HDR Workshop

I went to an HDR workshop last week that was taught by Richard Hockett, http://www.sunridgephoto.com/, a great photographer and very smart man. He has a great sense of business and knows how to shoot as well. A decided advantage in this economy. Anyway back to the HDR workshop. It was great to go out and shoot with other photographers and to get an idea of what other people see when they are out and about. I had a great time and it was a long day but I got a chance to learn a few more things and really hone my shooting skills when looking at making an HDR image with them. This first image is just above a church in Ventura. I thought that the whole facade was a little boring at first, but then I got a little lower, tilted one leg of the tripod way out and tilted the camera the other way. Then I tilted myself into a funky shape so I could see through the lens. I pretty much sat on the ground leaning backwards to get this shot. The sky in the original shot was pretty flat as we were shooting late in the morning with no real dramatic lighting. With some boosting in HDR and little more contrast added in Photoshop I was able to get the nice vibrant blue into the image that I remember from that day. Just with the HDR software Photomatix Pro, http://www.hdrsoft.com/, I was able to get the details in the shadows of the building to come through without losing any of the highlight detail. I know that it is very difficult to do this just shooting straight up because you have to decide what you are going to leave out such as some cool detail in the shadow of your image or even in the bright part of the image. Well now you can have it all.



So the church image is fairly straight forward with just a little bit of a grunge look to the building, but the bikes I love. The colors are so cool and to have the old green bike looking like an old timer in between the two purple cool bikes looking like a couple of punk kids sitting next to an old man on a bench was a happy find. I love the vibrancy of the colors and the contrast of the bikes with each other. I added a lot more of a grunge look to the color and over saturated a bit to really make the colors pop. If I were to print this image I would have to probably tone it down a little so that the colors would not block up but otherwise this would make a great funky poster. Maybe even on velvet with black lights? Or maybe not, but it would still be cool. Tell me what you like and thanks for watching.

Thanks to Laura for letting us use her studio to hang out in and drink coffee. Check Laura out at http://www.lauradphotography.com/. Thanks to Randy for shooting with us, I would love to go shooting with you sometime especially those cool cars of yours (Laura's to). Thanks to Richard for putting together a great workshop, can't wait for HDR 2.0.

HDR Workshop With Richard Hockett of SunRidge Photo

Hello Everyone, It has been a month since my last post and it is time for the next one. The exciting news is that I will be going to a HDR workshop on June 12th. There is still room for more people you can contact Richard Hockett at his email at: richard@sunridgephoto.com or via phone at: 805-451-6017. Check out the really cool HDR images he creates at his website: www.sunridgephoto.com. This would be the place to learn all the cool tricks to really trip out your photos with some quick easy mouse clicks. Check him out and sign up for the workshop. Space is limited so sign up early and sign up often. Thanks for watching.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

I love the fresh things in life like fruits and vegetables that are grown locally, not treated with nasty chemicals, not genetically modified to fit into a shipping container and be unblemished after being on the road for 6 days. That's right I am an organic, natural, hippie food lover. There is something amazing about food that was made with care and loving for not only the planet but also for the people who will consume it and gain nutrition. This food is the best you can get without growing it yourself. Check out Fairview Gardens at http://www.fairviewgardens.org/. They have a great farm stand open 7 days a week and you can tour the farm while you are there. Thats right you can buy your fruits and vegetables right where they grow. It does not need to take a week to get to the grocery store and then another week before you buy, IT IS FRESH! It doesn't get any better unless you grow it yourself. But I repeat myself. If you can not grow it yourself then support your local farmer and buy from them. Fairview Gardens is located on Fairview Ave in Goleta. Come check them out. They also have a blog site with great in season recipes which are wonderful; http://fairviewgardenscsa.wordpress.com/. Thanks for watching.

Before and After

I did some major post processing on these images just to see what kind of looks I could get with a combination of HD and Orton landscape treatment. Just to give you an idea of how different the images are from their originals I have included the plain Jane originals with the final product. No offenses to any Janes' out there. Love you all. Tell me what you think and Thanks for Watching.

Orton Landscape Effect

So I got these great steps from Richard Hockett of Sun Ridge Photo on how to do a painterly effect on landscape images called the Orton Effect. This effect was developed by a photographer named Micheal Orton who used it with film. I love that this method that was developed with film has translated so well for digital process. Now I want to also try it out on film. I just need to build that dark room. But I still want to have my bathroom, but that is a whole other issue. Enjoy and Thanks for watching.

Santa Barbara Orchid Show

Flowers are amazing things. That they come is such a large variety and color by themselves is wonderful. That within one species such as the orchid there can be hundreds of variations is even more amazing. I went to the orchid show with a group of people from http://www.meetup.com/Santa-Barbara-International-Photography-Group/. This is a local group of photography enthusiasts with various skill levels. It was fun to get together with other people that just like to shoot photographs. But then to do it at an orchid show was even better. I really recommend you check out the next time there is an orchid show in town or where ever you are. Thanks for watching.

Support Your Local Farmer

I remember when I was a kid there was a promotional poster showing all kinds of different careers and how they contributed to society. For Example, The teacher would teach and educate people when they needed it. The fireman would protect our homes when we needed it. The police would protect us when we needed it. And in the middle of this poster was a picture of a hard working farmer with the caption, The farmers feeds all of us. It may be hard to think about if you did not have an education but you could live with food or if you lost your home to fire but you could live with food, or if you were in danger but you could live as long as you had food. Think about it a little and then go hug a farmer because he is the one that helps put food in front of you. Support your local farmer. Thanks for watching.

Turkey Vulture

Up close, a Turkey Vulture looks like a skin condition gone bad on top of a pile of dirty feathers, in flight they are majestic gliders that knew about the power of wind long before man. Most birds spend a lot of energy flapping about to get from one place to another or to seek food or mates. The Vulture has figured the easy way to find food is to just hang out on the air currents and look for something slow, very slow. Now trying to get a sharp picture of one of these birds might seem easy but try guessing which direction they will turn and have your camera focused on that spot at the same time you are panning with them and you will see how hard it is. Thanks for watching.

HDR cattle pen

I was driving home from doing an afternoon shoot at the local CSA where I had trouble working with the wind and the light to get some good shots, (images coming soon), when I saw these old overgrown cattle chutes that were only going to be in sunlight for another 30 minutes. I had just finished talking with Richard Hockett of SunRidge Photo, http://www.sunridgephoto.com/, about a future HDR workshop and I thought this would be a good subject to shoot for HDR processing. The wind was still blowing the weeds around but I tried to shoot fast and minimize the winds affects. The images worked well for HDR and were fun to shoot. Tell me what you think. Thanks for watching and share with your friends.

Darlene

Darlene and I spent the day shopping on her birthday and we bought a fun new board game. Not exactly monopoly. It has quite a few more pieces and was designed by a math professor. Anyway the playing pieces are a thick cardboard that came in the grid you see before Darlene's face. We were sitting in Starbucks checking out the new game and she held the grid up in front of her face and I loved the framing it created and took a few shots. The light was great coming in through the window and created the right amount of drama. I decided to de-saturate the first image as like most photographers that can't get the color to work out correctly just remove it.



This image the color cooperated with me so no de-saturation. I love the look she is giving me to. Kind of serious and kind of playful. She just may sucker punch you or tickle you. Either way she keeps me guessing and helps keep life fun and interesting.

Blue Berry?

Ok, so I couldn't resist a little visual pun. Love the way it turned out though.

Farm fresh

I am going to be doing some shooting for my local farm stand and thought I would share some of my first images. The strawberry's just looked amazing especially after the rains. All of the plants had these wonderful water drops on them that just reflected some amazing light. The Jasmine blossoms were especially great to capture with all of the little water drops hanging off of them. I had to wear my mud boots to get out to the field as it was very wet and dirty just like a good farm should be. Enjoy and Thanks for watching.

I keep coming up with these opportunities to shoot wildlife (with a camera of course). Sometimes you go out and create some great images and sometimes the images come to you walk past and stare you down asking "Why the hell did you leave your camera behind?" These opportunities are only positive if you are prepared for them. Enjoy and thanks for watching.

Abstract Photo

Happy Abstract day! OK so that is not a real holiday but if you like abstract pieces then maybe it should be. Click on this picture and view it full screen then tell me what you think it is or what it represents to you. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that may also depend on what you are beholding. So behold already!

Here kitty kitty! Only bigger!

Have you ever had one of those days were you're just minding you're own business and then something amazing happens? Today was it for me. I was checking on a couple of things outside and then I hear this funny growling sound like a cat but bigger. So I go to investigate, and what do I see but a little kitty, only bigger.


So hey this is kind of cool, maybe I can get close enough to get some decent shots as long as I am quiet. Quiet enough for two kitties, only bigger.


No big deal as long as I stay hidden behind this small hill they won't notice me and I can get some great shots of these two kittens, only bigger.Ummm, is that kitty, only bigger, looking in my direction?


ONLY BIGGER! Nice kitty.


And then the kitty, only bigger, walks right by me, about 10 feet away and decides I am no threat and probably not very good tasting either.


Say "Good bye kitty, only bigger", kill something fresh for me and not me!

HD Images

While the table in this image is a little weathered looking it actually is in pretty good condition. When I converted the image into HD it found all the little aged areas that were not visible to the naked eye. I desaturated a little and then brought back some of the selective color.



This creek is just really no big deal, but I liked how the broken pipe kind of flowed across the creek in the same direction of the water flow. I changed the highlights to help draw the eye. I may have gone a little to dark but I still like the look.



This last image was just kind of fun. I played around with the sky and the rock until I had what appeared to be two images. The first is the frame of rock looking out. The second is the water, sky and the pier. I want to go back here when I can spend a little more time and not have to worry about the tide coming in and washing me out of the hole in the rock.

Hitting the links!

I love going out and shooting with my friends. Thanks to AJ for being an impromptu model with a rusty old golf club. I would like to do this one again with AJ but with a little more planing as he is blending into the background towards the back of the image. This first image is in color which my wife likes better.



Now the infrared shot I like better. There is better contrast which helps AJ stand out a little better from the scene. Still the best thing would be to plan a wardrobe around this scene to create the scene separation from the subject in color or infrared.

Blue Moon

So the blue moon only comes around every 2 1/2 years or so. It happens to be on New Years Eve. If this is not a good omen I don't know what is. I went out prepared for the best and hoping that there would be some amazing photography opportunity. Even I was surprised at how beautiful the moon was that night. I did add a little more blue to the moon because really it's not blue. Maybe a little sad but not blue. Of the two different tones in the moon, which do you like better? Let me know and post a comment. Thanks.