Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
More Glorious Black and White
Some more images in Black and White. I am so ready to get a film SLR, and a polaroid. I think that would make me far less snap-happy.
These fish are in a fountain found in Cranbrook, MI. They had great repeating patterns and I really just used the black and white because the contrast was far too much in unflattering colors.
This is definetly one of my favorite photos. Not so much for the actual content of the photo itself (not underselling it, I think its a great pic that breaks quite a few rules of composition), but because of the adventure of getting here. This is an abandoned apartment complex...or project, found off of Lafayette road. 4 or 5 very tall brick buildings that have seen better days. The entrance lobby was completely blown apart, no windows, drywall rotting from the ceiling...I really should have taken more pictures of the place itself. Anyways it is about a 15 story hike up some very enjoyable stairs, in which the entire time you are on your toes as air blows through the gaping holes and once-windows causing cabinets to creek, papers to bristle, and objects to topple over on every floor. And just before your reach the roof, you find some lovely artwork stating things such as "Proceed and Die" or "Go No Further", or my personal favorite due to the Boondocks Saints reference "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here". It truly was a heart-racing event. After a good half hour spent on the roof top capturing everything south, we proceeded to rush back down stairs before we ran the risk of trespassing (really was not feeling any interaction with the cops). Thankfully there were 2 separate flights of stairs, because we head footsteps pounding up the stairs towards us so we bailed on a high floor to the other set, rushed down out the building and to my car.
This is a very dramatic picture that I have to admit is not completely honest. The statue is from Cranbrook, in which there are 5 or 6 of these characters in different positions, over a fountain. The sky is from me going to the bank, and there happened to be heavy overcast but a large set of light rays streaking through. I really did not expect the sky images to turn out so well, as I shot them from the window of my car and spent little to no time composing the shots, not to mention the buildings on the bottom of the image were extremely boring. Anyways upon bringing them up I thought there was a possibility of making a great image out of it and here it is. I love how perfectly the statues hands lines up with bright spots in the sky, sends a really powerful message. Here are the images that I used
Here is the Metro City Station HDR that I did, and previously posted, in Black and White. This is the first image I used the Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 plugin for CS4 on. I really like the results. This by the way is the abandoned train station in downtown Detroit that serves no purpose other than for people to try to get into, or for people to look back and remember Detroit in its golden days.
These fish are in a fountain found in Cranbrook, MI. They had great repeating patterns and I really just used the black and white because the contrast was far too much in unflattering colors.
This is definetly one of my favorite photos. Not so much for the actual content of the photo itself (not underselling it, I think its a great pic that breaks quite a few rules of composition), but because of the adventure of getting here. This is an abandoned apartment complex...or project, found off of Lafayette road. 4 or 5 very tall brick buildings that have seen better days. The entrance lobby was completely blown apart, no windows, drywall rotting from the ceiling...I really should have taken more pictures of the place itself. Anyways it is about a 15 story hike up some very enjoyable stairs, in which the entire time you are on your toes as air blows through the gaping holes and once-windows causing cabinets to creek, papers to bristle, and objects to topple over on every floor. And just before your reach the roof, you find some lovely artwork stating things such as "Proceed and Die" or "Go No Further", or my personal favorite due to the Boondocks Saints reference "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here". It truly was a heart-racing event. After a good half hour spent on the roof top capturing everything south, we proceeded to rush back down stairs before we ran the risk of trespassing (really was not feeling any interaction with the cops). Thankfully there were 2 separate flights of stairs, because we head footsteps pounding up the stairs towards us so we bailed on a high floor to the other set, rushed down out the building and to my car.
This is a very dramatic picture that I have to admit is not completely honest. The statue is from Cranbrook, in which there are 5 or 6 of these characters in different positions, over a fountain. The sky is from me going to the bank, and there happened to be heavy overcast but a large set of light rays streaking through. I really did not expect the sky images to turn out so well, as I shot them from the window of my car and spent little to no time composing the shots, not to mention the buildings on the bottom of the image were extremely boring. Anyways upon bringing them up I thought there was a possibility of making a great image out of it and here it is. I love how perfectly the statues hands lines up with bright spots in the sky, sends a really powerful message. Here are the images that I used
Here is the Metro City Station HDR that I did, and previously posted, in Black and White. This is the first image I used the Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 plugin for CS4 on. I really like the results. This by the way is the abandoned train station in downtown Detroit that serves no purpose other than for people to try to get into, or for people to look back and remember Detroit in its golden days.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Big Bright Light Show
There really isn't a show here...But it is bright...and big...and contains light. So Rochester is about 75% effective with titling their events. Anyway I had some fun running over there, but of course the night i go out is the first snow of the season, so the conditions were a little difficult (especially since I still baby my camera). Perhaps when I upgrade I will have to keep my a300 for scenarios that would be considered less than ideal for photography. It was a good experience though trying to get long a exposure...but dodging snow hitting my camera...but keeping it still...but fearing the exposure to be ruined by a single snowflake. Some gold came out of it. I feel I need to venture down there on a weekend evening, early, with some filters...to get some more colour in the sky and traffic in the streets. And find a higher vantage point.
P.s. I am completely aware that the first of the photos is terrible considering the settings but I think the bokeh in the snowflakes...plus the noise in the dim lights...and the fact that i paired flash with a long exposure...all makes it a memorable image.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thanks to other bloggers I am inspired
After a few looks at some new techniques from other blogs I decided to take some fresh takes on some of my first photos.
Lets see if I had any dynamic changes
This is utilizing a cross-processing technique, (forming a standard s curve on the RGB, and then standard s-curves on the red and green channels, and then an inverse s-curve on the blue.) The result is a heavy contrast image, without just boosting the whites and blacks. The Top is after the cross processing, the bottom is my old take on the image. I can't say which one I like more, but i can say that the top has a bit more flavor.
With this the middle is the Camera original. The top is the cross-processed. The bottom is the original with contrast boosted through normal adjustedments and desaturated to only black and white. The Black and white image to this day is one of my favorite shots that I have taken, but I am quickly learning they immense amount of paths a photo can take once it is put onto the computer...
I've already got a headache, perhaps I should try film.
P.S. I would like to thank Created for Inspiration for doing just what the title of the blog suggests!
It was there I found this great cross-processing tutorial, along with a lot of other great information on this blog.
Lets see if I had any dynamic changes
This is utilizing a cross-processing technique, (forming a standard s curve on the RGB, and then standard s-curves on the red and green channels, and then an inverse s-curve on the blue.) The result is a heavy contrast image, without just boosting the whites and blacks. The Top is after the cross processing, the bottom is my old take on the image. I can't say which one I like more, but i can say that the top has a bit more flavor.
With this the middle is the Camera original. The top is the cross-processed. The bottom is the original with contrast boosted through normal adjustedments and desaturated to only black and white. The Black and white image to this day is one of my favorite shots that I have taken, but I am quickly learning they immense amount of paths a photo can take once it is put onto the computer...
I've already got a headache, perhaps I should try film.
P.S. I would like to thank Created for Inspiration for doing just what the title of the blog suggests!
It was there I found this great cross-processing tutorial, along with a lot of other great information on this blog.
PanoWamo
AutoPano Giga 2 Makes this type of panoramic (8000 pixels wide) a very easy task. Sure stitching in photoshop or other software can be very daunting, but this brings the most user-friendly interface, breezy upload, and cleanest results and fine tuning options all together. I love this program. In fact since such a program is so easy to use...I plan on utilizing it for a very large project. When I upgrade to a full frame camera (planning on the sony a-900 or 850) I am going to attempt about a 200+ frame stitch on something very large. I know a rooftop I can get to outside of detroit looking in on the city and major highways that could be a great choice. Sure a gigapixel stitch has been done before, but with a 25.6 MP camera we are talking a 5.1 Gigapixel image (500 times the resolution of something I could currently take). But this is far down the road, will take a lot of planning, and a lot of heartaches.
I tried to do a 40 image stitch of the pond behind my home and I missed a whole line of images. Such a mistake is not acceptable if I want clear results. I could go even more crazy, learn how to crop to a select amount of pixels in cs4, and then take a +1/-1 of every frame, and automate it to and hdr. 5 GP HDR? Pretty sure thats unheard of...And for good reason.
Anyway, if you love creating pano's, and want a faster-cheaper-more user friendly-better alternative to any of the CS's, or other crap software like Smokey City Design's panorama factory...I highly suggest Autopano Giga 2.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Back in the HDR business...
So one of the first things I got into was HDR photography. It was a very frustrating process because at first I did not have a cable release, nor do I have a steady hand. Anyways, even upon getting a CR I didn't get back into it too much because its kind of a snooze when it comes to editing in CS2. Its not any better with CS4...but it IS better, with Photomatix 3.2. This is what this program does...HDR...tone mapping...that is it. Man o man does this make it a world simpler, and cleaner images. Not to mention all the controls actually make sense (WTF is local adaptation and gamma anyways Adobe? Oh well, needless to say my photo game has just become High-dynamic.
Heres a lil tidbit till I get some new shots.
Heres a lil tidbit till I get some new shots.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Nature Calls
I tend to consider myself a "big picture" type of photagrapher. I like the whole kit and kaboodle. That is why cityscape is my favorite type of photography, panoramics, high vantages...etc. If it doesn't fit in my kit lens from 500 feet away...Its good stuff. Half of the thrill is finding locations to fit the image in my lens. I mean, Chicago makes it easy with a 103 story elevator takes you to the top of the Willis tower to give you a 50 mile vantage on a clear day...But scouring Detroit for a location to give you a great view is just as fun as finalizing the photo. What I'm getting at is part of my attempt to become a better photographer is to take images outside my "comfort zone". Not that its any more difficult to take a picture of a landscape...but it is just not what I am naturally attracted to. In conclusion here are some photographs of my attempt at capturing the essence of nature.
This image is of the West Falls of the Black River. I found these in a small town called Elyria just outside of Cleveland Ohio. This was a rather low flow day due to the lack or recent rain. Normally the two seperate falls can be found cascading as one due to the large amount of water, but such was not the case. I did not mind however, as I though the detail in the rocks was just as great as the flowing water itself. I just wish that at the time I had a ND filter of some sort, as the sky is extremely blown out and it was rather blue that day. But for the sake of the trip I couldn't sit around and wait for the sun to set.
This tree was in a park off of Walton in downtown Rochester, MI. The colors were perfect that day as this image was barely altered during post-processing. The reds and oranges of the tree popped right off the blue sky, and the clouds were perfect. Normally I would crop this shot lower, but this image blows up perfectly in 3:2 ratio, and the clouds look phenomenal and add more depth to the shot.
Also in downtown Rochester this was a nice wispy river underneath Rochester road (underneath the bridge heading north from the Rochester Hills to downtown Rochester. It was very tough getting any motion in the water as the sun was extremely bright. Thankfully it was under a bridge, I had a ND2x filter on me and I just made the aperture as miniscule as possible. This allowed for a great depth of field allowing crisp rocks, clear water motion, and a sharp background.
I photoagraphed this little gem in a fountain in Cranbrook. I thought the water and leaf had great freshwater colors, often found in Michigan fall. The leaf was very deteriorated and had obviously been there a while but I thought it looked great as it passed under water droplets from the fountain.
This tree is from a summer day at St. Clair Shores, MI. I was trying to find some good lanscapes with water in the background, but the lake colors looked very poor in the bright sun. So I was fooling around with a new combination of equipment and was getting a little annoyed with the sun. So I used this tree to block it and the shadow lined right up to my feet. I decided that the high contrast would work great in black and white and I really like the image. I just wish such an open tree was a little more detached from society because I do not like the park slide, gymnasium, and cars in the background.
This is another monument from Cranbrook. This fountain made for a great reflection, and the differing colored trees, great symmetry, and nice afternoon clouds all paired together for an excelling snap.
Just another version of the tree from above. I was actually using the sunset setting on my Sony alpha-300, to try and boost the reds. I think this is a great image and looked awesome on my computer background...I also really like the varying colors of trees in the background, some already naked, others with greens and yellows.
This image is of the West Falls of the Black River. I found these in a small town called Elyria just outside of Cleveland Ohio. This was a rather low flow day due to the lack or recent rain. Normally the two seperate falls can be found cascading as one due to the large amount of water, but such was not the case. I did not mind however, as I though the detail in the rocks was just as great as the flowing water itself. I just wish that at the time I had a ND filter of some sort, as the sky is extremely blown out and it was rather blue that day. But for the sake of the trip I couldn't sit around and wait for the sun to set.
This tree was in a park off of Walton in downtown Rochester, MI. The colors were perfect that day as this image was barely altered during post-processing. The reds and oranges of the tree popped right off the blue sky, and the clouds were perfect. Normally I would crop this shot lower, but this image blows up perfectly in 3:2 ratio, and the clouds look phenomenal and add more depth to the shot.
Also in downtown Rochester this was a nice wispy river underneath Rochester road (underneath the bridge heading north from the Rochester Hills to downtown Rochester. It was very tough getting any motion in the water as the sun was extremely bright. Thankfully it was under a bridge, I had a ND2x filter on me and I just made the aperture as miniscule as possible. This allowed for a great depth of field allowing crisp rocks, clear water motion, and a sharp background.
I photoagraphed this little gem in a fountain in Cranbrook. I thought the water and leaf had great freshwater colors, often found in Michigan fall. The leaf was very deteriorated and had obviously been there a while but I thought it looked great as it passed under water droplets from the fountain.
This tree is from a summer day at St. Clair Shores, MI. I was trying to find some good lanscapes with water in the background, but the lake colors looked very poor in the bright sun. So I was fooling around with a new combination of equipment and was getting a little annoyed with the sun. So I used this tree to block it and the shadow lined right up to my feet. I decided that the high contrast would work great in black and white and I really like the image. I just wish such an open tree was a little more detached from society because I do not like the park slide, gymnasium, and cars in the background.
This is another monument from Cranbrook. This fountain made for a great reflection, and the differing colored trees, great symmetry, and nice afternoon clouds all paired together for an excelling snap.
Just another version of the tree from above. I was actually using the sunset setting on my Sony alpha-300, to try and boost the reds. I think this is a great image and looked awesome on my computer background...I also really like the varying colors of trees in the background, some already naked, others with greens and yellows.
Crown Me
Tonight I had the wonderful idea to attempt to photograph a water crown. 10 minutes into this venture I realized how unequipped I am. With only the kit camera flash, my camera's shutter speed will only reach extremely inappropriate fractions of a second that make freezing water nearly impossible. Without a macro lens I was left with only the option to keep my cam back a ways and focus on the entire shot glass I used, and later crop it all out. So here you are my final result, best 2 out of 84 shots, which based on what I had to work with I am extremely happy with.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
OP Prime takes over
So i'm half sad half excited to say that lately my hours have been filled more with editing and creating images from scratch in CS4 rather than being out taking pictures. Not to say nothing quality is coming out. But that will all change once I start my next project for a friend on tuesday which I am pumped for.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Partial Desaturations
Partial Desaturations have become one of my favorite post processing techniques. It is a simple yet elegant way to make something pop more than usual, and truly show where the business is at. The rest is just details. On the contrary, the same technique can be used to make things blend more, such with the images from Comerica Park. I felt the colors were a little intense and the PD's were a great way to tone the image down yet leave some life in it.
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