Artistic Flair

1/22/11

"Night (Redux)"

Tonight I went out to shoot a night photo, trying to overexpose it so that it looked like it was day. It didn't work too well, so I took the photo (the original that is in the upper left hand corner) and dropped the exposure in processing, one step for every level you see on the photo. Then I increased the saturation across, as well as the vibrance. Every level has its own level of saturation as well, from 20-40 in the top row to 80-100 in the bottom row.


This photo was very detailed and because of that, I've spent 2 days trying to upload it. The only copy I could get online that wasn't rejected from the server was on Facebook. I then downloaded it off Facebook and put it online here. The quality suffers some because of that but at least its a solution. I hope you enjoy.

Day 125

11/12/10

"Keys at Night"

A quick photo of my Macbook Pro's keyboard lit up at night.

Day 68

9/16/10

"New Orleans Jazz"

Hawk's Bar and Grill on State Street hired out this band to draw attention, and did they ever. Boy I really miss jazz band. I really really wish I had my saxophone and clarinet to play around with in my limited free time, because those guys really inspired me to start playing again. It was difficult shooting without flash, so this was 1/20, f/3.5, and ISO 1250. I was worried about the ISO, but it actually looks great, though the trombone is a bit blurry. I just wish I could convey the music through this picture a bit more. Hope you enjoy.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 40

8/19/10

"Sleepy Bunny"

I've been pretty busy today. With all my packing I didn't have much time to go out and hunt anything interesting down but I did "hunt" a little something down in my own backyard. Just a few days ago these bunnies had no fur and their eyes wouldn't even come close to opening. Today they were hopping around in their little burrow.

Click for a larger photo.

Day 18

7/28/10

"Wednesday on the Terrace"

It was another Wednesday night down by the Union. I ran over to see if I could get some more shots of the fire dancers, but none of them turned out nearly as good as anything last week, and it would have been too easy to post those yet again. Instead, I went down to the Terrace to hang out with my friend Dylan and some other friends on Dylan's birthday. While sitting at a bench down by the lake, I saw this image framed in my view. Instead of a nicely lit, perfect image that I would like to take, I realized the limitations of my lens and decided to go a different direction. Low ISO, grainy, raw, long shutter speed, blur, and overly saturated. Here, I got almost everything I wanted. The only flaw in my image, through my eyes, is the two green dots that came through the lens. Not quite sure what causes that, something with how the light interacts with the lens I'm sure, but its too bad.

I've realized over the last 18 days that I love low-light photography. Maybe because thats when I have the most time, or most motivation to go out and shoot. Maybe its just because of the shots and the life you can pick up even in the dark of night. This realization has made me think that, depending on my financial situation at the end of the summer, I might like to buy the Nikkor 35mm AF-S prime lens that I was looking at. It would be perfect for shooting landscapes and shots like this, and with the high f-stop of 1.8, it would be able to shoot a wide variety, from grainy, to nice and clear, and this lens also would give me more options for bokeh, which I would like to shoot more of. Then, it would probably be time to save up for a wide angle, which, again with a higher f-stop, I could shoot more photos like this and in a nice wide angle to get more in my frame.

Thats all for now, click for a larger image.

Day 13

7/23/10

"Lights Out Lambeau"

Another night, a new subject, and another attempt at HDR. There are a few things I wish I had control over. The flare in the upper left corner from a parking lot lamp was unavoidable if i wanted the shot I wanted to get. Sad but true, and with my current equipment, I couldn't do anything about it. Also, with the multiple AEB shots I did and a moving part of this shot as well (the flag) being so lit up, a small amount of movement can be seen there. Lastly, a large white spot of a large spot light lights up part of a sign, creating almost a white hole in the photo. In my opinion, not bad for my second true HDR image, and I'm sure I will get better with time. Tomorrow I hope to get a chance to go in a different direction with my shots. For now, I sign off.

As always, click the photo for a larger view, and a reminder, that all my photos are copyright of myself. If you want to use them for any purpose beyond a desktop background, please let me know. Also, if you pick a photo for a background, let me know that as well, because it would sure make my day. Comments can be done with a Google (Gmail, etc.) account, or even anonymously, but you're encourage to sign anonymous comments so I know who you are. Thanks!

Firestorm Shoot

I wanted to share some of the 50+ photos I got last night at the fire spinner shoot. The beginning of the shoot caught me unprepared, as I had just walked up on the beginning, when one of the group began to hula-hoop. I only got my tripod out to catch the next part of the show, but those pictures I did get with a tripod were fantastic. Click any of these photos for a much larger shot.

"First Time Fire-Dancer"

The next few photos were done with the performer using a flaming hookshot.

"Snake"

"Alpha"

"Burning the Air"

I'd like to note how much I like this photo just because of the vortex that you can see of the flames, and the individual little tongues of flame as well. A bit over exposed, but I thought I might as well try many settings just in case I was missing out on something, and I have to say I really like the results.

"Butterfly Effect"

These photos are of a performer with a flaming staff.

"Light at Our Backs"

"Bending the Atom"

This last set of photos is of the performer with flaming poi.

"Ring of Fire"

"Flower"

"Ying and Yang"

"Buzz Saw"

"Kamehameha"

Day 10

7/20/10

"Capitol from Monona Terrace"

I had a lot of fun with this shoot. Not only did I get to take my first HDR photo (auto-bracketed exposure +/- two stops), but the shoot was with one of my best friends, Elizabeth. We went out wandering State Street and around the Capitol building and though I wasn't thrilled with any of the early shots, when I saw this shot, I knew exactly what I wanted.

I took three of the same shots with three exposures, then used a program called Photomatix Pro which then takes the best parts of each exposure, and then allows you to tone-map the photo to create an ultra-realistic photo called an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo.

Enjoy, and click for a larger image.

Tech: Noise Reduction and Nighttime Photography

The last couple of hours I've been playing with faux-HDR techniques in hopes of coming up with a good faux-HDR of my photo that I posted last night. I've come up with a very in-your-face version of that photo, or one of the ones in that same set. Two layers, one bright, and one with a lot of shadows and contrast. The only part of the contrasted layer that is showing is the part of the capitol that you can see. Once I get a remote trigger, I plan on going back out there and playing with true HDR photography.


However, I've spent the bulk of my time trying to figure out noise filters. I've run a noise filter on this image twice and I am upset with the amount of noise in the sky, particularly the red portions of the sky. The water is just gorgeous, but the sky shows so much noise, and I have no idea what to do. Is it the noise filter itself? Should I invest in a program like Noiseware? Despite the problems with noise, which I hope to iron out in the near future, here we have my faux-HDR image of the capitol, from this morning at 12:30am. Enjoy!

"Midnight Capitol Across Monona Bay (Redux)"

Day 9

7/19/10

"Midnight Capitol Across Monona Bay"

Tonight, after my internet went out at around 8:30pm and I read through my new Rock and Ice, Urban Climber, and Climbing Magazines, cover to cover, I decided to go out and shoot some frames to cure my boredom. Though my original plan didn't work out quite as expected (I will share pictures that work in that fashion some other night), I thought of something I had hoped to take on a clear night as this: the reflection of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building, brightly lit up and reflecting off Lake Monona, one of the two lakes that butt up against the isthmus that is downtown Madison.

I took this right after midnight, probably around 12:15pm. Constantly worried that I will get accosted by police, even though I am always on public land with no posted time restrictions. After a parking mishap that lead to a ticket, I might be a little paranoid now. I sit listening to NPR (970 AM in Madison) in a parking lot next to Lake Side Fibers coffee shop, which turns out is closed for July, not that it matters much at 1:00am. You can still get WIFI!

The photo is just cropped, however just processed slightly from its RAW file. Just adjusting the brightness and black level. Not done as an HDR. After taking many pictures on both bulb settings and long exposures (15 seconds - 30 seconds), it became quite obvious that I need a remote trigger, so I will likely pick one up tomorrow. Additionally, as is seemingly the case with nighttime photography, there is a lot of noise in the sky, a bit more on the uploaded photo than in RAW or TIFF, but some there as well. I may have to consider buying Noiseware to start getting rid of noise in my photos, because its so bothersome to me and I feel it ruins some photos. Here however, I am overall very happy with my photo tonight.

As always, click for a larger photo.