Monthly Archives: September 2012

Image of the week #39

Well at least I am getting closer to being on track, this weeks image is kind of different. I call it a “water color”. This is how it came out of the camera with only some contrast adjustments and a slight crop to get ride of some distracting leaves. The painterly look is completely natural! This is a reflection of a pond at Descanso Gardens, the water was being stirred up by some rapidly moving koi carp, the waves caused by them caused the reflections to blur if I lowered the shutter speed at bit, so a natural abstract. Take with the Fuji X-Pro 1 and 35mm lens. Enjoy.

 

 

Image of the week #38

Well I am really behind this week…sigh, too much going on.  Barbara and I went to watch the shuttle Endeavour arrive in Los Angeles, this was a great event as it was the last time a shuttle would be on the 747 and last time one would be in the air! Since the shuttles are all now retired and now they are all near their final resting places. Endeavour still has a short road trip to the Exhibition Park but for now it is at Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX. We had a good spot as it arrived in L.A. it flew right over us…

 

Image of the week #37

A bit late this week, got tied up with some things that needed to get done. This was taken at the LA Arboretum in the Queen Anne’s Cottage carriage house, I thought this looked good in black & white, converted using Silver Efex Pro 2. Enjoy.

 

Image of the week #36

I was down in Dana Point, CA this last weekend and visited the annual tall ships festival. Here is a shot of the Brig Pilgrim, which is based in Dana Point. It was a nice sunny day and getting warm and humid. Taken with the Fuji X-Pro 1, this was 3 exposures and blended to capture all the details. Enjoy.

 

Portraits of Earth – a new ebook

Portraits of Earth is the new ebook from David DuChemin. David is a photographer who has been known for taking people portraits and showing the human side of events, so what is he doing writing a landscape photography book? Well, like David mentions in his ebook, landscapes are really just portraits of the Earth. They can inspire as well as inform the viewer, emotions can come into play and just the sheer beauty of nature is something to share. This ebook is not so much about gear, but about looking for the possibilities and crafting your shot with more care to complete your vision. He also gives some tips for gear, and how to use it to capture the light that you see when exploring new vistas. He talks about filters and how they can enhance an image and the best ways to use them. He also talks about some general gear, like tripods and other useful items.  He also goes into details about how to handle specific types of scenery, like fog and snow. Also there are some nice tips for some processing techniques and can give you some ideas to try in your own images.  The book is filled with pictures from his travels around the world, visiting places most of use are not going to see, I know I wish I could go to some of these places. So does that mean you have to travel to exotic locations? No it does not, but he does show you through examples of how to apply leading lines and to use light to tell your story and capture your vision as well as composition topics and some discussions on why and how he made the images as well as the exposure information.

So why should you consider this ebook? Well for me I like the way David writes, his writing style is easy to read and understand and you feel that you are having a conversation with him, he explains his motivations and tries to not make it too technical. Photography is a an artform that requires some technical knowledge but it also requires the artist to “see”, so there are fuzzy concepts to go with the  geek. You can purchase this ebook for a very low price of $5, however if you click on the link and use the code EARTH4 before Sept. 9, 2012 you can get it for $4, Click here for Portraits of Earth While you are on the Craft And Vision site you might want to check out their other ebooks. I have personally found the following titles to be very useful, The Power of Black and White, Light and LandExposure for Outdoor Photography, and Close to Home, all of the ebooks on the site are well written and informative, and if you want to get several ebooks use the code EARTH20 for a 20% discount on 5+ ebooks, this code also expires Sept. 9, 2012.  So get some good, cheap, informative ebooks and inspire yourself to get out use what you learn. I know I have.

 

Image of the week #35

Well another glorious sunset this week, taken in Laguna Beach. The clouds started building in the afternoon and as it got closer to sunset they were not disappearing, so grabbed the camera gear and headed out and took this shot. Just before sunset there was a nice large rainbow. Shot with the Fuji X-Pro 1 and the 18mm lens on a tripod. Enjoy.