ANGELA B. PAN

Ok if you know me at all, you must be suprised. I’m surprised myself. There are SO many birds in this image and I am not the biggest fan of birds. To be more specific, birds are definietly my biggest fear. So that’s why I’m surprised I was even able to capture so many of them.

They aren’t the usual pigeons that you see on the mall either. They were these small black birds and they were all huddled up on the edge of the reflecting pool on the grass. So as people were walking by (mostly runners) they would all fly up in the air in unison, circle around the reflecting pool and then land back to where they were. The first time I witnessed it, I ducked behind my friend, Larry. After the second or third time it happened, I kinda figured out what was going on and patiently waited for it to happen again (still very close to Larry). Luckily, I already had my 70-200mm lens on so I was able to capture the moment quickly. When I looked back on the image I was so surprised that I was able to fill the entire frame with them. My favorite part is the slight glow on some of the birds wings.

Either way, I don’t think I’ll be turning into a bird photographer anytime soon 🙂 I’m lucky I was able to capture this.

And in case you missed it, I wrote a little camera review about my current camera, the A7II. I mention the lenses I use including the 70-200mm and why I love it so much. Click here if you’d like to take a look.

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/2000th sec at ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

I captured this image earlier in the summer. I remember being out taking pictures just because I wanted to, not because I knew it was going to be a good sunrise. In fact, I think I remember it raining a little bit after I created this image and being surprised that there was even any color at all. The whole mood was very dark and grey. I was grateful to have gotten this 10 minutes of color because it turned out AMAZING!

My favorite part of the image is that little cloudy-ness you see on the bottom of the image. I don’t remember what that’s from? Is it a hard core cloud reflection? Or some moldy-ness from the reflecting pool? I dunno. Either way, I think it looks really cool and I love how it’s breaking up the reflection to make it look a little different.

Also the birds! They’re so teeny tiny in the image. Can you even see them? At first I thought it was a whole bunch of dust spots that I would have to get rid of, but when I zoomed in on them it was actually it’s just a whole bunch of birds 🙂 A photo trip that lasted only 20 minutes but totally worth the early morning wake up call 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/125th sec at ISO 1600 with my Sony A7II 70-200mm zoom lens. I did not have my tripod with me this morning so the ISO had to be bumped up to help compensate. I’ve also noticed that shooting with a long lens may cause some extra shake. So just to be sure I can capture a super sharp image, I’ll usually bump up my ISO a lot. Plus it was super cloudy, so you know… Gotta do what you gotta do to get the shot!

A little break from Norway images for this one beautiful morning in Washington DC. Even while we were in Norway, I heard it was raining in Washington at the same time. It rained when we got back and even a week after we landed. But at that point I had so many Norway images to keep me busy that I didn’t even care.

After a week or so, I started to get that itch again. I needed to just go out with my camera and get creative. Luckily I saw that there was going to be fog one morning instead of rain. So I woke up extra early and headed to the National Mall. I didn’t see any fog, but I did see some beautiful color in the sky. I walked around the Lincoln Memorial and captured a few images but then decided to head down to the Reflecting Pool to see if I could get any cool shots there. Walking down the steps, there was this huge puddle. To be honest, the puddle is always there, but this time it was especially big. Probably from all the rain we had been getting. It was great. I kneeled down to get some shots when I noticed a duck enjoying the puddle as well. I moved over to try to line the duck up with the monument while at the same time not trying to scare him away. I love the perspective and how the duck in the foreground looks just as big as the Washington Monument in the background. Luckily the sky stayed beautiful while I was lining everything up because it didn’t last much longer after that. It went pretty grey but I still went home happy just being able to get out there and shoot.

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 0.6sec ISO 2000 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

If we are going to go in chronological order, this image would be next. The third image in the series this week of keep it movin’. Why photographers should keep walking around to find multiple compositions instead of finding one that works and stay in the same spot.

You can see the first image here and the second one here.

Now that does not mean that you can’t go back the same spot. I think certain composition work better than others depending on the light. You may be at one place but 20 minutes later see that the sun will hit it in a certain way and you’ll see something totally different. That’s fine. Just don’t get stuck!

I originally started off this photo trek at the reflecting pool. I walked from one edge of the pool to the edge but nothing was really inspiring me so that is when I decided to turn around and walk up the Lincoln Memorial steps. Once I was taking a few pictures of the Lincoln while the sun was starting to really come out and change the colors in the sky. I looked down at the reflecting pool and thought that it was the time to go back down. So I made my way back down and was able to capture this one. I love how the US Capitol is the main focus in this image. You don’t really see this point of view a lot since it’s so far away and people mostly want to photograph the Washington Monument from this angle. Funny how if you look real close, you can see other photographers on the other side of the reflecting pooll.

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/800th of a second ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens handheld.

Sunrises are around 6a now. Which isn’t too bad because I can set my alarm for 4:30, leave the house by 5 and arrive in the city at around 5:15 or 5:20 depending on where I want to shoot and the traffic. Weekends is a total breeze because there is no one on the road. And this past Sunday was no exception.

I was feeling a little tired so I wanted to go to a place where I could easily park and not have to walk too far. Call me lazy but I figured the US Capitol was the perfect spot for just that. I sat on along the reflecting pool when all the sudden the sky blew up in color! It was so beautiful and one of the best sunrises that I’ve seen in a while. I was thrilled that I was out to capture it. It didn’t last too long, probably 10 minutes max but it was so worth the early morning wake up call. Later on in the day I had tickets to go to the Kennedy Center to see Hamilton. So I was taking pictures, listening to the Hamilton soundtrack and overall having the best time watching the sky.

To be honest, Hamilton was FANTASTIC. I loved every minute of the show. The singing and dancing were on point but the story was just so interesting. I had always heard of Alexander Hamilton, but I think that’s because I spend so much time in Washington DC that his name shows up in random places. Like The Hamilton restaurant, seeing his statue in the Capitol Rotunda, things like that. I never really knew who he was or what he did for our country. But now because of the show, I wont ever forget. If you ever get the opportunity to see it, I’d highly recommend going at least once. I was smiling during the entire show.

My camera settings for this image is F16 at 1/6th of a second ISO 320 with my Canon 5D Mark II and 17-40mm wide angle lens.

Now that it’s almost August, I thought it would be a good time to share another firework image. HAHA.

But seriously, I think this year’s firework images have been my favorite so far. I love the way that they turned out. Not only was the weather perfect, but the show itself was amazing. This image kinda reminds me of this one that I posted earlier in the month, except this one was a little bit later in the night. Since so many fireworks had been shot off there was much more smoke but I can’t stop looking at the details in the lights. Just looking at it, I can hear the crackling noise that the fireworks make.

To be honest, I was a little nervous about shooting with my 70-200mm that night. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be the right lens or if the wide angle would be best. But with the 70-200mm I was able to capture so much more details then I had expected. It brought so many unexpected point of views that it is honest my new favorite lens. I’m having so much fun with it.

As far as my next lens. I’m thinking a prime lens. I haven’t really played with one before but I love how fast they are. I’m totally in the zone for experimentation and trying new things so I think a prime lens may be the next move. If you have a Sony prime lens, let me know your favorite one and why. I’m open to suggestions.

Oh and you may have noticed that I’ve been slowly adding to my gear collection. Let me know if you’d be interested in seeing an updated gear video and I can get that to you soon-ish.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/10th of a second at ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm lens.