lookers
Gentleman and I headed up to Lookout Mountain for some fresh air and a quick get away from the house this afternoon. I really like the way these turned out; the lighting was absolutely perfect and yet again I didn’t have to do any post processing.
Here’s a little Colorado peaking through the trees. Not bad for only having 60mm worth of zoom on me at the time.
studio lights
For quite some time now, I’ve been researching what kind of lights I should purchase for my mobile studio. I can’t afford anything really nice, but I am well aware that there are less expensive alternatives if I just take the time to look. I’ve been a fan of the strobist and really like the idea of using my external flash as a slave/strobe. My only dilemma with this is how much my personal equipment needs a diffuser.
Enter the softbox.
I like softboxes much more than umbrellas. They’re easier to use (imo) and I feel they’re overall better at evenly distributing light. I was searching on craigslist for used equipment when I came across (imagine clouds parting and heavenly voices ahhh’ing) the ALZO FLIP FLASH BRACKET SOFTBOX KIT; a very cool and versatile piece that I have decided I will own some day. Oh yes, I will.
This package is a small softbox that connects to your external flash and then to a bracket that holds your camera, portrait or landscape, and then (if you want) will mount to your tripod-no extra bulbs, stands or power sources. This makes me very happy.
But first, I decided, I must learn to use my external flash as another light source.
If there’s one thing I love about myself, its how absolutely predictable I am. I was raised by pack rats, so I keep everything (for the record, I get rid of useless junk… mostly). I went to my drawer of manuals and warrantees and pulled out Oly’s manual (Olympus E-3) as well as Fancy’s (aaand I named the flash after a Reba McEntire song, an Olympus FL-50R).
I got really excited when I realized that my camera will remotely talk to my flash without any cords or remote controls. And when I finally figured out how to get Oly and Fancy to talk to each other, I chose my dog as a subject to test it all out on.
Things I’m happy about: its lit properly. There’s no blow out, the dof is decent, its framed well and I didn’t do a single post process function other than resize and tag. I still need a significant amount of tweaking to make images fantastic (I think the white balance is off), rather than just close to clinically correct, but I’m one step closer to getting there. After all, there’s no point in breaking all the rules if you don’t even know what they are in the first place!
ceiling
This is the ceiling in my office. I am not ashamed to admit that sometimes I turn out all the lights, lie on the floor and stare. The right side was done by the previous owner, I think my office was the daughter’s room. The left side was done after I moved in and realized that I had an old pack of the same set in my craft box. I kind of like that you can see the residual light in the fan in the center of the image.
light
After spending some time with David Schmidt of 211 Photography, I have been trying to train my eye to be more observant to light and lighting my subjects. The perfect opportunity to try some of David’s suggestions came up this weekend when I had my niece over. I’m very happy to say that the only post processing I did on any of these images was a bit of a vignette for effect.
I must have taken a thousand images while my niece and my pup were snuggled on the couch watching Sponge Bob when it finally occurred to me that “hey, maybe I should pay attention to the natural light I have right now,” particularly because the shots with the flash were washed out and ugly. And, “oh! look at that, the kid isn’t lit, but the dog is! Maybe I should take a pic of the DOG!” Well, what do you know, I got a good picture…
The first day my niece was here, I was chasing after her with the camera and ultimately very frustrated with the images I was getting. the whole camera was set on auto everything because I wasn’t sure I could change things up fast enough to catch her in action. Somehow David’s words must have sunk in because I put the camera on A priority and showed Emileigh the front window With an “Ooh! Look how cool!” and a finger pointed outside to nothing, she got really excited and I got a really great head shot.
There’s this amazing phenomenon that happens to all that live in my humble abode. The instant a television turns on, we all turn into zombies; it doesn’t matter what’s on, we’re all instantly glued and glazed. SpongeBob was no exception. I cued up a few episodes for my niece and my husband, my dog and I, along with Emileigh, couldn’t take our eyes off my laptop… well, maybe enough for a picture. 
I love images like this one or several reasons. I’m rather drawn to the way that snaps looked when I was a kid. I love the warm white balance and candid feel to them. And I’m almost to the point of figuring out how to do them on purpose. I put the WB on daylight and followed the little one around a bit until she started getting tired. It just so happened that the sun was coming in from over the mantle window right into the camera, so I snapped to see what I’d get…lucky for me the lensbaby is a manual focus and I’m pretty slow in the moment.re-inspired
After watching STS-130 lift-off from my cozy home office in Denver, I started geeking out again over the space program and decided to go back through my images from STS-129. Its interesting to go back with new eyes and see that even though my images are certainly not exposed the way I’d want them to be now, they really weren’t as bad as I had originally thought.
best tour guide ever
This man was the best tour guide ever. He truly was a space junkie; he’d read everything about the space program he could get his hands on and he had tons of fantastic stories about hanging with astronauts and the like.
vehicle assembly building
The day of the launch we arrived at KSC around 6 in the morning. Entrance into the compound was encouraged that early but they weren’t bussing us out to the causeway until 10. We decided to take another lap around the Saturn V and ISS complexes. It was wonderful. There was hardly anyone there and we had the guides to ourselves!
tranquility module
This would be the bum end of the Tranquility Module, aka node 3, which is currently in the back seat of the Endeavour, docked on the ISS… in orbit!
node entrance
I actually took this picture of an ISS node because it looked like a video game and I wanted to draw it for a comic book or something equally lame.
bald eagles
This image was pretty much an “oh shit, bald eagles!” shot. I took it from the bus on the way back from the ISS complex. Merritt Island is an ecological sanctuary and the NASA freaks are very proud of the eagle’s nest that has been there for over 40 years
revisit
I’m cleaning out an old website and came across some older portraits I’ve done. Click the title for more images.
libration
I’ve photographed the moon several times now with my 300 mm lens and gotten some fairly fabulous results considering the fact that I do not have “top shelf” equipment. So when we had a blue moon last night, I figured I’d shoot it for grins and giggles. I was pretty excited when I noticed that craters Tyco and Copernicus were in very different locations from the image I took in September when most of California was on fire. With two of my own images I was able to visually confirm lunar libration. I’m sure this is no big thing to other people, but the realization of what I unwittingly did got me pretty excited. Unfortunately I wasn’t in as good of a position to photograph the moon lower on the horizon, so last night’s image isn’t as good as the one from September; plus the giddeous phase gave me some gorgeous shadows to work with then as well.
Sept 09
Dec 09
footprints
Last week I went on a short drive up Guanella Pass with my aunt Deb and grandma Oriole. We couldn’t drive all the way to the top due to road closure but it didn’t seem to matter because all three of us are photography nuts and were stopping every hundred feet or so to take pictures.
My aunt is a nature junkie much like my good friend B. The two of them share this amazing ability to attract or be aware of things most people just walk by without noticing. My aunt is unswayed by the fact that she doesn’t have the latest and greatest photography equipment and manages to get phenomenal and close up images of wildlife with only a 300mm lens and the most exquisite amount of patience and love in her heart.
It wasn’t until my trip to California that I started to appreciate really good landscape and nature photography. And I never thought much about foot prints in the snow making a good photo either. But when we were out walking around and my aunt squeaked at some tiny little mouse prints, I decided to give it a go. Even though I feel as though my images could have been much better, I realized that it was because I’m largely emotionally cut off from nature and that is what shows in the photography.
There’s a much deeper connection here that would require far more space to explain than its probably worth. Suffice to say that I believe strongly that there is a key here to my journey in making me whole again.
hanging out
Since the artification of my orchid image, I’ve been playing with different textures and photos. I’ve found that when an image is made paying special attention to detail, lighting, framing and the like that it isn’t a very good candidate for artification. However, when an image looks only so-so but has a few redeemable qualities to it, its perfect to play with.
I’ve found that I’m in love with this process. I still greatly value a technically perfect image out of camera but I’m realizing more and more that I’d be the kind of person who would be in the photo lab experimenting with messed up quantities of chemicals and any other way I could find to add texture. Originally I felt I was degrading a good image the more post processing I did; now I’m seeing my photography as art rather than just photography. It feels like something has clicked. I felt I’d lost the idea of making art. Now I only wish I had the finances to be able to do this with analogue processes.
But oh, how hilarious it was to realize that a lot of the names of the techniques came from exactly what was done in the lab. When put into a real life scenario, these techniques came to life. They became tangible enough that I could almost imagine myself making these images with my hands! And the styles that mean so much to me, warmth and texture, can be used abundantly.
art
Gentleman and I went to the Butterfly Pavilion again today. It might seem a little strange, but anytime we’re feeling under the weather we head over there. We find the extra moisture an oxygen to be revitalizing and way cheaper than going to an O2 bar. Plus, I get a little camera therapy as well.
Its a fairly small pavilion and in the middle of winter there really isn’t much to see. So, I took some time to look at some of the foliage in the place. When I got home I didn’t find anything really exciting to look at in my stash of images other than I seem to have figured out the trick to crisp saturation. This is good! I’m working with some other modes other than manual these days and I think I’ve figured out when to use what and where/when.
Not too long ago I was ogling Kevin’s photoshop work and begged him to tell me how he did a few things. Being the absolute sweetheart he is, Kevin gave me a few pointers and sent me on my way. It wasn’t until tonight that I decided to sit down and really apply what he taught me. I’m pretty pleased with the results. Now that I can do this I can easily hack it and try other really cool things as they come along.
The best part about this is that I did it all for free. I use Gimp which is completely open source software and I snatched the effects from people who uploaded and gave their permission to use their stuff on the internet.
Thanks again Kevin!
bunny
I arrived early for one of my internships today and this little guy was hanging out behind a fence next door to the clinic I was at. I figured he wouldn’t let me get too close so I took this through the sunroof of my husband’s car. I then went on about my day, even telling my teacher about it in passing.
At the end of the day, I walked out to the car and guess who was waiting for me near the front passenger tire? Yup, the same bunny. I snapped a few more images but I liked this one the best.
Seriously though, I wasn’t even a half a block off Colfax. It still amazes me that wildlife actually chooses to be in the middle of the city like this.
big fish
Gentleman and I went to City Park for a walk this evening.
Soleiana
In the past few months I’ve said “damn, I wish I had my camera” more times than I can count. So I’ve started to carry Oly with me everywhere I go. I’m hoping to capture more of what I see every day while I improve my technique, both manual camera operation as well as post processing.
There’s a group of students that play hack in front of the school almost every day. I was invited to join once, but I kicked the sac on the roof. It took a pyramid of boys to get it back since the school doesn’t carry a good ladder for some reason and since then I’ve been self-banned from playing.
my favourite things
Yeah, I’m a sucker for a cute dog.
Octoburrr
The first snow fall of 2009 and boy what a doozy! Its been snowing for 2 days and it still hasn’t stopped and even the dog is having a tough time getting around in it.
Lately I’ve been feeling a uninspired by my own photography. To get the creative juices flowing I plug into the internet and look at what others have been doing. There are a few local photographers (other than my close photog friends of course) that inspire me regularly and David Schmidt of 211 Photography (.com) is one of them.
David’s work is always light and playful. When you look through his lens you always find a sort of warm joy and I absolutely love that about him… and his photography. One of the things I noticed about his style right away is his use of a camera tilt in many of his photos. I’m a pretty linear person, most or all of my images are framed equally left to right, top to bottom and lines are purposefully parallel or perpendicular to my cropping. So in an effort to channel a little of David’s fire, I decided to try his tilt.
And man, oh man, am I having a time with it. It feels off and awkward to me and its most certainly pushing me out of my comfort zone.
Another thing I’ve noticed about other people’s photography is their saturation of colours. Of course, I tend to be the person that likes desaturation even though I can very much appreciate the punch that deep saturation can bring. I like those images that came out of those old plastic lenses, distorted and grainy; but I feel as though I should learn how to make an image correctly, so that I have skills to master before I learn to make them “wrong.” Hopefully this will make my process one that I can reproduce rather than being pleasantly surprised every once and a while and disappointed the other 98% of the time.
At any rate, check out David’s stuff if you get the chance. He’s a very talented photographer…just in case you’re looking for one!
www.211photography.com
looking up
After working with this image I’m reminded of my time in Boston. The fellow I dated when I lived there was a native and not at all impressed with my lollygagging at the beauty of the architecture that surrounded us at any given moment. Many metropolitan-ites, including my SO at the time, would walk very fast with their heads pointed at the concrete below their feet. I wish I would have had the awareness to stop him and ask him to look up.
He might have appreciated it.
in absence of control
I took a portrait of B for her portfolio today. They were really quick and dirty since the whole family was there waiting on us and she was further under the weather than I thought…I wanted to get her home to rest as quick as I could.
I shot all of the images on complete automatic (shudder) and the sun was high and obnoxiously bright which made for some lovely blow out on her skin. So off to LR2 I went.
All things considered, its not too bad. And it made me realize that its time for me to acquire some PS skills if I want to keep up with the market and make any money off my little habit. In lieu of my little discovery, I’ve decided to take a few classes with B to get some basics instead of pfutsing around on my own here and there. I won’t always have control over my environment and I won’t always be fast enough to set my settings and lighting exactly the way I want it. I’m still a proponent of getting good shots on the first try in camera, but this is a nice back up in case I get the perfect shot with not so perfect settings.
I think the most important thing is to make it look like you haven’t been in the image with a tool brush or a filter. Obviously, I have a lot of work to do.
NDK
This is a picture of quite possibly one of my most favourite people in the universe. For all you Fallout 3 fans, you’ll recognize his jumpsuit immediately. For all others, check out this link.
And yes, that is Nuka-Cola in his utility belt.
bird of prey
Crystal Lake; Red Feather Lakes, Co
Some light reflecting off the lake or a little bit more sunlight through the clouds would have made this shot amazing…