If You Build It
This is another example of an image that I thought was destined for the front page of my site, but that I ended up deciding just wasn’t up to the quality of stuff I was posting there lately. I still really do like how this image came out, and I even managed to use a few techniques that I learned in Trey Ratcliff’s HDR DVD when I was processing it. I still need to work on fixing some of the localized haloing that can show up in HDR images, but I’m starting to understand the process better.
Making Music
September 13, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
A quick shot from a First Friday in Raleigh a few months ago. Posting a music related picture since this was the weekend for the big Hopscotch music festival in Raleigh. Of course they scheduled it for monster saturday in college football land, and the opening weekend of the NFL, so I had different priorities.
Calm at the Harbor
September 10, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
Even though I’ve been back from Maine for a couple of weeks, both school and work have done a pretty good job of keeping me from editing my pictures. Another thing that’s holding me back on a few pictures is that I’m eagerly waiting for NIk Software’s new HDR plugin. I’m hoping the “anti-ghosting” functionality in said plugin will help me make HDR images out of the bracketed images I took of various harbors in Maine. I really like the look of HDR water, and one of the favorite images that I’ve created is a HDR harbor, but depending on the amount of movement of the boats, the ghosting can be pretty pronounced. I’ve got my fingers crossed that HDR Efex Pro helps solve that. There other option is to use some of techniques I learned from Trey Ratcliff’s new HDR DVD, but I’m hoping HDR Efex Pro does the work automatically.
Waiting
September 8, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
This picture helps me illustrate a little bit of evolution in taste. When I first created it, I thought “this picture will be on the front page for sure.” Now, however, I can’t decide whether or not I think it’s too boring or if meets my minimal level of “interesting-ness”. Also, i did not use to mind highly saturated, almost nuclear feeling, colors. Now, however, the pictures on the left wall kind of bother me.
I might use this image to explore some of the techniques I’ve learned while watching Trey Ratcliff’s new HDR DVD, since remixing in one of the original images might be a good way to tone down the pictures on the wall. I will have a review of that DVD coming up fairly soon. I’ve finally watched all six and half hours of content and I have quite an extensive review in its early draft stages.
It all Falls Down
September 5, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
When I listen to the Digital Photo Experience podcast, Juan Pons talks a lot about the waterfalls in North Carolina. I believe he may even teach workshops where he takes people these waterfalls. Since I use my glorified point and shoot, Nikon P6000, for all of my shooting, it’s rare that I get the right combination of light and a place to put my Zipshot so I can get the long exposure necessary to get the silky water style waterfall image (If I was using a dSLR I would put on an ND filter to reduce the light and therefore allow for a longer exposure). Lucky for me, I found a place in Maine that had both the right amount of light for a longer exposure and a flat place to my Zipshot (okay, my aunt found it.)
Come Fly with Me
September 2, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
I have very rarely been harassed when taking pictures, but every so often I do get a strange look when I pull out my camera. I think that on an airplane might be one of those times when people just really don’t expect you to take out the camera, so I did get a few looks. Ultimately, I really don’t care.
This picture came from my flight to Maine, but the better shots would have been on my flight back from Maine. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the plane (where the sun was setting), and I didn’t feel like dealing with asking 3 people if I could crawl over them to take a picture (especially when they had their shade drawn.) Maybe next time.
Bonding
August 31, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
I was standing on a bridge in Maine, looking at out the coast lines. There were the rocky coasts, waves crashing against the rocks, and a few boats slowing crossing over the horizon. I took my camera off my eye for a minute to take a break and saw this father, walking with his daughter, down to the water. The father was holding his daughter’s hand and his daughter was wearing a little pink backpack, as they walked down to the edge of the water. To be honest, I was so busy, watching and smiling, that I almost forgot to bring my camera back up to take a picture.
The lens on my Nikon P6000 isn’t so great, so you only end up barely seeing the girl, and barely seeing her pink backpack. But, frankly, I don’t care, this picture just makes me feel good. (Oh, and yeah, I have no idea if it was really father / daughter, but in my story, that’s what they are.)
All Aboard the Appledore
August 29, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
Since coming back from Maine, with hundreds of images on multiple memory cards, it has been a struggle not to just throw up all the images I took. I’d say that I have 3-4 that are portfolio worthy, another 50-60 that will eventually be put up as Snapshots. Some people, like Thomas Hawk, take so many photos that they can put up 20-30 a day on Flickr. I just don’t have that kind of picture volume even if I try to take at least a few pictures every day. I wouldn’t mind getting to that level, but for now, I’ve pretty much settled into a photo every other day pace.
In addition to editing photos, I’ve been sending a decent about of time on some new site features. The one new section that I’ve completed is reviews, which consolidates all the reviews I’ve done to date.
The Girl Who had Hair Like This
August 27, 2010 by Kivus · 2 Comments
The Scott Pilgrim comic series by Bryan Lee O’Malley is on the short list of my favorite comic series of all time. When it was announced they were making a movie out of the books, I was both excited and nervous.
At this point, the movie has been out for a couple of weeks, and there are number of stories about it’s particularly low box office (Vanity Fair even has a plea that you go see it this weekend). Personally, I don’t really care, since one of my favorite comic series was made into an unbelievably awesome movie.
The above picture is re-enactment of the party where Scott first meets Ramona, done with the newly available Scott and Ramona plushies.
Stand Up
August 25, 2010 by Kivus · Leave a Comment
One of the major drawbacks of shooting with my Nikon P6000 is the speed at which I can take shots. It takes a bit to focus and then it takes about 5 seconds inbetween shots (when shooting in RAW) in order to get ready for the next shot. This means that I frequently have to anticipate what is going to happen. If it’s sports photography, it means I pre-focus on an area that I think something is going to happen in (which usually isn’t too hard since I’m pretty familiar with the flow of games). In this case, I saw a horse rolling around on the ground, looking ready to stand up. I focused my camera and waited. About 2 second later, I took this picture.
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