Played with Panorama Today August 31, 2007

Wasn’t insprired at all while driving home from work for any photographic opportunities (I couldn’t think of anywhere different to photograph).

So, I went home and set up the tripod to try out taking shots for a panoramic stitching.

I didn’t have any kind of “breathtaking” scene so I just took a 360 degree view of my back yard.

This is how the panoramic stiching of about 10 photos came out in Photoshop CS3. Click on the image to view it a little larger (I saved it at 3 feet wide so this sample doesn’t give it much justice)….

After this exercise I’m excited to try this out with a beautiful scene. If I create enough of them I’m thinking of making a “panoramic” section on my website.

I also worked on converting a few photos to Faux IR (infrared) again (I love this technique!) These are 2 favorites that I converted:

This is my “creep-ified cornfield”:

If you’d like to see more of my Faux (fake) IR conversions click HERE. If you like this kind of photo editing there are many more conversions on the site that that you might enjoy!

www.jenweaverphotography.com

Made a Stop on the Way Home August 30, 2007

Half-way home from work (a camera always in my possesion) I decided to stop at a portion of the D&R Canal (Delaware River) that I pass everyday on my way home from work for a few minutes.

I took a few shots of the canal and some reflections of the trees in the still water:

The think what upset me the most with this photo shoot is the sky. To the human eye it was blue with a few clouds dotting the sky here or there but almost every shot I took at every angle had a blown out sky…it’s so frustrating….

No one can seem to figure out how to avoid this issue but I guess the positive is that I pass this canal everyday on the way home so I can re-shoot time and time again but it’s just terrible when you get blown skies during a one-chance-only opportunity.

Besides snapping some photos of the canal I walked over to the historic Bridge Tenders Station (circa 1830) that sits beside the bridge that runs over the canal. Next to the Bridge Tenders Station is the Bridge Tender’s Garden. I got a good photos of about 4-5 varieties of flowers and a few with large Bumble Bees.

To view more of my waterscape photography click HERE.
To view more of my bug & butterfly photography click HERE.
To view more of my flower photography click HERE.

www.jenweaverphotography.com

Marveling Over the Sky August 29, 2007

Last night I was marveling about the moon and today I’m marveling over the sky…I’m drawn to the sky when there are amazing clouds like this.

When I see skies like this I start to grow impatient for the work day to end so that I can get out and capture it.

Yesterday was an awesome sky and today was even better!

(Click photo to see a larger image)

To view more of my skyscape photography click HERE.

www.jenweaverphotography.com

FULL MOON August 28, 2007

I took the full moon tonight (well last night to be exact because it’s after midnight now).

Since I got the new tripod I was finally able to photograph the moon and all it’s glory – with extreme clarity compared to previous handheld shots. I used the remote control which helped avoid camera shake and I’m so pleased with the results.

Thank goodness for the new tripod!

Image was taken around 9:45pm. (Click photo to see a larger image).

To view more of my night photography click HERE.

www.jenweaverphotography.com

Engagement! August 26, 2007

I attended my friend Tara’s engagement party today.

It was a hot & humid day so I spent most of the time indoors chatting and catching up with my college sorority friends.

Tara & her fiancé Adam:

I also got some great shots of 2 of my friends beautiful girls:

Keira:

Cassidy:

To view moreof Tara McCarthy’s Engagement party click HERE.

www.jenweaverphotography.com

Editing, editing, editing August 25, 2007

Haven’t taken any photos since last weekend…boo….it’s been raining all week.

Finally stopped raining today but it was hot and muggy to go out.

The positive part about the rain and the hot muggy weather is that I was able to do a lot of editing of the “Roller Girlz” series all week…and I’m FINALLY DONE (for the most part…maybe some minor edits)!

www.jenweaverphotography.com

Boredom Kicks in…. August 22, 2007

Got really bored this weekend so I did some self portraits to test the use of my new flash (Nikon SB800) and Manfrotto tripod.

Until I get some more friends and family to volunteer to be my models I guess I will have to settle for myself! LOL! I’m please with the results of the editing of skin, eyes, and use of filters on the shots.

Example #1

Example #2

www.jenweaverphotography.com

Booooo Hoooooo August 19, 2007

Bad weather…so no photo hunt today.

Just staying in all day getting some editing done on my backlog of photos…so that is a positive! I’ll be tied to my desk chair all day!

www.jenweaverphotography.com

Today’s Festivites August 19, 2007

I added my friend’s baby shower today (8/18/07) and I appointed myself party photographer! I got some wonderful shots of the day of all of the party attendees as well as some that I felt “photojournalistically” captured the day:

On the way home from the party I spotted an amazing sky that I just had to capture so I found a place to pull over and got some wonderful shots:

To view more of Nicole Roedl’s baby shower click HERE.

www.jenweaverphotography.com

My Day Off…Around the Old Neighborhood August 18, 2007

I had off from work today and I decided that I’d take the day to go off on my own for some photography.

Last week I saw some things that I thought would be good for photographs and I made a mental note of them. Today was a great day to head out and capture them.

I headed to Hellmetta, NJ (which borders the town I grew up in) for my first stop of the day. My subject was the abandoned Helm Snuff Mill. Click here for background on the factory.

I also visited an old cemetery with stones dating back to the 1700s. For some reason I love photographing cemeteries (not in a creepy way). I love to look at the old stones, find the oldest one, and photography the monuments.

The last place I stopped by was the lake next to my grammar school. I got some shots of the lake and a collection of great dragonfly photos (which took A LOT of patience!!)

Later tonight on our way to/and as we left the store we came accross the most beautiful clouds…like a spotlight shining from the heavens…breathtaking!

www.jenweaverphotography.com

On the Way Home… August 17, 2007

Stopped at the park on the way home from work today to try to capture some butterflies ad flowers.

I was successful in capturing both butterflies and flowers but I was upset that I wasn’t able to get there sooner. I had limited time before the sun started to go down behind the trees.

A few from today before it got too dark:

www.jenweaverphotography.com

New Jersey Diners August 16, 2007

After photographing an abandoned New Jersey Diner on Route 22 today I realized that I’d love to photograph more of them.

I googled New Jersey Diners and found 2 sites which highlight Central & North Jersey diners as well as a link highlighting a book all about New Jersey diners:

http://www.dinercity.com/njDiner/centralNJ.html
http://www.dinercity.com/njDiner/northNJ.html
http://www.njdiners.com/

Many of them are very retro & shiny looking and would make for great photography. Now I have another photo op to be on the look out for…LOL (like I needed another thing to be obsessed with hunting down for photography!!)

Here are a couple from today’s shoot:

I’m Crazy About Faux IR Photos! August 14, 2007

Well, it looks like I’ve found a new photo editing obsession —> Faux IR’s (Infrared) conversions!

I found a tutorial a while back while doing a Google search and only tried it once but last night I decided to start using the tutorial again.

The shots I did in last night’s post (below) came out great with the Faux IR conversions so I decided to go crazy and scour through all of my photos and convert the heck out of them! LOL!!

To see the madness go to my Faux IR Gallery on my webpage: http://jenweaverphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/3298872/1/183703402

I think the results are awesome and now when I spot a photo of mine that I think has good IR potential I’ll be sure to do an extra conversion of it for the Faux IR gallery!

www.jenweaverphotography.com

B&H and Port Elizabeth August 13, 2007

Today my sister and I left early in the morning to head into New York City to our favorite camera superstore B&H Photo on 9th Ave. Best place around – I could spend hours there! I stopped to visit our favorite Nikon rep Gerry to get some advice on Macro lenses and tripods. The lens I was interested in was out of stock so I concentrated on the tripod purchase and a new “small” backpack to lug my gear around on our photo journeys.

On our way home from New York City we stopped somewhere we normally wouldn’t….a really industrial area in Elizabeth, NJ. My sister had a customer in that area so she knew of a good place to take a few shots of the Goethals Bridge. Click HERE to learn more on the Goethals Bridge.

After we shot the bridge stopped at a park on the water where we could see the loading area for a huge container barge. I don’t normally see things like this so it made for interesting photography and it was what I considered a “great cloud day.”

I never thought that tanks like this could be beautiful but maybe it’s just that sky that can turn any scene beautiful to me!

Color & BW version below

And I just turned the shot into a FAUX IR (infrared) shot and I LOVE the results!!!

To view more of my photography of bridges click here: http://www.jenweaverphotography.com/gallery/2907807

www.jenweaverphotography.com

So behind…. August 9, 2007

Nothing much to report in the world of Jen Weaver Photography….I’m so backed up on my editing of photos that I haven’t gotten to June or July (or any I’ve taken in August).

I’ve also been working on editing the photo shoot I did of my 2 friends Tiffany & Jen. It was over 500 shots and I don’t even think I’m half way through the editing. I can’t wait to finish!

We’re going to do the 2nd session of the “series” next Thursday (8/16) so I’m sure I’ll have another 500 or more shots to edit from that series as well!

I wish there were 3 of me to do all this editing! LOL!!

I would a sneak peek of the Glamour Girls shoot but I don’t want to spoil it!

Well…back to editing! Gggrrrrrr!

www.jenweaverphotography.com

New Flyer to Advertise… August 7, 2007

I created a basic flyer last night for my sister to use at the “National Night Out” in her town but the bad news was that she wasn’t able to make it to the event. Hopefully she can display the flyers in her store. You never know who will walk in and see them!

It’s very basic but it advertises what type of photography I enjoy and you never know when a flyer can come in handy! I used one of my most recent favorite photos taken at a local park in Somerset, New Jersey.

To view that photo and more on my website (www.jenweaverphotography.com) click HERE for the “butterflies & bugs” gallery.

www.jenweaverphotography.com