To Photoshop...Stat!

World famous photographer Joe McNally recently reminded us of the virtues of getting photographs right in the camera.

"Photoshop is not an ER for grievously wounded pictures."

And he's right. But if you're not a world famous photographer with more skill than you can shake a stick at, you're more than likely to have some "injured" photos here and there.

I think of Photoshop as an Urgent Care for those little mistakes that tend to hurt your pride more than they do yourself.

Case in point:



The Great Sand Dunes at sunrise. The composition is fairly interesting, except for the stupid Porta-Potty in the foreground there. But the colors are a bit washed out, there doesnt seem to be enough contrast, it's not laying on the table dying, but it needs some help.

To Photoshop...Stat!

Drop the brightness a bit, increase the contrast, sharpen it a bit, increase the saturation just a touch...nothing too complex really. Oh, and get that damn Porta-Potty outta there!

And this is the result:




Yeah, it may not be a ER, but sometimes the Urgent Care is all you really need to bring out your work. The data is in there.

Photography...it's a family thing...

Emily takes some amazing pictures.

Quite often better than mine.

Which I would naturally chalk up to less beer intake, but I think honestly she drinks more beer than me. (It takes a big man to admit that, just so you know)

However, quite frequently, she doesnt have the time (or patience) to post process her work.

So, I took the liberty of doing a little post work on one of her amazing shots from New Zealand.

This was taken on the shores of Lake Tekapo, close to the famous Church of the Good Shepard. It seems to be a bit of a tradition for visitors to build a cairn out of rocks along the banks.

With just minimal effort, I was able to even out the exposure, showing the cairns, lake, mountains and sky, which would been quite difficult to do without shooting several shots at different exposures to blend into an HDR (High Dynamic Range) phot0. Even more post processing.... see where that's going?

Not to shabby, huh?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go polish off a beer or two to catch up to the little woman....

Huh? What?

Ever have one of those moments where you think you know what your doing...and it turns out you dont?

Eh, I have them all the time.

Ask anyone.

On average, I hear "What in THE HELL are you doing?" more frequently than I hear my own name being called.

"What?"



I also hear that more than 40% of artists have Attention Deficit Disorder.

"Shiny!"


Some accuse me of being among that number...
"Dude, I totally rocked that last shot! Huh? What bullet holes? Did you see this shot? It's awesome!"


I've also hear that 73% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

I also have a tenancy toward doing crazy shit.
Condoms on a Christmas tree is not a thought of a rational mind (Or so I'm told. I don't see a problem, really)


What was I talking about? Oh yeah, what the hell I was doing.

I have those moments while I shoot as well. Thank goodness I'm shooting digital and not film. I'd have had to sell my second kidney for film by now. (The first one is bookmarked for something else, I cant remember what off the top of my head, but it was really important, I know that.)

I though I saw something interesting...Click... (Drying paint has more appeal)

I saw something and wonder what I can do with the image in post production...Click...(Turns out not a damn thing)

I tried to be creative...Click...(Hmm..maybe I should try a few pints of Guinness before being creative next time.)

Sometimes it's a gear issue.
"I need a bigger fucking lens!"


On the plus side... I'm proud to say I've had those moments all around the world!
I blame the beer.


I'm pretty particular about what goes on my website, if I put up only my best stuff, it makes me look like I know what I'm doing.

When in doubt, I recommend faking it.
"Me and Ceaser go waaay back! No, really, we hang all the time! Strike a pose Jules!"



So, anyway, here are a few of those images....

Black and white at the Denver Botanical Gardens:




Polaroid transfer effect, Loch Lomand, Scotland:




Black and white, Punakaki, New Zealand:




Sunrise, Venice Marina, Louisiana:




Clown car....er...taxi in Khowst, Afghanistan:




THE harp of Ireland. Like the national symbol of the whole country, no pictures allowed or else! That harp. (Yeah, I took a picture of it.)



Dubai, UAE (No pictures allowed in the airport. Take a guess where I took this...no, go ahead, guess!):




Afghanistan. (Whaddya wanna bet the dude with the machine gun does NOT like having his picture taken?)




Blue Heron, Dennis Pass, Louisiana:


Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed this somewhat entertaining look a my work and some of the crazy shit I do.

Hopefully it kept you on the edge of your seat.
"Yeah...totally...edge of my seat...."

Sunday Afternoon

Alright, it's time to lighten the mood around here, even up the post count just a little bit (although he's still ahead of me, I'm sure), and get back to the dog pics! I was playing with the ultra wide angle lens this afternoon (14-24mm, if you're interested), which is a pretty cool lens that I've just never really been inspired by. It's apparently good for landscapes, just not in my hands. However, it also does some pretty interesting things when used up close. This is Angie, enjoying her afternoon nap....ah, to be the dog!

Yeah, I was close enough...

Tonight's blog post is a picture I took my first month in theater in Afghanistan.



Yeah, I was close enough for that to be a problem.

Man, I don't miss that place.

The only land mines I have to worry about now are the ones the dogs lay in the back yard.

And geez, the way they go at it, you'd think they were taking lessons from North Korea.

Damn internet.

I know, I know....you came to look at a blog post about photography.

And there are no damn pictures on the latest post?

What in THE hell is up with that, you ask.


The internet at the airport sucks ass.

Yup, free internet that doesn't work. Can you imagine such a thing? I have half a mind to demand my money back....oh...yeah...shit.

Well, never fear! I have three, count 'em three, posts already written with the pictures to go with them ready to go. (You know, for the most part, hey...it's me here.)

Upcoming posts include:

1. Your camera isn't a piece of shit and here's why!
2. HDR (or High Dynamic Range) photography? What in the hell is THAT?
3. Not good enough for the website but it'll do for the blog pictures, or Guinness induced photography.

Also, if you got here from my Facebook page, I told you you'd be disappointed.

Stay tuned!

What is HDR photography?

You might have heard of HDR photography.

Then you wondered, what is it? What does that mean?

Why are you asking me? I'm not an expert. I've done a whole two pictures in this technique.

Would you settle for a layperson explanation? Too bad, your are gonna have to settle.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Have you ever noticed that if you take a picture of something that is both very dark and very bright that the picture doesn't show the detail that your eye saw at the time?

In photography light is measured in "stops" of light. Your eye sees about 16 stops of light. The best camera on the market sees only about 6-7 stops. Lot of loss there, huh?

So, to get a good full range, you slap that camera on the tripod and take the same picture a bunch of times.

BUT...you expose each picture at a different stop of light, some overexposed to get the highlights:





and underexposed to get shadow detail and deep colors:





As well as a normal exposure:



You can see how each picture has a little bit of detail in certain areas that the other does not. As well as way over/under exposed parts, but that's what software is for, to weed out the unwanted. Now, if they only made software to weed out other dim bulbs in my life....

You can take as few as 2 and as many as say, 9 pictures. I did five for this one as you can see.

It's called bracketing. Most DSLRs have this feature built in, but it's not hard to do if it doesnt. You just shoot as described, a few overexposed and a few underexposed.

After the shots, you let the software do the heavy lifting. Photoshop will do the trick just fine, though there are dedicated programs out there just for this technique.

Then after a bit of further post processing to sharpen, add contrast and bring out the colors a bit you get something like this:



Or this:



Of course these aren't the best examples out there, but you get the idea. It's a great way to finally get that picture that your eye saw and your camera couldn't capture!

Crop it! How to make the cut

Sometime you take that picture thinking, "Man, that's gonna look awesome!"

And it does.

Sort of.

But....it looks so small in the picture.



Maybe you couldn't get close enough, didn't have the right lens on or handy or if you're using a point and shoot, this was all the further it would zoom in.

Well don't pitch that picture in the trash JUST yet...

Let's crop it!

First, your computer shrinks the picture to fit your screen, so whether you're using something as fancy as Photoshop or just the basic photo editor most computers come with stock, open the picture at 100%. Even online photo sharing sites like Photobucket have this feature.
This lets you see how much detail is really in that picture and if it's really in focus.

Let's say it looks good, now crop it.
Remember some of the rule/guidelines of composition like Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines and such so it makes a good picture. Get that picture you saw in your head when you were shooting!

Know your gear too. If you're using a lower megapixel camera and you crop it too much your going to get what's called "noise" or what was called "grain" for those of us old enough to have shot with film. If you crop it too much and start to get noise, it'll look like this:



Eh, that might pass for "artsy" and I like artsy...from time to time. But that's not what we're going for here.

But with a simple crop we can get this:



That's better!
Let go out on a limb and say your gear held out and your shooting was good enough to get a decent picture...
Let's crop it again:



This is the "I was so damn close to him that I couldn't even get all of his wings in the shot!" picture.
Your friend's jaws will drop at this. They'll ask you how in the hell you did this, how could you possibly have gotten this close???
This is where you shrug your shoulder and sniff. "Oh, you know, just skill."
They stare at you in amazement and ask to buy a print. (Hopefully, right?) And all you did was crop it. Suddenly, it's a whole new picture!

And you were getting ready to throw this one out. For shame on you! You're breaking you're mother's heart because you're not using your brain, you know that, right?

So put that noodle to work and do some creative cropping!



Click on that bitch. Look at it. It catches your eye doesn't it?
That's because it's a unique perspective. It's something people aren't used to seeing and that grabs attention.

You hear that? That's the sound of your mother's heart breaking because you were ready to throw this out instead of making a piece of art that she could be proud of you for.

Shame on you.

So, what did I do with mine?

This:

How to piss off the wife (and shoot small stuff)

I've been to Afghanistan.

Had car bombs go off, experienced incoming rockets, flown in helicopters, rode in ground convoys through Taliban Central.

Yawn.

Nothing makes my blood run cold like the icy death stare the wife has. I visualize a little Doomsday Clock with exactly how long I have left to live. Funny, the measurement of time is always in seconds...

"Hey baby, I'm going to go shooting at the Butterfly Pavilion tomorrow while you're at work."

Ooops. 30...29...28...27...

"And I'm taking your camera with me."

[Warning...time reset!] ...5...4...3... Shit.

Well, now that I've shared how to piss off the wife, let's talk about shooting small stuff. Why her camera? Don't I have a perfectly good one of my own?

Turns out I do. But....
There are two ways I like to shoot small stuff.

1. A macro lens. Get right in there, count the nose hairs, get amazing detail/depth of field type of lens.
2. A large(ish) telephoto lens. Stand back, get great subject isolation type of lens.

So I took my life in my own hands and took Emily's camera with me. Her D300 has cropped sensor that acts as kind of built in teleconverter and gives my 70-200mm telephoto lens just a little bit more reach.
Which gave me a shot like this:


Nice...the D3oo misses daddy, doesn't it?

[Warning!] 45...44...43...42... Uh-oh. Ok, moving right along...

I also took my D700 with me and had my 105mm macro lens on it. This gave me the versatility to shoot both ways at the drop of my sweaty hat. Those little buggers move fast. Sometimes there's hardly time to raise a camera up let alone change a lens!
It's also easier on the gear. Nikon makes some great stuff and you can pretty much shoot in the rain with the a fore mentioned gear and not worry about ruining it. But if you are switching lenses and the overhead mist kicks on and sprays the inside of you camera? Not so much.
This also prevents from dropping a lens on accident (As long as you're using your camera strap). I'm a paramedic and I've experienced many nasty things, but nothing makes me want to throw up like hearing the sound of one of my lenses hitting concrete.
The 105 Macro is an amazing lens. My buddy Jason said he was counting blood vessels in his dog's nose on one of the first pictures he took with his. Yeah, it's that good.

Like....this good:



You can't count the blood vessels in his nose, mostly because he don't have one, but you get the picture.

"Hi baby, I'm back from shooting! I hope you had as much fun at work as I did today!"

[Warning!] 60...59...58...

"Guess what? They have a "Tripod Time" and a "Sunset Stroll" time where they just let in a few photographers and kick everyone else out. We'll put our name on the list and go next time I'm home!"

"Really? OK!" [Clock has paused]

For those of you who didn't read the post and just looked at the pictures...I can dig it. Check out more pictures from this shoot in my featured gallery on my website!

More pictures, less words!

Back from the dead.

Well, I never really died.

The blog kinda did. The usual reasons.

Creative slump, not enough time, lack of material, busy looking for work, busy with work...

Yeah, ok, and I'm a lazy ass.

This post is proof of life of our blog.

Also as proof of life, I like to share this picture from the bayous of Louisiana, where I am working as a medic on the clean up crews.

As always, nature prevails and life finds a way.

Tonight's pic is another bug (sorry Mom), this time with a bit of editing. While I know it's possible to go too far with the funky effects, I liked the way this came out. The color alterations give it a bit of an otherworldly look, I think.

That's it....I'm out of titles....

Another pic today from Garden of the Gods....one that I've obviously done some editing on. We were a little late for wildflowers, but I did manage to catch this little cone flower (I think that's what it is) along the side of the road. I just thought this was a great way to isolate the color of the flower.

It's the little things

Brian and I got up early this past weekend to catch Garden of the Gods at sunrise. While we did get some fantastic morning light for scenery shots, I also took the opportunity to prowl around for some interesting macro shots. The pods on the yucca plants were covered with ants, and they made great little subjects. Notice the beady little eye on the ant in the center of this pic (you can click on the pic to enlarge it) - I love my macro lens!

...is tomorrow's rose

Yesterday's rosebud...

I have certainly developed a respect for anyone able to keep up a "Picture a Day" kind of blog. You miss one day, then another...next thing you know it's two months later! Sigh.....

At any rate, this was taken in the backyard this evening. One of the joys of the new house has been discovering what's growing in the backyard. I wasn't sure if this rosebush was going to produce anything at first, but it looks like we might get a few nice flowers out of it after all.

There's always something new to try!

What's one of the coolest things about photography?

There is always something new to try. Between gear, software and this huge world we live in, the possibility are endless.

I like new. New keeps me from getting bored.

If I get bored, I find trouble. Actively search it out. Seriously, I have Trouble's phone number on speed dial. (Just ask my last 5, 6 or 7 employers.)


Today in the microsecond of spring weather we had this morning here in Castle Rock, I borrowed Doug's Infrared filter and slapped it on a lens and shot out in the back yard.

The filter blocks out all of the light spectrum except that at the infrared range (makes sense, right?) It makes it a bit of a challenge to set up a shot because you can't see through the filter. At least I can't, I can't see infrared.

This technique was reserved for black and white film photography originally. It still works best on film. The fancy sensors on the newer cameras tend to block out most IR light. But not all of it. So you shoot with an IR filter on a digital camera and you get something like this:

Hideous?

Stylistic?

You decide.

However... a click of a button (Ok, a few buttons...) in Photoshop (or even in the camera itself!) to change the picture to black and white and it gives us the desired infrared affect we're looking for.

Slap a title on it and this is what comes up:


Much more better. Not quite the true IR effect, but still a nice picture.

Moral of the story? Get out there and play with new stuff! Remember, you don't have to buy new stuff all the time either.

That's what friends and big brothers are for!


By the way: Where the hell is spring? Anyone seen it? If you have send some my way woulda?

Shooting fish in a barrel

Wildlife photography is very difficult.

First, you have to find the wildlife. That ain't as easy as the internet might lead you to believe. There are NEVER a bunch of animals just lined up saying "Oooo! Oooo! Shoot me! Shoot me!" (Just ask hunters. They have the same problem.)

In fact, quite the opposite. So guess what? You have to sneak up on them most of the time. That means BIG lenses. (Translation: Really, really, really expensive lenses)

Or....

You can go to the zoo. There are still challenges, even at the zoo, but for the most part?
It's kinda like shooting fish in a barrel.

Hey, I ain't proud.


Enjoy this shot of a Mexican Wolf at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs

Well...Look what I learned how to do!

Several of my favorite photographers use Photoshop to put a white border around their pictures and add text under them to make them look even more impressive. It's called a Gallery Print.

Guess what?

I learned how to do that today! Wooo-hoo!

Oh yeah, sure, if you're an old hand at Photoshop this ain't nothing new to you, but I'm a noob.

Best of all?

I also learned how to create an "action".

What's that you ask?

I now need but push a button and Photoshop adds the gallery print around the picture.

Click. Done.

Sweet.

(Oh, and if you ever find yourself in Ireland? Check this place out. It's amazing!)

The fruits of my labor...

Doug and I had our first paid gig yesterday.

We shot portraits of the client's lovely children for them.

Thought it was a bit windy, we had a great location.

Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Here's a couple of my favorites...