Digital Tip: Exposure Part III — Aperture

Posted on February, 2015 by Mark Turner

Aperture, the size of the hole letting light through your lens, is the third variable you control to get properly exposed photos. Last October I discussed ISO, the sensitivity of your camera’s digital sensor. In November I wrote about shutter speed and how your choice is a creative one as well as an exposure control.

Family Portrait — Haddock family portrait, photographed at f/8

Like shutter speed, the aperture you choose affects the “look” of your photo as well as the exposure so it’s both a creative and technical choice. The family portrait above was made at a middle aperture to balance depth of field and shutter speed with proper exposure.

You can think of the aperture as the size of the “light pipe” carrying photons through your lens. The larger the diameter of the pipe, the more photons go through, just as a 2” water pipe carries more than a ½” pipe. Continue reading →

Digital Photo Tip: Exploring Pattern and Texture

Posted on January, 2015 by Mark Turner

A few days ago, during our recent cold snap, I stuck my Canon G12 compact camera in my pocket and headed out the door for a walk around our block. Where we live, that means walking at the side of the road for about a mile and a half. It was crisply cold and the late afternoon sun was low in the sky as I left the house.

I found several nice photo subjects along my route, but spent the most time lingering over a single frozen puddle, exploring the patterns and textures in the ice. It’s an intriguing and ephemeral subject, one temporarily frozen in time as well as temperature. I was reminded of the patterns in the sand from waves washing ashore, or the waves themselves when caught by an instantaneous exposure. There were figures, akin to the what you might see in the clouds while laying on your back on a warm summer day. And there was this luminous quality to the late afternoon light as it caught the ridges and textures in the ice. In short, I was entranced by this simple frozen tableau and lingered until the knees of my Carharts were soaking wet, my fingers frozen, and the sun had dipped too far below the horizon for a reasonable shutter speed. Continue reading →

Digital Tip: Exposure Part II — Shutter Speed

Posted on November, 2014 by Mark Turner

Children jumping, action frozen at 1/640 second

Last month I introduced the three things you can control on your camera that affect exposure: ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. I explained how changing the ISO setting changes the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor. If you missed it, or need a review, read about ISO here.

Shutter speed is this month’s topic. Choosing an appropriate shutter speed for your subject is a creative choice as well as being one of the variables that affect exposure. All cameras have a hole inside the lens that, when open, lets light hit the sensor (or film). The shutter controls how long the hole is open.

When the shutter is open for a very short time you are able to stop motion and freeze action. Conversely, a long exposure can blur a moving subject. If you’re hand-holding your camera you need to choose a shutter speed that is short enough to compensate for any movement of the camera in your hands. The longer the focal length of your lens the shorter the shutter speed needs to be to avoid camera shake.

Continue reading →

Foraging for Fungi

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Mark Turner

I spent a couple of very enjoyable days with family foraging for mushrooms near The Mountaineers Meany Lodge just east of Snoqualmie Pass. My son Zach and his fiance Kristina invited us and her parents to join them at the annual mushroom weekend at Meany. It’s something I’ve done several times in the past, mostly in the 1990s and it had been some 10 years since I last participated.

Continue reading →

Alliums on the Cover

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Mark Turner

My friends at The American Gardener magazine selected one of my photographs of ‘Purple Sensation’ ornamental onions for the cover of the September/October 2014 issue.

The cover photograph was made in late May, 2010 at VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I have two more Allium photos inside the magazine on pages 14 & 16, plus one of western poison ivy on page 25. I’ve been contributing to The American Gardener since 1997. Thank you, David Ellis and Mary Yee, for continuing to choose my photography for the magazine.

No Cougars on the Divide, Just Autumn Brilliance

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Mark Turner

Sitka Mountain Ash and Cascade Blueberries with drifting mist

Last Saturday I made time to get out into the mountains for one of the few day hikes I’ve done all year. I went with my friends Rick Dubrow and Cindi Landreth, who were also responsible for the design and construction of my studio remodel. They own Adaptations and A-1 Builders.

Rick & Cindi — Rick Dubrow & Cindi Landreth among giant Mountain Hemlocks on the Cougar Divide trail.

We picked Cougar Divide as our destination. The road takes you to nearly 5000′ so there’s little climbing to get to subalpine ridges, meadows, and forest. It’s a long rocky ridge that leads south toward Mount Baker. The trail is an unofficial boot track that enters the Mount Baker Wilderness just a few hundred yards from the parking area. In mid-summer Cougar Divide is known for dense swarms of mosquitoes, but in the rain of early October there were none of the nasty pests buzzing about.

Continue reading →

Digital Tip: Exposure Part I – ISO

Posted on October, 2014 by Mark Turner

When you go to the beach do you want a sunburn, a nice healthy tan, or a pale complexion? You’re in control by how much you expose your skin to the sun. If I spend too much time outside without my hat, my balding head gets burned. That’s analogous to an over-exposed photograph, although the results usually aren’t so painful.

Point Whitehorn Beach — Point Whitehorn beach, photographed on a sunny day at ISO 100.

This month and the next few I’m going to help you make sense of the three variables that interact to affect photographic exposure: the sensitivity of the digital sensor (or film), how long the light strikes the sensor, and how big is the hole the light passes through. We call those the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. I’ll get to each of those and how they interact in this and the next few installments, along with exposure compensation.

You may wonder why this is important if you always use your camera in its fully automatic mode. In full auto, your camera is measuring the light and setting the ISO, shutter, and aperture to expose the subject correctly. Taking control yourself gives you creative options you don’t have in full auto mode.

Continue reading →

Digital Photo Tip: Improvised Rain Cover

Posted on September, 2014 by Mark Turner

Garden chairs on awet flagstone patio — Garden chairs on a wet flagstone patio, Pittsburgh, PA.

Last month when I was on a bus tour of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania gardens with the Garden Writers Association I got caught out without my usual rain cover for my camera. We only had 20-30 minutes in each tour garden and I certainly wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to photograph lush and beautiful gardens just because it was raining and I didn’t have proper protection for my camera. I really like the look of a garden in the rain. Continue reading →

Everybody’s a photographer

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Mark Turner

These days, nearly everybody carries a camera with them everywhere all the time. Everybody’s a photographer. But not everybody is a “Capital P” Photographer.

In the Arb, a roadside view in Bellingham’s Sehome Hill Arboretum.

I read A Photo Editor, a photography blog, from time to time and today I came across a block of text in the sidebar that intrigued me so I clicked through to the source. It was an interview with Aaron Schuman, an American photographer, writer, editor, and curator who curated Krakow Photomonth. Continue reading →

Portrait Garden in Mid-Summer

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Mark Turner

Turner Photographics portrait garden, as seen from our second-story bedroom window.

I spent several hours on this overcast Sunday at the end of the long Fourth of July weekend photographing our garden at its mid-summer peak.

Natalie and I have been enjoying watching the garden unfold with the seasons. It’s our first year at our Wynn Road home, and the garden was established by previous owners. We’re told that everyone who has lived here since the early 1960s has been an avid gardener. There’s evidence of long-term gardening.

We’ll certainly make changes and additions in the coming years, but for now we’re mostly just doing a little editing and enjoying what we find. Some of the perennials are assertive and are crowding other plants, so there’s going to be some shovel pruning in our future.

For now, come along and enjoy our garden with us in this video slideshow. It runs about 6 1/2 minutes. Click the Full Screen icon in the lower right corner for best viewing enjoyment.

If you’d like to visit in person, give us a call to arrange a time.