Daniel Binkard: May 2016

27 May 2016

Foliage Detail at Oswald West State Park, May 27, 2016

Foliage detail at Oswald West State Park, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Shooting the fast 50 wide open to create some intriguing textures in the background. I was pleased with the foreground elements framing and repeating the shape of the subject. The tree trunk in the background also repeats the diagonals from the stems in front of it. The scene was monochromatic anyway, so I pushed that to the logical finish: black and white.

Reflections on the Water in Clatsop County, Oregon, May 27, 2016

Rocks along the shoreline at Arcadia Beach State Recreation Site in May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Small rocks, plus Tillamook Rock Light, near Haystack Rock Marine Garden, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Tide covered tidepool at Haystack Rock Marine Garden, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

26 May 2016

Clouds at the Beach, Fort Stevens State Park, May 26, 2016

Clouds over the beach at Fort Stevens State Park, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

An dramatic set of clouds in the sky had me wanting to showcase that part of the scene, and the tire tracks in the sand provided some good texture to ground the composition. The blips off in the distance are cars and beachgoers for a tiny bit of scale. I especially like the mountains in the far background, dramatic in their own way, but subtle compared to the more immediate clouds.

25 May 2016

Nighttime Tidepool Exploration, May 25, 2016

Beachgoers explore the tidepools at Haystack Rock Marine Garden with flashlights, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

The clouds were heavy enough this evening that sunset came as gradual darkening in the mist. I was still out at Haystack Rock and noticed people exploring the tidepools with flashlights. This long exposure shows ghostly shapes of the people moving around, and more importantly, shows the trails their flashlights made. I was lucky to get a reasonable shape out of the light trail, and the foreground rocks also got lit up, making a warm counterpart to the blue tones throughout the scene.

24 May 2016

View from the Top at Cape Kiwanda, May 24, 2016

View from the sandy hilltop at Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Cape Kiwanda is a beautiful part of the Oregon coast, topped by a sandy hill that will test your stamina as you take two or three steps for every single step of upward progress. There is plenty of grass and trees to provide detail against the sand, and the coast to the north and south provides a backdrop. I was interested in the dead trees, and this foreground tree is repeated by several larger ones in the near background.

Sand and More Sand at Cape Kiwanda, May 24, 2016

View from the sandy hilltop toward Haystack Rock at Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

View from the sandy hilltop at Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

View from the sandy hilltop toward Haystack Rock at Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

23 May 2016

Foliage Detail, Yaquina Bay, May 23, 2016

Foliage detail at Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site, May 2016. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I don't like to talk about equipment here, when there are better things to discuss regarding composition. But a brief sidenote on the lens: the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 shot close and wide open. It leaves little sharpness and plenty of strange, hazy things everywhere else. But there's something interesting about reducing depth of field to a razer thin section. I was able to get most of the leaf edges mostly in focus, and they stand out nicely against the darker background. The water drops also get some focus, and create additional details to examine.