It’s been a very quiet winter with no new images coming in. I think the lack of new images makes me feel like I have nothing to blog about, which isn’t true. I always seem to forget to go through my older images. Ones like this one above didn’t make my initial “cut” for great images, so I tend to just forget about them. I need to be better about going back and posting up my B-rated images as well since they’re just as good!
This is a 3 shot HDR from our vacation to Yellowstone last summer. This old fence and the Grand Teton mountain range in the background was screaming at us to photograph.
I loved this trip to Yellowstone. We have so much more of the world to explore, but I still can’t wait to go back!
This is another shot from the 2010 Kelby Photowalk in Boston. I came across this scene and found it rather interesting and cool how the tree looked like it was growing out of the building. I was feeling confident with this shot and the HDR brackets until I got home. My first shot at processing this photo didn’t go very well. I was having a problem trying to get the tones even. In fact, I tonemapped and re-processed it 3 differnet times and finally just gave up on it. BUT! I’ve recently installed the onOne PhotoSuite, and decided to give this image a try again from scratch. Re-tonemap in Photomatix and then do a fresh edit in Photoshop. I’m glad I did! I think it looks so much better than the first 3 tries. I really believe that onOne PhotoTools has saved this image for me.
Sometimes it pays off to go back and re-process your old images with new tools! You’ll be surprised like I was!
I’m still working the kinks out and as a result in order to really see the contents you will need to watch it full screen. (One day, I’ll have a fancy widescreen monitor that plays well with YouTube!)
Click on the quality in the video and select 720p. This will give you a high resolution so you can read what I’m clicking on.
I decided to do my first video screencast today. This one shows how I work through the HDR image above. No 2 HDRs are created equal, so in my workflow I show how I get the image the way I want it by sliding the bars left and right. There is no set “85 for strength, -2 for smoothing”, etc. That being said, I hope you like the video!
Sorry for my long delay in between blog posts. It’s been a bit of a busy month! First off, Kate and I have decided to start a joint website, OBrienPhoto.net. Be sure to check it out, but later this week, since the site that is up now is only temporary. Our new site should be up later this week. Secondly, we’ve done 4 portrait sessions in the last 2 weeks, which have kept me (us) very busy. Lastly, I’ve had some big server upgrades and with those upgrades came some issues. All is sorted now, so back to the blogging!
Today’s image is from the inside of the gymnasium/auditorium from a recent URBEX trip. Portions of the decaying roof have collapsed and fallen on the floor. The positioning of this chair had an interesting appeal to me. I instantly thought of my photo buddy Jacques when I saw this. He has some amazing URBEX shots, and even some with an interesting chair as the subject.
While driving out to Cape Cod with Brian Matiash and Jacob Lucas, we stumbled upon this pier/dock. There was a sign on this dock that said “Private Property”, but with it being off season and nobody around, we entered through the unlocked and open gate. While Brian was making a lens change, an older gentleman came up and started asking him some questions, eventually pointing out that he was the owner of the dock. After a bit of explanation they exchanged contact information in exchange for authorized access onto the dock (Thanks, Brian!). This worked out great because we were able to take a little more time to try and get some different angles.
I found this shot to be interesting with the bridge connecting the pier to the dock. Brian’s shot of the pier is really well done as well.
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It’s been a very quiet winter with no new images coming in. I think the lack of new images makes me feel like I have nothing to blog about, which isn’t true. I always seem to forget to go through my older images. Ones like this one above didn’t make my initial “cut” for great images, so I tend to just forget about them. I need to be better about going back and posting up my B-rated images as well since they’re just as good!
