So week 3 was about color surprises. I had some existing pictures that I thought would be good examples but using them would defeat the purpose of taking the course. Instead I decided to combine taking pictures with our trip to Boston for a wedding.  This means I would have to use an opportunistic method of photography since we don’t heavily schedule our trips based on my photo plans and this one was about a wedding and seeing friends.

However, I did get some good pictures from the trip including the picture to the left.  This photo was taken from the pier at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art.  For those not familiar, it’s the new museum cantilevered over Boston Harbor.  There was a floating barrier and the orange of the barrier provided a nice contrast to the dull ocean.  You also got a nice contrast of textures from the ripples.

The second photo here was taken while walking along the cliffs at Newport, RI.  We had gone down to Newport after the wedding and wandered around the town and then toured The Breakers.  No photography was allowed inside the mansion so you’ll just need to go yourself.  There is also a cliff walk which is probably even better when there isn’t any haze.  But my understanding is that’s a rare day.

As we were walking along the path the was the wall of a patio.  I liked the lichen color and how it contrasted with the stone.  I also liked the geometric pattern.  Together they created something different.  I gave the lichen a color boost in Lightroom but the composition was done with the camera, no cropping tricks.

Next week in the class we covered the Classic Landscape Technique.  I had some difficulty with this one and haven’t gotten Jim’s critique yet so stay tuned.

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Week 3 Of My Better Photo Class

The first week was about finding a great subject and my initial pictures were not that great overall. I was focusing too much on the class subject and forgot all the other elements of making a good picture. After Jim’s critiques I tried another picture of the same type of subject and am very happy with the results.

The second week the lesson addressed picture backgrounds and how they are a key element that is often overlooked.  Nobody likes a tree coming out of their head.  In a couple of the pictures I blurred the background out of existance.  In another I created a collage effect by photographing a regular flag in front of a giant flag and then removing the color from the back flag in Photoshop.  Jim didn’t really think that was a complimentary background but I like the way it looks.

So far I am getting some good experience out of the class but have not been thrilled with the amount of interaction with other students.  Maybe it’s how I’ve been working but I think a lot of the problem is that Jim has been somewhat slow with his critiques.  I’m not sure but I think the web site doesn’t show pictures to other students until after Jim does his critique.

Stay tuned for more as I work through the lessons.

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I’m Taking Another BetterPhoto Class

The course I took previously was Creating Visual Impact (Brenda Tharp) which I found very rewarding. The course works by reading instruction and then going out and taking pictures that use the lesson. You then upload the images to a community page where the instructor and other students provide feedback. The whole process is a great way to learn.

The picture on the left was taken at a park in Great Falls, VA. A smaller park called Scott’s Run Nature Preserve. There’s a great trail to the Potomac and at one point there are stepping stones across a creek. What I didn’t capture was how the water was smooth on one side and disturbed on the other. I want to go back to this park and take more photos.

The picture on the right is a great example of a technique I learned as part of the course. The subject is just some flowers I had purchased and had in a vase with a blank wall behind. But by applying a technique of zooming during the exposure I created a dynamic and exciting image. I think the choice of subject also contributed.

For other lessons I took little trips to find interesting subjects. Sometimes I found inspiration in the middle of the road, like the manhole cover. Other times I found interesting details on roads traveled by many. The window below was on a small building alongside the C&O canal. The color combined with the building texture attracted my attention. It’s also a good example of not centering the subject. It wouldn’t be the same with the subject in the middle.

Overall I found the course to be a rewarding experience and many of the techniques learned continue to influence my photography. Which of course is the whole point. I am excited for my next course, Eight Steps To More Dramatic Photography (Jim Zuckerman).

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My Experience With Better Photo

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Major Change In My Life

For those who don’t know what a photowalk is Jeff wrote a pretty good explanation here. In a nutshell it’s a bunch of photographers gathering in a place and taking pictures while walking and socializing. Fun.

This particular walk was in Georgetown and started with us all meeting under the Whitehurst Freeway and then walking along the C&O canal. On the back streets and along the canal there a thousand little details that make great pictures. There were also tourists who were confused by our presence. Was a politician jogging on the trail? Was it a Flickr meetup? I love it when you take a picture and three other people suddenly appear to take the same picture.

I have to commend Jeff for his intricate planning so that we would arrive at one of the canal locks at the same time the park service boat ride was transiting. Great to watch and shoot, especially since the crew dresses in period clothes.

Turning left we headed up to M Street which was teeming with people and traffic. A typical Sunday midday. I confess that I avoid Georgetown because the traffic and crowds are so bad. Walking back towards the Key Bridge I stayed on the shady side of the street, found lots of architectural details to photograph and a couple of us even got kicked out of the Lush store for taking pictures. Their soaps are so colorful they just screamed to be photographed. We then got to see a truck double parked on M Street in the middle of the day with the driver clearly not caring that he was making bad traffic worst.

After taking a detour through Cady’s Alley we ended up at the Philadelphia Cheesecake Factory. We got lunch some of the group went across the street to the park. I had to wait. Not only did I somehow end up near the end of the line to order but they seem to take a little longer making my food. By the time I got to the park everyone else was done eating :(

We finished up our walk by returning to where we started and taking a group photo. We lost a few people along the way but overall everyone had a good time.

More of my pictures can been seen on my gallery page and the walk’s Flickr group.

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Georgetown Photowalk

One of the stops was a visit to the aquarium with my daughter.

We were sitting right next to the cake and it looked great so I took a couple of shots.

And I took lots of pictures of people. Here’s just a couple.

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My Brother-In-Law’s Wedding

The workshop ended up being a good education during which I didn’t get any good pictures of the blossoms. The problem was that peak flowers passed very suddenly and right before the workshop. The trees had flowers but they were not the best.  Regardless I enjoyed the morning.

Towards the end of the workshop however we took some time to shoot the Tulip library. This is an area near the tidal basin where dozens of different varieties of Tulips are planted each year. While lying in the dirt I took my best picture of the Washington Monument.

But fate had one more picture left for me. As I was walking back to my car on the other side of the tidal basin I saw another walker admiring the view. One quick picture and the morning was captured.

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Freezing For Cherry Blossoms

In September 2004 my wife and I took a trip through southern Utah and northern Arizona. We started in Las Vegas and drove to Grand Junction, CO. But we didn’t go straight, we visited places that are just incredible. We hiked down a slot canyon into Zion National Park, visited Bryce Canyon, drove through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, saw the Grand Canyon north rim, boated on Lake Powell, gaped at Monument Valley, Canyonlands and Arches National Park. It was quite the trip and I took photos the entire time.

See all my postings about this trip

Near the end of the trip my wife just wanted a day to sleep in and I wanted to shoot at sunrise. So she stayed in Moab while I went to Mesa Arch. We had gone out the previous morning with a local photographer but I wasn’t satisfied with the pictures (I’m still not). A comment to professionals who may read this posting, just because you’re bored going to the same places all the time for sunrise, your clients may have never been there and deserve the best spot. Other than his choice of sunrise location he was a wonderful guide.

But let’s get back to my story. I drove out to Canyonlands in the dark and walked the short hike to Mesa Arch. There was already a photographer there with a better setup than me and a professional guide. I thought I remembered where the sun would be rising from the previous day and just assumed the other photographer was shooting for a different angle (turns out he was shooting for the glow on the bottom of the arch). So the sun rose and I clicked away but realized I wasn’t getting the shot I wanted. I was out of time so I started moving the tripod around, looking for the right shot. The picture below was well after dawn but it captures the moment.

I had not been to the site before but some places are so beautiful it’s easy to get great pictures. Moving to the side gave me a chance to shoot the underside of the arch and it is quite a sight.

Art

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While My Wife Slept

At the end of the day the solution was very simple for making Lightroom work with Wordpress. Don’t integrate them, just embed the Lightroom output. My gallery pages consist of an inline frame sized to fit the gallery output. Simple often works best. All the coolness comes from Lightroom because I used Turning Gate’s TTG Shadowbox template with titles and other stuff turned off.

Stay tuned for new galleries although I make no promises about when they will appear.

Art

Update: PicLens doesn’t want to work with the galleries. Might be a Lightroom problem.

Update2: PicLens is now working if you have the plug-in installed. I found PicLens Plus, a version of the WordPress plugin by Shack Dougall that addresses the problem with embedded images.

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Galleries Are Now Working

As I add to this blog I will be balancing many priorities for my time and the picture above shows two of the biggest. My daughter and wife. Given everything else in life I am aiming to average at least one post per week. Some weeks will be more and some less. As long as this blog provides me an avenue to show my photos and tell my stories I’ll be happy.

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Priorities