Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Fruit from the Ball Bering Tree or Wide-angle vs. Wide-angle.

I went to the Minnesota Arboretum this Sunday with Matt, Bob and Rob (Mitch, Matt, Bob & Rob ha!). We had a great time enjoying the beginning of the Minnesota summer: a wonderful thing. We are all suffering from LAS (lens acquisition syndrome) and make a good set, 2 Nikon, 2 Canon. It was like two beer drinkers and two winos out for a night on the town without any sober buzz-killers around. In fact, there were cameras all over the arboretum that Sunday morning — like regulars at the hottest club in town. One couple we saw had more gear than us, but were rude in an odd way; the heavy-drinking jerks of the night. So, like any good addiction bender, I eventually ended up face-down on the ground, in front of the Ball Bring Tree.

The Ball Bering Tree, as I like to call it, is a big sturdy oak with garden globes scattered around under it. When we saw it, all of us gasped and ran to it like moths to a bug-zapper. This is my favorite shot from the moment; a self-portrait in a way — you can tell it’s me by the Smokey The Bear hat. I am actually mere inches from the globe, but with my Tamron 11-18 Ultra Wide Angle lens it’s hard to tell. With the over-cast sky, plenty of light was still able to filter in between my lens and the ball, so it still worked out.

For those of you who know Matt (Ravsitar from Tips from the Top Floor) you will recognize him in his signature orange shirt on the left by the tulip field next to Bob.

So get outside, enjoy the weather and find a new perspective — you might even find yourself.

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

If you don’t have a fear of heights, this will give you it. Think of it as a bus stop 75 feet in the air. More Zen.

And now for something completely different…

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

I haven’t figured out what it is about this image, but I can’t stop looking at it. There are so many contrasts and the color balance was very tricky. This photo would have been nearly impossible with film — it took me several shots to get the exposure right.

What’s with the preponderance of green and blue glass on buildings? Is it to keep them cool?

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Everybody needs a goat.  This kid was in the red barn in yesterday’s photo.

What does it mean when someone’s “got your goat”? Horses are nervous creatures, goats are very calm. If you put a goat in the barn with a horse, the horse would calm down. Take the goat, the horse gets agitated. Which is the same reason dalmations are associated with firemen. Fire engines used to be pulled by horses and if you can imagine, a fire is pretty terrifying for a horse, so the dalmation could keep up with the horses and help to calm them down.

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Good morning and welcome to the Minnesota Zoo! My name is George, I’ll be your sheep today.

Nothing’s more fun than wide-angle photos of critters. I took this at the Family Farm at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, MN. For a good wide-angle of a critter, you have to get real close — I was shooting at arm’s length.

This is also a case where an investment in a protective filter pays off. I wouldn’t have been so cavalier with my camera if I was afraid of sheep drool on my expensive lens.

Do you know where lanolin oil comes from? Yup, that’s why sheep are so sticky — check all the hay stuck to the sides of this guy. I really wanted to pet every one of these fuzzy lil’ guys, but I knew I’d spend the rest of the day cleaning my camera. Aw heck, a scratch behind the ears with my knuckles will do. Who can say no to that face?

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

I captured this vista during my hike on Sunday at Afton. It’s amazing what a wide-angle and some clever processing can do to a cold Minnesota plain.

The ultra-wide-angle lens that I have been using for a while now has some interesting characteristics when it comes to distortion. It’s an aspherical lens that has almost no fish-eye effect, but it tends to stretch lines that go to the corners. Also, if you point it anywhere that is not the horizon, it tilts everything causing “falling lines.” This means that I have to shoot landscapes straight on, placing the horizon boringly dead-center. So now I look for compositions that can handle these conditions an here is one of my favorites. I was able to through some great diagonals across the image with the path and the clouds. Turn up the post processing to emphasize the lines and I think it works.

Also, the way I processed it is close to a lightroom preset called “direct positive” that I have used before. It made the image look like a photo my dad of my grandparents standing in a wheat field taken in 1966. The direct-positive look mimics the way that color photos were processed in the 1960s. It’s pretty rough on the image, but when the right opportunity comes along, I love to use it.

Minneapolis Photographer Mitch Rossow presents daily photos of Minneapolis. Cityscapes, People & Perspectives: Mitch explains composition and techniques.

Busy weekend for me, I got out with the photography group from Tips From the Top Floor and the Minneapolis Hiking Meetup Group. This photo is from the Hiking Group’s meet at Afton State Park.