Study Group 9

Fred Drury

Bill Thompson
Brian Swinyard
Beverly Caine
Fred Drury
John Larson
Shaikh Amin

Mayra Pau

 

August      Image - "Bluebird"

How I did it -I used a 500 mm lens with a 1.4 teleconverter at 1/1000 sec. and f/8 to capture this Eastern Bluebird. The image was given minor adjustments in Lightroom and a contrast mask in Photoshop, all of which took about 10 mins. The story behind the image is more interesting. A couple of friends and I did this songbird shoot at Richard & Susan Day's place near Salem, Illinois (see: http://www.daybreakimagery.com/about.html). Richard and Susan describe their 63 acre rural property as 'an oasis in a sea of agricultural wasteland'. The family property has been in Richard's family for several generations. Their efforts, over many years, have been directed to making the property a haven for birds, butterflies and dragonflies. Located about three hours driving time from Chicago and ninety minutes from St. Louis, its a wonderful place to visit and shoot these critters in a natural (and friendly) environment. I can't wait to go back!

Comments
Bill Thompson A Blue Bird is one of my, and my wife's favorite birds. This is certainly a definitive shot of one. I would love to be at that location you describe, it must be a wonderland of photo opportunities.
Brian Swinyard This is a stunning piece of work Fred which has immediate impact and is most appealing. It is perfectly exposed, beautifully sharp, has excellent colour saturation and tonal range, shows good use of shallow depth of field and has a catch-light in the bird’s eye. Congratulations and very well done.
Beverly Caine I wish I lived closer so I could join you. Reminds me of my trip to Kenya 21 years ago when I had so many beautiful birds to shoot.
John Larson This image has excellent detail with even a small catch light. The background is nicely out of focus which makes this a nice clean image that WILL do well in any competition.
Shaikh Amin Just beautiful & flawless image! Fred- take me along next time!
Mayra Pau Amazing capture. It looks like you can touch the bird. So well focus, you can see the details of the feathers. Congratulations Fred! I love this photograph.
 
Member Biography
Fred Drury
I started making images shortly after graduating from McGills University in Montreal, Canada when I attended its World Fair, EXPO67. My first SLR was an Olympus OM-1, which I used to document many of the mining and construction operations I visited in my work providing technical support to explosives users throughout North America. I eventually switched to Nikon, starting out with an 8008, then an N90 and eventually an F5.
In the 80’s my wife and I both became SCUBA certified and shortly thereafter I bought my first underwater camera, a Nikonos V. Within a couple of years, underwater photography became my passion. In the early 90’s, I was an early-adopter of the Nikonos RS system … the first full-function 35mm SLR made for use underwater (not in a housing). I used this system to photograph coral reefs and their inhabitants in all of the world’s tropical seas. In the mid-90’s, following the sale of my business, I was invited to join the senior management team of the purchaser who was based in Oslo, Norway. Traveling internationally to its operations, especially those in southern Asia and Australia, provided lots of opportunities to dive and photograph in exotic locations. I regularly shared my underwater images at the annual conference of Our World Underwater, the major dive-expo here in the US Midwest (i.e. Chicago). My work was recognized with local, national and international awards, including a first prize in the annual Papua New Guinea Photo Contest.

Following my retirement in 1998, I became a member of the faculty at the College of DuPage, in Glen Ellyn, IL teaching underwater photography. I also began to lecture on the subject of Color Management, which I’d been very much forced into learning as I sought for quality inkjet reproductions of my images. In those ‘early days’, inkjet prints were certainly not noted for their archival properties, nor were the printer manufacturers interested in the ‘photo print’ market. For example, I found it pretty much impossible to find anyone at Epson who would admit to knowing anything about a printer profile.

My teaching activities have expanded. In addition to underwater photography, I now instruct advanced Photoshop. I also teach a variety of Photoshop and Digital classes at The Morton Arboretum. I am a regular presenter at regional ‘Camera Club Council’ events in Michigan (SWMCCC) and Massachusetts (NECCC). At the PSA conference this year, I conducted a Photoshop seminar and presented a program entitled ‘Profiling Digital Projectors for International Competitions’.

My images, both underwater and surface, are in galleries here in the Chicago area as well as in Door County, Wisconsin. The Shedd Aquarium has used more than 30 of my images in the ‘Wild Reef’ exhibit. I do all of my own printing on an Epson 7600. ‘Markland Imaging’, my studio operation, prints editions for area artists and provides additional services including slides, cards, matting and framing. I have just added one of the new Canon iPF5000 printers and I’m looking forward to seeing how it performs. My current computer is a Dell Precision 670 workstation (PC).

Over the past five years I have gradually transitioned from film to digital. I began using a D100 and housing for my underwater macro work in 2003 and found the experience ‘liberating’. Being able to check a histogram and know that I’d ‘nailed’ the underwater exposure was a great relief compared to the bracketing necessary with film. Liberating too was no longer being constrained by the 36 exposure limitation of film. The results were a very pleasant surprise … I found I consistently was able to achieve better images with digital than had ever been possible with film … images were just plain sharper!

This spring I made the big switch from Nikon to Canon for my above water work. I sold my underwater RS equipment and invested in a Canon 1DS Mkll, and I’ve been most happy with the results. Lately, I’ve been making a lot of HDR images and I’m excited about how this method helps me obtain increased shadow detail.

Having been a practicing engineer for more than 40 years, I’m very much enjoying creating new challenges for the right side of my brain. I look forward to sharing my images and my thoughts on image-making with the group.

'You can view my images at our Markland website at www.marklandimaging.com'