The Passenger Window

Last year at Nature Visions we featured Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost.   During one of her presentations she featured work from her “moments taken” portfolio.  To say I was blown away is a huge understatement.   I could not wait to get out and try this technique for myself, but of  course some things need to fall into place.  You need a driver and ideally you need an overcast day.  I would venture to say that if you try to do this while driving you are almost guaranteed to have a very bad and perhaps a deadly day for you or someone else. 

The technique is quite simple.  While moving forward find an object you are approaching and lock on it while panning as the vehicle moves forward.   You should expect a high failure rate but the few keepers you get can really be something special.  

Great Falls

This past Saturday myself and about 30 other people from Road Runner PhotographyMeetup Group braved the cold weather for an early morning shoot at Great Falls.   The sunrise was not exactly epic but we made the best of it.  I got to visit with some old friends and meet some new ones and that part is always great!  When I finally got my camera out of the bag I saw this shot in my mind  and made it happen.   Because the clouds were less than ideal I thought it best to use long exposure.  In this case I exposed for 3 minutes.   The RAW file was triple processed using the smart object technique in Camera Raw.  This allowed me to process the RAW file for the rocks, the water, and the sky, blending them together in Photoshop.  

A Photographers Playground

Yesterday I was driving during the day and noticed a storm drain area on the side of the road with these incredible sheets of ice.   I was busy with my day job so I could not stop, but there was no question that I would be visiting this great spot right after work.  The time between arrival and sunset was about 30 minutes, but what a great period of time!   It looks like this area was flooded prior to the recent freezing temperatures, the flood waters receded, and the big sheet of ice cracked when there was no water underneath to support the ice. 

The trees in the background are a bit cluttered and not quite what I envision as a perfect landscape, but this was a lot of fun none the less.  

First Picture of 2014

Each year I try and get out on New Year’s Day to take a few pictures.   Yesterday I took a day trip to West Virginia with friends.  Our first stop was the Mount Storm Power Plant.   Due to a traffic jam and police road block we arrived a little later than we had hoped, so I decided to just work on some long exposures.  The picture above was an 8 minute exposure using a Singh-Ray 15 Stop ND Filter.   I used the Flypaper Presets with Nik Color Effects  to achieve the color effects.   Click here to check out the Flypaper Presets and use the code (donr) to get a 15% discount.  

A Lot of Texture

This picture started as a simple door that I shot early this year at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.  The roof above the doorway had been removed since my last visit in 2012.  I made the shot using a Lensbaby, but I still think the picture needed something else.  So I processed the picture using the new Flypaper Presets for Nik Color Effects and then finished it off with a texture from Flypaper Textures.  Now I think the image has sufficient texture and that something else!  

You can get a discount on flypaper products if you use the code “donr”.  

P.S.   I will be teaching a light painting workshop at this awesome location in late April.  Drop me an e-mail if you would like more info.  

Learning to Paint

          

      

Last winter I was on Skyline Drive with Denise Silva (my partner at Road Runner) and we pulled over to shoot these fantastic crepuscular rays of light.  For the last couple weeks I have been going through images from this year and decided to see what I could do with this one.  The original image was a little noisy due to shooting at ISO 800.  The shadows also lacked detail, but what is important are the horizontal lines of the mountain ranges contrasted with the beam of light.  I decided that reducing the detail by using Alien Skin Snap Art could help me achieve the desired look I was seeking.  While Snap Art gives you plenty of presets, in this case I felt it necessary to do manual adjustments to give a painted look and also achieve the necessary level of detail.

I have taken a class on photo painting and with a lot of time and effort can do some of this by hand in Photoshop, but Snap Art saves a ton of time!  If you are interested in a discount on Snap Art, please send me an e-mail. 

Light Painting

  

A couple weeks ago I took a group from our Meetup to the Lonaconing Silk Mill.  At this point I have been to the mill more times than I can count, however, I seem to always find something new to shoot.   In the light painting above I can’t take credit for the arrangement.   I had found some items arranged on this shelf and told one of the participants, suggested she give it a try and I would help with the light painting.  The participant was a teenager and in this case I really enjoyed watching the creative process.  She started out by looking at the arrangement of items in front of her and after what seemed like a few minutes started rearranging items to suit her taste.   In my opinion she came up with a much stronger design than what was on the shelf a few minutes earlier.   I found it fascinating to watch this young talent at work! 

By the way, I used the new Perfect Photo Suite from OnOne Software to process this image. 

We will be going back to the Silk Mill on March 29th, so check out our Meetup page if you would like to join us!