You Are The Sunshine of my Life

Brandi's picture of Katie got me thinking about what really matters in my life. It's been easy to get down lately, what with a complete and total lack of sunshine on top of lots of crap life has thrown at me. But I still have my family and my 2 boys, the sunshine of my life.

Canon 30D
Canon 24-70,, f/2.8L set at 35mm
Aperture f/8.0
Shutter 1/125, 1/320, 1/800
ISO 400
Natural Light

This is a shed on my way to work that I've admired for several years. I just love the striated wood and the fact it's on the brink of collapsing at any given moment.

This morning the sun was actually shining and I thought it the perfect moment to stop and see what I could come up with. I took several different shots but this one speaks to me. It's unfortunate I couldn't bring the sun a bit more under control and avoid blowing it out completely. It seems it's a by-product of HDR, which of course I employed here. And then there's the fact it is a great-big, super-bright, burning ball of gas. So maybe that's why it's blown out.

In answer to why I don't have a face, I'll only say that if there is a man on the moon, then there should be a man (or woman) on the sun! I was trying to find this individual and instead got a really cool shed!

Foot Fetish Anyone?

My original plan for following Brandi was to get a close-up of a broom. Low and behold, it's about as disgusting as you'd imagine. The dust and dirt just don't need to be seen that close. While I was shooting the broom, I noticed this image just out of the frame and decided it was kismet. So I repositioned (meaning my aim was moved about an inch - no lie!) and shot this guy:



Canon 30D
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter 1/10, 1/4, and 0.6
ISO 100
Ambient Lighting

Any guess where this guy is? I love that I could make it seem a bit 3D by focusing on the front foot while tilting the surface of the image. You gotta love messing with the viewer.

Anyway, I also chose to do this using HDR. I was hoping to get more detail. In all honesty, I don't think it was necessary for this image. But it never hurts to throw crap at the wall and see what sticks.

My connection is fairly obvious - this guy is walking out of the frame, similar to B's sweeper. I wish I had more time to experiment. Isn't that always the case?

Time to put B to bed - duty calls. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Scott

Centered

First things first. Amanda, you're our winner from the last WW. I put your name (and only your name) into the randomizer and you came up! Congrats! Let us know when you want to post and we'll accommodate.

Moving on, aside from asking myself what is was that Jay'me photographed, I noticed immediately the centered framing. I had several ideas but when lunch came around, I was washing some blueberries and low and behold, the sun was putting on a show once more.


Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8
Aperture f/16.0
Shutter 1/6, 1/15, 1/40
ISO 100
Processed with Photomatix
Sunlight

I'm back in the saddle with HDR! WooHoo!!! Let me tell you, those with good computers (I count myself among them now), you can run Photomatix without fear of crashing or taking too long. What a joy! It's an entirely new experience for me!

I chose to do HDR because there really was a lack of contract and this is one thing HDR can improve. The tie-in is simply the centered "dot" if you will.

Okay, gotta take care of some kiddos. Have a great weekend everyone!

Scott

Pack me up

Brandi here. I cannot tell you how excited I am to share this photo with you all. RJ is our latest winner from last weeks Wordless Wednesday. As usual, this weeks Talkless Thursday (same thing as Wordless Wednesday but a day late because I suck) is still up for last minute entries. Go put your name in the comments section and join us like RJ has.

RJ, the lucky dog, is joining us from Hawaii. Usually an Illinois resident, he's in Hawaii for a little rest and relaxation. I'm not sure what the weather is like there but I can tell you it sure beats the sure cold weather in Illinois and most of the continental United States.

Here's what the sunned, RJ has to say.

Rj here, happy as can be since I'm sitting in the middle of Waikiki. Ahhh...sunshine, blue waters and Mai Tai's of course.

Well I would like to express my gratitude to 3C1D as they inspired me to start up my own blog (http://all5hz.blogspot.com ). Well done and keep all those great pictures coming.

I'm currently using a Canon Eos Rebel Xti. It was given to me as a gift so I figured I'd better learn how to use it. I've got a long way to go but I'm really enjoying getting out and taking pictures of the world that surrounds me.

So how do I tie in to Scott's wonderful picture of Brandon. Well loosely....very loosely!

Let's see, I used "natural light", it was "converted" by use of my HDR program (Photomatrix)

And to play off the Rrrrr....Matey theme, there are ancient stories of how Shaolin Buddhist monks were called upon to battle Japanese pirates raiding the coastline.

So my picture is of the Byodo In Buddhist Temple on the Windward side of Oahu. It's just a beautiful place that is surrounded by ponds with Koi fish and Black Swans. It also sits at the foot of the Ko'olau mountains. I took 3 pictures at different exposures. Then ran them through the HDR program. You can play with the lighting to your liking. I hope you enjoy it and if you get a chance to get out of the freezing Midwest I highly recommend Hawaii.

Mahalo!

Rj



Stunning! Absolutely stunning. If you all would like to donate some money to send me to Hawaii, I would be eternally grateful. Sere and I were on the Big Island a few years back for Sere's wedding. I have spent much time since then wishing I could return. This photo only makes it worse.

Go over to RJ's blog and check out his other photos, they are pretty awesome as well.

Aloha!
Brandi

Where Do You Worship?

When I saw Jay'me's post I immediately thought of the tree huggers I know (full disclaimer - I'm a bit of a tree hugger but you wouldn't find me living in one trying to save an owl). Bio-diesel is indeed a fantastic alternative fuel - I should know, I am a commodity broker and have been talking about it for around 6 years now. And it's firmly entrenched in the debate over fossil fuels, drilling, e-cars, solar panels, windmills, and other alternatives. The passion surrounding how we meet our energy needs is incredibly strong and it got me thinking about other things in life that elicit similar passions. Coupled with Dan's great post on the parade he witnessed, I thought of church.

Canon 30d
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Shutter 0.4, 1.6, 6
Aperture f/11.0
ISO 400

This is a church easily visible on Lake Cook Road. You'll see it on the south side of the street just west of Brinker, sitting atop a hill and poking the clouds with a magnificent steeple. At night the lights are fantastic. I've never been inside this church but I've often wished I could shoot a few pics in the evening. When I finally got a chance it was well past evening but the lights were still shining bright. It was meant to be!

When I stopped to get a few photos I originally thought I would have a good shot at the steeple and the overall lighting effects. Once I got close, I found the strong shadows and warm light really putting on a show with the textures in the brick and stone. You know me, a total sucker for close-ups. I ended up bracketing the exposure hoping to try HDR. I actually started with just 1 RAW file and thought I had a good shot. But I ran the HDR software on 3 RAW files and the results were just 10 times better. The shadows in particular were suddenly visible and became integral to the mood of the whole shot. I feel like I'm becoming a one trick pony but when it works, it works!

Like Jay'me before me, this is an archive shot (I took this in October). I've been looking for a chance to post but I never really got the chance. Today, I had the perfect opportunity.

So what's your passion? What finds your Nemo? What flies your flag? For me, there are many passions. But certainly one is photography and sharing it with the 3 chicks and our fabulous readers. Thanks as always for stopping by.

You Spin Me Round Round

Let's all give a round of applause to Jay'me and her efforts to soldier on in the absence of a camera (sorry iphone users - it's not really a camera in my eyes). Were it I, I'd probably have a brand new credit card bill and a camera worth drooling over. It's fortunate not everyone is as impulsive as I. So Jay'me , well done! You did a great job capturing a photo despite your limitations! I'm proud to call you a co-conspirator.

Moving on, what I noticed immediately with Jay'me's post were the arcs. There are at least 3 circles implied and I would probably say there are actually 5. I don't think it was Jay'me's intent but it was a study in circles. Because of that I immediately thought of marbles (maybe it's because I've lost mine!). My son has a gallon bag of hundreds of marbles. I had a great time trying different things...with one exception. My tripod is dead. It will be buried alongside Jay'me's corpse of a camera and I will move on after sharing a few kind words for my 3-legged friend. I will miss her. And my mourning started tonight.

I really needed to brace my camera and because of the death in my camera family, I had to get a little resourceful. So I stacked 7 bean bags atop a box of business cards and a DVD case and nestled my camera among it all. Meanwhile, I piled up 3 more bean bags on top of an overturned Tupperware container so the lens would rest on something. Then, after selecting the marble, I placed it on a sheet of white paper and used my sons new "Buzz Lightyear" flashlight to provide harsh side-lighting. Firing off 3 bracketed shots I set about editing. Here is the result:



Canon 30D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Mode Aperture Priority
Shutter Speed 1/4, 1", and 2.5"
Aperture f/14.0
ISO 100
Buzz Lightyear Flashlight

It's worth mentioning that I always shoot in RAW. Actually, I always shoot in RAW+sJPEG. What this means is that my camera simultaneously records the image in RAW format and small JPEG format. The purpose is to give me a file size that's easy to preview (sJPEG) and the loss-less format to actually edit and use (RAW). Additionally, it means more time in front of the computer, something I feel is reality in this day and age.

Photographers of old spent loads of time in the darkroom. Today's photographers are often faced with similar demands. In the case of this photo, I had to combine 3 images using Photomatix, process the results, save as a 16-bit TIFF, then proceed to edit the TIFF in Digital Photo Professional (my editor of choice currently), and finally save as a JPEG for the final edit and post. The entire process took about 10 minutes, which I feel is reasonable. But one can imagine the demands of editing wedding photos! Work flow is important!

So I've managed to completely wander away from this post but darn it, it's what I'm feeling right now!

I did my best to capture the circles given me by this marble. It was more challenging than I thought it would be (when is it ever easier!). I shot with HDR in mind because of something I read recently. The poster mentioned that in addition to dealing with dynamic range, HDR can really bring out detail in a setting that you might not normally think of as "perfect for HDR." In this case, I'm not sure I achieved better detail. What I certainly did after much trial and error is better saturation on the blue halo. I couldn't duplicate it with a single exposure. I tried several techniques and just couldn't do it. So once again, HDR was what I needed.

Okay, I've had enough for tonight. I think tomorrow we're inline for a guest photographer. WooHoo!!! We love our guests (no its not because we get out of posting!). It's such fun seeing the work of other people.

I'll leave you with a joke that I'm thinking of as I ramble aimlessly through this post. Here ya go:

How many AD/HD kids does it take to screw in a light bulb?
............
............
............
Wanna ride bikes?

Scott

Getting Back to my Roots

Canon 30D
Canon EF 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length 34mm
Shutter Speed 1/20, 1/50, and 1/125
Aperture f/4.5
ISO 125

Friday was a very long day. I had several meetings set-up for potential clients spread across three counties. What's more I wasn't bright enough to plan my visits in a logical manner. As such, I was in Chicago Heights for my last meeting, practically looking at Indiana right around the time rush hour starts...on a Friday evening. It wasn't looking good for a pleasant trip home. The good news is that my route could conceivably take me by the Morton Arboretum! Now we're talking! So off I went in search of some peace after a hectic day of mostly driving. This boy needed to stretch his legs. His dogs were barking!

Those of you unfamiliar with the Morton Arboretum only need to know one thing: stop what ever you're doing and go there now. I mean it. Go now. It's just a stunning place, both for it's simplicity and it's humble grandeur. Every time I go I reconnect with Ma Earth and that is something I cherish. There are four things in life I always consistently return to: music, photography, reading, and just being outdoors. This place feeds my soul.

Knowing I might be able to swing by I packed my camera and a full 10GB of memory knowing how pissed off I'd be if I ran out. I arrived just in time to enjoy that delicious late afternoon sunshine. I literally snapped 630 pics as I wandered the conifer walk, circled Lake Marmo on the West side, and stumbled upon Schulenberg Prairie, a new find for me. I just cannot put into words how this kind of place affects me. It's why photography is such an important and vital art form and why I'm so in love with it. Words just can't do what a good photograph can.

This photo was taken on the banks of Lake Mormo. The tree is a Freeman Maple, which is a crossbreed of Silver and Red Maple. The roots are just fantastic and the way the branches fall over the water just captivated me. I took 3 exposures with HDR editing in mind. The tricky part is that my tripod is kaput forcing me to do my best at holding very still whilst my camera gets three exposures. It helps tremendously that the light was sufficient. If the day were cloudy I probably would have been out of luck.

So why did I think HDR with this shot? Couldn't I have gotten a good shot without fancy software? The answer to that question is yes, I could have gotten a good shot without HDR. I've posted an edited shot here that is a single exposure. The facts of this setting are the dark shadows potentially clipping the details in the roots and the bright highlights of the reflected water potentially clipping the highlight details. The range from darkest to lightest is just extremely wide. And that's exactly what happened in the single exposure - clipped shadows and highlights (I'll admit, I edited a little extreme to emphasize the point). So why shoot with an eye towards HDR? It's just a better representation of what I'm seeing at that moment. And that is a key point.

There are some that rail against HDR photography, stating it looks fake or dreamlike. And indeed it can look fake and dreamlike. Some even prefer it that way. I would venture to state is can actually make a photo (particularly a landscape) more realistic. That is to say more like what the photographer is seeing when the shot(s) is taken. This is what I'm after and I'm fairly satisfied with the results on this one. Make no mistake, I struggle with making these shots look real. Ask Brandi. She's functioned as foil to my recklessness (Thanks B! I need it!). But I continue to learn when to push it and when to back off the "fixes." In the end, all I want is a photo that conveys the emotion of the scene. This shot does that for me.

My connection to Brandi's adorable faces are the ringlets of hair framing the little one's face. These roots remind me of those ringlets. And I was struck by the symmetry exhibited as the root comes up to kiss the reflection, similar to the girls leaning into each other.

I've posted several other HDR shots on our Flickr page. Check them out and leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you all think. In the meantime, your assignment is to go to the Morton Arboretum ASAP. If you need company, I'll be there.

Scott

A New Toy

In an earlier post I spent some time explaining "dynamic range." I went on to support a free program called "Picturenaut." Today I made the decision it was time to get serious about High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and see what I can do by purchasing Photomatix, the program most touted as the best option for HDR. Brandi and I split the cost and I'm sure she's in line for a late night too.

Let me first say I have a TON to learn. There are so many pitfalls that can derail any picture and using several exposures only compounds the challenge. Second, processing an HDR image takes a lot of time. I repeat, it takes a LONG time. Which is why I'm rushing to make my midnight deadline. It doesn't help that I can't stop trying new images to process. I processed about 10 images and every one of them could have been posted. Third, I have a crap-ton of dust on my sensor and that royally sucks. Gonna have to address that soon.

For tonight's photo I give you this rock:

Canon 30D
Canon EF 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length 18mm
Shutter Speed 1/30, 1/125, and 1,500
Aperture f/6.3
ISO 100

This rock is very "Crystal Lake" for me. I grew up referring to this as graffiti rock and I remember when it actually looked like a rock. It has seen countless layers of paint as you can see in the foreground. The last time I saw it the overall color was navy blue. It seems today's painters had other things in mind.

I chose this as my subject because Kristine and I are high school classmate. We spent countless hours singing our way through high school and I consider it a high point in my life. It will always be a very "Crystal Lake" feeling when I reconnect with my singing buddies and for that reason I chose this rock.

Kristine, thanks for joining us. You, like all our guests, did a fantastic job. Come back again soon! As for me, I'm spent. Watch for more HDR and next time I post I promise to give a better explanation. Bedtime for this singer.

Scott

Anything For a Friend Part Deux

Canon 30d
Canon 24-70 f2.8L
Shutter 2.5, 1, and 0.5
f22.0
ISO 100
Focal Length 24mm
Natural Light

This evening you get another round of Scott. Jay'me is traveling with her family and literally cannot get to a computer. I'm sure she took plenty of photos during her time in Florida and I look forward to seeing them! In the meantime, I'll pinch hit with this photo of the falls at McCormick's Creek State Park in Spencer Indiana.

These falls are magical for some reason. I spent a lot of time here with my family as a boy and again this summer as a father. You can't tell from this picture but you can actually climb right up the falls! I've done it and someday, my boys will too. This time around, E built rock houses in the shadow of the falls and B just tried to stay on his feet. It's just one of those magical places from my life that I wanted to capture and share. Now, finally, I'm able to do that. On to the techie stuff.

The connection is the technique I used in the previous post called HDR or high dynamic range. In technical terms, dynamic range is the ratio between the maximum and minimum measurable light intensities (white and black respectively). The human eye is fantastic with dynamic range. We can apparently see the difference between "cotton white" and "snow white" and 100 other whites (according to Benjamin Moore). Cameras have limitations and it's one of the many reasons one camera is better than another (read: MORE EXPENSIVE!!!). Thankfully, for those of us without money trees, the digital era has ushered in software to enhance dynamic range.

You will notice I listed 3 separate shutter speeds above (2.5 seconds, 1 second, and .5 seconds). This is where the process begins. It's very important to mention that each photo must be as much like the previous in composition as possible. I accomplished this with a good tripod, a remote shutter, and mirror locked in the up position. Even the slightest movement can cause major headaches later. Continuing with the shutter speed explanation, the effect of taking 3 identical shots with different exposures is that I have one adequately showing detail in the shadows (at the expense of the highlights), one showing adequate details in the highlights (at the expense of the shadows), and one average exposure.

The next step is to combine all three exposures with the goal of good detail in both the highlights and the shadows. One can do this with only 2 images but I used 3 this time. You need software to accomplish this and I used Picturenaut, a freeware program anyone can use. There are many others and I'm sure they are great. I'm just starting with this and I find Picturenaut to be both user friendly and highly effective.

Once you've combined the exposures it's time to edit the photo. Picturenaut spits out a TIFF file, which means it's huge. I think this one was 47mb. The good news about the TIFF format is that it's a loss-less file format, meaning you can edit like crazy, save like crazy, and as long as it's still a TIFF, you are not losing information. JPEG's don't do that. They compress each time you save thus losing information - something to keep in mind. Moving on, once I was done tweaking contrast, white balance, and sharpness, I saved it as a JPEG for posting and poof, out comes another HDR photo. It's such a blast playing with HDR! I strongly recommend it.

I should also mention that when taking photos of water a slow shutter speed is often precisely the ticket. This is how you create the smooth effect of the falls and anyone can do it with a good tripod.

Though I simplified the process a bit for the sake of brevity it really is rather simple as long as you set-up well. Like any photo, the best time to do things right is before you take the shot. Alright, that's it for now folks. Have a great week and try to notice something new!

Scott

PS - I broke the rules again...DARN IT! Not going to re-post at this point
PPS - Hope you made it home safe Jay'me! Can't wait for your next post.

My Friend Mike...and I Broke the Rules!

Canon 30d
18-55 f3.5-5.6 (this is my version of "same old lens" - that's for you B!)
1/80
f4.0
ISO 800
Focal Length 18mm
Canon 580ex Speedlight

This is the first thing I thought of when I saw Brandi's post - my friend Mike. So, I headed over to his house with a couple racks of ribs, corn on the cob, zucchini and squash, and my camera. Ribs are a terrific motivator! When I told him my idea he said absolutely and immediately started adding suggestions. We had great fun with this and I'm sure he will end up on here again in the near future.

Something to notice for you fellow photogs are the catch lights in Mike's eyes. With the reflector extended on my flash and a 45 degree angle, I got a better diffusion of light and a bigger catch light. He's also sitting next to a window with a shear allowing great natural light. It's a little funny talking seriously about this photo but without planning this shot, it would have looked rather flat.

Here's where I broke the rules...



This is a photo I took on my way to my Dad's. It's something I've always curiously observed and wondered if there was a photo to be had. It was dark outside but the sign in the background provided nice back lighting. I messed with using my speed light but ultimately I decided on several exposures to be combined later as a HDR image. HDR means "high dynamic range" and I found a great freeware program called Picurenaut that allows for this technique. Anyway, I used a tripod, remote trigger, and mirror lock up on my camera body to minimize movement as much as possible. The result is the purple tint due to the twilight lighting and the blown out highlights of the backdrop. It's almost an accidental shot! It's not at all what I was going for and I drove away thinking I had nothing. Alas, I'm pretty happy with the results.

I broke the rules simply because I'm supposed to post one photo! I promise this won't happen often but I just couldn't pick between the two.

The connection for this was supposed to be the green background. And I suppose there is green. But I'm amazed at the color you can achieve just through watching the clock and shooting at different times of the day. If you find yourself up at the crack of dawn, wander outside and shoot a few of some flowers. You'll be amazed at the quality of light! The same goes for dusk. It's easily my favorite time to shoot.

So, looks like I made it through one post without breaking the rules. Any bets on the next rule breaker?

Scott