- I've been considering buying some cheap radio triggers on eBay as a foray into the wireless without having to spend $150. Not sure if I'll do it but I am sure I hate being limited by the sync cord. Doesn't matter much in the studio but whenever I go outside I end up not being able to do what I want.
- I use Snapfish for printing but am trying out Walmart's 1-hour photo today because I want to get something printed by tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what they produce. The one drawback of Snapfish is that they take forever to arrive with the cheap shipping option.
- I've been in this experiment for two months and can say that my preference is for portrait and landscape photography in that order. People always seem more interesting to me than almost any other type of photo. I've been trying to take portraits that reflect something of who the person is. It's a basic idea but creatively rewarding to think about who someone is and try to capture it in a photo. Not sure how to do this with strangers?
- I've entered 3 photos in an art show at my church. I am excited to have them judged.
- I need to somehow network with some local photographers who are much better so I can continue learning. There's a pro who plays disc golf so maybe I'll try to hook up with him somehow.
- I am shooting almost exclusively in RAW now but don't like that I have to process each file just to get a JPG for the web. Probably need to set up a Photoshop action to handle this for me as I don't have Lightroom. It makes the photos less accessible but more flexible once I do get down to processing them. Trade off I suppose.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Random Thoughts
Candy Kid
Post Processing: Exposure +1, -30 saturation, shadows ramped up a bit and medium contrast curves.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Post Processing Attempt #2
Original
Final
Most of the time on this image was spent with the Healing Brush tool trying to remove the makeup cake and the deep line above her right eye caused by her hand on her cheek. I think it's passable as an 8x10 but much more than that and you could see my shoddy work.
Other than the Healing Brush I also cropped, adjusted the white balance and added a bit of vignetting in RAW and then sharpened the final Photoshop file.
Still not enjoying the cropping that is forced on me when I want to print.
Final
Most of the time on this image was spent with the Healing Brush tool trying to remove the makeup cake and the deep line above her right eye caused by her hand on her cheek. I think it's passable as an 8x10 but much more than that and you could see my shoddy work.
Other than the Healing Brush I also cropped, adjusted the white balance and added a bit of vignetting in RAW and then sharpened the final Photoshop file.
Still not enjoying the cropping that is forced on me when I want to print.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
First Attempt at Post Processing
Generally my rule, up to this point, has been to avoid post processing. There are two reasons for this:
With that said I have jumped into the post processing waters by necessity. My church college group is sponsoring an art show and I wanted to enter something for judging.
A quick rundown of the process I went through:
The goal was for the image to be enhanced without it being obviously Photoshopped. For my novice eye I think I succeeded considering the print size of 8x10 and all.
I really liked how the Photoshopped image turned out. I was bummed that I had to crop so much off the top and bottom to print. In the original you can see the full gun on the bottom and full head on the top. I need to remember to account for this cropping when shooting something I am going to print.
Update: After stepping away from the image for a day and then looking at it again I see some things I don't like. Namely that the shirt looks over sharpened and the high-pass enhancement I did left the photo less color saturated than the original. I should have ramped up the saturation but didn't notice it.
The original
The final
Story behind the image
The title of the photo is "Fleeting Pleasure" and the concept came from my study of 1 Corinthians 6:18 whereas the name itself came more from Hebrews 11:25.
If you aren't a Christian the meaning might not be obvious? I am trying to convey the biblical concept that sin (the sucker) is enjoyable for a season but leads to death. Specifically, the Bible says that sexual sin is different than other sins because it's against your own body. I thought the idea of blowing your face off with a gun illustrated that well.
- I already feel nearly overwhelmed by the amount of information I need to take in on the camera side of things.
- I don't want to use Photoshop as a crutch for poor camera skills. I want to focus on capturing a strong initial image.
With that said I have jumped into the post processing waters by necessity. My church college group is sponsoring an art show and I wanted to enter something for judging.
A quick rundown of the process I went through:
- healing brush tool to remove blemishes on skin and some shine on sucker
- burned a tiny bit on the face (using this technique)
- high-pass enhancement from Strobist (80 on the filter, opacity at 25%)
- unsharpen mask (80, .5, 0)
The goal was for the image to be enhanced without it being obviously Photoshopped. For my novice eye I think I succeeded considering the print size of 8x10 and all.
I really liked how the Photoshopped image turned out. I was bummed that I had to crop so much off the top and bottom to print. In the original you can see the full gun on the bottom and full head on the top. I need to remember to account for this cropping when shooting something I am going to print.
Update: After stepping away from the image for a day and then looking at it again I see some things I don't like. Namely that the shirt looks over sharpened and the high-pass enhancement I did left the photo less color saturated than the original. I should have ramped up the saturation but didn't notice it.
The original
The final
Story behind the image
The title of the photo is "Fleeting Pleasure" and the concept came from my study of 1 Corinthians 6:18 whereas the name itself came more from Hebrews 11:25.
If you aren't a Christian the meaning might not be obvious? I am trying to convey the biblical concept that sin (the sucker) is enjoyable for a season but leads to death. Specifically, the Bible says that sexual sin is different than other sins because it's against your own body. I thought the idea of blowing your face off with a gun illustrated that well.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Spokane River Walk
It was a beautiful day in Spokane yesterday. So uncharacteristic for February that I took off in a t-shirt (yes, pants too.) to walk down by the river near my house. Here's my three favorite shots plus a few random pics from earlier in the week. The photos by the river were all taken with a circular polarizing filter.
Critique of above photo: I love the idea and the shot but it could have been just a bit better if the foreground was in focus instead of going from blurred to focused to blurred. I was focusing on a point near me, locking focus and then moving the point of view up but I didn't focus close enough to myself for the shot I really wanted.
Note: I'm not posting the EXIF data here anymore since it's a pain and you can just click the photo to visit it on Flickr where the EXIF is available (click the "more properties" link towards the bottom of the right-hand column).
Critique of above photo: I love the idea and the shot but it could have been just a bit better if the foreground was in focus instead of going from blurred to focused to blurred. I was focusing on a point near me, locking focus and then moving the point of view up but I didn't focus close enough to myself for the shot I really wanted.
Note: I'm not posting the EXIF data here anymore since it's a pain and you can just click the photo to visit it on Flickr where the EXIF is available (click the "more properties" link towards the bottom of the right-hand column).
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
John Keatley
On Monday I had the privilege of talking to photographer John Keatley on the phone for about half an hour. John and I grew up in the same town and he was friends with my younger brother. It was really gracious of him to agree to talk to me about photography after not seeing each other for over a decade. Thanks John!
Three things that came out of the conversation:
See John's work at http://www.keatleyphoto.com/
Three things that came out of the conversation:
- Shoot a ton of pictures. There's no end to theory and information about taking good photos but the best way to learn is to shoot a lot.
- Ask other photographers to help you learn. John mentioned that there were a few people that really helped him out on his way up.
- Stay true to your style. It may be useful to try to emulate a photo just to learn how it was done but in the end you have to find your own look and run with it. People may hate what you're doing now but love it in five years so just do what you love.
See John's work at http://www.keatleyphoto.com/
Self Portraits with the AlienBees B800
I bought a used AlienBees B800 and have been toying around with it for a few days in my basement/studio/laundry room. The light that it gives is truly beautiful. Good light makes all the difference.
The photos below aren't good per se, more just to document the beginning of working with strobes. They are self portraits so I had to pre-focus on an object and then replace it with myself (is there a better way?). The focus is not good and I was guessing where both vertical and horizontal center frame was. I guess with strobe lighting and no handheld meter you are kind of guessing on the exposure. I was 2/3 to 1 stop dark on these.
The background is home made and in need of ironing (or less DoF). I think with a little more work it will look great. I made it out of white muslin and Rit dye. The link for the tutorial I read is in the blogroll.
And yes I do realize my zipper is half way down. I was in a hurry!
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Alien Bees around 1/4 power shooting through an umbrella.
The photos below aren't good per se, more just to document the beginning of working with strobes. They are self portraits so I had to pre-focus on an object and then replace it with myself (is there a better way?). The focus is not good and I was guessing where both vertical and horizontal center frame was. I guess with strobe lighting and no handheld meter you are kind of guessing on the exposure. I was 2/3 to 1 stop dark on these.
The background is home made and in need of ironing (or less DoF). I think with a little more work it will look great. I made it out of white muslin and Rit dye. The link for the tutorial I read is in the blogroll.
And yes I do realize my zipper is half way down. I was in a hurry!
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Alien Bees around 1/4 power shooting through an umbrella.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
February Goals
At the beginning of this process I decided to make goals. Here are my January goals which I accomplished.
Here are my February goals:
- Master my AlienBees B800 studio strobe (on it's way in the mail). I am the type of person who enjoys reading manuals and understanding the full capabilities of a piece of equipment even if I don't use it to it's full potential. Also a part of this would be shooting with a ton to put what I read into practice.
- Take a studio quality portrait.
- Enter photos in my church's visual art show. This will be a nice low-key way to enter into the world of presenting and being judged.
- Depending on the quality of photo, consider submitting to the Communication Arts Photo Contest.
Note: photo not mine.
Monday, February 1, 2010
I'm Three!
Bounced built-in flash with a home made reflector (foil, matte side up, covered piece of cardboard) to her left.
| Exposure: | 0.008 sec (1/125) |
| Aperture: | f/3.2 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| ISO Speed: | 400 |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| Flash: | On, Fired |
| Exposure: | 0.02 sec (1/50) |
| Aperture: | f/5.0 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| ISO Speed: | 400 |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| Flash: | On, Fired |
Action, Portraiture and the Completion of January's Shooting Goals
I made some goals at the beginning of January when I first got my new camera. Below are the fruits of my labor one day before the end of the month. This was the first time I had the opportunity to scout locations and have someone agree to pose for a while (thanks brother-in-law!). It was a lot of fun and I think we came away with some nice shots.
It was a nice overcast day. I didn't use a flash. The theme was rough urban backgrounds.
This shot screams senior portrait, lol.
Critique: I continually use too low of aperture (2 in this case) and end up with an eye out of focus (his right eye isn't very sharp). I need to be above 5.6 in a shot like this.
It was a nice overcast day. I didn't use a flash. The theme was rough urban backgrounds.
This shot screams senior portrait, lol.
Critique: I continually use too low of aperture (2 in this case) and end up with an eye out of focus (his right eye isn't very sharp). I need to be above 5.6 in a shot like this.
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