Just for fun

I took this picture today and just had to share it. It's a red eft using a muchroom as an umbrella; in fact, there were two but they both were disturbed by my picture taking.

Week 4 - Colors and Light

Before I begin this post I just want to point out that I have not yet finished this weeks reading and so I'm not going to get too technical - between the upcoming election, the economy (I work in investments) and the fact that my eyes have felt strained this week, I decided I might benefit from taking a calmer, earlier time of day to finish the website readings. However, as soon as I read the assignment I began taking pictures and collected well over 200 in two days - I'm really enjoying having a purpose behind my photography for a change.

That all being said, when I read the assignment for lighting I was interested by the examples Karen supplied: flash, indoor lights, windows, and most of all TV. This triggered me to think of an experiment which I'm rather pleased to say came out pretty cool. Interested in combining light and color into this weeks assignment, I thought of trying out the same image with three different types of bulbs: a compact florescent, a red, and a black light. The result:
Due to the need to have more control over the shutter and aperture settings, I decided to use my Fuji S5000 on a tripod for this photo session. (I should point out that my Sasha was such a wonderful model for this experiment that she got one of her favorite crunchy treats for her patience.) As would be expected, the black light only barely reached the center of my camera's light meter and also appeared to have come out the blurriest of the three; the aperture was at its widest (F3.2) and the shutter was set to its longest (2"). With the red light I had a lot more room for play. In retrospect I wish I had written down each photo's settings, but I tried to keep the aperture wide while reducing the shutter speed. The same is true of the compact florescent light on the left. Luckily Sasha didn't move much, but if you look closely you'll see she adjusted her head in between changes of light.

Now the color schemes posed a bit more of a challenge for me, especially finding images of complimentary colors. I immediately started setting up shots for this one - a tomato against greens, books with blue and orange spines intermingled, corn holders in a purple bowl, etc... However, while walking through town I found a number of great shots that presented complimentary colors. I know we were only being asked to show one example from two schemes, but I really wanted to show three from this category alone; I'll make them small : )Once I had the objective of finding complimentary colors, I began seeing them everywhere and got a little camera happy. I just love the way the colors vibrate upon contact with one another. All three of these shots were taken outdoors with my Canon SD600. I found that natural light works so much better than flash or indoor light (let me say here that I was really interested in the reading assignment's point about a flash balancing out light coming from the background, such as with a window).

For my next picture, I chose to go with the analogous color scheme, if I'm correct. I have to admit I'm not sure I have the knack to differentiate between monochrome and analogous color schemes. I understand their differences, but I found that there are some in one category that I would have otherwise believed to be considered the other. The picture below, however, includes three different hues of green, which is why I believe it to be analogous
For this project I toyed around with a few different types of subject, but I really liked the way these three greens came together in this shot. This one was also taken with my Canon.

Macro - Analysis

Somehow I missed the part where we choose two pictures - oops.

My wife and I hiked up Putney Mountain last Friday after work. From the top one can see the Green Mountains in the est and Mt. Monadnock in the west. It rests under a popular bird of prey migration path so encountering birdwatchers at the summit is not uncommon. However, on this evening we had the top to ourselves and I was intent on getting a great shot of the fern patch. The camera I brought with me was my Elph. I wanted my shot to focus on a single fern in the foreground while capturing an out-of-focus patch of green behind. My camera constantly wanted to center its focus further away, but after more than thirty tries, I discovered I had my picture.I had a great time photographing my accordion. It was interesting to shrink my perspective and take in all the particular details on the instrument. What I chose for my collage are the buttons and keys, but I took pictures of every piece of the accordion, from many angles, and with different lighting. With so many pieces working together, one often misses out on these details.

Jay's Macro Collage

I've spent all week photographing everything I could get my camera to focus on - and I had a lot of fun doing it too. In this assortment are the 20 shots that made the final cut, but I'd be surprised if I didn't take over 200 pictures in total. At first I centered on finding small items around my house to photograph, like toys, candles, rocks, a shot glass, etc... The lighting in my house wasn't sufficient, and I made the decision not to use a flash, so I wound up hooking my Canon up to a tripod and holding a light over my subject if necessary. Now that I look at my collage, the only pictures that survived this trial are the springy guys in the top right corner. I eventually took those accordion shots in my home as well.

Next, I branched out to items I found around my office at work. My attention was on trying to deceive the eye from the actual item, hence the spring from my staple remover and looking through my sunglasses at my cat-strap. Getting these shots required patience in adjusting the camera, by pressing the shutter button slightly, to focus on the right piece.

Then, when I was able to get time outdoors, my wife and I took a hike up Putney Mountain where took the fern picture in the bottom right corner. I was aiming to have a single fern in the foreground with an obvious patch of ferns in the rear.

Finally, after selecting about 25 shots of what I gathered so far, I tried to take advantage of tonight's sunset. Oddly enough, about 15 of the pictures in this collage were actually taken today and I decided not to use about 99% of my other pictures. What I discovered was that natural light really added life to these pictures and those ones that were taken indoors just couldn't compete.

It was fun balancing the foreground and background; for instance, in a number of these shots my focus was largely on the background, though I purposely left it blurry. This was true for my wood pile, the ferns, and the leaf. I also attempted to break away from the "subject in the center" rule, as is shown in the hemlock (?) and flower pics.

I had a great time playing around and would love to hear everyone's feedback.

*** I've added some extra pics to flickr that either didn't make the final cut or were personal favorites. CHECK IT OUT HERE ***

Picture comparrisons

Wow is it hard to choose two pictures out of a series. Objects can look incredible from a number of perspectives.

For my first photo comparison, I chose one of the many sunflowers we have in out garden. I find these flower so fascinating: their height, the way thier flower appears out of a spiral of petals, the spiraling effect of their florets... In this first picture, I was really interested in capturing the flower from behind. The top of its stalk resembles a neck hanging low form the weight of a heavy head. The way the bract, by which I mean the green petals behind the yellow petals, creates a second crown around the flower.

The second picture I chose is this one on the left that was taken from above. I was trying to find an angle that showed the many layers of leaves and how they spiral around the stem. Enlarged, this angle allows a viewer to look down through the leaves' stems, like looking down a spiral staircase.

Just for fun I thought I'd post a second series since they were taken so recently. These pictures are of the El Toro roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ. The first picture was taken from a gondola at sunset; I was probably about at 15 stories high, looking down the length of the ride. El Toro is longer than it is wide, so this shot shows the tightness of its turns. Notice the car at the top.

The second image shows El Toro's side and the length of the track. Again at sunset, notice how the sun reflects off its wooden construction and the small plume of a sprinkler in the water. I can't wait to learn how to remove those wires cleanly.

An Awesome Adventure

This past weekend, I went down to New York City with my wife, Jade, and my friend Steve, who had never walked around in the city. The next day, we traveled to New Jersey to visit Six Flags Great Adventure. The part was virtually empty, making the lines nice and short. The first (and second) ride we went on was called Kingda Ka. This one takes you from 0 to 128mph in three seconds, shooting riders 90 degrees up 48 stories and then back down again.

We stayed in the park all day and caught an awesome sunset from the sky ride. The last ride we went on was called El Toro; it is called the longest wooden roller coaster with the highest drop of twenty-something stories.

Trial the first...

Hello everyone and welcome to the new semester. I'm personally looking forward to manipulating new and old photos to learn more of what Photoshop CS3 has to offer. I've used the program minimally over the past 8 years, but still have so much to learn. Additionally, my wife has been doing graphic design for some time and has taught me a number of great tricks - like using actions...

Can't wait to see what everyone has to share and I wish everybody the very best during the oncoming semester.

By the way, the attached picture was taken on Daytona Beach in Florida about a week ago. We flew right into the heart of Fay and somehow remained rather dry. However, this picture shows that the sky had it's share of storm clouds.