Moving into December and Christmas Stuff....

At most of the Mormon Temples in Utah they will put up a nativity scene, very simple and plain. The one at my local temple has the statues facing the temple instead of away like many. When I dropped by one morning I thought the clouds would make a nice background. It was quite tough to make the scene look good, the lighting was MUCH brighter than the sky. Needed some serious HDR magic to make it look like I wanted it to.

In a park my hometown there is a large tree that has been heavily lit the last few years. It makes for some interesting photos and is really cool to visit.

This is more like it looks to the naked eye. The mountains were difficult to capture on camera and required a LONG exposure and HDR to blend it.

In Camera Processing from RAW

For some reason I used to find my 28mm lens restrictive in field of view, don't know why. So I haven't used it that much. Deciding to rectify that situation I carried it for a few days on my commute. The sunrise was not much, no clouds, but the light on the partially frozen lake was kind of nice.

After making it onto the train, I decided to try and process a couple of the shots "In-Camera". I don't know if all brands allow you to take a RAW file and process it using just the camera controls but my Pentax does. After doing that I then came home and took the original files and did my usual processing on them. They are paired up here below. The first one is my version, and the second is straight from the file processed in the camera. I think I do a little better job at home with Photoshop.

A few from November

I have always been fascinated by the ability of the camera to compress or expand time, distance and/or perspective. I have done this before I just don't get tired of it though. Holding the camera against the glass behind the light rail operators head and taking a longer exposure. Streaking the lights, showing the motion. Kind of like being in the Millennium Falcon in Hyperdrive. 

The clouds this time of year tend to fascinate me so... I especially love it when the mountains cast shadows on the clouds as the sun is first just starting to come up. It will stop me in my tracks, this morning did. Made me miss my train, but I didn't care! These are all multi shot panoramas taken with my Pentax SMC 24mm f2.8.

More clouds over where I work. Yeah I went all HDR on it, but it looks OK I think.

Much Delayed Posts

Yeah, I'm busy, and well... I have had things to do. Sorry if you feel neglected. It is not intentional to not be posting, it is just neccessary. 

All these shots are from October of 2015 and are just around my daily commute.

Focus Stacking...

So... I have been wanting to try this for awhile. What have I been wanting to try you ask? Focus stacking. A method of increasing the area of a picture that is in focus, by combining multiple individual photos focused on different parts of the image into one image.

Who cares you say? Me. And a few friends. I am just as interested in selective focus on a single part of an image as the next guy. That is why I have lenses like my DA* 55mm f1.4 which can give me a VERY thin slice of a photo in focus and blur the rest especially when set to f1.4 (or wide open). In Macro photography, due to how lenses work and how close you are getting to your subject, even if you stop your lens down to f11 or f16 you are still going to get just part of the subject in focus.

Because of that some clever chap decided to find a way to combine, or stack, parts of different images into a single image that shows only the in focus parts of the image. So, if you take enough photos with the focus point just shifting slightly between each photo, you can get a picture of something close up but have the WHOLE THING in focus.

Here are just three of the 9 images I used for my first stack. 

This one has the leading edge of the flower in perfect focus, but the rest of the flower is not even though the lens was stopped down to f8.

Here the focus is further in.

And here the focus is on the rear petals of the sunflower.

And here is the finished product, nicely stacked, blended and in focus.

I have a way to go in mastering this technique, but I hope to get quite facile with it, when needed.

Here is the source of my knowledge so far: https://photographylife.com/how-to-focus-stack-images

Van Lady Love... Interesting name wot?

The second night of shooting for my local HOA, there was a band called Van Lady Love whom I had never heard of. They were pretty darn good and I enjoyed shooting them. My concert photography muscles were a little flabby, but I got a few I liked. They were pretty energetic and it was tough to get shots that were really clear.  I think the movement in this one adds to the shot.

Part of me still wishes I had exposed for the sky and had silhouettes for these two.

I really like this kid on her dad's shoulders, capturing a cool moment without intruding is fun for me.

Shooting in the Hood

I was recently asked to shoot some promo photos for my neighborhood. That is part of why I was quite absent from my blog and posting a lot of things. I was too busy working on this stuff! I shot on multiple nights and in different locations. And had to process all those photos too! I will be presenting a few favorites of mine that were not purchased by Daybreak along with more verbiage than I would normally use. In an attempt to explain what I was aiming for in composing the photos.

This was an unusual thing for me to take pictures to try to meet my perception of what others wanted rather than just shooting whatever caught my eye. I really don't know how successful I was really, they did choose many photos but not the ones I would have chosen as my favorites.

Like this one: I just love the light on the metal man and the color in the sky. Maybe I could have included more of the people around it, but the shadows made it hard to bring them in. Maybe I just like the top 1/2 of it? This is why I try to not fall in love with photos, just because I love them doesn't mean others will.

I wanted to capture a sense of movement and excitement in the crowd. Panning to follow a subject with a slow shutter speed allowed me to control the amount of blur and how many of the people could be seen well enough to be identified. That is always a consideration, will somebody get mad if they can be seen in a picture?

I like the fun fountains and stuff for kids to play in, again a slow shutter speed blurs things intentionally.

The cheery warmth of the light in the store, the people, the bikes. What is not to like? This shot required my tripod as it was getting darker. I really am much more comfortable with small apertures, and tripod and a remote release in my hand.

Evening Gloom

Evening is an amazing time for me, not being much of a night owl, it signals the end of the day for me mostly, but it often leaves me with a feeling of the "Last Hurrah!" when the clouds and sunset provide drama to punctuate the last gasp of the suns rays. This night provided little direct light, but drama it gave provided nourishment to my soul. A day of rain with light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. I don't know if they could be considered technically much of anything, but to me these shots have meaning.

Sunflowers!!!!

Love me some sunflowers, always have, always will. Just a casual shot while walking around the lake. Nice and sharp, proof of concept of the Pentax DA 16-85 as a great walk around lens!

Creative Muscle Exercise

It is always a challenge to simply go out and find interesting pictures. Those of you who have read my blog for any length of time know that I like to simply wander and look for interest in what is around me. Being completely IN the moment as it were. Whether I get anything of significance or even interest is less important than creating a connection however brief with the world around me. Creating strings that tie me to a moment that I can weave into the tapestry of my life. Sometimes that means moments of significance. Other times you are bringing significance to the moment simply by capturing it.

I "saw" this as I was walking to the train. Ooooh pretty flowers, and walk on for most people, IF they even look up from their smart phone. For me I will remember this exact piece of ground even after it is paved over, I will remember the delicate salmon/purple/blue of the sky, the technical challenge of capturing the photo without a tripod in lower light. The luminescence of the nearly full moon, and the delicate sunflower swaying in the slight breeze, making my job harder!

Downtown Salt Lake City is always a rich place for exploration. If you are aware you see new things. I have walked past this multiple times, never looking up at it. Never walking around it to find the dizzying pattern that dazzles and yet draws me in.

Never walked past this part of the courthouse. In and Outdoor reflecting pool. Disorienting and beautiful.

Have to admit I really am shy about just taking pictures of people on the street. Had to get one of this guy though. He was tooling leather for boots just there. In the shade. Never seen him before, wish I had asked to do a closer up portrait...

Tall buildings make everyone a little kid again. You are always looking up. Unless you are glued to your "Smartphone" and walking into street lamps.

In an effort to... push forward the arts, be funky, be cool... whatever. Salt Lake has some fairly random art pieces placed around. "Art on a stick." I call it. Whatever you call it, it can be fun to look at.

Many fond memories of this building, choir performances during intermissions of The Nutcracker at Christmas being the most prominent. Really need to shoot this at night!

Courtyard of the Blue Iguana. Best. Mexican. In. Salt Lake.

Same building. Love the building, love the ornateness of the light fixtures. And yes I made it crooked intentionally. Gotta break out of the OCD somehow....

Debated taking a picture of this kid for awhile, decided it was OK as you couldn't see his face and it was in a very public space. He stood there forever just staring. He was in the moment.