Downtown Main St. in Frisco is full of history. One of the challenges in getting a shot for the July cover was I wanted to do something creative, and different. It is pretty tough to do this when you figure most of the "neat" things have had thousands of pictures taken of them. We've all seen the water tower shot at least 1,000 times. Then there is the gazebo and the clock. Of course there is the "old " city hall that honestly is not very photogenic.
So I walked around the downtown area a couple of times and took some sample shots and went back and looked and was just not happy. I then went out a third time and I was trying to think of a way to get a shot that everyone would recognize but they had not seen it from the same perspective or angle.
So I had an idea, I walked around to the back side of the gazebo and had to back all the way into the trees and there it was. The shot I was looking for.
The challenge was the limited space as I could not go back-wards because the trees and the buildings were in the way. So I used my full frame body (5D) and my widest lens. Now with those settings the challenge was if you don't get the focal plane parallel to the subject you get what is called "keystoning" this is where you get building that look like they are leaning in funny directions.
So with the camera on the tripod and using my shutter release cable I then raised the camera high enough to get the focal plane close to level. I then used my right hand to lift the trees branches while I snapped away.
What really made this shot was using the early morning light, I think I was on location by 6:30am. You can't go by the clock because the time is off, come on City of Frisco, we don't have very many cool historic sites so fix the clock..haha.
When I returned to the office and saw the shot I was very pleased. There were several things I wanted to capture in the image. I wanted to get the gazebo (duh), the clock, Main St. and the old City Hall building all in the same shot.
After I worked a little magic to get an image that has a feel....well...somewhat like a painting this is what I ended up with. I'd say this is my favorite cover...todate of course!
I've got a couple of GREAT shots for September but I'm not sure if they fit the story....we will see.
So I hope you like the shot as much as I did putting it together!
So I walked around the downtown area a couple of times and took some sample shots and went back and looked and was just not happy. I then went out a third time and I was trying to think of a way to get a shot that everyone would recognize but they had not seen it from the same perspective or angle.
So I had an idea, I walked around to the back side of the gazebo and had to back all the way into the trees and there it was. The shot I was looking for.
The challenge was the limited space as I could not go back-wards because the trees and the buildings were in the way. So I used my full frame body (5D) and my widest lens. Now with those settings the challenge was if you don't get the focal plane parallel to the subject you get what is called "keystoning" this is where you get building that look like they are leaning in funny directions.
So with the camera on the tripod and using my shutter release cable I then raised the camera high enough to get the focal plane close to level. I then used my right hand to lift the trees branches while I snapped away.
What really made this shot was using the early morning light, I think I was on location by 6:30am. You can't go by the clock because the time is off, come on City of Frisco, we don't have very many cool historic sites so fix the clock..haha.
When I returned to the office and saw the shot I was very pleased. There were several things I wanted to capture in the image. I wanted to get the gazebo (duh), the clock, Main St. and the old City Hall building all in the same shot.
After I worked a little magic to get an image that has a feel....well...somewhat like a painting this is what I ended up with. I'd say this is my favorite cover...todate of course!
I've got a couple of GREAT shots for September but I'm not sure if they fit the story....we will see.
So I hope you like the shot as much as I did putting it together!
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