Wedding Season Experiments

It's here. Wedding Season. It's going to be our biggest season yet with weddings almost every week. The first wedding of the season was two weeks ago, and thanks to our new computer and Adobe Lightroom, I'm nearly done editing.

However, as I have looked through the vast amount of photos we've taken, I wanted to take some time to do something different. Here are four different experiments using Photoshop to alter the look and feel of the photos.

Some might not like them at all - but I think they add something special to the overall look of the wedding day, and gives us some options to show people our Photoshop skills. I have some aged effects, some color shifts with curves adjustments, borders, and a high-key effect. All are new experiments, but I think I like the way they are turning out. I would never do an entire wedding edited this way, but it's fun to get creative.

Blurred

As of yesterday, this is what the world looked like to me. If you don't know why, all you have to really know right now is that I was almost suspended and my principal was almost fired, all because my newspaper students published articles that a few people didn't want published.

Last night was the first real night of sleep I've had in weeks - or so it seems. I was even an hour late to parent-teacher conferences because I was walking around in a fog, not really knowing what time or day it was.

Yet - yesterday was one of the most productive days I've had in a long time, and I'm feeling back on track. I'm invigorated by the way my students acted in the face of harsh criticism, and I'm reminded constantly that I have many good friends around me. My wife, through all of this, has been the most supportive person on Earth. If you haven't read her blog, www.poemfish.typepad.com , then you need to. Her blog not only describes the situation I found myself in, but as you read the archives, you will not find any more honest, intelligent, well-written thoughts anywhere else. In the few minutes that I thought I actually might lose my job, it was a surreal experience to realize that everything would be OK - because I had her in my life.

The Omaha Project

http://theomahaproject.blogspot.com/

Editors

These are my two yearbook editors this year. They call the shots and make the decisions. It's probaby the first year that the student editors have made ALL the decisions regarding the yearbook.


They are both seniors - and will be missed.

Macro

My first experience with the 100 f/2.8 macro has been amazing. I've only had it for a day, but I already am thrilled by the possibilities. There's a whole other world out there I haven't even begun to photograph...

Snapshots

These two photos are the very definition of "snapshots." During our last photoshoot, there were several instances where I saw something cool outside of of the portraits we were taking. So I adjusted my ISO, changed my shutter and aperture, focused, and shot one or two quick shots. And... well... I love them. The first one has an amazing amount of detail. The full resolution shot at the highest quality has detail I never knew existed in the safe before I zoomed in with Adobe Lightroom. The second shows how capable the 5D is with ISO 3200 selected.

Cool, fun stuff.

More Polarizer Magic...

The polarizer comes through again. I can't believe I didn't have this thing in my bag for years. It's definitely going with me everywhere I go, from this point on.
























.

Polarizer

I recently got my $80 circular polarizer out, remembering how it used to darken the blues in the skies back in my film days. I'd mostly use it in black and whites to create some dramatic blacks in the sky, and I thought I'd put it to use on my 5D with some photos on a great, blue-sky day.

The two photos above are not adjusted in photoshop at all. The only difference between the two are a quick shift in the circular polarizer, deepening the blues. I'd forgotten how good of a job the polarizer does of it...

This one allowed me to get a great exposure on the statue's face, yet still keep a deep, dark blue in the sky.

In this one, the tombstone had a touching, heart-breaking photograph of an infant. Without the polarizer, there would have been a glossy sheen to the photograph inset, and the glare would have obscured detail. With the polarizer, a little turn takes it all away.

I'd forgotten how cool a polarizer could be, and I'll definitely be using it more soon.

Chicago

Tonight is the first time I really missed my friend Zach. He moved to Chicago recently, and while I wished him the best and knew he'd be successful at whatever he wanted to do, I didn't really miss him. I mean - Chicago is only six hours or so away - that's not too bad, right?

But tonight, while I was grilling chicken and steak in our amazing weather we're having, I had an urge to pick up the phone and invite him over. I had to stop and realize he wouldn't be able to do that.
For the first time, I felt bummed out.

















Here he is, at the top photo in his first art show (he had the coolest stuff, although he didn't sell anything). In the middle he's posing with his amazing girfriend, Emily, and at the bottom is Zach, immortalized, in one of my favorite all-time photos during a trip across Nebraska.

I know he'll always be my friend, and I can't wait to take the time to get out there and visit him and let him show me Chicago... but it's sad that he can't just stop by for a game of Magic, some dinner, and some great conversation about politics, science, and UFC.

He's in Chicago now, venturing to be a photographer.

Good luck, Zach. I have a feeling you'll amaze even yourself.

The Blizzard and the Element

So, I had a few hours to get out there and take some photos of the great "BLIZZARD OF 2007" - according to all the local news stations. We had a lot of snow - but I still wouldn't say it was a "blizzard." For me, a blizzard has to shut down a town for say, at least a week.

I had a few hours to spare, and thought I'd get out there and find some photos. I did find a few - but I didn't have the right shoes on. Amazingly, I forgot to put on my boots, so I had only my flimsy tennis shoes to protect me from the knee-high drifts. Therefore, what you see was taken from my vehicle's window.

And that brings me to the point of this post - the Honda Element ROCKS. Really - I was going down some roads I didn't even know where the road was. It just kept going. Not once did I ever feel like I was in trouble... unless you count the time when I couldn't see the road at all because of all the swirling snow... but we won't count that. That's driver error.

As a photographer, it's nice to have the Element, allowing me the confidence to get where I want to be. These shots wouldn't even have been possible without it, so they are dear to me regardless of their artistic merit.

Snowfall

With much deliberation I decided to get out and photograph downtown Omaha just after a snowfall. I just missed the heavy snow, but that's OK - it would have only made me wipe down my lens over and over again.

I was interested to see what I could do hand-holding the camera that late at night (around 11:00). It was bright downtown, the light bouncing between the snow and the sky - and the image stabilization helped me out too.

In this situation, though, there is a trade-off. I had to shoot at ISO1600 at some pretty extreme settings (always at maximum aperture and, at times, 1/5 of a second on the shutter), so the shots are all slightly grainy - some to the point where it's distracting.

It was fun, though. I just took the camera out and didn't really care about the specifics of how damaged the final print might be (after all, I did have my tripod with me - I just chose not to use it), and I just walked around the snowy landscape taking photos.

Drifting

It was so cold I could barely feel the shutter release button on my camera, I couldn't really focus because of all the snow dusting into my eyes, and I almost lost my hat. But it was fun, and it was worth it.

How did you...

People often ask me how I managed to create a certain photograph. "Did you use photoshop?" they ask, and when I tell them yes, they nod their head, a bit of the mystery of the photograph lost to them.

I don't think I'm going to really answer that anymore. What does it matter, anyway?

This photo, for instance - is beautiful. I love the colors, the composition, the depth-of-field. It's exactly how I pictured it when I triggered the shutter release- a photo that almost speaks of an imaginary place somewhere far away.

Little does anyone know it was taken on the side of a dirty, dusty road next to a busy highway - that the colors that morning really weren't spectacular - that the sun wasn't in the ideal position and the light was beginning to become very harsh. But I knew that, by using a large aperture, I'd shroud the tree in a blur - and add some mystery to the photo. I also knew that I could punch up the colors in photoshop later to make the final photograph more in line with what I had in mind when I first captured it.

Does it matter how I did it? Should it matter?

I hope not.

Before and After Part Two

This is another photo I found that needed something. Still does, really, but it was one of the first shots I ever took with the Canon 20D - quite a while after I had gained some experience with the 10D. The first photo wasn't exposed well, and didn't have any kind of punch. The second photo adds some grain to the color (grain can sometimes help slightly blurry photos look more focused), and creates some tension by adding a hard border. The color also gains some richness in the second, becoming more like the original scene - with the sun going down and lighting the landscape with warmer colors.