Iguana In The Sun

An Iguana suns itself on the rocks in Tulum, Mexico. Canon EOS XSi EF-S 70-300mm at 300mm f/7.1 1/400 ISO 250

The animal twitches in the sun.  Flies have settled on it’s tail and it lazily flicks it against the rock to dislodge them.  The heat from the rocks radiates up into it’s body and the lizard settles into the warmth.  

I wanted this picture to be a study in composition.  I saw the opportunity to divide the picture in two with the brightly lit rocks on the left and the dark background on the left.  The line that separates the two areas is very sharp and clearly defined not just by differences in tone but also by the shift in focus.  The background has been thrown out of focus and this makes the sharp edge of the light rocks even more distinct.  However, the element that really makes the picture effective is the fact that the focal point, the Iguana, bridges these two areas.  The viewers eye is drawn either up or down the the dividing line between the two areas and towards the lizard.  It’s head points out into the negative space of the shadow and is clearly defined there.

-Russell

Tilting at...

Silhouette windmills in a blood red sky. Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm at 300mm f/5.6 1/4000 ISO 100

The energy of a whole planet originates in that flaming ball that slowly sinks towards the horizon.  It’s heat drives the wind currents that power these turbines feeding electricity into the wires.  The energy of all we do and all we become starts with the heat and light that travels all those miles of empty space and warms my cheek as I look up in the sky.

I am still out in the prairies and the other night I found out that there were windmills quite close to where I am staying.  I knew that I had to get out there to photograph them at sunset.  The main struggle was finding a decent location before the light disappeared so I was tearing up and down country roads to find a decent spot.  Of course I found the perfect spot after the light was gone but I am pretty happy with this one.  I knew that I wanted to underexpose to throw the windmills into silhouette so I took a couple of quick exposures in aperture priority to get a baseline exposure then switched over to manual.  The sky had a fair amount of dust in it I guess and when I underexposed I got this beautiful brilliant red.  I did not come up with this colour with heavy processing I did not even touch the saturation on the image, in fact I brightened it a little which lightened the red.  I love the way that the sun has a yellow band around it and the colours are so compelling even though the composition is a little off.

-Russell Berg

Spaces in the Dawn

A dramatic dawn breaking over the shoreline in Victoria. Canon EOS 7D EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4 at 22mm f/5 1/2500 ISO 400She has come to this place before and it holds a special kind of honour in her mind.  She is alone yet she feels protected, she feels comforted yet her mind has space to roam and think.  The light plays and dances in her hair as it slowly reveals the rest of the world around her and lights her face with an amber glow.  Her thoughts pause for a moment and she breathes deep into the world around her.  Now... now she is ready.

I was recently in Victoria and as my wife slept in the hotel I went out to enjoy the sunrise.  Sunrise is a magical time for photographers, slowly the world is revealed to you and the quality of the light is like nothing else.  The light itself is so beautiful, you really just need to point your camera somewhere.  In this case I was struck by the line of clouds that draws the viewers eye in at the top of the frame and pulls it downward towards the whispy little formations at the left.  It almost seemed to me that the clouds where trying to hold back the light and it makes for a dramatic image.