fantastico

Friday, March 20, 2009

Hits and Misses

For this entry, I wanted to include a few pics that weren't quite what I was aiming for, as a learning tool. Over the past few months, I've added a new monitor (oh SHOOT! I still need to pick up a video card), a new camera, new editing software and last night became the very, very proud owner of a new lens! I figure this post would be a good one to include some Hits & Misses, as a way to gauge my abilities.

First Pic
After a bit o'random messing around with my new lens just to get a feel for it (sign posts, door hinges, my shoes, the radio... y'know, stuff like that...) this is the first "official" picture that I took. I *think* I even took this one hand-held?

Oh... Miss! Dang.

This pic was taken from about the same vantage point. I envisioned a sharp, wide view of the diner. My initial interest was sparked by an employee chilling at the end of the bar, but I missed my chance. I think it would be cool to try this one again with a 10mm, and perhaps a longer exposure and f-stop in the upper teens?

Fun with the Photoshop
Oh dear sweet goodness, I am horrible with photoshop. Too many options! I used another frame from this location and tried a bunch of different effects.

The top one is just a basic edit I would normally to... move the exposure around, increase the blacks, add a bit of fill lighting, change the saturation, blah blah blah. You got it... basic msg stuff.

The middle one was converted to black & white (urban/snapshot... I think.) and then I added a pinch filter. How fun! A pinch filter! I like the distortion.

Then for the bottom one I added glowing edges to everything and bumped up the saturation. I kinda like it. I think the whole image looks electrified now. boogiewoogiewoogie.

Public Gallery

The Post Alley display of public art is inspiring; even at night. Actually, it was even cooler because the lights in the alley illuminated the area very well and I could see more details of the wall art.

I don't know why, but this cheesey Seattle sticker on a post caught my eye. Maybe because I could use it as a focal anchor for my random shots? To give a feel of consistency, I converted all of the shots below into black & white using the infrared filter.

I like this first one because it captures the feel of the alley... it tells you where you are.

Ok, ok.... the one below is Miss. I am still getting used to the new camera and wasn't sure how to change my focal point. I tried centering and focusing, then shifting my composition while holding the shutter button down.. but that didn't work. See?

I monkeyed with the menu, used the in-camera glossary (go Nikon!) and managed to get the frame I wanted. Nice, huh?

This last one is a tribute to my grandma; that crazy lady loved owls! She had every owl-themed knick-knack known to the human world. I swear. So, this was my last-look photo and last pic of the day. (I do wish, though, that I hadn't composed it so tightly... I cut off a bit of one of their ears. yikes!)

Thank you for checking out my pictures & reading all my ramblings! I am thankful, too, for my dear friend del for keeping me company on the streets of sea-town.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

quick pic

Rainy weather on Saturday cancelled a hike up in Skagit County, but brought an opportunity for a little road trip! I still headed up north (without even a trip in to see the fam! sssshhh...) and took this pic at the beach that looks out toward the Deception Pass bridge. I took the pic with my little Canon, and am pleasantly surprised with the depth of field. (lil' trick I learned from my lesson on Rainier last summer...)

p.s. applebees.

Friday, March 13, 2009

inspiration by twilight

**Newsflash!! With the help of my multi-skilled photographic mentor/big wierdo, I have replaced the dusty "hillside" & "longing" shots with healed pics. Thanks to anonymous blogger for commenting & thanks to the pinky pop for helping me! ~lori 3/20/09 **

These pics were taken Tuesday evening. The venue: Gasworks Park in Seattle. I've had it on my list of places to photograph for awhile.

Polite Running Guy
I was trying to get a shot of the, uh, gas works using a set of benches in the foreground, but luck was on my side: a runner stopped for a little stretch & moment of contemplation. I converted this to black & white using the infrared option.

Sunset

It was a beautiful (although CHILLY!!!) night, and the sunset was beautiful. It didn't actually look like the picture below; I totally messed around with photoshop settings to get this look.

Longing
... longing for a longer focal length, that is! I stood at the very edge of the park, zoomed out to 55mm and just *wished* for longer focal length. I am torn... a new 50mm or a new 18-someting else?

Moon at Twilight

Twilight is my absolute favorite time of day to shoot. I love the flexibility; you can underexpose for darkness, overexpose for an early sunset look, or get a beautiful, captivating blue. I don't usually get a look at Seattle from this vantage point; if you asked me, I would have probably guessed it was another city.

Cool Trees

More fun in the twilight hour. I loved the branches, and the city playing peek-a-boo in the distance.

Thanks for checking out my pics! And thanks, too, to my dear friend del for accompanying me on a whim :)

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

East Coast Swing

This post is mostly narrative... scenes from my recent trip to the Washington DC metro area. I used my little Canon A520 on all the shots, so I don't have too many technological mishaps or revelations. I am becoming better friends with photoshop now, so each of these pics has a little bit of adjustment, but they are secret. broo ha ha haaaa.

Enjoy!

The trip started with a red-eye flight to DC. New Dan hadn't visited there before, so we went on a truly whirlwind tour. I think we walked at least eight miles that day. I took this picture outside our nation's capital.

And then we walked aaaallllll the way down the mall to the Lincoln Memorial.

By late afternoon I was in need of a little latte break ;) I was happy to stumble upon Swings, an independent coffee roaster.

After a few more miles of urban hiking, including a stop at the National Portraiture Gallery to check out the hall of Presidents & current photography exibit (sylar behave!), we headed towards the metro to head back to Arlington. I passed the time playing with the shutter priority on my camera. The gentleman in this picture reminds me of my grandpa.

Fast forward to Saturday. My friend Jessica drove down from Baltimore and we headed to Colonial Williamsburg. First stop: the gift shop.

The picture below is actually pretty cool... it was taken on Jamestown Island, the first permanent English Settlement in the New World.

One random fact about me... I live through other people's cats. My sister's cats were my "nephews" before the Corbinator came around. I have a picture of one of my friend's cats as my wallpaper on my computer, so of course, I had to take a few pics of one of Jessie's kitties, Scout.

Sunday night I got together with a few of my Peace Corps Tonga folks for a great dinner. If you are ever in Baltimore, check out Holy Frijoles on W 36th. Seriously. Go there. I took the pic below from where I was sitting. I was torn between color and black & white, so I added a black & white version too, with a colored pencil filter. I am happy with the photoshop'd version, it reminds me of the "Take Me On" video by A-ha. Funny, now I want to do a series of pics in the A-ha style. That is so Norwegian of me.

Now you have that song stuck in your head, huh? ;)

My thanks to New Dan for being such a good sport with my random tour of DC and having patience while i took weird pictures. To Jennie for opening up the bed & breakfast (you MUST come to Seattle soon!). To Jessie for a fun weekend (if you had told me in Mrs. Pruitt's pre-algebra class that we would be taking goofy pictures in Colonial Williamsburg when we were in our thirties I would have laughed at you...) and to Elica mo Atama mo ene ki'i famili for fabulous last-minute dinner plans!

PROJECT TWENTY EIGHT: week one

Some of my facebook friends have an ambitious project... taking a picture everyday during 2009. I thought the idea was brilliant, but I am not that disciplined... so I opted for "PROJECT TWENTY EIGHT" - a picture a day in the month of February.

Some of the pics were taken with my new Nikon D80, quite a few with my handy little Canon A520, and just one pic with my old Rebel xti.

It ended up being harder than I thought! Some days I had a bunch of interesting pictures to choose from, and some days, well, some days required some "creativity." you'll see ;)

Hope you enjoy these pics, and a little glimpse in the life of a macro superhero. Thank you for checking out my pictures!

Let's begin....

day one... went to kerry park in seattle for a wee little photo shoot

day two... all of the cleaning pads that i used on my new nikon. yucky... but now it is *beautiful*!!

day three... a marina on the everett waterfront. yup, with the nikon.

day four... east coast swing class tonight at the hayloft, took this with my little canon a520.

day five... in pursuit of petit verdot

day six... this week's SIFF schedule. i picked up the program while attending a lecture at the Photographic Center Northwest.

day seven... this is a close-up of the lid to my big 'ol pot o chili :)

PROJECT TWENTY EIGHT: week two

day eight... went up to A-town today, took some pics with the neighbors

day nine... view of the full moon. it was too cold to set up my tripod, so i snapped this and ran. sadly it was quite blurry. nothing a little photoshop filter can't fix ;) well, kinda