A few photos from the weekend...

So I have been going through a book by Scott Kelby on learning CS5 for Digital Photographers which can be found here, Photoshop by Scott Kelby. (I don't get paid for you clicking on any links that I post, so don't worry you're not funding my morning bowl of Cheerios.) There has been so much to learn on working from Camera Raw, I have been spending a significant amount of time learning how to adjust for exposure, white balance, and contrast.

The following eleven photos deal mostly with adjusting for those things, along with my continuing fascination with HDR. Click here for trial versions of Photomatix! All of these images are handheld without a tripod. So if a more experienced eye happens upon these images and they see something out of focus in an HDR image, then the absence of a tripod may be on the list of reasons. Please feel free to leave any comments in the comments section below!

All images shot with a Canon 60D with a kit lens EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Click on the images to see them in a larger format.

unedited image taken straight from camera

Statue of the Defenders and Emily Morgan Hotel: San Antonio, TX

f/22 -- 1/90 -- ISO 200 -- 31mm

I tried to cool down the temperature to get the sky a deeper blue. I also tried enhancing the exposure and brightness just to get the building to pop a little more.

HDR image of three bracketed images. Exposure: -2, 0, +2. Currently I use Photomatix Essentials for my merging. There are five main sliders to adjust the image: strength, color saturation, luminosity, detail contrast, and lighting adjustments. I am teaching myself, so right now I basically adjust the sliders until I get something that I like. Thankfully each of the sliders has a definition to understand what it is doing to the image. HDR is its own kind of art form that takes special skill to master. I do really like what I came up with from what I shot though.

unedited taken straight from camera

Statue of the Defenders: San Antonio, TX

f/22 -- 1/30 -- ISO 100 -- 18mm

Adjustments made were the white balance, brightness, contrast and clarity.

HDR Image. Exposure: -2, 0, +2

Merging my three images gave it a really cool feel as it were burning. Color saturation, luminosity and lighting adjustments were the key factors in achieving this result.

 

unedited taken straight from camera

The Alamo: San Antonio, TX

f/5.6 -- 1/750 -- ISO 100 -- 18mm -- Exposure -2, 0, +2

HDR Image

This was a lot of experimentation. I was trying out Photomatix Pro and for my current skill level it has a lot going on. I liked the color the building turned out but I felt it was a little over saturated and burnt.

 I also couldn't figure out how to keep the richness of the building while bringing back the green of the trees.

HDR: same bracketed exposures from the image above but edited differently. I went back to Photomatix Essentials for this image. I was able to keep the trees feeling much more alive. In terms of control using different programs, right now I feel that less might be more. 

unedited taken straight from camera

f/5.6 -- 1/45 -- ISO 100 -- 87mm 

I'm not sure which image I like more. The unedited version above came out pretty nice. I changed the white balance to daylight and upped the contrast and clarity to try and bring out the fur on his body, which also made the grass and tree he was around seem darker.

f/3.5 -- 1/250 -- ISO 100 -- 18mm

I used a creative filter on my camera to get the blurred top and bottom effect. Other than that it is untouched. I liked how the larger aperture placed emphasis on the letters closest to the lens and slowly blurred out the running lines. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

If you've made it this far, thank you very much for taking the time to browse through my post today. I plan to have another post in the next day or two, so keep checking back for new updates!

See Something New Everyday...

Hello fellow friends, bloggers and photography entrepreneurs!

I've learned quite a bit about photography over the past two months from all sorts of places and I wanted to share with you some amazing places to learn new things. Of course I will be sharing my own photos and knowledge with you over time but it's always nice to have a huge pool of information to draw from because everyone learns in their own unique way. If you're anything like me you spend hours and hours in front of the computer looking for better ways to improve what you are currently doing and finding a style that you connect with. Below I've listed some amazing artist's web sites, some of which are geared toward learning and others which have amazing photos that we can all appreciate. Enjoy!

www.ImprovePhotography.com

I found Improve Photography when I was questioning Google about photography. I have to admit this one of my favorites. This site has fantastic online beginner photography lessons for a completely reasonable price. There are wonderfully written articles with all sorts of tips and tricks about your camera, better ways to shoot and fair reviews on goodies for your gear bag.

www.DigitalPhotographySchool.com

The name pretty much speaks for itself. This place has everything from photo tips, gear reviews and post production. One of my favorite things about this site is the forum section and all the helpful and educated comments on so many of the posts. If you have a question, this is one of the best places to have it answered.

www.1X.com

If you want to dream of taking amazing beautiful pictures, this is place to do it. 1X has a wide range of photos with just about every category you could think of. If you feel your images are 1X material, you can join their site for free and post your photos there. They have a great community of artists that will critique your work and give valuable feedback. I love the idea of having people from all over the world give each other advice on how we can improve as photographers. 

www.CarynEsplin.com

Caryn is a visual media professor at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. She showcases some of her students work on her blog and is also a wonderful photographer and designer herself. If you are interested in HDR or light painting then is a great place for you to explore. She also frequently posts contests you can enter as well as tips and tutorials. 

Shikhei Goh

If you are even remotely interested in macro photography... Stop everything you are doing, including reading this blog and see the images that Shikhei has captured. He has absolutely jaw-dropping images with beautiful color and interesting subjects. I am amazed at his ability to capture some of the worlds smallest creatures.

www.RichardBernabe.com

Nature, wildlife and travel photography is the name of his game. I just found Richard this week through Twitter. Yes, through Twitter! I was quite surprised to say the least. I have a serious affinity for landscape and wildlife photography and Richard has definitely captured my attention.

Jim Harmer

I just had to put up a link for Jim Harmer. This is the creator of Improve Photography. I just really like Jim's story, his style of photography and what he stands for in the photography world. And to me he stands for the idea that anything is possible if you love it enough. Thanks Jim!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you have seen something you liked or found a new place to reference for your own work. If anyone has any other places they look to for inspiration or places to learn from, please post them in the comments section below. 

Click, Click... HDR

If you are reading this, you may very well be familiar with HDR photography. If you're not familiar with it, the basic definition is: combing multiple images of different exposures to create a more dramatic visual image. It's a very interesting form of photography that I have yet to pass judgement on. After seeing and hearing so much about HDR I finally decided to roll the dice to see what I could come up with in my apartment. Here is one image of the three I combined to make my final image...

f 3.5 -- ISO 200 -- 1/8

I turned on my camera, set it to Aperture Priority, dialed in my exposure brackets, set my elbows on the table in front of me as a makeshift tripod and click, click, click. I then compiled my images with Photomatix and this is what I came up with... (Photomatix is a photo editing software geared for HDR photography. I have heard great things about it and read great reviews so I downloaded a trial version to test it out for myself)

Now... I am not sure what your reaction to this is, but I was and am quite astonishingly blown away. I can understand why some photographers detest HDR photography because it doesn't take much to turn an ordinary photo into something quite fantastic. However, the rules of photography still apply in terms of your subject, rule of thirds, proper framing, composition, lighting and even proper exposure are still needed to create something special. Keep in mind, the above image is only a quick throw together of an HDR image. There are definitely some incredibly talented individuals out there doing amazing work. I am excited to learn more and develop my understanding of HDR. Check out Caryn Esplin's blog to see the potential of where this form of art can take you, http://www.carynesplin.com/hdr/

What are your thoughts on HDR photography?

Everyone has a lucky day...

Everyone has a lucky day once in a while with photography. Here are, in my opinion, three lucky moments that I got with my old Casio EX-Z700. These were all taken on auto mode and nothing has been done to them in Photoshop or any other editing software. Obviously they aren't the most stunning photographs known to man. These are simply a few photos that I have taken that spiked my interest in photography in the past. Click on the pictures for a larger image.

This was taken on a moving train from Poznan to Warsaw in Poland. You can see someone's hand sticking out of a window on the right hand side. The building amazingly stayed in focus and the colors turned out quite nice. 

This is the end of a day of snowboarding at Grand Targhee in Wyoming. I don't know why or how the sky does the things it does, but it can quite stunning.

This is looking down Ulica Dluga in Gdansk, Poland. I wish I knew what I was doing when I took this photo, it had so much potential in terms of sharpness.

--------------------------------------

That will most likely be all the pictures I post from earlier days. Everything I post from here on out will be from my Canon 60D and be filled with all sorts of fun stuff I am learning on a daily basis. Thanks for taking the time to read/look.

Choosing a camera takes work...

In April I had decided to teach myself the ins and outs of digital photography. There was one problem though, I didn't have a DSLR. I had an old Casio point and shoot that had served its purpose over the years. But I knew if I really wanted to learn about photography and make any type of significant improvements I needed a DSLR. DSLR's allow for a much more personal and adjustable approach to photography, letting the user take more control over the image. Deciding to jump into the DSLR market was just the tip of the iceberg.


I then started to read enormous amounts of information about cameras, which brand to go with, what was a good beginner camera. I was a constant repeat visitor to Best Buy for two weeks straight, handling different camera models, asking all the questions I could think of, and staying up many late nights deciphering all the information I could get my eyes on. There are some very talented and knowledgeable individuals about cameras out there, between the people at Best Buy and the multiple reviews from sites like,  Snap Sort, Camera Labs, Digital Photography School, and a great article from Improve Photography on the battle of Canon and Nikon. I also requested the help of many friends on Facebook to talk with me about what they use and like.


In the end after much internal deliberation and testing, I chose the Canon EOS 60D. I wanted something a step above the true beginner line that I could grow into but also knew I shouldn't mess around with the price point or the features of a pro model camera. The 60D fit both of those and also felt like magic in my hands. I think when someone is deciding over a DSLR purchase, no matter how much you read and decode reviews on the internet, the thing that matters most is what feels best in your own hands. Many more posts to come as I learn about my beautiful 60D and the magic that is photography.