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Sunday, December 13, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Valley Park RR Bridge
Stopped in Valley Park on the way home last week and shop this on the RR Bridge that crosses the Meramec River. I love the reflection in the rail. 3 shot exposure(+2/-2) was captured. I blended 2 HDR renders from Photomatix with the -2 exposure in Photoshop - with a few adjustment layers as well.
Friday, November 13, 2009
R1200RT back at 100%
Picked up the RT last night and all is well! Except the wallet... But the bike is back to 100% power again with no clutch slippage. Now I just need to put some miles on it!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
R1200RT Clutch
Well, the RT went into the shop today to get the clutch replaced at 51000 miles. Just got the call that the pressure plates are toast as well. Going to have the transmission seals and rear main seal replacedwhile they are in there, since I will be keeping the bike for a while. Hopefully I will have it back by Thursday.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
South Moulton Barn
This was a shot from Grand Teton National Park in August. I made a second attempt to process and crop it last night. I like this version much better. It is based it off of a single exposure tonemapped in Photomatix Pro 3, however there are sections that I blended in 3 exposure HDR renders (mainly the sky and mountains). The grasses in the foreground were blowing in the wind - because of the approaching storm and prohibited using a 3 exposure version of them. I ended up using adjustment layers in Photoshop to get the effect I was after.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Fenton Bridge
Stopped at the old Fenton bridge last night on the way home - during the 30 minutes that the cloud cover finally lifted! Spent some time limiting myself to 1 lens - 50mm f1.4. I had been wanting to try a puddle refection shot for some time. This was a single exposure processed through Lightroom and Photoshop.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Devil's Tower
Another picture from vacation this year. This was my favorite shot of Devil's Tower. Took this while hiking the trail around the base. When we arrived the rock was completely back lit. This was shot from the backside - away from the parking area. Single Exposure RAW file - some blended tone mapping from Photomatix was layer masked in via Photoshop to enhance texture and dimension.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Columbia River Overlook
This image was shot in September on 2008, somewhere north of the Grand Couiee Dam in Washington State on my return trip from Canada. I re cropped and reprocessed it this week. Single image capture with Nikon D200 and 18-200mm VR lens.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Desk Frog
Taking a break from editing the Yellowstone pictures today. Shot this today with the iPhone. Had the frog sitting on a black fleece jacket - this is straight off the camera. This is a frog I have on my desk at work - look at it every day - have tried to photo it with the phone several times - finally one worked!
Yellowstone Grand Geyser
Tonight's shot is a single exposure processed in Lightroom blended with 3 renders from Photomatix and a couple of Photoshop adjustment layers thrown in for good measure. I tried to expand what I learned from the multiple exposure shots to a single exposure - mainly inspired by a shot from Bill Wight that I saw on Flickr.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Yellowstone Thermal Pool
This was one of the most difficult shooting conditions that I have ever had - shooting directly into low angle sun - when I was not going for a silhouette! This was a 3 exposure bracket off the mono pod again - Lots of work to get this one how I wanted!
Excelsior Geyser 2
This is a 3 exposure bracket of a thermal pool - shot off a mono pod with the 10.5mm Fisheye. I really like the wrap around feel of this one.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Yellowstone Thermal Pool 1
Finally getting around to processing the photos I shot in August in Yellowstone. This one was a 3 exposure bracket of a thermal pool - shot off a mono pod. I am continuing to develop my "style" for processing these. I posted an image to dpreview forums yesterday and mentioned that it was an HDR process. I received one comment criticizing it saying it didn't have the "HDR look!" I actually consider that a compliment!
My goal in my processing is to use the multiple exposure to capture better dynamic range - then use HDR processing to selectively emphasize texture and tone. The last thing I want is to have a canned HDR look.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Meramec River
Shot this on the way home tonight from the river bank just below I-44 at the Meramec River. This was an HDR render from 3 exposures in Photomatix Pro 3. This is probably the happiest I have been with an HDR image that I have shot. This is actually 5 different HDR renders that I merged in Photoshop for the final image. All this work and I still want to re-shoot it on a tripod (this was handheld)!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Day 30 - Harvest
The final image in the series! This was probably the hardest day to pick one image. There were many different shot that would have worked for today. Tomorrow - reflections on the past 30 days.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Day 29 - Wheel
One more day... Finally got a chance to ride this week (has been raining all week) so to celebrate I am using the bike for today's shot.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Day 28 - Old Stone
Kind of a dark image today - for Halloween! I drive by this every day on the way home from work - really strange old cemetery - you can't really see it from the road and it is in the middle of a neighborhood.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Day 27 - Long Way Down
Only 3 more days left... The next 3 need to be really good. This is the stairway in the building I work in. I have been thinking about trying this shot for about a week.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Day 26 - Leaves
Back in the groove today - shot these wet leaves in the parking lot after work. had 3 decent shot today - much better than the last 2 days!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Day 24 - Crystal
Crystal glass - shot this on a glass table with a black card backdrop, LED light below with an orange gel over the top.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Day 23 - Illinois Prarie
Roadside capture driving along I-72 between Decatur and Springfield Illinois.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Day 22 - Rain
This was a banana tree that is in the courtyard at work. I have been walking by this all week - thinking that I need to go shoot that. Well, today I turned back around on my way out of the building. It had just stopped raining - had been constant for that last 36+ hours!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Day 21 - Holes
Didn't get a chance to take any shots outside today - rained ALL day. This is the inside of a Bosch washing machine - lit with a small LED headlight with an orange gel over half or it.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Day 20 - Amazing Sky
I think that chasing a setting sun on a motorcycle is always worth it! I shot this from the roof of a mall parking lot! I was concerned at one point that that security guard was going to try to eject me from the premises - guess I looked suspicious... He ended up being content to watch from a distance and do the occasional drive by.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Day 18 - Decay
The old Fenton bridge as the sun was setting. Today was a good day for this challenge. Some days I struggle to get 1 good image to post, today it was a struggle to decide which image to use - because there were several different scenes that worked out! To bad I can't use them tomorrow!
30 Day Challenge Observations
I have received many comments from people following my progression through this 30 day adventure with the iPhone. One of the things that has surprised me the most has been that most of the people following (mainly through Facebook) have not realized that the images have all been taken with the iPhone.
My limitations have been that I must take and post 1 picture per day (and the photo must be taken on that day) any editing must be done on the iPhone and uploaded from the iPhone.
Some of my learns so far have been.
I am already thinking about what the next 30 day challenge will be...
My limitations have been that I must take and post 1 picture per day (and the photo must be taken on that day) any editing must be done on the iPhone and uploaded from the iPhone.
Some of my learns so far have been.
- I can be creative every day - I just need to push myself!
- I don't need a DSLR and f2.8 glass to create a great image.
- Equipment is not holding me back.
- The iPhone camera is actually not that bad. When I first got it, my reaction was ehhhh - not a good camera - but the best one I had seen on a cellphone. I had to learnt he limitations of the camera and learn to work within them.
I am already thinking about what the next 30 day challenge will be...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Day 17 - Balloon Arch
Taken during the JDRF walk at Forest Park. I was so tempted to stop walking several times to take pictures. I will definitely go back this week to take some of the stuff I missed.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Day 16 - Fire Tree
My neighbors tree being illuminated by the street light at dusk. Today was a busy day - did not spend as much time thinking creatively as I had hoped. Tomorrow will be better.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Day 14 - Shooting
The last 2 days have been more about telling stories through than trying to pull off different techniques or effects. I like where this is leading.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Day 13 - Stranded
I had to pick a shot from this experience today - nothing else was appropriate. The end to a 4+ hour bus ride was running out of gas about 5 miles from getting back to the office.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Day 11 - The Ride Home
Chased the sun setting until I found this view at the end of the road from a parking lot overlooking Hi way 30 in Fenton. This was one of the times that i decided to chase a photo and it payed off huge!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Day 8 - Dusk
Start of week 2. Thought I would stray from the indoors and try something a little different. Shot at dusk, after looking at this, I should have moved the mirror to point back at me...
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Day 7 - Strings
My son's Fender Stratocaster. Another late night attempt - this time results were much quicker.
I light this with the ambient room light and a small LED light from the lower right.
I light this with the ambient room light and a small LED light from the lower right.
Day 6 - Dew
This is the first day that started to get difficult. I ended up realizing at 9:45pm that I still hadn't shot a single iPhone photo - even though I had just finished shooting 300+ frames on my DSLR (that didn't count for this...). I stopped and a gas station, shot a few that didn't work, stopped at Wal-Mart and did a quick photo walk - nothing was feeling right. After getting home, I shot this in the beverage cooler in my office. I placed a LED headlight on the shelf below and pointed it up through the glass shelf, that was now fogging up with the door open. Finally success.
30 Day Challenge Day 1
On September 18, 2009 I started a 30 day challenge to help foster creativity. In this challenge I will limit my self to my most basic camera (iPhone 3GS). I will post 1 photo per day for 30 days. It must be shot with the iPhone, any editing if done, must also be limited to the iPhone.
Day 1
I shot this at Train Wreck over lunch. This is the photo that convinced me that this challenge was feasible. This was simply a glass of tea that I snapped a few shots of during lunch. After playing around with editing it, it was convinced and the challenge started.
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