14/52... break stuff...

i do not have a fancy studio... or even an expensive set up. this was shot using a piece of white foam board, and a white cutting board on the floor. my Canon 50D and canon 28-135mm was on a tripod, as low as it could get. i had one flash set up on camera right, with a 45 inch shoot through umbrella. i used our fridge as a reflector and positioned the umbrella up high, pointing down at a 45 degree angle, at about 45 degrees off center of the vase.

my roommate was my assistant, he had the fun part of dropping things. nothing special, just me trying to time the explosion by eye. we literally broke about 6 things. everything from Christmas ornaments, to a really ugly wine/margarita style glass.

post processing was done using Adobe light room, and Photoshop CS5. i had to fill in a spot in the lower left corner due to my roommate not dropping it in the center. this was by far the most real editing i have had to do for this 52 week project. but i am glad it was nothing too extreme.

jon

13/52...

week 13 looks like its filler, i have been super busy at work and only gave myself a couple hours of camera time. i shot 2 HDR photos and this one was the best one. this is a "bum house" down town. it located under a garage off of main ave, the people that "live" there stopped in while i was taking the necessary photos. i was asked for change, then how much my camera was worth..... kind of a scary moment when the one lady tried to grab my backpack. but it was all solved when i realized hers and mine looked similar. i hate stereo types, but the 4 people that came "home" were all intoxicated and didn't seem too friendly, well that is until i talked to them for a bit. i actually would like to shoot some photos of them, bu the are "traveling".

i tried to ask them how long they have been around, and how long they have been homeless. they all kinda gave me the run around, one in particular says he has no plans on being a "productive member of society". he actually called it the white mans duty to do that... yep...

from what i could gather they are heading to Kansas, to be with some friends. and possibly work at some factory that pays under the table and will give them a place to live for free. to each their own.

i wished them the best of luck and went on my way.... wonder if they made it where they were going...

12/52...

This was taken at 11pm at a local park. There is a nature trail with a man made lake, and a dock. Sertoma park has been a favorite spot if mine since I started taking photos.

For the shot I used my fisheye lens, and a 30 second exposer at ISO 2000. Originally I was getting a very strange red hue over the whole picture, this was corrected in Lightroom. Basic post adjustment. Mostly with temperature and a little noise reduction. After that is was photoshop CS5 for the boarder and logo, I also added a slight high pass filter for a little sharpening.

Leave comments, like, or feel free to repost on your own blogs if you wish.

Thanks again Jon

Now thats advertising....

Took a stroll; to get dinner, with my girlfriend the other night. I live fairly close to the homeless shelter in town, and the have this giant cross/sign next to their building. Every time I pass it, I think I should take a picture of it. Usually I do not have my DSLR with me, or I'm on a mission to get something else.

This time I decided to used iPhone to snap a quick picture. Usually I save my iPhone photos for stuff like instagram, and Facebook. But I kinda liked how this one turned out. I have always been surprised at the quality of pictures I can get on my phone, and how powerful some of the editing programs can be.

It doesn't matter what camera you own, the best one, is the one you have with you.

11/52...

For this week, I used my fisheye lens for a self portrait. I found these earbud speakers the other day, and instantly thought of this shot. I have the "earbuds" plugged into my iPad.

For the shot, I used 2 off camera speedlites. One behind a 45" white umbrella above the camera pointing down. The other was shooting into a reflective 36" umbrella, bouncing the light from below and to the cameras left. The lower flash was used as a full light for my legs, and chest.

Post processing was done in adobe Lightroom 3 and photoshop cs5. Minor tweaks to the white balance and adding some contrast. Then cropping and adding my logo.

If you have any ideas for next weeks photo, please comment below!!! Any, and all ideas are considered.

Jon

iPhoto say what!?

Downloaded the new iPhoto app, for iPad tonight. This may be my new favorite "quick" editing app. Very powerful, and it really livened up this photo. It was under exposed and very flat before. I may have gone a bit overboard with it, but this was about one minute of playing around.

Again, very pleased with this app. I may get the camera kit, and use this while on my trip to Florida, in May.

10/52...

So, my son won for best idea for this week. This is what he wanted a picture of.... My roomate might kill me, sorry Jeff.

9/52...

totally forgot to think of something to take a picture of this week.... so i will give you a bow tie tutorial.... why? cause bow ties are awesome, that's why.

Under the bridge...

Here is another photo from my HDR kick. This one was 10 exposures, merged using Photomatix. Post HDR software all I did was a little sharpening, and removed some chromatic aberration.

All in all I am pretty happy with the picture, and I will try very hard not to post another HDR picture for a while!! Well.... That is unless you are enjoying them. Leave a comment for what I should shoot next, and I will see if I can deliver.

Thanks for looking.

Killing time...

Took a walk downtown to kill some time. Originally I was going to try to take pictures inside this building. A few months back it was abandoned and in rough shape, as of now they are restoring it. I was pretty bummed I couldn't get inside again, so I decided to try an HDR image of the building. This spot is used heavily in my city for portrait photography. I decided to shoot it in a different way. I am very happy with the way it turned out, even if it is a little too surreal. To each his own I guess.

8/52....

For this photo, I did a 5 exposure HDR. This was right after we received about a half inch of snow fall, so everything was looking clean, and neat. I used photomatix for the HDR processing, and adobe Lightroom for noise removal.

7/52...

I took my son to the car show this weekend. of course i took my camera along!! I only got a few shots, but this one turned out pretty well. it was shot with a Sigma 17-35 f2.8 @17mm. this is an HDR image, with three exposures. Due to the lights EVERYWHERE, it was difficult to get a decent image without some glare, or over exposure.

Quiet nights...

Went out last night looking for ideas for my photo for next week. I ended up with this shot. I have to give credit to my girlfriend though, she is the one that told me I was grumpy and should go take pictures to calm down...

Walk in the woods...

Here is one from last Autumn. It's always a nice surprise when I come across photos I forgot about.

6/52...

Blurry fields...

I can't wait for winter to be over. I need to take some more long walks, with my camera soon.

Monster trucks...

Took my son to the monster truck show yesterday, I really need to take him to a larger event!!

5/52...

Decided to try my hand at an HDR photo this week. This is a car in the alleyway about a block from my place. The thing has not moved in a very long time, total rust bucket. I used my fisheye lens to take 3 photos. One 3 stops under exposed, and one 3 stopes over exposed, then one correctly exposed.

I used Photomatix to create the HDR, and Lightroom to do my touch up. Lightroom was used mostly to reduce the noise and grain that comes with the HDR process. I will have to try VERY hard not to over use this software!!!

Thanks again for looking. Jon

4/52

Week 4. Going through my son's toy box, I found this. It is the original one, not a repro from the new toy story. It's old, dirty, and beat up. I love the character of this toy, and it is now sitting on a shelf in my room.

3/52...

Week 3, this photo makes me want a 70-200 2.8 real bad!!!