Vito Paratore Photography » new jersey

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!

Whitesbog, New Jersey

Vito Paratore — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:01:10 +0000

After a few uninspired, busy weeks, I made time to go shooting this past Friday and Saturday. On Friday, I took a trip to scout out Batsto Lake not too far from Tuckerton, New Jersey. It looks like it has some promise, although bug spray is a must. I found 3 ticks on me after walking for less than 15 minutes. I went back to Whitesbog for sunset and found a few good spots for future photos.

On Saturday I went back to Whitesbog for sunset. I found this small group of stumps in one of the bogs. Because the bog is so shallow, the water is very still, making for awesome reflections of the sky. Here is what I ended up with:

Manasquan Reservoir: Foggy Trail (canon 400D rain gear)

Vito Paratore — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:21:59 +0000

Last Friday, I was able to leave work earlier than usual. It was raining, but this glorious fog was appearing because of the rain. I decided to go to the reservoir to take some fog shots. My camera, the Canon 400D, is not weather-sealed, so I had to find a way to keep it dry. I prepared a garbage bag for the job like so:

1) Placed the garbage bag over the camera, judging where the lens would be on the bag.

2) Cut out a lens-sized hole in the bag, and positioned the bag just over the lens.

3) Having the bag slightly overlap the filter I had on the lens (circular polarizer), I put the lens hood on, catching the garbage bag and pulling it into the hood slots for a better ‘seal.’

This way definitely is not perfect, but it sure is cheap. As long as the garbage bag stays tight in the lens hood slots, no water touches the lens or camera. Unfortunately, this prohibits me from changing lenses, therefore I must decide more specifically what I want to shoot before I go.

If any of you readers have a different or better way to keep your camera dry, let me know and I will try it out and post the results.

Featured: Loch Ness Driftwood

Vito Paratore — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:28:58 +0000

This is one of my favorite photos from the Manasquan Reservoir. When I showed this to one of my friends, they mentioned that the largest piece of driftwood looks like the Loch Ness monster. I had not noticed it before then, but I see it every time I look at the photo. It took quite a while after sunrise for the sun to finally burn off the thick fog. I have been hoping for fog this thick again ever since.

Manasquan Reservoir: Ice Abstract

Vito Paratore — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:31:43 +0000

Last Friday evening, I was able to go out to photograph the ice that was potentially forming at the reservoir. The ice was still thin, so the small waves of water moving underneath the ice made interesting sounds. Sounds that would have made a star trail trip later that night very creepy (it was overcast, so star trails were not possible that night). When I saw this area of ice, I decided to try some more abstract compositions and play with small depth of field ideas. The late afternoon sunlight gives definition to the texture of the ice and color to the reflections.

Interior Photography: Kitchen 2

Vito Paratore — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:21:05 +0000

Here is another shot from my interior shoot on Saturday. The large area of countertop in the bottom left-hand corner will be a good spot to put a logo or other information for an advertisement. As with the last shot, I had to correct perspective and distortion in photoshop to keep the lines straight and level.

Interior Photography: Kitchen

Vito Paratore — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:04:47 +0000

Today, I attempted to photograph a kitchen. The first thing I found out is that 28mm (equivalent) is not very wide at all and I had problems fitting everything in. The second thing I found out I noticed on my computer a little bit ago. The barrel distortion on my wide angle lens reaks havoc with the walls and cabinets. With some perspective and distortion correction in Photoshop, the end result is not bad, at least for a first attempt.

Manasquan Reservoir: Star Trails 4.1

Vito Paratore — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:03:03 +0000

Yesterday, I found time to remove the airplane trails from the image. It was interesting to see how many airplanes flew by during one of the thirteen three-minute exposures.

Manasquan Reservoir: Star Trails 4

Vito Paratore — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 06:00:17 +0000

As mentioned in yesterday’s entry, I was able to take two trips to the reservoir: Last night and Wednesday night. Last night, I was more successful in lighting the foreground. I used a Maglite flashlight to “paint” the foreground with light. I used the stacking technique in both attempts, which gave me a bit of flexibility with the foreground. I used the flashlight on the first and last exposures I took; that way if one was too bright or two dark, I had the other one as a backup. It turned out I exposed too much light on the first frame, so I used the last frame for the foreground.

For this photo, I was facing a few degrees west of south, so my trails were longer. I got to the spot earlier as well, so my total, stacked exposure was twice as long as Wednesday night’s (approx. 42 minutes). I was amazed at the number of airplanes that flew over during that 42 minutes. Most of them did not expose on the image, but you can see a few there now. For any prints I may make of this shot, I will probably clone them out.