A Suggestion

Real quick folks, check out my friend Rob's blog today. These two shots show how incredibly simple getting amazing landscape shots can be... if you're in the right place at the right time and have the right conditions... not so simple. Rob's got a great eye and continues to amaze me every time he posts something new. Scroll down a few and see that lightning shot. Wow. Well done, sir.

Have I Waited long Enough?

Well, as always, it's been a few months so I figured I should post some more. Hey, at least I'm consistent if nothing else, right??

OK, so earlier this summer I shot a few simple portraits of this great couple, Alex and Christine. They were so much fun! Happy, energetic, stylish, they made it easy to make them look their best! Only downside was the heat and humidity, but hey, it's Maryland in the summer, can't get around it, right? We shot one evening at Glenview Mansion, always a favorite place for portraits. It's simple, elegant and offers a variety of places to shoot.

Enjoy, and be sure to check out the new updated www.corybphoto.com, big changes! And as always, contact me for more info or to schedule your shoot today.

What the heck is an ephemeris??

According to Wikipedia: "An ephemeris (plural: ephemerides; from the Greek word ἐφήμερος ephemeros "daily") is a table of values that gives the positions of astronomical objects in the sky at a given time or times..."

Well, Stephen Trainor has created The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE), a desktop or iPhone application that let's you see the azimuth of both sun and moon rise and set, any day of year, anywhere in the world, overlaid on a Google map of your location. Or any location you choose. No more guess work when scouting a location on where the sun will rise. No wondering when the sun will come from behind a hill as it rises or sets, no wondering the moon phase when you're planning a night time star trails shoot. And it gets better, the iPhone application doesn't require a network connection to give basic data such as rise/set times and azimuth (the map overlay does require a network connection).

So how would you fit this in to your workflow? Well, say you're planning a photo trip to a relatively far away location, one you cant just drive to anytime you like. Undoubtedly, before you go you'll search flickr and other resources to see what other people have shot and get an idea for what the place looks like. You'll start to develop ideas where a good sunrise/sunset shoot may be. Simply search that location in the FREE desktop version of TPE and find out if the sun will rise right over that peak like you'd like it to, or if it will set at the open end of the valley. No more getting half way across the country and being disappointed, wishing you'd come later in the year (always a good excuse for another trip though!). When you get there and are out on foot scouting, simply use the iPhone app to re-confirm azimuths and times, check to see exactly where they fall on your view of the horizon using the iPhone's built on compass and you're done, location scouted. No stumbling in the dark and constantly re-positioning to get just the right spot, you figured it out the night before.

My only gripe with it is the desktop version, the map is too small. The data charts on the right are great, but I'd like to see a larger section of map at one time. The iPhone app isn't cheap, $8.99, high dollar in the world of iPhone apps. But I was more than willing to pay for it, as the desktop program is free and it's worth more to me than the $9 it costs (don't let that get our or they'll jack up the price!).

While the benefits to landscape photographers are plainly obvious, this could be well suited for scouting architecture and portrait shoots as well. And its just fun to play with f you're a geek like me.

Blog images are a screen grab of the desktop version and iPhone app isand are Copyright to it's creator.

Rain Delay

Oh look, it's been 3 months again. I'm done apologizing for never updating this thing, just accept that I'm not good at that, ok? So I went to Ricketts Glen State Park in PA the other day, should've stayed over night, but it was just raining too hard the whole time. I managed to make a few frames between waves of the downpour, but when I saw water dripping out of my camera, I knew it was time to cut my losses and come back another day. Another day soon, hopefully. This place is a waterfall photographers dream, dozens of falls and cascades in two canyons that join together at the bottom, not to mention all the forest scenic's that are possible. Definitely worth the trip, just go when it's not raining quite as hard and stay a day or three.

Youghiogheny on Ice!

Swallow Falls State Park never disappoints, even when its 45 degrees and ice melting everywhere. I made it out there last weekend, good thing, since this weekend seems even warmer! At least I got to put the new snowshoes to use. I was in an abstract sort of mood and shot these images of ice on the rocks. The park defintiely deserves more than a few hours on a Saturday afternoon; hopefully we'll get another good and cold weekend to head back out there for a day, there's more I want to shoot.

Look at that DC, it snowed and we all survived. Amazing. Can we please not panic at the forecast of snow from now on please? Thanks. I shot these at Black Hill Regional Park in upper Montgomery County. Didn't hike too far, snow was over my knees in most places, even deeper in some. Yeah, I know snow is white, not blue. But this snow did have a blue hue to it from the clear blue sky we had to day. For the B/w shot, I first made the HDR, then converted to black and white using SilverEfx PRo. And remember to look for us on Twitter @corybphoto. Enjoy the free day off tomorrow.

A little birdie told me

I heard Twitter is good, guess I'm a few years behind. Follow along @corybphoto