rows...

June, week one:
I was wandering around downtown and walking through the empty pavilion when I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the rows of chairs. It took me several attempts to optimize the composition. This serves as one of my more abstract images of this project, however it is not a true abstract image.

The black and white conversion on this made me realize that my processing gives the bokeh a harsh appearance. While I could smooth this out in photoshop, I want to figure out on my own ways to balance things out. This will be especially important for black and white macro shots.

Image details:
Date and location: 6/10/7 at 18:11 EDT, Pavilion, downtown mall, Charlottesville Virginia
Equipment: Canon 30D, 17-85mm IS lens, Hoya SMC UV filter
Settings: 85mm, handheld with IS, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/25 sec, shot in raw
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.3 -> export as .jpg to PSE-CS3 -> black and white (high contrast blue preset) -> resize -> USM (100%, 0.5, 0) -> border + text -> save as .jpg
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #12 (abstract)

falling...

May, week four:
There are multiple great waterfalls in the nearby Shenandoah National Park, which are great for both hiking and photography. I got my dSLR last year in the mid-summer, so by the time I got to visit some of these falls the water had started to wane. Today the falls were healthy, creating a great photographic subject. While the overall setting including the surrounding trees was beautiful, I liked this picture a lot because it focused on the shapes created by the water as it fell. I've lived near trees all of my life, but the falls are new.

For the conversion, I tried the "infrared" preset in PSE-CS3. I liked the detail it brought out in the rocks and trees while still keeping the water as the focus. I need to learn more about these new b+w conversion parameters to see why the "infrared" present gives this appearance.

After a slow start to the month, due largely to a hard drive crash and not helped by working nights for a little while, i've made four contributions to this blog. Hopefully my June contributions will not be as irregular.

Image details:
Date and location: 5/28/7 at 14:11 EDT, Doyles river falls (upper falls), Shenandoah NP, Virginia
Equipment: Canon 30D, 17-85mm IS lens, Hoya SMC UV filter
Settings: 85mm, tripod, ISO 100, f/32.0, 1.0 sec, shot in raw
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.3 -> export as .jpg to PSE-CS3 -> black and white (infrared preset) -> resize -> USM (100%, 0.5, 0) -> border + text -> save as .jpg
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #3 (vertical orientation), #6 (extended exposure)

bull...

May, week three:
While driving around the local countryside I noticed some longhorn cattle. Since this is Virginia, it caught my attention. I quick snapped a few shots, although I was really wishing for a longer lens that would allow me a close-up portrait.

Here I tried fiddling with the complex black and white conversion parameters in PSE-CS3. I don't know if I made the best choices, but it was a good learning experience. I'm a little fascinated with assymetric borders at the moment, as you may notice. I think I need to add "rural" as another goal for my project. Otherwise, the only thing this picture fits is wildlife. Sort of fits landscape, too.

Image details:
Date and location: 5/26/7 at 15:41 EDT, Hwy 22 outside Charlottesville, VA
Equipment: Canon 30D, 17-85mm IS lens, Hoya SMC UV filter
Settings: 83mm, handheld with IS, ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/200 sec, shot in raw
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.3 -> export as .jpg to PSE-CS3 -> black and white (100, 0, 40, 110, 110, 110) -> levels (20, 1.15, 255) -> contrast +10 -> crop -> resize -> USM (150%, 0.5, 0) -> border + text -> save as .jpg
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #17 (wildlife), #18 (rural)

wedge...

May, week two:
I was in NYC for my nephew's fourth birthday party. On my way back, I drove through the city a little bit to try and get a few pics. The Flatiron building was one of several stops I made. While it is an often-photographed building, that doesn't mean I shouldn't have my version of it.

This is one of the first photographs I've processed using Photoshop Extended CS3. I downloaded a 30 day trial, and so far I like it. I had heard a lot from people about the black and white conversion process, and I haven't yet had the chance to play around with it sufficiently. For this, I used one of the pre-sets (high contrast red filter). After adjusting brightness and contrast, I applied a little bit more sharpening than usual and went with an asymmetric border. I put the website address in the bottom-left instead of the bottom right because I didn't want to obscure the view down fifth avenue. It's a cliche photograph, but I like it.

Image details:
Date and location: 5/20/7 at 17:02 EDT, Manhattan
Equipment: Canon 30D, 17-85mm IS lens, Hoya SMC UV filter
Settings: 20mm, handheld with IS, ISO 100, f/10.0, 1/200 sec, shot in raw
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.3 -> export as .jpg to PSE-CS3 -> black and white (high contrast red preset) -> brightness +10/contrast +10 -> resize -> crop -> USM (200%, 0.5, 0) -> border + text -> save as .jpg
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #3 (vertical orientation), #11 (architecture), #16 (street photography)

brookie...

May, week one:
This beautiful brook trout is the first fish that I caught with my new fly rod. It is a native brook trout (not stocked by the state), and had amazing colors. This is a reasonable followup to my previous blog entry, although photographically it is not the greatest shot. However, keep in mind how hard it is to get this shot! It would have been nice to have my 30d with me, with a circular polarizing filter, but since my 630 ended up sliding off some rocks into the water while i was carefully removing the fly from the fish, I think it's better that the dSLR stayed at home. The fish was then released, and swam back to his little feeding hole (catch-and-release with gentle handling and barbless hooks are important to preserving this beautiful fish).

The processing was simple, but it was also delayed (May is now almost over). It got delayed because the day before this shot the hard drive on my laptop crashed. Then, I had to start working nights for a little while. Once I finished with my night shifts, I focused my time on resurrecting my hard drive and reconstructing all of the data from various backups. I've also since purchased several additional external hard drives and have set up a comprehensive backup schedule. I also use Mozy for online backups, and I strongly recommend this service (free 2GB backups) to everyone. Public service message: don't forget to backup!

Image details:
Date and location: 5/4/7 at 14:45 EDT, Rapidan River, Shenandoah NP, Virginia
Equipment: Canon SD630, handheld
Settings: 10.09mm, f/3.5, 1/100 sec
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.3 -> monochrome mixer (20, 80, 0, 0) -> contrast +50 -> resize -> USM (150%, 0.5, 0) -> border + text
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #17 (wildlife)

angler...

April, week four:
A little change of pace from previous entries. FIrst, I didn't take the picture (my fly fishing instructor did). Second, it's with my point-and-shoot (I didn't want my 30D going for a swim). And third, I hate the composition... but, I love the subject, a feisty little rainbow trout that I caught just as I was getting ready to finish up for the day. Shortly after this picture, I went home smiling and the fishie swam back to the part of the stream I found him in. I was doing an Orvis fly fishing school, coordinated by the Albemarle Angler here in Charlottesville, and it was one of the most fun days I've had in a while. Even though I got some better pictures that day out on that farm when I was wandering around with my dSLR, I thought I'd use this picture since fly fishing is all I've been able to think about for the last week or so :-)

For the processing... simple black and white conversion, resize, sharpen, and that's about it. I know it's a stretch to list this as addressing the portrait and wildlife goals, but otherwise all it accomplished was vertical orientation. Anyways, hopefully I'll get some better nature photos on some fly fishing outings in the near future.

Image details:
Date and location: 4/28/7 at 17:14 EDT, Rose River Farm, Madison, VA
Equipment: Canon SD630, handheld (by fly fishing instructor)
Settings: 5.8mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.3 -> monochrome mixer (30, 30, 40, 0) -> resize -> USM (125%, 0.5, 0) -> border + text
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #2 (portraits), #3 (vertical orientation), #17 (wildlife)

tossed around...

April, week three:
I was wandering around earlier tonight with my camera and ran across a group of people juggling. i asked if i could take their picture, and they humored me... and, performed for me! they were really good, and seemed like fun people. i may try and join them sometime and work on improving my juggling skills. in this shot, three guys are passing nine juggling pins around, with the guy in the middle passing them behind him! the girl in the picture was watching in this shot, but was pretty good at juggling also.

the processing was fairly straightforward for this... i'm not that good at taking photos of people (i think the only other shot with a person in it for this project is my nephew, who was an easy subject since he couldn't crawl away fast enough to escape my camera). i feel somewhat comfortable taking action shots, because i did a lot of sports photography in high school, but this reminds me i need to work on my portrait skills. i just need to find someone to take a picture of.

Image details:
Date and location: 4/24/7 at 19:38 EDT, UVA campus, Charlottesville, VA
Equipment: Canon 30D, 17-85mm IS lens, Hoya SMC UV filter
Settings: 17mm, handheld with IS, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, shot in raw
Processing: cataloged in Aperture v1.5.3 -> export as .jpg to PS7 -> monochrome mixer (20, 40, 40, 0) -> contrast (+15) -> crop -> resize -> USM (150%, 0.5, 0) -> border + text -> save as .jpg
Photo-a-week goals addressed: #1 (b+w), #9 (action), #16 (street photography)