4.26.2008



This is our dog Nola playing in the Olantangy River. In the late summer the river gets so low that she can run all the way across it. This picture was taken at the end of last July. I've been trying to work on action photography for a while now. It's harder than I originally thought. I like this picture and the only things I would have done different would be to use a faster shutter speed and bring the focal plane closer. But those are minor things I'll work on in the future. This picture didn't need too much work. A little more noise than I like (but that's 800 ISO) and some harsh shadows that lost detail.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/80 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800

190mm (70.0-300.0mm f/4-5.6 IS Canon)


Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Levels, Brightness/Contrast, Tone Curve, Clarity

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
-Initial capture sharpening, Noise Ninja

4.24.2008

Coskata Pond




This is Coskata Pond on Nantucket. It is only accessible by driving on the beach. This series of photos were taken almost two years ago while on our way to Great Point to watch the sunset. I had originally taken them with the purpose of a panoramic but I never actually stitched them together until now.

This photograph is composed of 6 different photos taken in series. I hand held the camera and didn't shoot in manual. So of course my camera picked different apertures and shutter speeds for different shots. The picture needed a lot of work to bring out the sky and water. I'm overall happy with how it came out, but I think I would do a bit more work before I consider printing it.

Canon 350D (RAW)
variable, ISO 800

41mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)

Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Levels, Brightness/Contrast, Tone Curve, Clarity
- The main goal I had was to make all the pictures look as if they had the same exposure settings that way they would merge well.

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
- Stitched all 6 images together in photomerge to create a 35 megapixel image.
- Crop
- Added two layers each with its own mask. One for the sky and water, and the other for the land. First I made the land mask and then inverted it for the water and sky. The land I lightened up via lighten blend while the sky I added contrast and a little saturation via multiply blend. Then I adjusted the opacity and made sure everything blended together well.

4.23.2008

Meet Barack




This was taken a little over a week before the Ohio primary at OSU. I took pictures for an hour and half and didn't get any that I really liked. As he was walking out, just before the exit, I got this shot. I had never been to a political rally before and it was quite the experience. I'm glad I got to see Obama and listen to him speak in person.

Since we were in an old gym you can imagine how terrible the lighting was (Dim and very yellow). I was really struggling with whether I should use 1600 iso or not. Obviously 1/80 sec is way too slow for a 300mm zoom even with image stabilization (IS). On top of the bad lighting, the girl's flash drained most of the contrast and any real color saturation from the capture. Despite all the problems with this photo, I'm glad I decided to try and fix it up.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/80 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800

300mm (70.0-300.0mm f/4-5.6 IS Canon)


Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Levels, Brightness/Contrast, Tone Curve, Clarity, Grayscale Color Mix, Slight Vignetting.
- I worked on a new technique with Split Toning in Lightroom. I tinted the highlights yellow to warm up the lighting (take a look at the flash). Then I tinted the shadows a cool blue. It's an interesting subtle effect that I hope shows up on the web.

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
-Initial capture sharpening
-The image had a huge amount of noise from both the high iso and the slight underexposure. Noise Ninja is the best noise reduction program/plug-in ever.
I created a custom profile using areas of solid tone in the image and it really did a fantastic job without loosing too much detail.
- I also duplicated the background layer, added it via multiply and reduced the opacity. I do this almost all the time now to some extent or another.
- After reducing the image size I did a little output sharpening and added my border thing.

4.21.2008

Spring Buds



This was taken a few minutes ago in my back yard. It is harsh late evening lighting that I thought was interesting. I didn't do any significant editing to this one, just tweaked a bunch of settings.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/500 sec at f/7.1, ISO 200

225mm (70.0-300.0mm f/4-5.6 IS Canon)


Adjustments made in Lightroom 2.0 Beta: Levels, Tone Curve, Clarity
Adjustments made in Photoshop: Noise Ninja, Output Sharpening, Duplicate background layer using the multiply blend, then lowered the opacity for a slight bump in contrast and color

4.20.2008

Abandoned



This was taken in the small town of Rockbridge, OH. Our car was actually in about 4 - 6 inches of water as we were driving by. I think this house may have been flooded a few times before.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/250 sec at f/8.0, ISO 200

17mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)


Adjustments made in Lightroom: Crop, Levels, Tone Curve, Clarity, Grayscale, Split Tone, Sharpening, Noise Reduction
Adjustments made in Photoshop: Noise Ninja, Burned the sky, Duplicate background layer using the multiply blend, then lowered the opacity for a slight bump in contrast and color.

4.19.2008

Spring Icicles





This is in Hocking Hills near Old Man's Cave. I shot this on our honeymoon last month. The Valley we were in had a lot of shade and was at least 10 degrees cooler than above. Thats why there was still ice and I had to use 400 iso.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/160 sec at f/5.0, ISO 400

50mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)


Adjustments made in Lightroom: Crop, Levels, Tone Curve, Clarity, Vibrance, Sharpening, Noise Reduction
Adjustments made in Photoshop: Noise Ninja, Mask revel a copy of the background that was blurred with the lens blur filter.

4.18.2008

Lonely Pete


This picture is of Tammy's cat Pete, who is begging for attention. Taken with a direct flash from ground level.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/320 sec at f/4.0, ISO 400

50mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)

Canon Speedlite 380 EX Flash


All adjustments made in Lightroom 2.0 Beta: Crop, Levels, Clarity, Vibrance, Sharpening, Post-crop Vignette