good morning...

sun rise shot, on the Indialantic beach in Florida.

Vacation time...

Well, currently I'm in Florida on vacation. So I'm not sure if I will be getting a bunch of photos.... Or none...

Today I went to the beach with a friend, and was able to snag a quick HDR shot of the sand, water, and sky. I'm hoping to get a few more coastline, or sunrise photos if I can.

Thanks again for looking.

Jon

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter Facebook.com/seaton.jon - Facebook.

19/52...

This was shot withy sigma 70-300 f4-5.6. This was shot at 70mm f4, I very rarely use this lens, mostly Due to the massive amounts of chromatic aberration it can produce.

I decided to dust it off after the rain on saturday. There was a bunch of squirrels running back and forth on a power line. Since this is my largest zoom lens I decided to give it a shot. Well.... The squirrels were gone by the time a swapped lenses. So I kept using it, trying to see what I could get.

I was watching the rain roll off out roof, I snapped a couple photos of the drops falling off the helicopter. I noticed the crazy amount of bokeh, and depth of field, it really reminds me if a tilt shift style lens. The line of focus is so thin, and yet still crisp. I was going to ditch this lens, but I might keep it for this effect alone.

Jon

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter

Power...

Bored after the little rain we got today.

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter.

A view from up top...

Revisiting the storm...

Here is a HDR shot with my sigma 17-35mm. Same location as the previous 2 posts.

This was the first shot I took. I never realized there was an apartment on this rooftop, I think it's absolutely amazing!!!

This is the top if the buildings on Phillips avenue, between 10th and 11th streets.

Thanks again for looking.

Jon

@jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter

Storm HDR

Went out to see the storm last night. Again it was just mugging us, and all the major stuff was too far out to get a decent photograph. So I decided to improvise, I grabbed my fisheye lens, and hung out of the parking ramp. I did a handheld, 13 bracket, her shot. I was pretty pleased that I kept it mostly stable.

I processed this with photomatix. I went for more of the surreal/painting style shot for this one. I toned down the saturation, and dropped the gamma to give it some grit.

Overall not a bad shot for what I was working with, and I'm still overly addicted to HDR photography!!!

Comment, follow, and thank you for viewing.

Jon

@Jonseaton - instagram @thejonseaton - twitter

Watching the storm roll in....

Went to a local parking ramp, to see if I would get some decent storm photos. The shorn was too far out, and not all that spectacular. So I got some HDR shots of the rooftops instead. This will be posted soon. Check back and see them within the week.

Jon

18/52....

17/52...

Just a different view, of Down Town Sioux Falls, SD.

Protest...

This photo taught me a valuable lesson.... Buy more memory cards... I almost didn't get this shot. I left my memory card in my computer!!! I saw this couple while I was downtown, and tried to get the shot. Sure enough my "no card" error popped up. My jaw dropped, I missed this shot!!!

I ran home as quick as I could. Normally this is not an issue, but I was also trying out a new camera bag, and forgot to pack my spare card. Dumb move!

Thankfully when I returned they were still sitting there, cute as can be. They waived, and smiled as I took a few pictures.

I hope to have as much love, and passion as they do when I get to be their age.... Well if I make it that far...

Jon

16/52...

hasty picture this week. i had another one planned to try, but it did not work out. possibly next week.

this is an HDR photo, of the pond waterfall in my back yard. shot at f22 on a cloudy day. actually, this morning. i have really been cutting this close the last few weeks. i'm going to try to plan ahead a bit more from now on.... TRY, being the key word.

canon 50D canon 50mm f1.8 prime.

15/52...

This week I decided to try some stack focusing. This photo was 15 photos blended together in photoshop CS5. I took every photo at a different focal length so everything was in focus, step by step.

The issue I ran into was the exposure. To get the marble properly exposed, I had to use a faster shutter speed, but that made the handle, and wood too dark. To solve this I basically took the same photos, at different shutter speeds and combined them, similar to an HDR photo.

The end result is multiple things in focus, with no bokeh, or anything out of focus. I purposely kept the little dust "hair" in focus. That was my first focal length, followed by the marble, then the handle, then the wood.

I used my canon 50D with a sigma 70-300 on the macro setting. I believe this was shot at f5.6. Using a tripod, and manual focus, I was able to step though the focal lengths and achieve the photo.

Thanks again for reading

Jon

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.