I'm now selling my photos!!!

I now host galleries of my favorite photos @ www.lloydshell.zenfolio.com Feel free to surf over there to see photo's that may have drifted into the darkest reaches of the archives here on Blogspot.

I also have begun selling my photographs when requested, I can handle most sizes and finishes either locally or via my on-line printing service.

Thanks for looking!

Lloyd
lloydshell@gmail.com

Saturday, September 10, 2011

State Fair WINNER.... well in my category, but I got a Blue Ribbon!



Alrighty, so... I had a wonderful surprise last night, I went to the Utah State Fair last night to see how my photo did in the photo contest. Lo and behold, it won first place in the Advanced Amateur class, Architectural category. I was really chuffed and.... well.... made a lot of noise, did a few high fives with my buddy Dave who was there for moral support, just in case etc... 

Since then I have spread the good word in several places and received lots of compliments and a few questions as to how I did it. Well here goes.

I chose a cloudy morning in February, with clouds that were moving quickly. (It helps to have that as I learned a year ago when I did my first version of this shot.) I set up my camera with my Sigma 10-20 ultra-wideangle lens on an L-Bracket in portrait orientation. I set the tripod IN the pond and almost in the waterfalls, basically reaching as far as I dared without falling into the water. Had to be careful the side was covered in ice. I centered and lined up the camera as best I possibly could, locking the ballhead in place. I then determined how far I wanted to rotate the head to compose the final shot. I determined that 5 shots would give me the best coverage. So I then figured the amount of rotation for each shot from center and commenced to shoot 3 bracketed exposures at each position. Once that was complete I carefully got both me and the camera/tripod back onto solid ground and left.

Once I was back at the computer I blended each bracketed trio in Photomatix obtaining the following shots.






At that point it was time to stitch those 5 shots into a panorama, I used plain old Photoshop Elements 7 for that. Once that was done I began to work on exposure, which included a layer that was just sky which allowed me to adjust the foreground and background separately. To make that look good I had to cut the edge around the buildings and horizon by hand. This took 3-4 tries and several hours to make look right. I was then able to produce this: Which I almost wish I had entered in the Panorama category as well.... sigh.....


From the above shot, after merging the layers and some sharpening and brightness/contrast adjustments, I used my B&W conversion program, to give my final product that you see here. Simple right? Not even! This whole process took me hours over several weeks. With a quick set of revisions right before I sent it to get printed. Hope you enjoyed the small glimpse into what I do with photos.


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Revisiting old haunts....

Ever since I delivered office supplies to this building as an undergrad peon working in the bookstore, I have loved this staircase, the perspective just works for me. Finally decided to shoot it. Not sure which I like better but the portrait orientation one is the stronger image I think. The leading in of the stairwell from the corner on the bottom left leads the eye into the frame better than the landscape shot. 



Monday, September 5, 2011

A Pleasant Day at Thanksgiving Point Gardens: CAR SHOW!!!


I had never had the opportunity to attend the Concours de Elegance at Thanksgiving point before, but my lovely wife took the opportunity to get me a ticket for my birthday. THANKS BABE!!!
 I had my new Pentax DA 100mm f2.8 WR Macro that had arrived the day before so I took that and my K 24mm f2.8 and K 50mm f1.4 (didn't use) and headed down on a warm summer morning. The light was bright and the sky fairly cloudless so the light was harsh on most of my shots, but it was still a lot of fun to work out a new lens and see some beautiful cars.

This was my first real shot with my DA 100, I love the color rendition.

   
This belongs to a 1930 Packard, it was one of my favorite cars there and another shot further down is my current wallpaper. I love the old fashioned radiator caps and this one had a doozy!




Really liked this shot!


This Pace Arrow was fun as well, K24mm @ f2.8




Another Packard, a little more sporty in style.


Just down the row, there was a 1958 Cadillac... in Green... which really worked for me. the cleaner lines of this vs. the 1959 fins is a tossup, I like them both.



There was no year posted for this Cadillac Seville, it was a beauty though.



I believe this was on a '40's Pontiac with the 100mm @ f4.5


100mm and f2.8 produced a nicely rendered image and blurred background for this shot. Really liking this new lens!


This was my all time favorite hood ornament. Just LOVED IT!



Never knew Ferrari made a blue car, couldn't get a decent shot of the rest of it with the light and the other cars around it, but at least I got the name plate!


Lusted after this car for years, never will be able to own it, seating position looks terrible, but the outside is SEXY!


A little more outlandish shot of an early '80's Porsche, good looking car though!



Beauty of an old Jaguar, loved this car... to look at... probably not a daily driver though.



There was a nice covered walkway around a garden that pleased me aesthetically.
K 24mm @ f8


Ford


A few handheld flowers, getting really close with the macro requires a tripod to hold the camera steady, at 1:1 the slightest shake makes for blur!




all in all a fun day with a new lens and an old friend of a lens, created some memories and got really sweaty. The kind of day I like!