7.10.2008

What kind of bird am I?



This was taken near a redwood forest outside of San Francisco. Someone told me what kind of bird this was but I have since forgotten. I would really like to find out what kind of bird this is, so if anyone knows please tell me.

I used the high-pass filter technique to sharpen just the bird. I duplicated the layer and applied a high-pass filter and set the blend mode to overlay. I then masked the layer and revealed just the bird.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/320 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100
300mm (70.0-300.0mm f/4-5.6 IS Canon)

Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Basic adjustments, tone curve, clarity

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
- Noise Ninja, and Photokit Capture sharpening
- High-pass sharpening technique
- Slight output sharpening and border

7.09.2008

Red White and Boom!




This is from the Columbus red white and boom fireworks show (from two years ago though). This was one of the first photos that I thought through and planned before taking. I like how the red light is reflected off of the city. It is one of my favorite photos and really helped motivate me to get better at photography.

To take this picture I setup the camera on a tripod and focused it. Then I used a wired remote to open the shutter with the bulb mode. I then used one of my sandals and held it in front of the lens until a firework went off. I removed the sandal for a few seconds and then put it back until the next one went off. It was a bit of trial and error, but I got a few good captures.

I did up the saturation a little bit, but the colors are pretty close to what the camera actually captured. If the colors look too saturated on your computer, it's probably because your browser can't read color profiles. I also burned in a little of the smoke to make the sky look darker and I dodged the buildings to lighten them up. I did this with 50% gray overlay layers instead of using the dodge and burn tool.

Canon 350D (RAW)
bulb at f/7.1, ISO 100
25mm (17.0-50.0mm f/2.8 Tamron)

Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Basic adjustments, tone curve, saturation and vibrance

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
- Noise Ninja, and Photokit Capture sharpening
- Dodged and burned using a 50% gray layer and overlay blend. Then you just paint white or black to lighten or darken the image
- Slight output sharpening and border

7.01.2008

Frosted Mini-Wheat




A picture taken on our honeymoon of the flooding in southern Ohio. It looks just like a frosted mini-wheat, right? The only unique thing I did to this picture is I reduced the saturation quite a bit and then cranked the contrast.

Canon 350D (RAW)
1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 200
70mm (70.0-300.0mm f/4-5.6 IS Canon)

Adjustments made in Lightroom:
- Basic adjustments, tone curve, desaturated all the colors evenly
- Also used the split toning, highlights have a cool blue tint, shadows have a yellow brown tint.

Adjustments made in Photoshop:
- Noise Ninja, and Photokit Capture sharpening
- Slight output sharpening and border