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Douglas Dubler Photography, 12 E. 86th Street #409, New York, NY (2026)

08/28/2024

“Boathouse Table Still Life” On my walk through Central Park yesterday, I visited the Boathouse restaurant and I was immediately drawn by the quality of the light. Setting to the west, it was reflected off of the water and with the low angle, I was certain I could find a compelling subject. Already thinking B&W, I looked down the length of the restaurant and saw at the very end a few tables with reserved signs on them but with no people seated as of yet. I made my approach in a circuitous manner so as not to attract attention from any of the restaurant staff.

I quickly made some adjustments to the the items to suit my aesthetic and proceeded to make twenty five images in less than four minutes, changing the composition continuously and ending up with a vertical composition enhanced by shifting to APS-C mode to get an effective 60mm focal length out of the Sigma 40mm f1.4 ART lens. I was finished and made my exit before anyone noticed. Always an asset in today’s “sorry no photographs” predominate policy. And if I took time to ask for permission, the light would have been gone. The moral, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission…

My editing in Capture One was minimal, most of the heavy lifting was done in SFex Pro, my preferred B&W conversion software. The forks, plate and tablecloth were all on separate layers in Capture One and using their “color readout” points I could precisely adjust the values that after conversion in SFex would give me the “Zone” values I had envisioned when I first viewed the subject.

Sony A7RV, Sigma 40mm f1.4 ART @ f5.6 @ 1/800 sec. @ 100 ISO. Exp. Comp -1 stop. Color managed by Calibrite.

08/10/2024

“The Cherubs of Bethesda Fountain”. A detail of the exquisite neoclassical sculpture and fountain that is the central feature of Bethesda Terrace in Central Park. Part of the larger “Angel of the Waters” ( see attached image ), the sculpture was designed by Emma Stebbins in 1868 and unveiled in 1873. The statue refers to the biblical healing of a disabled man at Bethesda, a story from the Gospel of John about an angel blessing the Pool of Bethesda, giving it healing powers. It is the only sculpture commissioned by the park’s designers and administrators and Emma was the first woman to receive a public commission for a major work of art in New York City.

The statue was made to commemorate the completion of the Croton Aqueduct, the first pure water aqueduct which delivered clean drinking water to the city of New York. Beneath the angel are four four-foot cherubs representing temperance, purity, health, and peace.

I was immediately drawn to the four cherubim and their arrangement around the fountain. With a constant veil of water surrounding them, the challenge photographically was how to depict the water and the background. My eventual solution was to use my Sigma 180mm f2.8 lens at f2.8 to eliminate the distraction of the immediate background and then experiment with different shutter speeds to determine how I would like the water to appear. After shooting various shutter speeds from 1/4 second to 1/125 second, I decided on 1/30 second.

Those variables were also dictated by the quantity and quality of the light. Here the 7 P.M. late afternoon light provides a soft but directional quality that I was confident would serve my vision once converted to B&W with Silver Efex Pro. Processed first in Capture One as a lower contrast image suitable for the increase in contrast I knew would occur with the B&W conversion. Eight layers were used in Capture One to isolate the elements and permit detailed subtle editing.

Sony A7RV camera, Sigma 180mm f2.8 APO Macro @ f2.8 @ 1/30 sec. @ 100 ISO. Exp. Comp -.3. Color managed by Calibrite.

08/02/2024

“Private Matters Iris” Another breathtaking beauty from my friend Tim Vanover’s H.I.P.S. garden in Montclair NJ. Hybridized by Lesley Blyth in 2015. Characterized by pristine white standards; falls lustrous purple to purple-black lightening slightly towards outer edge; beards orange over purple.

A nicely diffused sun provided the perfect dynamic range for this iris. In direct sun the results would be questionable at best. With a small pop from my Sony on camera flash, the final image accurately reflects my “previsualization” at the time of capture. At f1.4, the Zeiss Otus 85mm APO Sonnar delivers an amazingly high resolution combined with the painterly background boke which is unmistakably Otus. Minimal but aesthetically precise editing done in Capture One.

And finally, by shifting the orientation of my camera on a forward and oblique angle I can affect an apparent redistribution of the very limited depth of field at f1.4. The final test is viewing a print to evaluate all of the variables which are impossible ( at least for me ) to view on a monitor.

Sony A7RV, Zeiss Otus 85mm f1.4 @ f1.4 @50 ISO @ 1/800 sec. Exp. Comp -1 stop. Color managed by Calibrite. View full screen for best experience.

07/19/2024

“Central Park Reservoir Panoramic” For the past month I have been spending almost every evening ( weather permitting ) at the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir in Central Park at 90th Street on the East side. This iconic view I have photographed for several decades in all types of weather and light. Until recently, using single exposure captures. For the past several months I have been investigating the world of multi shot or “stitched” panoramas. Briefly it consists of making a series of exposures which overlap and then post capture, stitching them together using software.

My choice is Capture One because after capture I can stitch them together in the software and still edit them as a raw or in this case, a .dng file. Edits can be made non-destructively and the composite of the six full frame images produces a file that natively is 6’X2’ @ 360 DPI. If I need a larger print I can Ypres using On1 Perfect Resize AI 2023 and to get to a 14’X5’ print, it’s only a 2X upres. Since one of my passions is making large prints, this has great appeal to me.

There are some technical issues to address ( nodal point determination and precise leveling ( made easy with Acratech’s leveling base and nodal slide ). The nodal point varies with each lens and I advise against using zoom lenses. In general they are the bane of my existence. I don’t own any. For me it’s “prime”of go home. An exception would be when I need a long telephoto and to save weight I often resort to a 100-400mm Zoom. But if I had my old team of Sherpas, it would fixed f2.8 primes.

This image was shot with Sigma’s 85mm f1.4 ART lens in vertical format. Capturing in a vertical format minimizes or eliminates and distortion, so the end frames are every bit as sharp as the center ones. A characteristic more apparent in a large print. Sony A7RV camera , 85mm Sigma Art @ f5.6 @ 1/50 sec. 50 ISO. Exp. Comp -1 stop. Color managed by Calibrite.

07/11/2024

“Lotus Flower” From my shoot at NYBG yesterday. We arrived at the garden at 7 A.M. ostensibly to shoot day lilies. However the sun was undiffused and awe had limited options such as shade from nearby trees, etc. I didn’t care for the quality of light from the white diffusion umbrella so I was resigned to accepting the reality that there weren’t going to be any gifts from the gods.

While we were shooting my friend Justin passed by and alerted me to the fact that the lotus flowers were in bloom at the lotus pond in the interior of the Haupt Conservatory. I thought it would be a good idea to at least have a look. I was amazed. The lotus were in full bloom and in perfect condition. Not a bug or blemish to be seen. The light was diffused by a layer of clouds so I set up and got to work quickly. Within minutes the clouds dissipated and I was left with the harsh direct sun. But I knew I had some good captures in the “good” light. When I got home and loaded them into Capture One, I realized I dismissed the gods too quickly…

The lotus flower, with its translucent petals and blooming pattern that follows the rise and fall of the sun, is one of the most captivating on earth. Lotus flowers are native to India, east Africa, southeast Asia, and Australia. While it varies across cultures and countries, the general meaning of the lotus flower is purity and strength.

The lotus is a central symbol in many Eastern cultures, which consider it to be one of the most sacred plants in the world. Lotus flowers feature in the oldest Egyptian hieroglyphics, antique Chinese ceramics, and Hindu folk stories. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the lotus flower represents the womb of the universe, where all things are born. For Buddhists, this flower represents enlightenment and the link between the universe's soul and their own; it's said that lotus flowers bloomed where the baby Buddha took his first steps.

Sony A7RV, Sigma 180mm f2.8 APO Macro @ f5.6 @ 1/640 sec., ISO 50. Exposure Comp. -1 stop. Weak on camera fill flash. Color managed by Calibrite.

07/06/2024

Daylily Hemerocallis “Marse Connell”. From my shoot at New York Botanical Garden earlier today. Hybridized by Connell in 1952 and awarded Honorable Mention in 2006. A “spider” bloom characterized by Red dark self.

As their name implies, these natural beauties bloom in the early morning, and by the time I’m typically ready to work, they are either dead or asleep… So in keeping with that reality, I arose at the ungodly hour of 6:30 A.M. so we could be on site at the garden before the sun rose too high. I’ve appealed to the Greek god Helios to slow his chariot journey but to no avail…

By the time we got there and were setup it was 8:50. Tick Tock. I started in an area that was in the shade of a large tree which would protect me for a short time. As this was in fact the second exposure I made, the light for my aesthetic could not have been better. The sun was diffused by medium clouds and further diffused by the tree. For me it was a good opening to start the day with this quality of an image.

I have photographed this particular species of Daylilly before and always like the images. The color palette and dynamic range are at the top of the list. The graceful curved petals are also easy to compose with. The boke of the Sigma 180mm f2.8 APO Macro displays some of its unique imaging characteristics. In the upper right out of focus petal, you can see some digital anomolies that are actually aberrations optically speaking but they give the photograph a unique signature that I have never seen with any other lens in my years of imaging. Also the water drops are for the most part recorded as almost perfect circles.

But the real prize is the quality of the boke. Combined with the compression of 180mm, the rendering is cinematic. At f3.2 with my camera tilted in a forward and oblique posture, I can hold a large part of the petal edge in sharp focus. And by sharp, I mean 40”X60”+ sharp! This is a style I have been evolving for more than ten years and it is a result of my camera techniques and most recently my facility with Capture One software and its ability to separate elements for editing. Here are more than 11 layers.

Mother Nature’s Fourth of July celebration…

06/29/2024

“Whitney Abstract 4127” From an abstract series I did at the Whitney Museum in 2002. After the 911 attacks on the WTC the Whitney Museum on Madison did a representation of the American flag in front of the museum which consisted of three curtains of tiny colored lights. The curtains were around thirty feet high by about seventy five feet long ( the length of the front facade of the museum ). There were two blue curtains and one red one separated by about ten feet.

As is typical for me I did a preliminary shoot to see if there was something there for me. The immediate answer was yes! I went back ten times and took over 400 photographs, most of them being long exposures ( 1-2 secs ), zooming and moving the camera (handheld) during the exposures. By looking at the LCD screen I could roughly see what I was getting and refined the process on the fly. I was using an Olympus E-20 5 MP camera with a 35-140mm equivalent zoom lens ( f2.0-f2.4). This was my walking around digital camera as in the studio I was still capturing to film.

Working on a series like this opened my eyes up to the potential of digital capture. To be able to review, adjust, shoot again and review enabled me to constantly be on the learning curve. In one shoot I could develop an imaging concept that would take me months or longer with film. The only downside was the quality really sucked. But I felt then and do now, that as time went by, the technology would improve and eventually the quality would be where it needed to be. That took in the neighborhood of fifteen years. As I have said I have patience for light and technology.

I reprocessed the file yesterday using Capture One V24 and the difference between the file I processed years ago and this is remarkable. I have always preached archiving raw files for precisely this reason. Even though this is from a 5 MP prosumer point and shoot camera ( Olympus E-20 ) I know I can print it 40”X60” and not lose the visual impact. In the end, the image reigns supreme and the technology should to the best of its ability support that ends.

Added to the mix was a little digital magic from my friend Irfan Yonac whose proprietary process for removing noise brought this file into 2024 ( actually beyond because none of the noise plugins can come close to this ). Even the pathetic reproduction from Facebook can’t manage to kill all of the quality.

This image was ISO 80, f5.6 @ .5 Sec.@ 140mm. Color managed by Calibrite.

06/24/2024

“Dried Rose” My homage to the late great Irving Penn. His book on flowers has been a strong influence on my floral photography for decades. I was fortunate to get a personalized signed copy some twenty years ago. While my “in situ” style takes another direction emphasizing limited depth of field shot with super fast and sharp APO lenses, bokeh and background being my obsession for the last ten years.

I think for studio type still lifes the super sharp depiction that Penn used has great appeal. Instead of using the 8X10 camera with swings and tilts employed for maximum depth of field, I will venture into the world of focus stacking. This is my first attempt. It’s a project that I will save for the fall and winter using available window light shooting on plain backgrounds. Primarily white, but in certain instances possibly gray or black backgrounds.

Sony A7RV, Sony 90mm Macro .6 @ 1/40 sec. @ 100 ISO, Exp. Comp -1 stop. Helicon Focus Stacking software. Twenty exposures. Color Managed by Calibrite.

06/23/2024

“Asharoken Weathered Breakwater” From my shoot on Long Island several days ago while visiting my friend Steve Titus.

This is a section of a steel breakwater barrier that was constructed to prevent water from the Long Island Sound from washing out the road which is the only access to people living on Asharoken which is essentially an isthmus connected by this narrow causeway. During Nor’easters or hurricanes, the waves would pound this barrier and eventually turned it into a clear example of nature’s dominance over man’s folly. And of course the rising ocean levels only exacerbate the situation.

I found it amazing how the steel was shaped into these abstract forms and when combined with the texture of the layers of rust were of instant appeal to my interest in the “abstract”. The challenge as always was the light. We arrived in the area just after 4:30, a time when the sun is still much too high in the sky for my taste. I did some preliminary images just after 6 P.M., but the light was still too high and vertical. By 7:15 the light was low and with my Zeiss Otus 85mm f1.4 lens I was able to capture some images that with some editing in Capture One were the reward for patiently waiting for the “light”.

Sony A7RV, Zeiss Otus 85mm f1.4 APO Planar lens @ f2.8 @1/200 sec. ISO 50, Exp. Comp -.7 stop. Color managed by Calibrite. Pulled back shot to give visual context posted as a comment.

06/19/2024

“Restaurant Still Life” Several days ago I left my apartment at 7 P.M. in search of subjects illuminated by the last half hour of sunlight. During these long summer days, I am always looking for this type of light. From my early days with Ansel Adams, I remember hearing,“If the light’s not right, don’t take the photograph”. Over the years ,I have expanded that to include. Find the right light and then find a subject (when possible) to put in it. Or in the case of this photograph, find the right light and rearrange the subjects to create a compelling composition.

I had seen this location a few days ago at this time of the day but there were people occupying the space. When I passed by the day before yesterday, to my delight, it was empty. I was attracted by the combination of the neutral gray table, the pink reflections in the glasses from the adjacent painted wall and most important, the extreme shadows.

I started by rearranging the elements to satisfy my aesthetic. I decided to include some environmental details at the top and bottom of the frame to convey a sense of place. I shot several frames and then altered the composition and shot a few more frames. Within ten minutes, I had arrived at this final composition. The waiter was apparently somewhat surprised, but let me proceed with no disturbance or comment. Just the way I like it.

With some minimal but important editing in Capture One, I have a reminder of these long but fleeting days of summer. Sony A7RV, Sigma 85mm f1.4 ART lens @ f5.6 @ 1/100 sec. ISO 100 Exp.Comp -1 stop. Color managed by Calibrite.

06/16/2024

“Japanese Water Iris” From my last visit to New York Botanical Garden. Being at the end of the Iris season I was surprised to find several irises that were still in pristine condition. This small group was in a separate part of the garden protected from direct sun by several large trees. I noticed them early in the day and made a note to return when the sun was in a more favorable position aesthetically.

Japanese Water Iris (Ensata) or Hanashōbu are a somewhat rare hybridization created by Thunberg in 1794. They have been cultivated in Japan for over 500 years and are referred to as Hanashobu in Japan. With standards appreciably shorter than most common irises and delicate veining common to "mini" irises. To me the standards look like rabbit ears. They favor a more moist environment as their name implies. Due to their toxicity, they are generally resistant to deer and rabbits.

After a short trip out to the Rockefeller Rose Garden, we arrived back at the Ladies Border Garden shortly after 5 P.M. The light was ideal. Open shade illuminated by an overhead cloudless sky. I photographed this group of irises for almost an hour knowing well that this was the gran finale for this years Iris season. Japanese Irises are the last irises to bloom, usually three weeks after the tall bearded irises.

Sony A7RV camera with Zeiss Otus 85mm f1.4 APO Planar lens @ f1.4 @ 1/2000 sec, ISO 50, Exp. Comp. -1.3 stops. Processed in Capture One V24. Color managed by Calibrite.

Douglas Dubler Photography

08/28/2024

08/10/2024

08/02/2024

07/19/2024

07/11/2024

07/06/2024

06/29/2024

06/24/2024

06/23/2024

06/19/2024

06/16/2024

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