Trying New Ways To Process Images July 30, 2008

Do you ever find yourself doing something mundane when all of a sudden a photography technique idea pops into your head?  I love when that happens.  My photographer friend has been talking a lot recently about finding NEW ways to process images that is totally different.  I think he has a unique style all to his own already but sometimes you just want to reinvent yourself, I guess.

I like the idea of finding something NEW or finding YOUR OWN STYLE but that’s a really tough thing to invent something out of the blue.

It seems we end up using techniques that are the latest & greatest or we take ideas from other photographers and see if we are able emulate them and put our own spin on them.  Sometimes it can be a challenge to find your niche…your own perfect style.  With that all being said I find myself trying to think of a new way to process a photo with the available techniques that are out there but change it up a little.

Tonight I used my friend as inspiration.  I wanted a darker “darker” & “grittier” way of processing “just because that’s what I was I was in the mood for.”

I couldn’t tell you if this is how others create a darker/grittier style for their photos but the idea of how I wanted to re-process this came to me so I went with it.  I tried something similar before but never liked the look of it and with tonight’s idea added to the process I was able to come up with something I really do like.

The style may not be for everyone but it was really what I was hoping to achieve today!

ME:  ORIGINAL / NEW PROCESSING / NEW PROCESSING WITH TEXTURE /ALMOST COMPLETELY DESATURATED

MY FRIEND LEE:  ORIGINAL / NEW PROCESSING

(click to view larger)

Quotes…A Little Added “Something” July 30, 2008

I love a good quote with a photo.

I don’t get time, often enough, to put them together.  Lately I’ve been trying a little bit more but I don’t always share them here.

I’ve been inspired to do so even more after seeing Sue Henry’s latest creations on her blog: (http://suehenryphotography.wordpress.com/).

In particular I was moved by the following 2 Sue posted recently….

THIS ONE

and

THIS ONE
So for tonight’s blog post…2 photos you’ve alreade seen…but with quotes added.

I love the first one by Lady Bird Johnson in particular.

Who doesn’t need a little “HOPE” in their life?  I sure do…

MAGICAL July 29, 2008

I decided that it’s going to be really really hard for me to narrow down “favorites” from this session I did at the park this past (burning hot) Friday that I had off from work.

Hats off to those of you that have a knack for showing a few or one favorite from the day.  I just haven’t mastered that yet and I’m not sure I ever will. So, you’ll have the pleasure of seeing MANY (twenty) photos from the day that I looooooooove!

I cannot express in words how much abstract macro photos move me. When I saw these on the computer when I got home I was pretty much breathless as the results the 105mm VR produces.  I love the DOF this lens provides.

The word that kept coming to my mind when I saw some of these was MAGICAL. That’s all I kept saying…and I don’t know why they move me so much but they do! I truly love this particular art form (Abstract).

Maybe it’s because I come from a past of doing a lot of drawing and painting (when I was much younger) that I see the magic they possess.

I will warn you that some are WAY OUT THERE ABSTRACT with only the tiniest little edge in focus! (Just how I like ‘em!)

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Click the landscape orientation photos to view larger!

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I’ll love you forever if you take a moment to view the entire gallery by clicking HERE.

If you feel inclined to do so…you can leave a comment on any photo that “moves you” right on my website under the photo.

Or if you’d like to view a slide show of my abstract/macro flower gallery click HERE.

 

Congrats to L & N – Dancing At Disney! July 28, 2008

This is just a little something I wanted to share because I love the families I’ve had the pleasure to work with for my budding photography business!

Mr & Mrs “S.” (featured back in April for their daughter’s communion party) had the wonderful experience of having both of their girls dance on stage in Disney World through their dance classes at American Dance Studios in Fanwood & Westfield, NJ.

Mrs. “S” shared this photo with me of the girls on their Disney Adventure and I thought I’d highlight it here:

Here they are back in April at the Communion Party:

CONGRATULATIONS L & N on the wonderful opportunity you had!!!

A Mother’s Love July 28, 2008

I went to the rose garden on my day off Friday and got some wonderful abstract macros but I’m not ready to share them yet… hopefully tomorrow I can.

So, in the mean time I wanted to share this beautiful moment with you all that I edited today:

Christopher’s Birthday in Atlantic City July 26, 2008

Last night we celebrated Jo Ann’s brother Christopher’s birthday in Atlantic City, NJ.

We started at the Borgata where we met Christopher at the poker room, then hung out at Bobby Flay’s restaurant, stopped at the Racebook to play a few horses, and played some penny slots, and walked around the casino.

We love HOT HOT PENNY!

We were such BIG spenders at the penny slots! I lost a whole $5 and Jo Ann a while $10! Woah!  Call Gamblers Anonymous!

Then we headed over to Harrah’s to their night club.

The night club was so neat.  Click HERE to read more about it.

We got in FREE with VIP passes from Christopher’s friend so that was a huge plus!

When you went inside it was this HUGE structure with a domed glass ceiling, palm trees everywhere and a HUGE pool in the center (with other smaller wading pools all around), as well as private cabanas (for a price $$$) & high top tables to lounge at everywhere.

There was a 2nd floor where you could over look the whole club and an outdoor rooftop area with a 2nd D.J. as well.

Us and the birthday boy…another one of those take-it-yourself pics!

Then the D.J. gave a special birthday shout-out to Christopher which he seemed to enjoy.

The night club has a great rooftop deck and we went out there for a little bit before we left.  The weather was so great…such a nice breeze on the rooftop and you could see the entire casino tower.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER!

I can’t believe I was in 8th grade and took care of your kindergarten class as lunch time and now your a foot taller than me!

Thanks for inviting me Jo Ann!  I had such a good time!

Let Me Count the Ways July 25, 2008

Oh fifty!  How I love thee…Let me Count the Ways!

I’m in love…

With the 50mm 1.4!!

Oh how wonderfully sharp this lens is.

In poor lighting…it’s still great!

It’s small, lightweight & compact (gives my soon-to-have-carpel-tunnel-syndrome-wrist a break)

If you don’t have one and you love shooting people…please do yourself a favor and get one!

If you’re not sick of my mugshot yet…here are some of me a la 50mm!

If you’re doing self portraits try something new.

Put your camera on the tripod on the shortest tripod setting and place your camera facing up into the sky for a nice bright backdrop over head.

Don’t forget to smile for some of the photos!

Thought I composite would be fun here:

And I couldn’t help a do a textured version…this one is a little different!

While i was outside my best friend kept me company…

He’s a short guy with 4 legs, a tail, and a big heart — LUCAS!

He wanted his portraits taken with the 50mm, as well, so I obliged!

He enjoys the side profile rather than straight on…

My little friend is 5 years old…and he this year his beard turned gray.

I treasure all of the time I have with him.

I published a couple other posts today….

…take a look below.

Weekend’s at Tiffany’s July 25, 2008

Weekends are always fun at Tiffany’s house.  It always seems that there’s family & friends around to enjoy the weekend with.

I’m not sure what everyone was so intensely looking at here

We always seem to have some kind of laptop around connected to the internet.

In addition to family & friends there’s always something great to eat!

Including Tiffany’s delicious lasagna! Yum!

Good people, good eats, good entertainment!

Marco told everyone that he is better than MOZART!

He’s so talented on the piano & he picks things up as soon as you show him!  We think he needs formal lessons!

Believe it or not everyone gathered around to listen to this guest play Billy Joel tunes on the piano and everyone sung along (when they knew the words to the song )

Marco looked on in amazement with a twinge of jealousy

(he was upset that this guy was better than his MOZART abilities!)

They may not look like they are singing but they were!

Thanks to Tiffany’s family for always welcoming me and making me feel like part of the family for all these years!

Girl’s Night Can Be Many Things July 25, 2008

Sometimes girl’s night is something as simple as hanging out in my kitchen with our laptops.

It may seem strange but I think it’s that fact that we each enjoy working on our own things but at the same time we have each other to keep us company so that’s that comforting part.

I'm just lacking the cute light up apple on my "cheap bargain $200.00 laptop" but it works for me! LOL

Redeux July 23, 2008

As we progress or think of new ideas for photos it’s alway a good idea to go back and revisit older work.  This way you’re apply new tricks to old photos and breathing new life into them.

After my recent visit to the Colonnade with Jo Ann I decided to go back and revisit the self-portraits I did at the same location (when I was shooting HDRs of the columns) back in February.

I suggest you go back and revisit some older photos you took and see if they would benefit from a new process you’ve learned, a new software you acquired, etc.  You may find a hidden treasure!!

All of the images below were re-processed today with newer techniques I’ve been working with:

(reminder you can click on of the horizontal any images to view them larger)

This is “Serious Jen”– yes, she’s in there too under all the silliness.

You don’t always have to erase the texture away on the subject.  This one worked well leaving it as is with just a lowered opacity.

3 different versions of this one:

And the same photo above with all 3 textures on top of each other:

My Mom   Ooooooh I love this one!

Mom – you’re sizzling here!

Thanks Heather for the lovely verse!  It’s become one of my favorite quotes to live by:

More from the M Family! July 23, 2008

I got a chance to really get a lot of edits in tonight of the M Family.  Below are some of my favorites from tonight.  Let me know what you think!

I love R’s expression here!  So funny!

Such a “little man!”

Mom’s favorite of this pose:

The “fam”

This cracked me up!

I love out-takes! 

Thats all for now!!

Comment tool is not being nice today July 21, 2008

A couple blog friends mentioned that my comment area was giving them trouble and their comments weren’t going through on my latest “Jo Ann @ the Colonnade” post. 

If you left a comment and it didn’t appear would you mind trying again?  I’m really excited about the shoot and I’m interested in hearing your comments.

Thanks friends!

Jen

Jo Ann at the Colonnade July 21, 2008

Ok…so I’m sooo excited about these photos of my beautiful friend Jo Ann (who is also my beautiful photo assistant).

Buckle up because there are a lot of them to see.  I couldn’t narrow down so you’re going to see all of the ones that I love from the session.

We were trying to decide what to do on Friday night and I ended up asking Jo Ann if she wanted to do a photo shoot because I had an “itch” to try something new with my lights.

I mentioned the long walk to get to the Colonnade structure (in Princeton NJ at the Princeton Battlefield State Park)  HERE in this post on Friday. Normally I wouldn’t have cared about a long walk but I was rolling that suitcase of equipment (that I showed in Friday’s post) that weighed as much as a small child. LOL!

We stopped half way to the columns and I took a couple photos:

Then we got to the columns and I set up the one SB800 which I shot through a 45 inch Westcott umbrella (Thanks Mike for the suggestion).

I may be a lighting guru but I love the results that I got.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this one with the texture!  OH MY GOSH!!

Umm, yeah, this close up is awesome!

Jo Ann, your eyes look great (and my necklace was killer for this photo shoot!)

Texture is so yummy!

This location ROCKED!!  I can’t tell you how much I loved this place!!

Jo Ann thought she looked like she was at the edge of a mountain here: 

This is on my my TOP Favorites of the shoot that I LOVE!  I think it’s the light and the way Jo Ann is looking into the camera.

Ummm, yes, I loved doing this shoot!

Jo Ann may not have ever done any formal modeling but she was awesome at this photo shoot!

Yay Jo Ann!

Thank you big time!  I love them!

Big Thanks to Your Photo Tips July 21, 2008

Big thanks to Damien Franco at YOUR PHOTO TIPS for featuring my blog on Friday!

Click the link below to view the wonderfully written feature:

http://www.yourphototips.com/2008/07/18/weekend-perusing-big-thank-you/

And thanks to Mike Palmer for turning me onto this blog!

We will return to our regularly scheduled broadcast soon! July 20, 2008

Nothing is wrong with my blog (in case you’re wondering about all the missing photos).

My website host, Smugmug, is just down today   <— me crying since I have a lot to add to the site today.

As soon as it’s back up I will be uploading the final few photos from Friday’s session with Jo Ann and sharing them with you all!  I’m so excited that I just can’t wait!

I love them!!

Coming soon…. July 19, 2008

Jo Ann might be the only one to laugh at this because she was there with me carrying the “body bag”…

To me it felt like the longest walk ever to get to where we did a photo shoot tonight at the Colonnade in Princeton, NJ.

It’s not really THAT far of a walk but when you’re rolling a suitcase through high grass, that weighs as much as a small child, you get to be a very tired lil girl….especially when it’s 90 degrees out!

More from the actual shoot to come!  I’m grinning like a fool at the photos I took tonight and I can’t wait to edit them and share ‘em!