Impressive Wing Span!!

So today, January 5th is denoted as both Bean Day and Bird Day. As I already shot a bean type picture on New Years Day I decided to use a bird picture. I shot some pictures of a pretty red cardinal a couple of days ago, but the images turned out pretty bad (shooting through a window screen). So I dug into my archive and found a picture I shot last August while atop a very tall observation tower in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I have no idea what this bird is (some kind of hawk or vulture) but it was immense! The image was kind of bland and so I decided to try some creative techniques to see if I could make something more interesting out of it. I applied a watercolor filter and then messed around with the contrast, brightness and such until I had what I liked.

Shot spex: Jpeg Image, Pentax K10D, ISO 100, 200mm, f8, 1/350 sec., no flash.

PhotoShop spex: See above.

Tunes listened to while editing: Nothing - too lazy to trek upstairs to get my iPod!

One Ring To Rule Them All

How could I possibly turn down creating an image to commemorate the fact that today, January 3rd, was J.R.R.Tolkein Day! What can I say? I'm a nerd, and I love the Lord of the Rings series written by Tolkein. In fact my buddy Donovan and I are such Tolkein nerds that we play the Lord of the Rings trading card game. I bought a replica of the sword named "Sting" for my son a few years back and the ring used in this shot is actually my wedding ring. The initial shot was of the entire sword, but I realized when editing that too much was not a good thing.

Shot spex: Jpeg Image, Pentax K10D, ISO 200, 40mm, f4.5, 1/90 sec., flash with Omni-Bounce attached and aimed straight up at ceiling.

PhotoShop spex: Cropped in really tight, adjusted Levels and Brightness/Contrast. Desaturated and applied a Sepia filter. Colorized ring.

Tunes listened to while editing: Owl City - Ocean Eyes.

Happy Mew Year!

Believe it or not, January 2nd is designated as "Happy Mew Years!". That time when felines, ever above mere humans in the great chain of being, have a day unto themselves to celebrate the “mewness” of a new time.

Well, I decided to shoot a picture of our cat, Bella. I thought this would be easy as she is almost always in the same place - right on the top of the sofa in the picture window. I thought a nice natural light shot of her would look great! But, as I should know by now having had cats for many years, they rarely cooperate. I could never get her to go to her favorite spot in the window, and even tried to move her there only to have her dash away in a flash! So I dug into the archives as I remember having shot a few pictures of her over the years and found this one. I did some cropping and applied a film grain to the image. I then desaturated everything and brought back the color for Bella's eyes and nose. I have never used type effects on a picture so this is a new skill I attempted as well. I think it turned out okay. Kinda cheesy but what do you expect on Happy Mew Years?

Shot spex: Jpeg Image, Pentax K10D, ISO 100, 68mm, f5.6, 1/60 sec., no flash.

PhotoShop spex: Smart Sharpened (as always), adjusted Levels and Brightness/Contrast. Desaturated and colorized eyes and nose. Added Film Grain.

Tunes listened to while editing: Weezer - The Red Album. A permanent part of my top 25 albums.

A spoonful of good luck for 2010!

I'm not actually that superstitious, but I've heard that eating Black Eyed Peas on News Year Day will bring you good luck. But you have to eat at least 365 of them, obviously 1 for each day of the year. According to Southern folklore this must be the first food you eat on New Year's Day for luck and prosperity throughout the year ahead. That would probably put a damper on those midnight kisses if we really followed the practice in this manner!

Anyway, this is the first image of what I hope to be many this year as I participate in my friend Jeff's photo challenge called "This Day In History - 2010". Enjoy and watch out for many more posts this year!

Shot spex: RAW Image, Pentax K10D, ISO 200, 200mm, f6.3, 1/90 sec., flash aimed at ceiling with diffuser attached.

PhotoShop spex: Smart Sharpened (as always), adjusted Levels and Brightness/Contrast.

Tunes listened to while editing: Nothing tonight as I am in the process of rebuilding my iPod! Bleck!!!

Family Pictures (Tis' the season!)

Today I had the privilege of shooting family pictures of our neighbors across the street with their grandsons. I thought it would be nice to post the best one from that shoot here. It is fun and challenging when little ones are involved. This shot is actually 3 images blended into one. Tip: when shooting group shots, use a tripod and shoot several on the same pose. Anyway, just a little reminder, I do this often and am very reasonable - and I have some camera gear I want to buy!

Enjoy!

Scenes from South Dakota

I know it's been some time since I posted here, but that doesn't mean my camera is gathering dust. Far from it! Recently we had the great fortune to travel to South Dakota with a friend over Thanksgiving Weekend. We met some great people, and made new friends. It is some beautiful contry up there and I managed to shoot a ton of pictures while there. I will be posting some more of the scenic images and maybe some of the family shots I did in the next day or so, but right now I wanted to post up the imaged I gathered from the last day we were there. I literally shot from sunrise to sunset that day. Enjoy!

Picture #107 - Shooting In The Rain

Well, as I said yesterday, we planned to do 2 family shoots today at Legler Barn in Lenexa. We knew there was a chance of rain, but decided to try for it anyways. We managed to get in Dionne's family despite the rain, but had to cancel our other shoot. I think in spite of the rain we still managed to get some good shots.

This shot is a location I have worked many times before, and I think all the past experience helped me to achieve more this time than in the past.

Shot spex: RAW Image, Pentax K10D, ISO 800, 68mm, f11, 1/90sec., flash dialed to 1/16th.

PhotoShop spex: Smart Sharpened (as always) a little, adjusted Levels and Contrast just a little bit. The bridge is very green so I created a second layer and desaturated that layer and added a Sepia filter to it. Then I blended the color layer with it.

Tunes listened to while editing: This was a 2 album day! I listened to Anberlin - Lost Songs and Diffuser - Injury Loves Melody. Great picture editing music!