More Anticipation

 I haven’t seen any guesses or inquiries as to how these were made so I thought I would share a few more images shot with the same set of tulips and props.

Doing this set of images was for me an exercise in creativity. I was really in the midst of one of those “I don’t feel inspired” times. So per past experience and the recommendation of a friend I did this shoot with not expectations. As you can see it went well and I found some inspiration. This also helped me in my thought process about  “What I really love shoot?”

As with the previous images, no paint programs, etc were used. Just in camera techniques with props.

Any questions?

In Anticipation of Spring

While I was waiting for the rain to stop yesterday, I decided to do an indoor shoot of some tulips - ones that I bought for my wife earlier in the week. While you might think I used all kinds of software for these special effects, these were all created in camera using technique and props. The only Photoshop usage was for the usual tonal/contrast adjustments, touch up (dust), etc. No paint programs, Topaz, Photomatix, etc.Part of my purpose in creating these images was to encourage those of you who may not have the latest greatest photo processing software. Don’t say “someday when I have such and such”, but use your imagination today and the tools you have. Now I am going to do something different here and let you use your imagination to guess what techniques I applied to create these images. Submit your ideas using the blog comment feature. I will tell all in a few days.

Hint: Some images did take advantage of the in camera overlay capabilities of my Nikon D300 (a D80 can do this as well). But if your camera can’t do that you can use layers in a low cost program like Photoshop Elements.

Night Lights

 

As I continue to write in my blog, you can find images any where. In this case I was sitting in a parking lot getting a quick bite to eat after work before heading to another engagement. As night came on I first noticed how the texture in pine tree bark outside my windshield was being highlighted by oblique lighting. After shooting bark for a while I started playing with pans and swipes of the bare deciduous trees.

On a separate night in the parking lot waiting for a movie with my wife we both noticed how the trees were illuminated  in the fog by the parking lot lamps. In addition, a full moon was shining through the fog (but no detail).  This is the lead blog image.

So when the day is done, get out that camera and have some fun.

About the  images: all these images required relatively long exposures (1 to 15 seconds at ISO 800) and were shot on a tripod as required (not for swipes). The unique colorations are due to the different light sources (I only partially adjusted the white balance). The camera’s noise reduction for long exposures was also turned on.