Another great place to visit at Millennium Park is Crown Fountain. If you haven’t visited, it’s 2 large video sculptures that periodically spray water. In the summer time, it’s typically full of kids playing and cooling off.
ISO 200 f4 Panasonic 7-14mm (7 frame handheld HDR)
It’s amazing how easy it is to forget about shots you’ve taken. I took this one 2 years ago in the Outer Banks. It was a wonderful morning to watch a sunrise.
ISO 100 1/160 f16 16mm (Canon 5d MkII & Canon 16-35mm f2.8)
If you are ever in Chicago and enjoy watching sunrises I highly suggest driving to Adler Planetarium. It is a great place to take cityscape shots. This one was taken just outside the planetarium entrance.
ISO 160 1/1500’s f.95 (ND filter) Leica 50mm noctilux
I’m sure you are getting tired of Cloud Gate shots. This is my last in the series and also my favorite. This was taken with my Leica M9-P and 21mm super elmar. What I like about it is the amount of detail in the buildings (click on picture to see full-size). The 21mm super elmar was built for sharpness from corner to corner and this image is a perfect example of it.
ISO 1/125s f3.4 21mm super elmar (7 exposure HDR, edited with Photomatix, PS6, & Aperture)
I didn’t just take pics of the “The Bean” with my Olympus OM-D, I also shot with my Leica M9-P and 21mm super elmar.
This shot is not a HDR and was shot handheld. The shot is slightly cropped so that I could remove my self from the picture. I was attempting to get the original sky and the reflected sky to blend.
ISO160 1/60s f3.4 21mm super elmar
Landscape and professional photographers know that if you want to capture great images you should shoot during the “magic hour” (or also known as the golden hour). This is the first and last hour of sunlight during the day.
During my recent trip to Chicago, I woke up early and headed down to Millennium Park to capture pictures of the sculpture Cloud Gate, also known as “The Bean”. I got there around 0530 and began shooting pictures. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay long since I was approached by a security guard (he was very nice) who alerted me that I wasn’t suppose to be there and that the park didn’t open up until 6. Luckily, I was able to capture a few shots.
Olympus OM-D and Panasonic Lumix G Vario 7-14mm lens
ISO 200 f/8 7mm (7 exposure HDR, used HDR Efex 2, Photoshop CS6, & Aperture 3.3)
Over the next few weeks you will see a lot of pictures I took in Chicago. We always enjoy spending time there and is probably my favorite city to visit.
One morning, I drove to Alder’s Planetarium. The planetarium is a great place to capture pictures of the city. I shot a variety of pictures with my Olympus OM-D and Leica M9. I think I got every lens I had out of the bag. This one was taken with my Leica 50mm noctilux. Actually, this is 4-5 pictures stitched together to create a panoramic shot. I used Photoshop, Nik Software HDR Efex 2 (this is not a HDR), and Silver Efex 2.
ISO 160 1/1500’s 50mm noctilux
Note: click to see larger size (trust me it’s worth it)
July 4th we spent up in Chicago. Since we only live a few hours away it’s always a great place to vacation. I got up one morning at sunrise and headed out to Alder’s Planetarium to capture pictures of downtown. After shooting over 100 pics with my Leica 21mm super elmar and my Olympus OM-D with the Panasonic 7-14mm lens I decided to get the noctilux out to capture some great depth of field shots. Here is one them.
ISO 160 1/2000s 50mm noctilux ND filter
I’m typically working on a project or sleeping when I’m on a plane. I decided to put my shade up and was amazed at the beautiful horizon. I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots.
ISO 160 1/125s f/1.4 50mm summilux
