With the modernization of our lives, adopting ways to dwell in large crowded cities, driving on busy polluted freeways, and spending countless hours in workplace offices, there must be a work-life balance found for us to get back to raw nature and enjoy all it has to offer. We don’t get enough sunshine and don’t see the night sky in all its glory anymore. How many of us can say that we have seen the Milky Way galaxy and wonder about our existence and place in this vast universe?
5-bracketed HDR (-2 to +2) at f/14, ISO 100, Sigma 14mm f/1.8 Art lens. A sturdy tripod and ball-head is a must in Iceland since it’s always windy.
Small aperture (f/14) creates the “star” effect. 18 spikes are created by the 9 blades of lens aperture (odd-numbered blades x 2 = number of spikes)
That’s where my love for nature, travel, and photography comes from. Traveling drives a desire in me to create images that are something more than a usual snapshot or selfie. I often travel with my family and also take solo trips to concentrate on nightscape/astrophotography to capture the beauty and mystery of the night sky, away from the light-polluted cities. To me, night-time photography offers interesting technical challenges to push my photography skills and creativity. Being in nature with billions of stars above is also a more spiritually rewarding experience.
– Taken at Craters of the Moon National Monument Camp; Preserve, Idaho at around 11:00 p.m. on Aug 25, 2016
– The dwarf mistletoe, a small parasitic plant distorts the branches of limber pines with grotesque tangles called “witches’ broom” and kills the tree (and makes a perfect mysterious foreground!)
– f/2.8, 30 sec (20-25 sec is better to avoid star trails), ISO 3200, white balance 3500K (daylight 5500K is better), single Raw exposure, mirror lock-up, shutter release on 2 sec timer, sturdy tripod
– Canon 5D Mark III with Rokinon 14mm F2.8
– Light-painted the tree with a blue LED flashlight (ProtoMachines LED2) for 2 seconds from the right.
– Post processed in Lightroom and Photoshop CC
– Plus all the exhilaration of being in pitch dark and silent nature in solitude for 5 hours. Moon rise at 2:00 a.m. No clouds, no wind. Got a bit chilly.
I am interested and involved with other types of photography as well, specifically Real Estate and Sports. Real Estate has its unique challenges to make images to present properties in their best light, angle, and composition. Beautiful photos will draw in more buyers and help sell the properties.
Taking photos during sporting events, such as a fast-paced basketball game, makes me feel part of the game. The court-side excitement of freezing the action and capturing the players’ emotions is exhilarating.
f/2.8, 1/800 sec., ISO 640, 70-200 mm
I am an electrical engineer by education and have worked at places such as JPL/NASA (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) on spacecraft missions that have been launched to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and some Earth-bound satellites. For the past 15 years, I have worked in large Medical Device companies, helping with the design, testing, and quality of active implantable devices such as Defibrillators, Pacemakers, and Neuromodulators (for chronic pain management and Parkinson’s disease). Helping our patients with medical conditions to get their lives back to normal is quite rewarding.
I am available for hire for both Real Estate photography and private one-on-one lessons on the use and functionality of your camera. I can be contacted via e-mail at fmelikian@yahoo.com
