Photography !!!

[CNA]

Wow, it's been quite some time since I visited and posted here on OL. First of all, the new layout is wonderful and like it so much better than the old. It's good to see some old friends back on OL such as Rich. It's been awhile since we've talked. Rich, I'll be emailing you soon to say hi and see how you've been!! Anyway, I wasn't sure as to where to put this post as there's no Hobbies and Interests section on the front page so I decided to put it here in the Living Room. I haven't had much contact with the friends I've made here on OL for quite some time with the exception of the rare email. Have been very busy living life, working, my son, photography, and all the rest.

I've recently been in contact with one or two and was asked to share some of my work with photography and I definitely wouldn't mind because I know there are a number of photographers here on OL or those that just have an interest in it. I recently took up photography maybe 7 months or so ago and really enjoy it. It's the first hobby I've found that has actually enabled me to leave the stresses of work, daily responsibilities, the daily grind behind for just a while when I'm out shooting. It's been very therapuetic on many levels.

Anyway, I don't want this post to be long and drawn out, plus I'm a little limited on time as usual but I wanted to include some images I've taken over the last few months. I'm still relatively a newbie at this and have a lot to learn which is all part of the fun and discovering new techniques, lighting, angles, DOF, bokeh, creating HDR images, and so forth. So any discussion on this in regards to technique or just sharing your work I am definitely interested in. I've been thinking as time goes on and I get a little more experience and hopefully get better I may very well drop my current career as a freelance reporter and take up photography full time, if not, part time while keeping my current career. Here is my new Flickr page http://flickr.com/photos/14979423@N04/

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Angie,

Those photos are absolutely stunning. Great to see you again.

Michael

[CNA]

Angie,

Those photos are absolutely stunning. Great to see you again.

Michael

Thank you so much, Mike. It's great to see you as well. It's been quite a while. Love the new layout, took me a bit to get around but adore all the new features, very nice !!

[Robert Campbell]

Angie,

Welcome back!

I urge my daughter (now 14) to take most of our family photos because she already has a pretty good idea what to do with a camera... and I don't.

Your photos are on a different plane. They definitely don't look like the work of a newbie.

Robert Campbell

[CNA]

Angie,

Welcome back!

I urge my daughter (now 14) to take most of our family photos because she already has a pretty good idea what to do with a camera... and I don't.

Your photos are on a different plane. They definitely don't look like the work of a newbie.

Robert Campbell

Thank you for the compliment, Robert. It's good to see you and it's nice to be back. You know, it's wonderful that she's taken an interest in it at such a young age. It truly is a lot of fun to see what you can create with the image. Macros are especially fun because you get to see things that the eye alone wouldn't see. I don't have a macro lens right now but one of my general use lenses does have macro capabilities to a small extent. I'll include a macro shot of a bee I took about a week or so ago. You know, I wish I would have discovered my love of photography when I was her age, would have been beneficial for me on many levels. But either way, I'm glad I found something I enjoy so much now.

[Brant Gaede]

I'm so glad to see you here again, Angie, and I'm in awe of your photographic work.

--Brant

[CNA]

I'm so glad to see you here again, Angie, and I'm in awe of your photographic work.

--Brant

Thank you very much, Brant. It's nice to be back as well, even just for a bit.

[Jonathan]

Anyway, I don't want this post to be long and drawn out, plus I'm a little limited on time as usual but I wanted to include some images I've taken over the last few months. I'm still relatively a newbie at this and have a lot to learn which is all part of the fun and discovering new techniques, lighting, angles, DOF, bokeh, creating HDR images, and so forth. So any discussion on this in regards to technique or just sharing your work I am definitely interested in. I've been thinking as time goes on and I get a little more experience and hopefully get better I may very well drop my current career as a freelance reporter and take up photography full time, if not, part time while keeping my current career. Here is my new Flickr page http://flickr.com/photos/14979423@N04/

Beautiful photos, Angie. You've got a damn good eye for lighting and framing. I could easily see you being successful as a full time photographer.

Most of the photography that I've done in the past has been very conceptual and has heavily involved special effects, but during the past couple of years I've been leaning more toward nature photography. Here are a few of what I think are my better shots from this year (I think I'll leave them as links rather than post them as images so as not to bog down the loading time of this page):

Cascade River:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1293/772507241_ff482597e8.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1067/772507357_2780a37517.jpg

Gitchegumi:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1434/773427542_a623c9bd16.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2032/156563..._b8a024d21f.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1115/773426992_0b17f63202.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1051/772506833_d262447a52.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1045/773427944_a3e5bde83d.jpg

Dusk near Lake Michigan:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2359/156601..._fc20e42964.jpg

Taliesin showing her age:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2032/156452..._3f77cac668.jpg

J

[CNA]

Anyway, I don't want this post to be long and drawn out, plus I'm a little limited on time as usual but I wanted to include some images I've taken over the last few months. I'm still relatively a newbie at this and have a lot to learn which is all part of the fun and discovering new techniques, lighting, angles, DOF, bokeh, creating HDR images, and so forth. So any discussion on this in regards to technique or just sharing your work I am definitely interested in. I've been thinking as time goes on and I get a little more experience and hopefully get better I may very well drop my current career as a freelance reporter and take up photography full time, if not, part time while keeping my current career. Here is my new Flickr page http://flickr.com/photos/14979423@N04/

Beautiful photos, Angie. You've got a damn good eye for lighting and framing. I could easily see you being successful as a full time photographer.

Most of the photography that I've done in the past has been very conceptual and has heavily involved special effects, but during the past couple of years I've been leaning more toward nature photography. Here are a few of what I think are my better shots from this year (I think I'll leave them as links rather than post them as images so as not to bog down the loading time of this page):

Cascade River:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1293/772507241_ff482597e8.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1067/772507357_2780a37517.jpg

Gitchegumi:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1434/773427542_a623c9bd16.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2032/156563..._b8a024d21f.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1115/773426992_0b17f63202.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1051/772506833_d262447a52.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1045/773427944_a3e5bde83d.jpg

Dusk near Lake Michigan:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2359/156601..._fc20e42964.jpg

Taliesin showing her age:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2032/156452..._3f77cac668.jpg

J

Wow, Jonathan, those are beautiful. Are any of those HDR images? The details, colors, etc., on some of them have HDR written all over it. If not, wow, very impressive. What lens did you use? Any processing with Photoshop or the like? I know certain lenses such as the L series canon lenses can attain that detail, coloring, etc. I have two L series lenses that I use most often and do use a software afterwards on some images such as unwanted lens flares, etc. I like all of the ones you posted but I think my favorite is the boat photo. The lighting is wonderful. Mood is fantastic. Comp is great. Beautiful photo all the way around. HDR processing with it would make it even more of a stunner than what it already is, would make the details of what you've captured even more pronounced.

I really enjoy nature photography. I'm not so great with portraits of people though. People are not my thing but getting better as time goes on and playing with it even more. Do you have any more of your work posted anywhere so I can look? I enjoy looking at other people's work. Seeing what they saw, where they were, what they find visually appealing in the way of light, mood, comp, etc.

Angie

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Jonathan,

Those are really stunning.

Michael

[BAMF]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangie,

What up, biotch? Glad to see you posted your photos here! They're ridiculously good, me thinks. You really should try to take some pics of spiders even though you said you were scared of 'em. Overcome your fears! Hahaha. Oh, man. There have been some amazing shots of spiders in National Geographic...it's frightening. Anyhow, great work as I've said before.

Jonathan,

Those are some great photos as well! I am also curious about a site where your work is posted. I'd like to see more. You are lucky...getting to go to Taliesen...GAH! One of my faves there is Dusk at Lake Michigan. At first I thought it said "Ducks at Lake Michigan" and when I looked at it I thought, "I really like it, but where are the ducks?"

[Chris Grieb]

Angie; It's great to see you back. What pictures! Don't stay away. Love you, Chris

[Dragonfly]

You really should try to take some pics of spiders even though you said you were scared of 'em. Overcome your fears! Hahaha.

Here is a spider for you:

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Dragonfly,

You have done some amazing work in photography. This one is beautiful.

Michael

[CNA]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangie,

What up, biotch? Glad to see you posted your photos here! They're ridiculously good, me thinks. You really should try to take some pics of spiders even though you said you were scared of 'em. Overcome your fears! Hahaha. Oh, man. There have been some amazing shots of spiders in National Geographic...it's frightening. Anyhow, great work as I've said before.

Jonathan,

Those are some great photos as well! I am also curious about a site where your work is posted. I'd like to see more. You are lucky...getting to go to Taliesen...GAH! One of my faves there is Dusk at Lake Michigan. At first I thought it said "Ducks at Lake Michigan" and when I looked at it I thought, "I really like it, but where are the ducks?"

hehehe, what's up, girlie girl !!! Thank you for the compliment. I'm improving the more I play and experiment, has been a lot of fun so far. Oh, man, you got to remind me of my spider thingy. Oh, I dislike spiders so much. Have been bit quite a few times that were very severe bites. I remember being bitten once on the knee and my entire knee swelled twice its size and was black and blue. Yuck I so do not like spiders. Oh, man, and then the tartantula infestation in our house in Irvine was just horrendous and finding big ass tarantulas in shoes, closets, etc. Not easy coming home from work and finding tarantulas in the kitchen, downstairs living room, bedrooms, etc. And ta boot, very aggressive and if you got too close they'd come after your butt. Yikes, I'm gettin' there and will overcome seeing these things up close and personal with macro shots. But I do have to say that after experiencing the tarantula infestation in our house and the size of these spiders, the smaller spiders I no longer have a problem getting rid of them if they're in the house, just stomp on them. LOL So my exposure and experience with much larger spiders in the amounts we did in our house in Irvine definitely cured my heebie jeebies with smaller spiders and killing them when they're in the house, etc. I just can't get past looking at them through a lens and they're magnified to be 15 to 20 times larger than what they are and they're moving around and looking all funky. AAAAHHHHH, get me outta here. I'll get there and will eventually take some shots of spiders very up close and personal, probably later rather than sooner, always baby steps. LMAO

[CNA]

You really should try to take some pics of spiders even though you said you were scared of 'em. Overcome your fears! Hahaha.

Here is a spider for you:

OMG, that is just so not right. ROFLMAO Oh, man, you know, right after I posted, I saw Mike's post and started to scroll up and saw this big ass spider right in front of my face and have to admit let out a scream but started to laugh and still laughing. Thanks, DF, for the quick heeby jeeby. But I do have to say that is a gorgeous shot of a SPIDER of all things , great detail. DOF is fabulous.

[CNA]

Angie; It's great to see you back. What pictures! Don't stay away. Love you, Chris

Hi Chris,

It's great to see you as well. Great to hear you're doing so wonderfully and feel better than you expected. I truly hope it continues. I'll be around, not as much though because I have a lot going on right now, in the process of moving, working a lot, my son, photography, and best of all have a new wonderful man in my life !!! You're truly so sweet and kind, an absolute doll. I'll be around as much as I can, depending on work, etc.

[BAMF]

Here is a spider for you:

Thanks, Dragonfly. I, too, am a bit terrified of spiders, but they are far from my least favorite bug (locusts and grasshoppers take the top spot). I didn't know you were a photographer either. Nice work! Any more?

hehehe, what's up, girlie girl !!! Thank you for the compliment. I'm improving the more I play and experiment, has been a lot of fun so far. Oh, man, you got to remind me of my spider thingy. Oh, I dislike spiders so much. Have been bit quite a few times that were very severe bites. I remember being bitten once on the knee and my entire knee swelled twice its size and was black and blue. Yuck I so do not like spiders. Oh, man, and then the tartantula infestation in our house in Irvine was just horrendous and finding big ass tarantulas in shoes, closets, etc. Not easy coming home from work and finding tarantulas in the kitchen, downstairs living room, bedrooms, etc. And ta boot, very aggressive and if you got too close they'd come after your butt. Yikes, I'm gettin' there and will overcome seeing these things up close and personal with macro shots. But I do have to say that after experiencing the tarantula infestation in our house and the size of these spiders, the smaller spiders I no longer have a problem getting rid of them if they're in the house, just stomp on them. LOL So my exposure and experience with much larger spiders in the amounts we did in our house in Irvine definitely cured my heebie jeebies with smaller spiders and killing them when they're in the house, etc. I just can't get past looking at them through a lens and they're magnified to be 15 to 20 times larger than what they are and they're moving around and looking all funky. AAAAHHHHH, get me outta here. I'll get there and will eventually take some shots of spiders very up close and personal, probably later rather than sooner, always baby steps. LMAO

That's so horrifying about the spiders...I can handle the little ones...tarantulas not so much! OMG. I am the resident spider killer at 3am. My sister, when she's in town, often comes into my room at 3am or so to wake me up to kill a spider. It used to piss me off a bit, but now I just ask her favors and say, "Hey, I killed that spider for you!" Hahahaha.

[Kat]

great photos!

[CNA]

Here is a spider for you:

Thanks, Dragonfly. I, too, am a bit terrified of spiders, but they are far from my least favorite bug (locusts and grasshoppers take the top spot).

bwahahaha, he's lookin' right atchya, Girl. LOL :devil:

Grasshoppers and such don't freak me out. I think my only heebie jeebies are spiders. But I'm actually very curious now. That shot of DF's is very nice, love the details and it's not so menacing looking. Well, it's his butt that's in my face so not so bad then. LOL

Kat, thank you !!

Edit: well, that sucks the big one, the locust shot didn't come up. That's okay, I'll send it to you in email. :devil:

Edited October 15, 2007 by CNA

[Jonathan]

Wow, Jonathan, those are beautiful.

Thank you!

Are any of those HDR images? The details, colors, etc., on some of them have HDR written all over it. If not, wow, very impressive.

I guess you could say that some of them are a sort of homebrew HDRI. My understanding is that HDRI are usually 16-bit, but I'm creating in 8. Basically my method is to combine more than one exposure, using, say, the dark values of one, the mids and lights of another, the hues of another, and sometimes the saturation of yet another (often times I'll "create" different exposures simply by opening the same one under different settings). While shooting, sometimes I'll intentionally blur (either completely or selectively in a sort of depth-of-field way) the exposure that's going to be my hue layer so that I can maintain sharpness and clarity in my values and basic form contours/outlines but spread the colors behind the value sharpness. You can see a little evidence of that in the Lake Michigan photo where the reds of the pine needles on the forest floor are bled into by the blue and green hues of the trees (the hues are affected by the blurring but the values are not).

What lens did you use?

I'm shooting through a few different cameras. I still sometimes shoot film on an old Canon T70 and an AE1 with a variety of lenses up to 500, and I'm shooting digital on a EOS 40D with lenses ranging from 28 to 300, and on a PowerShot G6, which is actually pretty damn good up to even 8 x 10 at 300 ppi. I usually prefer longer lens lengths to shorter ones.

Any processing with Photoshop or the like?

I run everything through Photoshop even though I usually have at least one exposure that nailed what I was after. I still follow the old-school method of bracketing even when shooting digitally, even though the screen and histogram show me that I'm within acceptable ranges. I look at Photoshop as the modern equivalent of a darkroom: just as I wouldn't want to rely on what was captured on a negative, but instead make some refining adjustments when making a print, I like to use Photoshop to tweak at least my absolute black and white limits and some of my mid-range levels. I try to aim for offset press parameters while maintaining a little bit of intensified areas of color. I think that in the images I posted, some of the lighter greens and cyans may be the only areas which exceed normal CMYK ranges, and just slightly, but it's enough to provide a little oomph. Like I said above, homebrew HDRI.

I know certain lenses such as the L series canon lenses can attain that detail, coloring, etc. I have two L series lenses that I use most often and do use a software afterwards on some images such as unwanted lens flares, etc. I like all of the ones you posted but I think my favorite is the boat photo. The lighting is wonderful. Mood is fantastic. Comp is great. Beautiful photo all the way around. HDR processing with it would make it even more of a stunner than what it already is, would make the details of what you've captured even more pronounced.

Thank you. With the boat house image I didn't want to push it too far. It was shot at dawn just moments after the first Gitchegumi image (the one with the reds and yellows), and was actually quite magenta -- too magenta for what I wanted to capture -- so I shot it through a cyan-green tinted filter to neutralize the darks and enhance the yellows in the mid-highs. I was trying to cut back on clarity in the darks. I guess you could say that I like some obscuro in my chiaroscuro.

I really enjoy nature photography.

I'm enjoying nature photography too, but also hope to do some urban and industrial/agricultural landscape stuff soon.

I'm not so great with portraits of people though. People are not my thing but getting better as time goes on and playing with it even more.

What I've seen of your people work looks good. Taking it indoors gets tougher, though. Have you had any opportunities to play with strobe lighting, umbrellas, softboxes and that sort of thing? When I first started exploring photography, I couldn't afford to invest in a power pack right away, so I bought cheap add-on slave units for each of my cheap hot-shoe-mount flashes and experimented with placing them remotely and bouncing them off of things like walls, illustration board and foamcore. I learned a lot, and by the time that I started using a power pack, I totally knew what I was doing. Freeing the flash from the camera and softening it was the best first step that I took when it came to portrait photography.

Do you have any more of your work posted anywhere so I can look?

I'll post more when I can.

I enjoy looking at other people's work. Seeing what they saw, where they were, what they find visually appealing in the way of light, mood, comp, etc.

I'm really happy to see that you've been bitten hard by the shutter bug. There's so much fun stuff to explore about photography, and with your already-very-obvious talent for it, I think it will be a satisfying passion of yours for a long time.

J

Edited October 15, 2007 by Jonathan

[Jonathan]

Jonathan,

Those are really stunning.

Michael

Thank you!

J

[Jonathan]

Jonathan,

Those are some great photos as well! I am also curious about a site where your work is posted. I'd like to see more. You are lucky...getting to go to Taliesen...GAH! One of my faves there is Dusk at Lake Michigan. At first I thought it said "Ducks at Lake Michigan" and when I looked at it I thought, "I really like it, but where are the ducks?"

Squirrelly Girl, you never fail to crack me up.

J

[Jonathan]

Btw, everyone should check out the work of OL's Robert Jones, which I think is very cool:

http://www.robertjonesphoto.com/

J

[Dragonfly]

Thanks, Dragonfly. I, too, am a bit terrified of spiders, but they are far from my least favorite bug (locusts and grasshoppers take the top spot). I didn't know you were a photographer either.

Just for fun, nothing serious.

Nice work! Any more?

I'll put some things in separate threads, to avoid cluttering your thread. First some bugs.