Nagel Photography

OYA 8U Lightning Photos Now Available!

2009-07-11T10:37:00.003-05:00

I had the pleasure of capturing photographs from the OYA 8U Lightning softball game in Evergreen Park on June 10th.

CLICK HERE to access the area of my website which is devoted specifically to the OYA Girls' Softball games. Click on the game of interest and the photos will appear.

To order prints and/or other merchandise, select the photo(s) of interest and then click on the "Add to Cart" button located on the upper right portion of your screen. If you are ordering prints, it's best to view the "Best Fit" section in order to select the most appropriate aspect ratio (e.g., 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, etc.) for that particular photograph.

CLICK HERE for general pricing and other ordering information. Note that shipping and handling charges remain the same regardless of the size of your order, so if possible, it is best to order all of your photos at one time.

For a limited time (though July 20, 2009), you can use the Promo Code of lightning for a 10% discount off your order. The discount is available for all prints (and does not apply to other merchandise). Also, $1 will be donated to OYA for each print ordered. For example, if you order four 4x6 and two 5x7 prints, $6 will be donated to OYA!

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments. I would be happy to personally walk you through the ordering process.

Glenn Nagel
708-349-1467 (home)
708-846-1466 (cell)
gnagel60@comcast.net (email)

OYA Girls Softball All-Star Photographs

2009-06-08T21:06:00.003-05:00

I captured photographs from some (Widgets, Petites and Chics) of the OYA Girls' softball All-Star games on June 5, 2009 at Centennial Park. Additionally I took photographs at the June 8th regular season game between the Badgers and the Gators at Veterans #4.

CLICK HERE to view June 8th game.

CLICK HERE to access the area of my website which is devoted specifically to the OYA Girls' Softball All-Star Games.

To order prints and/or other merchandise, select the photo(s) of interest and then click on the "Add to Cart" button located on the upper right portion of your screen. If you are ordering prints, it's best to view the "Best Fit" section in order to select the most appropriate aspect ratio (e.g., 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, etc.) for that particular photograph.

CLICK HERE for general pricing and other ordering information. Note that shipping and handling charges remain the same regardless of the size of your order, so if possible, it is best to order all of your photos at one time.

For a limited time (though June 30, 2009), you can use the Promo Code of oya girls for a 15% discount off your order. The discount is available for all prints (and does not apply to other merchandise).

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments. I would be happy to personally walk you through the ordering process.

Glenn Nagel
708-349-1467 (home)
708-846-1466 (cell)
gnagel60@comcast.net (email)

Dog in Flight

2009-06-01T13:53:00.000-05:00

Bee on Flower

2009-05-31T13:57:00.000-05:00

"Dakota"

2009-05-31T13:52:00.001-05:00

Eight Bolts

2009-05-22T13:51:00.000-05:00

Round Barn

2009-05-22T13:50:00.000-05:00

Marcus Cinema

2009-05-22T13:49:00.000-05:00

Apartment for Rent

2009-05-20T13:51:00.001-05:00

Up In Flames

2009-05-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

Oak Brook Terrace Tower

2009-05-16T13:47:00.001-05:00

Old Red Barn

2009-05-14T13:46:00.000-05:00

Pear Tree Blossom

2009-05-09T13:46:00.001-05:00

Purple Tulip

2009-05-08T13:45:00.000-05:00

Yellow Stairs

2009-05-04T13:48:00.000-05:00

Inside a Tulip

2009-05-04T13:41:00.000-05:00

Tulips

2009-05-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

Magnolia Blossom

2009-05-01T13:44:00.001-05:00

Pear Trees

2009-05-01T13:42:00.001-05:00

Softball Pitcher

2009-04-30T13:43:00.001-05:00

Softball Pitcher

2009-04-29T13:39:00.001-05:00

Bungalow Puppy

2009-04-23T13:38:00.001-05:00

Two Trees

2009-04-22T13:40:00.000-05:00

Tank

2009-04-20T13:37:00.000-05:00

Easter Brunch

2009-04-12T13:35:00.001-05:00

Breaking Through

2009-04-11T13:35:00.001-05:00

Oaks on the Hill

2009-04-10T13:33:00.000-05:00

Bubbles

2009-04-09T13:34:00.000-05:00

Iguana Eye

2009-04-05T13:37:00.001-05:00

A Late Night Glance

2009-04-05T13:32:00.000-05:00

Coming Out of His Shell

2009-04-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

Pink Bubbles

2009-03-25T13:29:00.000-05:00

Rockefeller Chapel

2009-03-25T13:28:00.001-05:00

Charging Duck

2009-03-18T13:27:00.001-05:00

The Jayhawk

2009-03-10T13:26:00.000-05:00

Eighth Grade CEO

2009-03-09T13:25:00.000-05:00

Break Away

2009-03-03T13:24:00.000-06:00

Purple Glass Pile

2009-03-02T13:23:00.001-06:00

Strumming the Guitar

2009-02-21T13:21:00.000-06:00

Fastball

2009-02-20T13:22:00.000-06:00

Great Blue Herons

2009-02-15T13:21:00.000-06:00

One in Every Crowd

2009-02-14T13:20:00.001-06:00

Last Sliver of Daylight

2009-02-13T13:19:00.001-06:00

Bird Stampede

2009-02-11T13:18:00.000-06:00

Dusk at the Pier

2009-02-11T13:17:00.001-06:00

Twilight Pelican

2009-02-10T13:16:00.002-06:00

Sea Foam Shells

2009-02-09T13:15:00.000-06:00

Five Palms Sunset

2009-02-07T13:14:00.001-06:00

My First Night in Florida

2009-02-06T23:07:00.004-06:00

I drove to Florida to spend a few weeks in the warm weather. Several of my days in Florida were devoted to photography! I captured this image at the Clearwater Beach on the first night that I arrived in the area:

Girls' Basketball

2009-01-31T14:59:00.003-06:00

I continue to experiment with my Nikon SB flash units in an attempt to create better lighting in the dark gymnasiums. This latest approach involves three flash units.

I sit under the basket on the baseline with a SB-900 on-camera. The SB-900 is positioned to bounce off the ceiling and is also used in Master Mode to trigger the other two remote flashes.

A SB-800 is clamped to some piping about 25 feet to my left along the side of the court. It is positioned to bounce off the ceiling using a 50mm zoom setting. The SB-600 is clamped to some piping about 20 feet to my right along the side of the court. The SB-600 is positioned to feather its light across the court (at 35mm zoom) to provide some contrast to the light.

Without flash, the exposure in the gym is 1/250th, f/2.8 at ISO 3200. With the SB flash units, I am able to keep the same settings while lowering the ISO to 800 for better image quality.

The flash units are set at about 1/4th power--with the exception of the SB-600 which is set at 1/16th power.

Here's the result:

Eagles

2009-01-30T14:55:00.002-06:00

I returned to the Lock & Dam 14 Woodland Preserve located just south of the I-80 bridge on the Mississippi River. This was my first attempt at capturing eagles in flight--and it was quite a thrill. Photos were captured with my 300 2.8 with 1.4x teleconverter attached:

Snowy Church

2009-01-28T14:52:00.000-06:00

I noticed this church while driving through Hinsdale. I took multiple photographs and different exposures and combined them to create a high dynamic range (HDR) photograph:

Multiple Exposure

2009-01-26T14:48:00.002-06:00

I experimented with some multiple exposure shots in my kitchen. I think this skill may come in handy in the future--especially when selecting the best facial expression for various subjects as part of a group picture.

Filters & Drain Covers

2009-01-22T14:44:00.000-06:00

I practiced my flash photography using some backlighting on some household items (a furnace filter and shower drain cover)!

Mr. Basketball

2009-01-19T14:41:00.000-06:00

My nephew is a big Chicago Bulls' fan, so I photographed him while he was in his uniform:

The Drummer

2009-01-19T14:36:00.001-06:00

My nephew was kind enough to let me practice my flash photography while he was playing the drums. This session also gave me an opportunity to play with textured backgrounds in Photoshop:

Looking Forward to Spring

2009-01-13T20:32:00.002-06:00

It's been a particularly brutal winter here in Chicago. So, I'm really looking forward to Spring. I captured this photo of a baseball earlier today:

A Look Through My Lens

2009-01-12T09:32:00.005-06:00

My first photography book was published earlier this month. It is titled "A Look Through My Lens...a collection of photographs from 2008". The book is 160 pages and contains 187 photographs. A wide variety of pictures are included in this book...landscapes, animals, plants, architecture, sports, people and other objects.

To learn more about the book, click on the link located on the upper left portion of this blog.

More Girls' Basketball

2009-01-09T09:27:00.001-06:00

I suspect that I'll be shooting a lot of girls' basketball this month. Here are a few photographs from the games on January 8th:

Girls' Basketball

2009-01-06T21:21:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite areas of photography is youth sports. Although the dimly lit gymnasiums make indoor sports a special challenge, I enjoy capturing photographs of girls' basketball.

For these shots, I tried a new technique. I bounced two flash units into the ceiling to increase the light levels--and it really helped.

Household Objects

2009-01-02T09:17:00.000-06:00

I started my photography for the new year with subjects from within my own house. Given the exceptionally cold and wet conditions this January, outdoor subjects were not as appealing.

Q-Tips

2008-12-29T16:39:00.002-06:00

I used three Nikon SB flash units for this photo of a stack of Q-Tips--SB900 (green gel) behind the stack left, SB800 (blue gel_ behind the stack right, and SB600 without gel in front of stack left:

Bailey

2008-12-27T19:30:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple of photos of my uncle's dog, Bailey. Both of these photos utilized a narrow depth of field (f/2 on my 85mm lens):

The Assembly Hall

2008-12-21T22:46:00.007-06:00

I captured some photos of the Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois before the basketball game between the Fighting Illini and Detroit Mercy on Saturday, December 20th.

It was icy in Champaign and I saw two pedestrians slip and fall on my way over to the stadium. The Illini announcer, Loren Tate, also fell down on his way to the game. It was sleeting while I was taking these photographs. During post processing, I had to remove some spots that resulted from sleet landing on the lens!

Season's Greetings from Rightfield

2008-12-20T08:28:00.002-06:00

Season's Greetings from rightfield of Centennial Park (field #5):

Icy Close Ups

2008-12-20T08:25:00.006-06:00

Here are a couple of photos of icy plants from yesterday's session at Centennial Park:

A Sewer Cover

2008-12-20T08:22:00.001-06:00

One of the things I enjoy most about photography is the challenge of seeing ordinary things in new ways.

V Formation

2008-12-20T08:17:00.003-06:00

This photograph of these birds flying overhead in V-formation was one of the luckiest ones I've ever shot! I was in the process of photographing a winter landscape with my camera securely mounted on a tripod. The camera was set up to fire using a cable release with mirror lock up (which delays the shutter release).

I heard the birds quickly approaching, so I lifted the whole camera and tripod and began firing three rapid shots--as rapid as possible given the mirror lock up. Two of the three images actually came out!

A Winter Landscape

2008-12-20T08:12:00.002-06:00

I went over to Centennial Park yesterday and ended up capturing quite a few photographs. Here are a few that were taken just south of the entrance to the park:

Post Processing

2008-12-19T09:23:00.008-06:00

I captured this photograph of a local church last night. The shot presented challenges as the camera's sensor was unable to deal with the amount of contrast in the scene. The sky was too bright and the foreground too dark.

So, in order to get this scene to appear in a photograph the same way that it appeared to my eye at the time of capture, I went through a series of steps:

Shot three raw exposures (1 underexposed by one stop, 1 overexposed by one stop and 1 in the middle) and combined them using the Photomatix HDR software. Converted to a 16 bit TIFF file.
Opened the TIFF in NX2 using the ProPhoto color profile. Within Capture NX2: straightened, cropped, adjusted levels selectively, dodged, burned and sharpened (using both USM and a light High Pass Filter).
Applied filters from the Nikon Color Efex package, including a touch of "Indian Summer" to bring out the pink in the sky and on the window, the "White Neutralizer" to help take the remaining color cast just out of the snow, and the "Tonal Contrast" to bring a little texture into the snow as well. Converted to a high quality jpeg file using the sRGB color profile.
Opened the jpeg in Photoshop Elements and cloned some snow into the lower portion of the image. The muddy street was there previously! Also, applied the PT Lens filter to fix some significant vertical distortion and to automatically correct the barrel distortion resulting from using the lens at its widest focal length. NX2 automatically corrected for the CA.
Blended in the effects of the Topaz Adjust plug-in filter to help add some further color and definition to the image.
Finally, added my signature and framed the photo using Photoshop Elements 5.0.

Winter on the 18th Green

2008-12-17T22:40:00.004-06:00

For golfers, there's nothing worse than snow-covered fairways and greens. I walked out to the 18th green of the George Dunne National Forest Preserve Golf Course in Oak Forest to capture a few shots this afternoon with temperatures below 20 degrees.

Foul Line Portrait

2008-12-17T22:37:00.002-06:00

One way to take photographs of basketball players in low light conditions is to catch them while they are relatively stationary--like when they are on the foul line. I try to blur the background and position the other basket just over the shoulder of player to give the photo a sense of place.

Largest Full Moon of the Year

2008-12-12T21:28:00.000-06:00

I went out on a farm field near the intersection of Harlem Avenue & Sauk Trail Road near Frankfort, Illinois on the evening of Friday, December 12, 2008 to capture some photos of the full moon.

This full moon was the biggest one of the year as it reached its closest point to the Earth.The moon's average distance from us is about 238,855 miles. On this evening it was just 221,560 miles away. It was 14% bigger in the sky and 30% brighter than some other full moons during the year.

A Visit to the Mississippi River

2008-12-11T16:31:00.001-06:00

I visited the Mississippi River near Davenport yesterday and captured some photographs of an American White Pelican and an eagle. I plan to return again this winter in the hope of shooting some eagles in flight.

Christmas Lights

2008-12-11T16:28:00.005-06:00

I think it's best to shoot Christmas lights during twilight. It's easier to retain detail during that time.
The second image is a compilation of three different exposures to create a high dynamic range (HDR) photograph.

A Christmas Card Photo

2008-12-09T09:29:00.002-06:00

I captured this photo of my niece and nephew for their Christmas card. I used the Topaz Adjust plug-in to achieve this special processing effect.

Working with Light

2008-12-09T09:26:00.004-06:00

I played with a "snoot" on my flash unit last weekend. A snoot is a long narrow tube that attaches to a flash so that the light can be directed as a beam. In this shot of my nephew in his natural habitat, I wanted the light to cast a long, hard shadow.

A Portable Studio

2008-12-09T09:22:00.002-06:00

I brought some flash units, light stands and umbrellas to my brother's house to take some photos of my nephew. Fortunately, he started to have some fun in front of the camera and I was able to compile this collage:

Focusing on the Action

2008-12-07T21:17:00.001-06:00

During my last basketball game, I shifted away from "sportraits" to some action shots. The lighting at the Sportsplex facility was incredible on Sunday morning.

Chicagoland's First Snow Fall

2008-12-02T09:10:00.003-06:00

I really hate what the snow does to my commute and to my golf game. But, it is beautiful when it first falls.

Chicago had its first significant snow fall of the season yesterday (December 1st). I captured a few photos in and around Orland Park:

Allison's 11th Birthday

2008-11-29T08:40:00.006-06:00

My niece celebrated her 11th birthday on Thanksgiving. I captured this photo of Allison with her dog, Bud, during the event:

High Dynamic Range

2008-11-25T17:57:00.002-06:00

It seems that there are photo opportunities everywhere. This image was captured outside of the Lowe's Home Improvement Center in Orland Park, Illinois this afternoon.

While checking the camera's LCD display, I noticed that the image was having trouble retaining detail in both the shadows and the highlights. So, I placed the camera on a tripod and fired three separate exposures--one at what I thought was a proper exposure, one a stop overexposed and another one a stop underexposed. I then blended all three exposures together using the Photomatix software. This blending approach enabled the photograph to display a high dynamic range (HDR).

I Paid the Price

2008-11-24T17:53:00.003-06:00

I stopped by the Brookfield Zoo and spent a couple of hours photographing penguins and some other birds. Towards the end of the session, an Inca Tern flew over my head and promptly deposited some droppings on my right shoulder--some of which sprayed into my hair. The "free flight" exhibits offer a great opportunity for unobstructed views of the birds, but that comes at a risk. Hopefully, the images were worth the price I paid.

Basketball

2008-11-24T08:35:00.002-06:00

The lighting at the Sportsplex was particularly good yesterday morning. It was much easier to freeze the action (1/1000th) while retaining excellent image quality (ISO 1250). This photo was captured at f/2.8:

From Water to Milk

2008-11-22T18:09:00.003-06:00

After a couple of session shooting water droplets, I experimented with milk this morning:

More Drips

2008-11-21T15:40:00.004-06:00

Here are a few more shots from this morning of water from the kitchen faucet frozen with a very fast exposure:

Scenery in the Sink

2008-11-20T21:07:00.005-06:00

With the temperatures in the mid-30's, I turned my attention to the kitchen sink. Surpringly, the technique used to stop the action is to set the flash unit at its lowest power setting (1/128th power). That way, the duration of the flash is at its fastest (somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/20,000th of a second)! The key is to turn off all of the lights so that the very short flash is the only thing contributing to the exposure.

That's It for Volleyball

2008-11-19T14:47:00.004-06:00

My niece's volleyball team was eliminated from the playoffs last night in a very exciting match. So, I won't be shooting volleyball until next year. Here are a few images from last night's game:

Backlighting

2008-11-19T07:11:00.003-06:00

I like to have my camera with me while commuting. Yesterday, I captured a few photos of the grasslands near Centennial Park while driving home from Costco. The backlighting made this ordinary subject appear more dramatic:

Action Shots

2008-11-16T17:56:00.002-06:00

It's getting easier for me to capture the more still moments of a basketball game (e.g., the free throw shooter). On Sunday morning, my goal was to photograph some of the faster paced action of the game:

Volleyball

2008-11-13T18:22:00.007-06:00

November 12th was a full day of photography! After my time at the zoo, I took photos at my niece's 5th & 6th grade volleyball game. The lighting in the gymnasium at night was dim, but the D700 was up to the task at ISO 3200 with the 70-200 at f/2.8.

Vending machine ZOOM

2008-11-13T18:18:00.003-06:00

On my way out of the zoo, I noticed a Coca-Cola vending machine in the parking lot. I experimented with zooming my 24-70mm lens out during the long exposure and came up with the following photograph:

Apes!

2008-11-13T18:14:00.004-06:00

It was another rainy day. Fortunately, the Brookfield Zoo has several indoor exhibits suitable for photography. One of my favorite spots in the zoo is Tropic World--which houses the primates.

I captured the following two images of the gorillas with my D700, a 300mm lens and a SB-800 flash unit:

Fall is Over!

2008-11-11T18:34:00.008-06:00

With temperatures in the 30's this afternoon, it appears that Fall is officially over in Chicago. I captured some photos of fallen leaves on my drive home from Oak Brook.

I'm continuing to experiment with post processing settings within Capture NX2. I suspect I've oversharpened some of today's images, although I was somewhat going for that effect with a few of them. Here are a couple from today:

Illini Collection Offered Through eBay

2008-11-10T21:04:00.008-06:00

Sales of the "Chief Illiniwek's Last Dance" and "The Illini Nation" photographs have far exceeded my expectations. As a result, I am now offering three other photographs from the Illini Collection for sale through eBay:

"Hail to the Orange"

"Illinois Loyalty"

"Go Illini!"

Only Stationary Subjects Allowed!

2008-11-09T22:43:00.008-06:00

I thought the lighting from this morning was bad. Later in the afternoon, I went to watch the Hooptown Hawks play in a basketball tournament at the Oak Lawn Pavillion. The lighting levels were as low as I've seen: ISO 3200, 1/160th wide open!

As a result, I resorted to shooting mostly stationary subject. The players on the bench made for some interesting studies. CLICK on the photo to view the entire image:

ISO 1600 wide open at 1/400th!

2008-11-09T22:40:00.005-06:00

Considering how low the light levels were at the Sportsplex this morning, I was pleased with the image quality I achieved with my 70-200 lens during the morning's 8th grade basketball game.

One trick I've been using is to grab some shots of the players during pregame warm-ups. That way, I'm sure to get an isolated action image of each player with little effort. Here's one image from that session:

Stopping the Action

2008-11-03T23:14:00.002-06:00

Basketball provides a special challenge for photography. Dimly lit gymnasiums make it nearly impossible to achieve fast enough shutter speeds to stop the action. Fortunately, the Hooptown Hawks 8th grade basketball team plays some of its games at Orland Park's Sportsplex. Gym #3 has windows on three sides of the court which allows for enough daylight for me to shoot at shutter speeds of 1/1000th of a second at f/2.8 at ISO 1600.

Where's Waldo?

2008-11-01T18:32:00.011-05:00

This image of the Illini student section was inspired by the popular puzzle books authored by Martin Handford. The photo was captured during the November 1st football game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Note the fan in the lower right corner of the picture!

Matt Eller kicked a 46 yard field goal with just 24 seconds left in the game to win it for the Illini by a score of 27-24.

A Post Processing Surprise

2008-10-29T19:50:00.009-05:00

I captured this photo of my cousin, Jackson, at his home in Lockport, Illinois. Only later did I discover that you can see through his right leg! Apparently, this was some sort of optical illusion created by the bright sunlight coming from the left of the frame.