and bright areas of the image.
Sierra Nevada along 395 - The landscape along 395 in California can present some beautiful snow-covered mountain terrain. This compilation of 3 images shot at 70mm provides a sense of the size of the scene while providing good detail. One of the reasons to shoot a panorama.
San Diego Waterfront - this is about a mile of downtown San Diego at sunset blending 5 images in a panorama enables a high-resolution capture of a large scene. Each of the 5 segments was an HDR set using 3 different exposure settings. Then each segment was merged into the panorama. These images were taken handheld from a moving ship and post-processed together.
Whitter Alaska - this panorama of two merged images enabled me to capture most of the Whitter Harbor Area in a scene. Fishing boats depart the harbor, in front of the harbor, with the low clouds and mountains providing a background that gives you a sense of the place.
NYC Skyline from the harbor. Sometimes people ask what is the best camera. Not important in my view. It’s the one you have in your hand. These two images were taken with my iPhone, stitched together in Photoshop, and post-processed.
Sydney Harbor Bridge - this panorama was done handheld from a moving ship in Sydney Harbor two images combined to capture the bridge and skyline during blue hour. Each image was a blend of 3 different exposures to capture the city lights and the night sky.
Images while moving
All of these images were captured handheld, from a moving platform on water. Most of these images were also multiple exposures blended together in post-processing to capture a wide range of lighting conditions in the scene. This is very common in sunrise and sunset images.
Portland Head Lighthouse, Portland Maine - departing Portland Harbor going out to sea we were presented with some setting sun streaming below the clouds with an approaching storm.
St Matthias Church, Dobrota, Montenegro as seen from the Bay of Kotor looking south. Handheld photos from a moving ship can be challenging on a cloudy day. The light is changing, and the ship is moving, so setting a fast enough exposure when using a longer lens is my priority. Without focus, you don't have a picture. In these situations, I select shutter priority to ensure I have the shutter speed for my 70 to 300 mm lens and then select an ISO to give me enough latitude on aperture.
Fjordlands National Park, New Zealand - Sunrise, clouds, mountains, and light rays always seem to make stunning scenes. This capture was done from a moving ship, handheld, and was a set of three different exposures blended together. This blending allows you to capture the shadows and the bright areas of the image.
Cape Mudge Guardian, Canada - passing by Cape Mudge Light we had a beautiful sky and light on the shore illuminating the lighthouse. A set of three handheld images with different exposures were blended together in post-processing.
Sydney Opera House - at sunrise is a striking sight. We were lucky enough to be entering the port of Sydney at sunrise. I was able to capture an HDR set of 3 different exposures which I blended to create this image. I reacted to a couple of different angles of capture and exposure to get a collection of images which I was happy with. The more shooting I've done from a moving platform I've learned that setting a reasonable range for auto iso can be your friend it lets you respond quickly.
Sunsets at Sea - This image was captured in the South Pacific during 5 days at sea. Clouds, sunrises, and sunsets become your most common landscape image at sea. Shooting an HDR stack of 3 images to be post-processed was a default to be able to capture the large dynamic range of the light at the moment.
Church of San Pietro Porto Venere, Italy - While taking the ferry from Porto Venere to Cinque Terre you pass by the Church of San Pietro. It's an imposing structure from the ferry up to the Church. The foundation of the church of the walls adjacent to the sea are impressive. Sometimes Black and White can bring much more mood to an image. I often check my images to see if they should be in color or black and white.
Moments In Time
Moments in time are important. Sometimes we can capture a story in an image that tells the story of a particular moment in time. As a photographer who continues to learn I find the more I photograph the more I become aware of these moments in time. Occasionally you can plan to capture a story, often you have to react and capture the moment as it unfolds. Each year with practice I find I have become more attuned to capturing moments in time.
Channel Islands Harbor, CA - A contrast of calm waters, and threatening skies caught my eye. I was able to capture two small boats entering the harbor which added a little more to the story of the approaching storm and the safety of the harbor walls.
Morro Bay Rock, CA - Sometimes you plan a sunrise picture, and you take what nature gives you. An early morning storm, some low clouds in front of the rock, and a dredging vessel peaking from behind the rock on the right. The morning light provided us with some reflections.
Albuquerque Balloon Festival, NM - Early morning ascensions are breathtaking. You have balloons everywhere, the challenge is picking out the story you want. Capturing the subjects in the right light and having a backdrop of clouds.
St Paul deVence, France - when we were walking through town there were so many images to capture. But in the moment of capturing the image on the left, I knew why I was taking the image. It was to convert this daytime image to a nighttime scene. I wanted to experiment with this and knew this was a candidate for this type of postprocessing.
Quebec, Canada - Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church. Located in Place-Royale in Old Québec, Notre-Dame-des-Victoires (Our Lady of Victories) church is considered to be the oldest church built in stone and which still has its same walls in Canada. Construction started in 1688.
The lighting in the moment was striking to me when combined with the approaching storm. While the people in the foreground told a story of visitors, and weekend chores, and provided a sense of community.
Rome Italy - The Basilica of Saint Sabina (Latin: Basilica Sanctae Sabinae, Italian: Basilica di Santa Sabina all'Aventino) is a historic church on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy, built around 432 AD. It is a titular minor basilica and mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans.
In the moment this was captured I was fortunate enough to be alone, and it was almost noon outside providing interesting lighting within the Basilica. I was able to brace my arms to use a slower shutter speed to capture the light in this HDR Image of three different exposures combined in post-processing. To see some similar pictures you can go to https://www.mjmimages.net/journeys and then click on Mediterranean Button.
Laguna Seca, CA - 2023 Indy Car Grand Prix. Sometimes you turn around a look in a different direction and you see a story to capture. Which is exactly what happened during this race. In this case I reacted to the moment, took the picture, and knew it was an interesting story. I deliberately applied a pencil sketch effect to the image and then blended back parts of the original image at selective levels of opacity to create this image.
https://www.mjmimages.net/events and go to the Racing or sailing section to see some of my recent experiments.
Laguna Seca, CA - I was at turn 2 at Laguna Seca and was able to capture a series of images that showed how close the competition was at the moment. Yet the picture felt a little static to me. So I started to experiment with different painting effects to try to give a sense of motion and chaos that exists on the track at any given moment. This year I've done a series of images with different effects to try and capture the motion in the moment. https://www.mjmimages.net/events and go to the Racing or sailing section to see some of my recent experiments.
Channel Islands Harbor, CA - A moment on the beach, basking in the sunset. How could you not capture this image? We were both enjoying the warm sun on our face and a quiet moment.
Montana de Oro, CA - Long exposure on the rocks captured the motion of the sea and clouds, and the spray off the rocks.
You have exceptional talent and you must have had a good teacher in Bonnie❤️