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2012-10-01 22:49:54 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Fertility

I've been down with and then recovering from a nasty cold that settled into my lungs, so missed last week's #macromonday .  So, here is my submission for last week (TEXTURES) and this week (FOOD).

Starring +Kelli Seeger Kim +Jennifer Eden and +Kerry Murphy.

This wasn't my original intent, but as soon as I cropped it, it was clearly Fertility.

(though my wife, from across the room, said "zit, and rather disgusting as well")

It was a mighty good taste combination, too.

2012-09-17 05:29:18 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Keepsakes

2012-09-17 05:28:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

The Coral Wreath

An inaccurate name, no doubt, but I couldn't resist.

2012-09-17 03:16:01 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Talk to Me

This week's submission for #macromonday  (by +Kelli Seeger Kim +Jennifer Eden +Kerry Murphy) with the theme of "Something You Would Find in a Home Office".

While it's unlikely you would find this in any modern home office, you might have found this a long time ago.

D700 with 105mm VR, tripod and flash and trigger, about 12" focal distance (sensor to object).  5 exp. HDR (HDR Efex Pro 2) and then B&W conversion (Silver Efex Pro).

I may have to post some of my other shots for this.  I tried out several different poses before deciding on this one.

2012-09-13 15:08:32 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I'd been really looking forward to the D600 as an affordable and more reasonable upgrade from my trusty D700.

Then I saw this on the Nikon site specs:

2 or 3 frames in steps of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1 or 2 EV

Compared to for the D700:  2 to 9 frames in steps of 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 or 1 EV.

As someone who shoots primarily HDR, that's big.

Sure, 2 EV steps are a welcome change, but having a maximum range of -2 to +2 in 3 exposures (risking banding) instead of potentially -4 to +4 (though the use for that much is limited) is troubling.

I usually shoot 5 exp. in 1 EV steps for -2 to +2, but its still smaller steps per exposure.  Having fewer exposures, to me at least, really is just a bonus for high motion situations, where you want to be shooting for as little time as possible (and the D700 + grip handles that very well except in the dark).  Andth... more »

2012-09-11 15:03:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

"Shadows of the Past"

This work has been sitting around in my mind for about a year, ever since I found an old photograph of the North Tower taken about 16 years ago.

I present it here, today, in memory of what once was, and what will be.

#WTC  

2012-09-11 05:12:02 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

"Shadows of the Past"

This work has been sitting around in my mind for about a year, ever since I found an old photograph of the North Tower taken about 16 years ago.

I present it here, today, in memory of what once was, and what will be.

#WTC  

2012-09-10 05:44:02 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

"Reincarnation"

I'd originally named this one "Resurrection" but, being an old gamer, it dawned on my that the reborn one isn't the same as the original, hence the change in title.

A few more will dribble in over the days, but now I need to sleep.

2012-09-10 05:05:58 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

"In the Shadow of Shade"

I think, technically, this is not a macro, though it does keep with this week's theme for #macromonday  of LEAF (curated by +Kelli Seeger Kim, +Kerry Murphy, +Jennifer Eden)

In an urban environment, there aren't always leaves to get up close to that also are more than just a leaf.  At least not that I found, today.

2012-09-03 20:27:13 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

"Torn"

This week's #macromonday  theme of ABSTRACT inspired this exercise from me.

D700 with 105mm VR, tripod w/ RRS BH-40 ballhead, LiveView for manual focus precision.  Cable release.  5 exposure HDR processed in HDR Efex 2 and then cropped in LR.

Curated by +Kelli Seeger Kim +Jennifer Eden +Kerry Murphy 

This is pretty far afield from my normal style of shooting.  But I used some techniques I don't normally use, which was both fun and educational.

2012-08-27 01:34:35 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

"Knowing No Bounds"

I think this may be the first time I put something in for Macro Monday.  The theme of EMOTION got me thinking -- what would capture emotion for me.

My son and I call this a "hand hug".

For #macromonday  by +Kelli Seeger Kim +Jennifer Eden +Kerry Murphy 

It's a bit early, I know, but if I wait till Monday to post, it may never make it out the door.

2012-08-15 03:40:55 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

It's been about eight or nine months since I was active on G+, but I think it's about time I changed that.

Alas, a day late to learn about an photowalk near where I shot these.  Just my luck.

2012-07-21 07:00:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

+Rick Sammon held a photowalk in Flushing Meadow Park on 7/8.  This is my best of the day.

2012-05-01 13:19:11 (18 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

For those photographers who might be interested.

2012-03-23 01:51:59 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Let the sneezing begin....

2012-03-21 02:45:43 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Some more from Sunday, including a revised processing of one from Sunday night. Probably one more set to add in a few more days.

2012-03-21 02:32:59 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

2012-03-21 02:32:53 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

2012-03-21 02:32:52 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

2012-03-21 02:32:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

2012-03-21 02:32:41 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

2012-03-21 02:32:36 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-03-21 02:40:05 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 25 +1s)

Upper Manhattan with the +G+ NY Photowalkers gang (well, some of them).

Just a few from today. I'll add more over time; I need to sleep now.

2012-03-19 05:41:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

2012-03-19 05:41:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

2012-03-19 05:41:23 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

2012-03-19 05:41:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2012-03-19 05:41:21 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

2012-03-19 05:41:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

2012-03-19 05:41:17 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

2012-03-19 05:41:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2012-02-07 15:21:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Okay...as landscape photographer, the D800E (lacking the AA filter) makes a bit of sense, though I'm still fuzzy on what impact shooting at high aperture would have to that.

As a cityscape photographer, the D800 makes more sense, due to the oft-repeating patterns in bricks.

And I'm still completely unclear on whether moire is an issue for video, which would have to be one of my criteria for upgrading from a D700.

Insights, anyone?

2012-02-07 05:56:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

So very hard not to pull the trigger on a D800E. After all, that's what credit cards are for, right?

2012-01-23 01:28:22 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 8 +1s)

These seven images are the AE bracket used for the HDR processing to create the base image posted previously.

The first one is the "base" exposure, that I tried to set up to expose the trees without losing too much of the sky into white blobbiness.

None of these images individually is all that good. Sure, the trees are colorful, but the sky is washed out. Yet together, they create something so much closer to what I saw with my meat eyes.

This is why I shoot HDR.

2012-01-23 01:22:20 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

2012-01-22 22:46:25 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 21 +1s)

A reprocessing of what is easily my best shot from 2011 for the #PlusOneCollection by +Ivan Makarov.

This was originally taken on a photowalk looking for Central Park foliage I did in November with some photographer friends I've made through G+.

This shot itself is a 7 exposure HDR processed with #Nik tools (HDR Efex, Color Efex, Viveza -- this is the pre-sharpened shot, so not Sharpener).

It's a slightly different crop than what I posted in November, and the processing is likely similar, but certainly different (since I didn't write it down). I made a deliberate choice to cool off the entire image and then warm up the foliage. The original processing was grey clouds and these have a bluer hint. I felt (though I'm sure some will disagree -- ain't artistry grand!) that cooling the sky gave enough contrast to brighten the trees a bit -- the previous... more »

2011-12-10 00:05:07 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

For #WeAreParents curated by +Juan Gonzalez.

8 days old...catching up on sleep.

2011-12-02 06:34:06 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Lightroom and Multiple Monitors

Bah, humbug!

I've been using two monitors for a few years now. It's great! I have one in landscape (my "main" monitor) and one in portrait to the right.

The one on the right is primarily for browsing and Acrobat -- generally thing that would benefit from tall rather than wide.

It's also handy for Lightroom having the second monitor, especially for portrait shots where they get all small on the landscape monitor.

For some oddball reason, Windows has the monitor plugged into Port 1 on the video card as Display #2 and the monitor plugged into Port 2 as Display #1 (swapping ports doesn't change the numbers, either). To my slight annoyance, the landscape/main monitor is 2 and the portrait/secondary is 1. Not that it really matters. LR happily will use display #1 for the secondary display... more »

2011-12-01 16:16:54 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Using MIDI equipment with Lightroom ... who would have thought?

2011-11-20 08:19:51 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Excellent writeup - a must read.

2011-11-20 07:14:11 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 14 +1s)

A few more from the #NYCPhotowalkers photowalk.

I can't post too many at a time. The foliage was fine, but processing colorful leaves gets old fast and good shots start to look boring and repetitive. I probably have a few more I'll put up, when I can look at orange trees again.

2011-11-20 07:11:34 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Central Park Foliage Photowalk 2011-11-13

2011-11-20 07:11:34 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Central Park Foliage Photowalk 2011-11-13

2011-11-20 07:11:02 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Central Park Foliage Photowalk 2011-11-13

2011-11-20 04:53:22 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Last minute offering for #SunsetSaturday curated by +TJ Kelly.

2011-11-20 04:47:02 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Finally getting some more time to process last Sunday's photowalk in Central Park. Here's another shot from that amazing sunset.

I'm still trying to get the first shot reprocessed better. My HDR work has finally evolved to the point where the comment, "wow, that looks like a painting!" makes me cringe. Unfortunately, the one I'm working on was really absurdly deep and I have yet to figure out how to not make it look like a painting.

This one is a lot more realistic. The crazy sky was already gone, and the reflection in the water was serene.

2011-11-19 00:06:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Some sense of what the clouds were like during the day, that led up to that sunset.

The daytime wasn't so shabby.

#PlusPhotoExtract as an afterthough/edit.

Second edit to add #MirrorMonday (curated by +Elizabeth Edwards and +Gemma Costa).

I was so busy processing, I wasn't thinking about themes and such.

2011-11-17 15:25:11 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Google+ addiction explained.

Google+ is an addictive, IQ-raising medium. I've felt it. You've felt it. Now +Miguel Rodriguez explains it.

The reason is that Google+ is conducive to achieving a "flow" state.

Read the whole piece on Media Tapper: http://mediatapper.com/why-google-gets-you-in-the-flow-and-why-it-is-a-good-thing/

* * *

2011-11-16 05:41:57 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

My offering for #WindowWednesday (curated by +Jules Hunter and +Simon Kitcher)

I spent the evening going through the last year of my catalog, looking for a window or two, and of the ten that I collected, this one jumped out at me the most.

Two weeks ago, I offered a stained glass window, and last week, a somewhat odd disembodied arm sticking out of a window. But today, I'm going for something more evocative (at least I hope it's evocative).

Shot with an X100 (before the blades started sticking), NR in Nik Dfine and then B&W conversion in Silver Efex (ND Grad neg2 preset, and the tweaked and color filter manually adjusted to minimize but not eliminate the stripes on his shirt so they're not distracting, but not a black blob, either). Grain added to offset the blown-out blob of the window.

Post edited because I use double-hyphens as punctuation, and... more »

2011-11-14 15:55:34 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Spent the day with some of the #NYCPhotowalkers in Central Park.

It was a little past peak for the foliage -- NYC has had some wacky weather in the last few weeks -- but there was still a good variety of color left (when I start processing/posting the rest of the day, you'll see).

We had just crossed the Bow Bridge and entered the semi-closed Rambles (closed due to downed trees from the recent Nor'easter/snowstorm). +Heidger Marx, +Matylda Czarnecka and +Titus Winters had left us, leaving me with +Vivienne Gucwa, +kora foto morgana, +Brian Joergens, and +Steve Maya.

And then the sky turned pink and purple and orange and the ripples of clouds that had been varying shades of gray through the day turned into a glorious and otherworldly pageant of celestial majesty (okay, a bit over the top, but it was pretty amazing).

For about five minutes, all I could think... more »