Vito Paratore Photography » Photography Thoughts

Sunrise in a Spring Lake Pavilion

Vito Paratore — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:02:28 +0000

Just recently, I came to the realization that it is shameful that I only have one photo from the beach on my website while I live within 25 minutes from the ocean. A few weekends ago, I drove around exploring the beaches closest to me, with the specific idea in mind of finding pavilions or gazebos with views of the ocean. Two Saturdays ago, I arose at 5am and drove around 30 minutes to Spring Lake, New Jersey to a pavilion I found in the scouting trip. It was a cold, crisp morning with crystal clear skies except for a thick cloud bank right on the horizon. This is my favorite from the trip. It is composed of three different exposures merged to HDR with photoshop. I then used Hugin, an open source panoramic stitching program, to straighten out the vertical posts in the pavilion.

Unsuccessful Sunrise at Shenandoah National Park

Vito Paratore — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:47:03 +0000

During the fourth weekend of October, my dad and I took a trip to Shenandoah National Park. We drove down there Thursday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon. My grandparents were already there since the Tuesday before, so we met them for dinner Thursday night. During dinner I talked my grandfather into getting up for sunrise with me.

We awoke nice and early and drove a few miles down the road to Thorofare Mountain Overlook. It was very foggy while driving to the spot, but we were hopeful that the sun might poke through at some point. Unfortunately, we sat at the overlook for over an hour and a half, seeing the wall of fog get slightly lighter and lighter, but no break in the clouds.

Before leaving, I decided to take some shots of this lone tree in the fog and one shot of my grandfathers Mazda Miata. I did not take it for artistic reasons but as a testament to how awesome my grandfather is. I don’t know many people willing to get up at 5am on their vacation and sit in a car looking at a wall of fog, with some vague hope of seeing the sun rise.

Dying Fern Macro, Newfoundland, PA

Vito Paratore — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:14:13 +0000

Last month, I went up to my grandparents house in the Poconos to visit them. They have a nice waterfall about 20 feet tall within a mile and a half walk from their house. I received a handheld GPS unit from my parents for my birthday, so I decided to map out the trip with it. Right in the beginning of the hike, I noticed that the ferns in the area were starting to die out, making them a nice light brown color. I love photographing ferns because of the patterns their leaves make. I found the fern shown below in a spot of sun that made it through the tree canopy, highlighting it nicely and causing the background to darken.

Snowy Mountain Summit Virtual Tour, Adirondacks, NY

Vito Paratore — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:03:44 +0000

After we made it back from the summit of Blue Mountain, Edward and I decided we could make it up Snowy Mountain. Snowy Mountain is a 3.9 mile hike with a 2100 foot climb. We brought lunch and plenty of water this time (we overlooked water on our hike up Blue Mt, not smart) and planned on breaking for lunch halfway up for a nice rest. The beginning of the hike was nice and easy, with a few minor climbs here and there, but generally just hiking to the mountain. Around halfway in, the trail starts climbing, getting steeper and steeper until a level spot, which we took wrongly for the top. It turned out the *real* climb was yet to come. I will never forget after thinking we were just crossing the ridge and would be coming up to the fire tower soon, looking up through a clearing in the trees and seeing the real summit another 800+ feet above us. This last part was probably the steepest climb I have ever hiked. After a couple stops for water, we made it to the top of a rock outcropping with a fantastic view. A short walk led us to the fire tower, which was at least twice as tall as the one on the top of Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain had a large clearing at the top, with the fire tower in the middle. Snowy Mountain had no clearing, so the fire tower had to be tall enough to clear the trees. After another inner battle of will, another climb to the top of the tower, I took this virtual tour.

Click here to view the virtual tour.

Blog Re-Kick Off!

Vito Paratore — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:30:18 +0000

Hello Everyone. After a long break, I am re-kicking off my blog. I have spent the last summer and early part of fall in an uninspired slump. I have not completely broken out of it, but I was able to take a few trips to get some new photos. Over the next couple weeks I am going to cover my trip to the Adirondacks in August, my trip to the Poconos in September, and my trip to Shenandoah National Park this past October.

Whitesbog, New Jersey: Abstract Macro

Vito Paratore — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:19:55 +0000

This past Saturday, I was finally able to carve out a block of time to photograph. I woke up early to drive there for sunrise, but the clouds were too thick to see the sun coming up. I was surprisingly okay with that, since lately I have wanted to take some abstract macros. I found a nice little oak (?) tree covered in water droplets and began to shoot it. While repositioning to try a new angle, I looked back into my viewfinder and found the composition below. I was not even shooting the grasses there, so I’m considering this shot a gift from God (Well, all my shots are…but this one in particular). In the uninspired photographic “slump” I have been in the past few weeks, I needed a little Divine intervention.

Sunset in Whitesbog, New Jersey

Vito Paratore — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:01:14 +0000

After deciding the clouds moving in were going to ruin the sunset, I started to drive home. What a misjudgment! About 5 miles down the road, I looked back to find great color and very dramatic light. I found a spot to turn around and went back. I missed the most dramatic light because of my impatience, but the sunset was still quite beautiful when I got back to take photos. I learned a key lesson of photography that day: Never leave before the sun is down!

Master Bathroom Virtual Tour

Vito Paratore — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:47:42 +0000

Here is another virtual tour from this house, featuring the large master bathroom. This one is a single exposure, but I took a second exposure that I could use to gain some more light inside the master bedroom.

Click on image to view virtual tour.

Kitchen Virtual Tour : Blended Exposures

Vito Paratore — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:00:14 +0000

After the conservatory, I moved my setup into the kitchen to take a virtual tour in there. In the photo in the last entry, you can see the kitchen area underneath the arches in the left-hand side. To properly expose the inside of the house, I had to increase the exposure enough to wash out the conservatory. To combat this, I took two exposures in each position, stitched them both seperately, and blended the equirectangular panoramas. I was able to figure out a way to stitch two identical (or near identical) panoramas with two different sets of photos. According to theory, the two sets of photos are of the same place taken at the same time without the camera moving, but without Hugin stitching both exactly the same, trying to blend the two exposures would be impossible. Here is my final result:

Click on image to view virtual tour.

Conservatory Virtual Tour

Vito Paratore — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:10:08 +0000

On Saturday, I took photos of a house a friend of mine built. This house features a large high-end kitchen, large living and dining room, and this gorgeous conservatory. This room screamed ‘virtual tour’ to me, so I set up and started shooting. Here is the result.

Click on image to view virtual tour.

I also took virtual tours from inside the kitchen area, in between the living room and dining room, and inside the master bathroom. I’ll post them as I finish processing them.