Photo of the Week: March 24, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I don't have any formal training in photography. I learned at a school called, "What happens if I try this?" So often students come to me with camera in hand and ask, "What does this setting do?" While I can easily explain the answer, I usually tell them to take a picture, then change the setting and compare the results. Even without a basic understanding of the photographic principles that govern these different options, this is an excellent way to learn how to maximize the potential of your camera.

This week's photo features a technique I discovered while looking at another photographer's portfolio – also an excellent way to learn and expand your personal creative vision. In photoshop, I selected each of the individual color channels and applied a significant blur. I had to fool around a bit with the amount of blur until I arrived at something I liked. Then I made slight adjustments to the brightness and contrast. That's all. It took me less than a minute to convert the photo from a nice flower shot to a personal statement – a unique holiday greeting with an old-fashioned, colorized feel. Of course, it helped to have a few sheets of shmura matzah on hand as well. Chag Sameach Ukasher. Happy Passover.

Technical Data: Nikon D300, 70-200 zoom at 102 mm, f5.6 at 1/500sec.

Photo of the Week: Mar. 17, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Waterfalls are surely one of nature's superstars. The relentless power, the roar and the cool mist perform a ceaseless sensual symphony. One never tires of watching. The most beautiful falls exist in extreme environments and finding a suitable shooting location often poses great danger to the photographer. Cliff edges, slippery rocks and water spray all imperil the photographer and his equipment while hunting for photos alongside a plummeting river.

This week's photo was taken at the base of Tachana Falls, part of the Ayun Stream which runs near Israel's northernmost border in Metulla. Compared with this shot, taken moments later on the same day last spring, this interpretation of the 20-meter falls offers a more imaginative perspective on the setting. For one, we don't see in silhouettes. Only the camera does. Secondly, the rushing water has a silky look to it, created by a slow shutter speed. Just as the constant flow of water carves a more dramatic setting for the river, the photographer can push the limits of his or her vision to create more impressive images of the natural world.

Technical Data: Nikon D300, 12-24 zoom at 24 mm, f20 at 1/15sec.

Photo of the Week: Mar. 12, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I can still recall the first time one of my photographs became more than just a picture of something. It was a simple shot of a weathered, wooden fence post that I published in a local newspaper. A reader wrote me to say he enjoyed the photo because it evoked memories of his childhood growing up in Southern Oregon.

This shot reminded me of the first home we lived in here in Israel. The garden was dominated by a large fig tree which bore plentiful fruit every summer. When we visited the home prior to buying it, our realtor pulled a few ripe figs off the tree and we devoured them with great pleasure. It was an unfair sales ploy, but we enjoyed the fruit for many years. I took this shot on the Golan Heights last spring while prowling around the Ayit Waterfall. I used a rocky hillside opposite the tree as a dark background, which makes the leaves – no bigger than the upper part of my thumb – pop into the foreground. The early phases of spring growth are fleeting, but a photograph can preserve a moment that – like a childhood memory – is too quickly gone.

Technical Data: Nikon D300, 18-200mm lens at 200mm, f5.6 at 1/500 sec.

Photo of the Week: Feb. 25, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Before I moved to Israel, I don't believe I once imagined taking a hike on a trail made of water. In our desert climate, where it is hot and dry most of the year, water walks are very popular and a refreshing way to get close to places we don't frequently experience. I admit that toting $5,000 worth of equipment over slippery rocks while taking uncertain steps to unknown depths sets my heart racing, but I've done stupider things in pursuit of my art.

This shot was taken in the Snir Stream, a tributary of the Jordan River flowing through the Galilee near Kiryat Shemona. I cannot think of another photograph I've taken of moving water in which the water flows away from the camera. Waterfalls, rivers, rushing tides and gushing rain: the water always moves down and towards the camera. So I like this shot just because it's different and because the colors, especially anything in the sage family, are among my favorites. I stopped down to f22 and exposed for 1/2 second to capture both the movement of the water and turn it white, which creates a nice contrast to the surrounding brown and black rocks and tree stumps. Because many people are afraid or unable to hike through the stream, there are ample opportunities for quiet contemplation. You just may have to get your feet wet first.

Technical Data: Nikon D-300, 28-105 zoom @ 28mm, ISO 100, 1/2 second at f22.

Photo of the Week: Feb. 18, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: The coffee was cold; the companionship, warm. The light: fleeting yet divine. I could watch the sun rise every morning in the desert, bearing witness to the land slowly shedding its blanket of darkness, layer by layer. I've photographed this region of the Judean Desert above the Darja Canyon on four occasions. On my first visit, the sky was full of perfect puffy white clouds, but it was mid-morning and with my family in tow, I couldn't venture off in search of the ideal view. Inspired by that day's performance, I've returned at sunrise on three other occasions, each time looking for a new interpretation of one of Israel's classical looks.

On the morning I shot this photo last month, my hiking partner and I climbed a short hill not far from the access road to watch the day awaken. The most interesting view was to the west, with the rising sun at my back. As the sun crested the mountains in Jordan, the interplay of light and shadow revealed the contours of the peaks and valleys before us. Often, I find myself making quick, spontaneous decisions in the frenetic few minutes that I know the light will be kind to the camera. In this case, as I studied the expanse of desert in front of me, my mind switched modes of thinking, from composing the photo to simply capturing the texture of the scene unfolding in the distance.

"We seldom capture in a single photograph the full expression of what we see and feel," noted photographer Sam Abell. We can, however, move closer to that ideal by following our vision to our hearts and on to a truer expression of what we are feeling.

Photo of the Week: Feb. 11, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: The curtain is rising on spring in Israel as the landscape emerges from its winter watering to a drama of color that becomes an event for many Israelis. While wildflower viewing is certainly a feast for the eyes, Israelis also view the spectacle with a deep appreciation for the miracles of God's handiwork. Someone wrote to me recently that Israel is a small country with a big attitude. That's certainly true, and nowhere is that attitude more evident than in our affection for the country's natural beauty.

This week's photo was captured courtesy of a hot tip from a friend whose home overlooks this vineyard. Like all landscape photos, the effort lay in scouting the location and arriving at the proper time of day, in this case, moments before the first rays of morning sunlight struck the land. There is a softness to this first light that often lasts only a couple of minutes but which makes all the difference in producing the ethereal quality of the image. These pink wildflowers, the Egyptian Campion, grow in several regions of the country, including the Judean Mountains south of Jerusalem, where this photo was taken.

I composed the picture using two guideposts. First, I wanted to stagger the vines in a way that leads the eye from the front to the rear of the photo. Secondly, I included some trees and background to give additional context to photo's setting. For an excellent resource on Israeli wildflowers, including a comprehensive library of photos sortable by flower color plus interesting history and trivia, visit www.flowersinisrael.com.

Photo of the Week: Feb. 3, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: This week's photo falls into the category of "when life gives you lemons." Walking along the shore of the Red Sea in Eilat last month, I looked skyward and frowned at the thick clouds enveloping the region and scuttling chances for an eventful afternoon shoot. I paused to sit on a cement wall at water's edge and removed a persimmon from my camera bag, peeled away the skin with a pocket knife, and considered my options. Then I looked down at my feet.

I think the most successful artists are those who learn to see what's closest to them, and who are not in constant search of life's grandeur. I often tell my students good photographs can be found anywhere, and frequently within an arm's length of where they are standing at that moment. I hadn't thought about these thousands of colored rocks and I had no idea they existed until I chanced to spot them.

Glistening and clean in the tidal action, these rocks are a visual symphony, and it wasn't hard to find a grouping that included a pleasing range of colors, sizes, and shapes. And here's how I made the lemonade, with assistance from the clouds: Bright colors look richer on overcast days, when there is little direct sunlight to bleach their hues. Appropriately, I pulled my close-up (macro) lens from my bag, snapped it onto my D-300 and held it above this small sampling of beach, careful to keep the camera parallel to the ground to preserve edge to edge sharpness. Remaining open to something new led me to the gate of good fortune.