Fun Work!

I had a chance to have some fun today while doing a quick job for a friend.

My friend's wife runs probably the most awesome seconds store I've ever seen, and they needed some photos made up for their new website.

So after taking photos of the store i got some environmental shots, and this cool red animal just stuck itself out at me wanting its photo taken.  It was also saying. "Take me home to Kevin."  I was able to satisfy the photo craving without adding to the extensive at home stuffie collection.

I'm still not sold on Lightroom as the be all, end all of photo organizing.  It certainly has a lot of rough edges left, and need for speed improvements in other areas where Aperture still shines (yep that Aperture).  It does however have one killer tool everyone should try....CLARITY.  It helps with sharpening and contrast.  It is just awesome.

So that is what I'd like to share tonight...try clarity!

PS:  If you need seconds for children in Roswell go to Ladybugs and Lizards in historic Roswell!

-ehw

Published on Bill Fortney!

 

Hey Hey!

My friend Bill Fortney just published one of my HDR photos to illustrate how you can use various types of tripods to get "surprising" shots.

To check it out please go here!   http://billfortney.com/?p=7863

In this photo I wanted to try and see what motion would look like in an HDR photo.  In my first attempt the exposures were way to long, and the trains actually disappeared.  So unlike my other HDR where I kept the ISO down at 80, these are way up at 1600.

And in my final photo of the day I wanted you to see what it looks like when a group photo is requested...and you get a lonely tripod field of dreams...

If you get a chance do attend a His Light Workshop!  It is so much more than the photos!

-ehw

Game on!

T-Ball season is on!  I've been moving up the baseball chain with my older son, and now its time for my younger son to join in the games.

This is a typical early season sight...multiple players creating a scrum for the baseball...oh that's a rugby term?  Well it might as well be rugby for the first few weeks.

By the end they will start actually making a few plays..that is just the way it is.

So the challenge for the photographer is finding the scene which captures the love of this new game...with the innocence of youth springing forth in boundless energy.

In all, it is a wonderful journey to take frame by frame.

Because in a blink of an eye they will be....ready to fly away.

-ehw

Self Portrait

Just had such a fun time this weekend, that I also snapped a quick one of me that actually came out alright...

I will not make self portraits a habit, but for a change up I wanted to toss it in.

-ehw

Bel Air Glamor

One of the effects of HDR photography is also to bring out textures and color in a very realistic way.

I took this photo and had some fun with it in HDR Efex Pro 2, then ran it through Color Efex 4.  Sharpened to taste and called it a day.

RC Conception pointed out to us on the second night that the purpose of HDR is to get a good product to finish in post processing.  He found many people shot, process and don't finish.

It would be like writing the first acts of a play, and then walking away from the final act.

I called this Bel Air Glamor because the Glamor Glow filter seems to be all the rage in many a circle today, and I wanted to try it out for myself.

If you want to see some really extraordinary HDR check out both RC Conception's website and Jim Begley's.  Both are true master artists with this technique.

Check them out at www.aboutrc.com and www.wowphotoshdr.com.

-ehw

-ehw

Mail Time!

Day Three at the Old Car City HDR Workshop took us to the Duluth, Georgia Southeastern Railway Museum.  Twenty six photographers danced their way through this car...which except for the cooking cars was the top attraction for the day.

The team was fantastic. During the day talked gear, life, Christ, and how to get shots right in camera.  It was big boy rules, if you wanted help you got it.  If you did not want help you just shot... and shot...and shot again.

This postal car was the first scene one I wanted to process and share.

I'll write more later.  For now I wanted to let you know to keep His Light shining in your hearts and send it out for all to see.

God Bless.

-ehw

Buick at Peace

A lovely day to shoot in Northern Georgia..Day Two of His Light's Old Car City HDR Workshop.

Check out www.billfortney.com to see what it is all about...It is heaven sent for photos and the soul.

More later..in class now!

-ehw

Day One at Old Car City

Heading back into the evening class...put wanted to post something from this morning.  Six miles of trails and seventy years of cars to photograph!  I only covered two small yards so far, and they are full of fun shapes and images just crying to be photographed.  I am of course the only Pentax shooter here!  So my stuff does not get borrowed much for some reason.

Getting ready for critiques tonight and learning from what I've done and failed to do...

More tomorrow!

-ehw

Old Car City

I arrived and met the gang of His Light Photographers...

This weekend will primarily be an HDR photograph weekend.  That means multiple exposures with the same aperture which over and under expose the image.  This batch of photos becomes data for combination into a single image.  A program will merge the images, taking the best exposed parts of each exposure and make them one photo.

Why do this?  Well a camera, even the best camera built, still cannot see what your eye sees in one frame.  So to replicate what your eye sees you need merge a few frames and make and HDR to capture the dynamic range of light that is actually right in front of you...if you look hard enough.

If you want to know what is going on, and the program...I'll fill you in a bit over the next few days.  Until then check out

www.billfortney.com  and see what it is all about.

-ehw

On Freedom's Wings Pt 1

Driving to work today I swung by the airfield to see Memphis Belle on her annual visit to Atlanta.

She will fly over my office a few times during her visit, and the roar is tremendous.  I cannot image the site of a 1,000 plane raid, with hundreds of fighters darting around guarding the flock.

This aircraft was also the first plastic model I ever built, with my Dad after my first communion.  It hung over my bed for years with doors open  suspended by fishing line.

I'll post a few variations of the photo to show the effects of creating a black and white from this image...but today I just wanted to imagine walking out to the flight line on a cold English morning and getting ready to risk my life fighting for freedom in the skies  of Europe.

-ehw

White Out!

What kid does not like Power Rangers?  Heck I like them when I was a kid listening to them in Japanese in an Army Post in Japan in 1982!

Well I needed to practice with my flash and lighting this weekend and I wanted to try blowing out a background with a color gel.  So I got a few willing volunteers to hop in and play Pink, Green and Blue Rangers.  This is one of the final shots.

Set up?  Standard camera with short zoom.  One constant florescent into and umbrella to the left of the picture in front of my son.  One medium strength flash fun on manual set behind my son on a flash stand with a green gel.  Remote trigger via a radio popper.

When it fires it gives me a pretty well blown out set of white double doors acting as a back drop.  I could improve on the glow a little by adjusting the distance of my son from the door to create more separation and using s diffuser of some sort.

As it was I am happy to get the subject in focus and depth of field set properly so he remains the focal point of the photo.

I am pleased to report all three customers were happy with their final portraits!

-ehw

Fun Under "Water"

A trip to the Atlanta Aquarium a few weeks ago brought up this fun opportunity to shoot under "water."  As you walk through the plexiglass tunnel huge fish and sharks swim over you.  Amazing stuff.

Now to shoot underwater like this will trick your white balance.  So you have to either adjust it there or in post.  Not being the good boy, I did it in post processing.  Doing it in post should never be your default...I know...but I was running and snapping away for two grandparents, two sets of parents and seven kiddos.  So I chose to shoot and then fix in post.

-ehw

Spring's a coming!

Signs of Spring are popping out here in Atlanta.  Just about one year ago we saw out current home for the first time.  It was the third of forty homes we would see...and I knew it was "the one".

If I get to shoot it again I'll try for the hyperfocal effect..but for now the hint of Spring color on a warm later winter day will have to do!  In this shot I wanted the heavy bokeh and got it instead of hyperfocal.

Techies...K-5 with 60-250 set at 153mm ( 229mm in 35mm terms), F4.5 and 1/400 @ ISO200.

-ehw

Tow Truck

Nothing wrong with this little tow truck...still got another 100K in these tires!  Just the driver is finally growing out of it!

With this shot I wanted to test the depth of field a telephoto would deliver.  I wanted the car and driver in focus, the background into bokeh.  Since the car is in this photo the long way, you have to make sure your depth of field covers more than the driver's eyes.  In this case I went wanted from bumper to bumper.

I accomplished this by going f5.6 on an APS-C Pentax K-5 at 220mm (330mm equivalent 35mm).  I think it worked pretty well, let me know what you think!

-ehw

Winter Holds On

Winter is holding on for another weekend here in Roswell, GA.

This was an experiment to capture the feeling of being in the woods on a cold day with a "small" sun fighting through the trees.

The lens is at 68mm (102mm equivalent) and then closed down the shutter to F29.  I went to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2, and then added a hint of contrast and structure to enhance the star burst a bit.

Please let me know if I got the effect I wanted!

-ehw

Do you capture or create?

When you say, "Lets go out and take a photo!" do you usually record a scene or create a scene?

This is important for us to all examine if we want to improve our photography.  Why?  Well if you are a creator you might miss the elements in front of you in your haste to make your creation.  If you are a recorder you may forget that you can enhance the scene with a new element added by you.

What got me thinking of this was this photo.  I was walking by the grotto at church, when I saw all these elements (frame, ground light, sunlight, perspective and golden rule potential) create a possible composition in the morning light.  I then asked myself..but could I build this photo myself?

So this is setting me on a little path of needed enlightenment.  Now I have to not only look at scenes for what they are, but evaluate what they could be if I develop my creativity as well as my recording skills.

So what are you?  And what does that say about what you need to develop to meet your full potential?

-ehw

Bright Light in the house!

For this little challenge I wanted to do two things: Study a high contrast light environment in post and see what type of results my little Fujifilm X10 can make in this harsh environment.

I took several pictures, but this one looking up and into light gave me the photo with the highest contrast between highlights and complete darkness.

I like the color range and detail rendered despite the bright light attempting to overpower both.  To prevent radical blowout of highlights, and the edge areas between them, I used the camera's EXR mode with a -1.33 exposure.  I ran it through Perfect Effects to help bring out some details, and extend the dynamic range with some HDR effects.

This little camera had a ton of data for the Perfect Effects to work with (much more than I anticipated).  Remember, the best software in the world can do nothing if you and the camera give it bad data to work with.  What you see is the result of my two minute and done rule in post.

So the moral of this story is to push the limits of a scene by taking enough shots to find one which will get the effect you want, and remember to use post processing to pull all the data out of the photo possible to give you the best image possible.  A corollary to running through many perspectives is to work with other settings such as exposure compensation in each camera position to observe its effects on dynamic range and composition.

-ehw

Color me Purple

I was out front a little while ago on a glorious Sunday and was playing a bit with backlight and fill flash...

While developing the "roll"I thought it would be fun to make the purple really stand out and make a statement.  What better way to make a photographic color statement than to make it the centerpiece of the photo?

Since one of my co-workers today said they liked photos with one color left outstanding, I thought I'd make this post for him!

-ehw

Friendly Surprise

When you lay on your back to photograph a flower always remember to keep an eye on your surroundings.

I turned and looked up to find this guy about to breathe on my face...luckily with a snap shot I caught him looking pretty cool inches from my nose.

This was a surprise...why?

I don't own a cat.

I was in my own yard.

I'm allergic to cats.

My favorite cats are the neighborhood mouser and snake eaters...all others need to keep a respectful distance.

My five year old (child 3 of 4) and wife...well they love cats.  They'd have one if I was eaten by this one.

Well luckily this guy did not lick my face.  He works very well as a good mouser and snake eater.  He belongs to a neighbor who rescues cats.  She has four or five that roam the neighborhood.

Two of them work shifts in my yard.  Every once in a while they pose for me after they get happy petting visit from my cat loving son.

Ok so the moral of the story is?  Just keep your eyes on more than the pretty picture.  Especially if you want to visit Africa, Brazil, Los Angeles, Chicago, downtown Atlanta...there are dangerous cats that might visit you not so nicely if you forget to monitor your surroundings.

-ehw

Study in Light

I was testing out a new camera and I observed these lights in the dining room.  I wanted to see how the sensor would handle the bright filament.  Would it totally destroy the photo?

Well...it did not.  Instead I got a very nice study in light my naked eye could not see!  The study I enjoyed the most was the "bent" light coming from the glass around the filament.  I enjoyed the curves above and below the lights, and the built in vignette coming from my focus on the bight light at the heart of the photo.

So the moral of the story here is to remember that glass is a very helpful element in a photo, but sometimes you just have to take the shot and adjust based on the elements composing your photo.

-ehw