The colors in this are straight out of the camera. I added some detail in Lightroom and Color Efex Pro 3, but eveything else is pretty much untouched. I love this.

Prime Time

I am now 72 days into my 365 project and thought it was time to get a little creative. I’ve been thinking about doing some sort of mini-series where for a few days in a row all of the photos would have something specific in common. Today I thought of the first series.

Starting today through Friday, my daily photo will be taken using my Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime lens. I first bought this to improve my photos at conventions and it certainly did its job. However, I haven’t been to many conventions recently, it’s sort of been just collecting dust. I decided it was time to pull it out and put it to use.

Prime lenses have only one focal length. So if what I see framed in the viewfinder is not what I want, I have to move instead of zooming in or out. I think that’s my main reason for avoiding using it. But there are benefits to using prime lenses. There’s a lot less distortion and vignetting with them and they tend to have a much wider aperture. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to use this lens at the widest setting and still get the sky in it, be we’ll see.

For the first time, I also brought my dSLR with me on my bike ride. I’ve always been afraid of it getting damaged somehow, but this lens is really small and with the battery grip removed from the camera, it’s not a whole lot bigger than my point and shoot. So I stored it in my backpack inside a Tamrac SLR case. The Tamrac case has plenty of coushioning, so even if I did fall, I think the camera would be fairly safe.

If all goes well and this series is a success, be on the lookout for more. Some other ideas I’ve had are using a specific subject or theme of the photos. Please feel free to make suggestions.

Check out my first in the Prime Lens series here: Day 72

So far, so good…

Ok, so it’s only the third day of my 365 project, but I’m feeling pretty good about it so far. I was afraid I’d have difficulty coming up with new shots and not just shooting around my apartment on days when I don’t go hiking or biking. It’s been easier than I expected so far.

The first day I managed to catch the sunrise and took a nice shot of that. Yesterday while running along 48^th St., I saw a cool shot and was able to capture it on my iPhone. Today at work, I saw a cool shot and grabbed my Canon PowerShot SX120 IS. I always keep the PowerShot with me when I go to work because there had been times in the past when I wished I had a camera on me, but wasn’t about to start taking my dSLR with me.

So three days – three different cameras – three very different photographs. I think 365 is manageable. Keep up with my 365 project on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9143496@N03/5388276007/

365 Project – Arizona Skies

When I first moved to Arizona, I took many pictures of the landscapes near my home in Mesa. This was before I became really serious about my photos. One friend made a comment that is the inspiration for this 365 project. She told me to take more photos but include “more of that gorgeous sky!”

She was absolutely right. The sky here is fantastic. Part of the reason is that there are very few trees to block out the sky so you get to see more of it. The other reason is that it’s so dry that the sky tends to be a really clear, deep blue color. When there are clouds, they are generally very dramatic looking.

Another reason I decided on the sky for a subject is that I am starting this on my birthday. I am an Aquarius, which is an air sign, so it seemed a bit fitting.

All of the photos in the project will in some way incorporate the sky. Most will have some sort of foreground scene. Of course, I may not be in Arizona ever day for the next 365 days, so there may be a few times that I’ll have to post skies outside of Arizona. You’ve been warned.

My first photo I managed to take this morning at sunrise. Quite fitting – the beginning photo taken at the beginning of the day.

Well, I hope you enjoy the next 365 days!! Click the link below to see the first photo.

Click here to view the photo

Tackling a Monster

I’ve been slacking a bit in my blogging. I wanted to do it at least once a week, but I’ve been busy doing other things… Oh well, at least I’m here now.

So last week I began really learning Photoshop CS5. Previously, I read most of a book on CS4, but realized I needed to master Lightroom first. Lightroom is definitely the most important program in my post processing. It allows me to stay very organized and gives me the smoothest workflow options.

I learned how to use it by reading Scott Kelby’s The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers while using a beta version of Lightroom 3. There were some slight differences, but the core functionality was there and it helped quite a bit. If you are planning on learning Lightroom and want a good “show me how” type of book, I highly recommend you get his book for whichever version of Lightroom you use.

When Lightroom 3 was officially released, I picked up Martin Evening’s The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers. His book is much more detailed than Kelby’s and is the perfect supplement to Kelby’s introductory type style. Evening’s style is more for intermediate learners and was perfect for where I was in my knowledge. I haven’t completely finished it, but I’ve read through the majority of the material on processing color photos and feel really confident in my abilities now.

And now my next challenge: Photoshop CS5. CS5 is a huge monster. It’s not just for Photographers. There is so much you can do in it, it’s hard to figure out what I need to use. Luckily, Kelby and Evening both have written books on it.

I just started Scott Kelby’s The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers, and I have Martin Evening’s Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers waiting for me when I finish. Kelby’s CS5 book does not need to be read straight through like his Lightroom books, but I’m reading straight through anyway. I don’t want to miss a thing.

One of the first few photos I worked on is a photo I took in April, 2009. The photo was taken while hiking South Mountain in Phoenix, AZ. It’s the perfect shot of a brown-crested flycatcher sitting on a cactus where the main barrel had been cut away by some means. It’s one of my favorite shots, but I’ve struggled to get the entire photo exposed and color corrected properly. I think I’ve finally fixed it.

Today I began the chapter on HDR, which is something I’ve been really excited to get into. The HDR photos I’ve made in the past have been ok, but I really want to master this very creative form of photography. The first one I made after reading the first lesson is a from my vacation to RI this past October. In anticipation of making HDR photos, I’ve been shooting a lot of photos using the Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) on my camera. I took three exposures of one of my favorite shots in Narragansett and it can out really well.

Ok, time to get back to work learning this crazy beast called Photoshop.

After the rain…

A few days before my trip to RI, we had some really heavy rain for a few days here in Phoenix. On one of those days the rain ended a couple of hours after I got home from work and decided to attempt to shoot some flowers with rain drops on them. I’m sure you’ve seen many photos of that before. These came out ok, but I did struggle a bit with a few things.

The optimal lighting conditions outdoors is typically 30 minutes after sunrise or 30 minutes before sunset. These shots were taken about 2 hours before sunset. I have also read that shooting with overcast skies is almost as good. Well, I definitely struggled with the lighting here. I had to really put Lightroom to work here in order to balance the lighting.

  Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 84mm, f/5.0, 1/100 sec, ISO 640

I was hoping to get some really good close-ups of water droplets, but it proved a bit difficult with my lens. I don’t have a macro lens for my Canon XSi, so I ended up using my Tamron 18-270mm. I love the range of this lens because I was able to get some shots of flowers high up in a tree as well as some on bushes without needing to switch lenses. I’m starting to see the limitations in the quality of the lens, but overall it’s a decent lens. I also put my tripod to good use here, hoping to get sharper shots.

  

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 119mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 800

My girlfriend came home from work while I was out shooting and she told me about a butterfly what was just sitting on a palm leaf along one of the paths. I went over there with her and it was still there. It continued to sit in the same position for the entire 5 or 10 minutes that I stood around it taking photos from all kinds of angles.

 

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 142mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 800

To see the full album, visit the set on Flickr here or on Facebook here.

Learning the ropes of 35mm

It’s been quite a while since I last posted – almost a month. I think it’s time to take a break from processing photos to update my blog. I have quite a bit of photos to go through since I took over 2,000 shots at Saboten Con, and then I traveled on vacation to visit my family in Rhode Island. I went out shooting every day I was there, so I have way too many photos to go through. I’ve put some up already, but I saved the heaviest shooting days for last.

One thing I did while in RI was take my vintage Canon AE-1 SLR with me. Prior to this camera, I had not shot 35mm film since high school. My dad gave the camera to me late last year and I’ve taken it out a few times shooting. I had three rolls of film lying around undeveloped, so I wasn’t too sure how well I was shooting with the camera. The camera came with a Canon FD 50mm F1.8 lens, but I purchased a Canon FD 35-105mm  F3.5 lens on eBay so that I would have a little bit of range.

So far I’ve only looked at the 24 exp roll that I shot in RI and haven’t had a chance to look at the other two that I finally got developed. (One of the original three had been exposed when removing it from the camera, so no shots came out of that one.) The results were a bit disappointing. I’m so used to the automatic features of my digital cameras that I forget there’s a lot more to think about with this mostly manual SLR.

It does have some automatic exposure settings. There is auto mode, which picks the shutter speed and aperture. I can also adjust the aperture and it will pick a shutter speed, or adjust the shutter speed and it will pick an aperture. Of course I can also choose both manually. I shot with ISO200 film, so I really had to consider the lighting. If I didn’t get a well-balanced shot, the shoots would either overexpose in spots or underexpose.

When I had the film developed, I had them put the shots on a CD in addition to the 4x6 prints. I was then able to import the shots in to Lightroom and made some adjustments. In total, I was able to come out with 10 or 11 halfway decent shots.

Below are a two examples. You can find more on my Facebook photography page or on flickr.com here:

Cumberland Monastery 

Pulaski Park

Taken at the Cumberland Monastery, Cumberland, RI, October 14, 2010

camera: Canon AE-1, lens: Canon FD 35-105mm F3.5, film: Kodak Gold ISO200 35mm

Taken at Clarkville Pond, Pulaski Park/George Washington Management Area, Gloster, RI, October 10, 2010

camera: Canon AE-1, lens: Canon FD 35-105mm F3.5, film: Kodak Gold ISO200 35mm

Saboten Con

Day 2 of Saboten Con is almost over. I bought a new lens to try out and it's amazing. At previous cons I struggled with the low lighting and ended up with blurry shots or poorly exposed shots. I bought a Canon 50mm f/1.4 for $350 and it is one of the best things I've ever bought for my photography. It's allowed me to get brighter shots with very little motion blur. I love it.

I've already taken a over 2000 shots because I've been shooting in burst mode. I'll have alot to sort through, but hopefully I'll have some really great shots. It'll take a while to get done though. I'll post them as soon as I can.

Saboten Con This Weekend - Conventions are fun to shoot at!

This weekend I’ll be at the Saboten Con in Phoenix. This is the second year that my girlfriend, Mary, will be selling her handmade goth accessories at this anime convention. Last year, I only attended the last day of the con with her, but I discovered a great way to occupy myself and improve my photography in between customers.

Anime cons are similar to other conventions (i.e. comic book, sci-fi, Star Wars, etc.) in that the attendees tend to dress up as their favorite character, which is also known as cosplaying. I started taking candid photos last year of people dressed up and I had a great time doing so. Since then I went to two other anime conventions in Tucson with Mary and we briefly attended the Phoenix Comicon.

Cosplayer dressed as Harley Quinn at Saboten Con '09

It’s been quite a challenge taking photos at these conventions because the lighting is usually terrible. I’ve been taking my photography seriously now for two years but my main focus has always been nature photography. Lighting is not as much of a challenge outdoors than it is inside the halls and conference rooms of hotels, where the lighting is generally very low and it’s difficult to get the correct exposure.

I’ve been challenging myself at each convention to show improvement in my work. It’s rather difficult to progress when these conventions take place every three or four months, but I think I’ve been doing fairly well. At the first convention I don’t even think I really considered what I was doing and just used the same techniques I used when I was shooting outside. The second convention was a similar experience but I lucked out because the lighting was much better. After that second convention though, I started to think of ways to improve my shots by using a different shooting mode and experimenting with different ISO settings.

Cosplayer dressed as the Joker wearing Arkham Asylum prisoner outfit and handcuffs at Conichwa '10 in Tucson

Most recently, at the last Tucson convention I focused specifically on increasing the ISO, or light sensitivity. I was really afraid to play with it due to the fact that the more you increase the ISO, the more visible noise you will have in the image. The plus side is that you can get a more accurate exposure. I pushed the ISO up anyway and was only partially happy with the results. When I worked on the images in Adobe Lightroom I tried to fix the noise in the images and ended up doing it a bit too much. The photos came out looking kind of flat.

Fortunately I’ve been reading some books by Scott Kelby that have tips on shooting at weddings. Weddings are probably the closest thing in comparison to conventions as far as the lighting situations go. Weddings tend to take place in churches or reception halls with very low light, similar to the hotels that host these conventions.

A wedding photographer is always taking photos of the event and what’s actually taking place. There are of course the formal photos, but there is a lot of walking around the reception and capturing everything.

I’m not a big fan of posed shots of people cosplaying. I prefer to get the candid shots of them chatting with their friends, or cosplaying and interacting with other characters from that specific anime or video game. To me, that’s the connection I make with wedding photography.

Cosplayers at Animeland TuCon '10 in Tucson

So this weekend, I’ll be trying to use as many of the tips from Scott Kelby’s books as possible and I’m hoping to have the best shots yet. Saboten Con is the largest anime convention in Arizona as far as I know, so I’m expecting a very large turnout with a very large pool of subjects. I’ll be sure to post some shots here as well as on my Flickr and Facebook pages.

Vegan Etsy Treasury Feature!!

 

 My "Pearched Butterfly" image was featured in a treasury of all Vegan Etsy Team members.

Time to get this blog moving

Ok, it's been way too long since the last time I posted. I think I really should do it more often. I've been reading quite a few books on photography, mostly on processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3, but I'm on the third volume of a basics set of books by Scott Kelby, called Digital Photography. Click the name to see the set on Scott's website.

I started reading these because I had previously read he book on Lightroom 2, which I used to learn Lightroom 3. He has a very good way of explaining things very simply and easy to understand. He also has a great sense of humor so reading his books is very enjoyable.

The Digital Photography series of books is just basic photo tips on things like flash photography, portraits, landscapes, sports, etc. Basically everything. I'm more interested of course in the outdoor and macro photography, but I've been reading it all hoping to pick up some good tips. Let me tell you, it has been well worth it.

I've seen a dramatic improvement in my photography all around. Even some of the comments I've received on my facebook page have proven that others have seen it as well. Here are a couple of images I took recently using techniques from volume 2:

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 39mm, f/4.0, 1/50 sec, ISO 800

I shot this last night at Loving Hut in Central Phoenix, AZ. It's the garlic sensation. I tried to make a very shallow depth of field and have the point of focus close to the front of the dish but not too close. About a third of the way in. I think I should of had it a little be closer, but other wise I think it came out well. I think I need a macro lens to really make this type of shot work.

Canon XSi, Tamron 18-270mm lens, 39mm, f/4.0, 1/30 sec, ISO 800

This is the Hawaiian burger that my girlfriend, Mary, had. For the most part I'm very happy with the result, but I think it would have been better if I had her turn the burger a little to the camera's right and then rotated the plate clockwise so I could get more of the fries in the shot.

Besides for these shots, I've been improving my nature shots and have been taking quite a few shots at anime and comic conventions. Mary has been selling her handmade accessories and makeup at these conventions and I go with her to help out. Of course I have my camera with me and take a lot of candid shots. I prefer them to the posed shots that everyone likes to take. There is a convention coming up next weekend so that will give me quite a bit to work on. We will also be traveling to RI in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping to get a lot of good fall foliage shots.

My plans are to keep this blog going a bit more than I have been. I think it's a great place for me to discuss what I've been working on. I use facebook to display my photos, but it's not the best place for describing my work.

Stuck

I received an email yesterday through my store asking me to be participate in a charity event for Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa. I'm really excited that someone contacted me and asked me to participate, however I don't have any photos printed, $30 for the vendor license, or $100 for the booth. This could be really good exposure for me. I'll have to see if there is any way to get cash quickly to get some stuff printed and pay all the expenses.

First Blog Feature!!!

I just found out that I was featured in a blog!! This is the first one that I know of. I'm very excited about it. :)

Photographers of Etsy

I don't feel like using a song title this time

I have a ton of photos that I'm trying to get through and it seems to be taking forever. I was very anxious to get to the California Condor and Turkey Vulture photos, so I skipped ahead and worked on those. I finished them off yesterday and posted them on flickr.com and my facebook fan page. Some of them came out really well.

This is one of my favorites:









facebook
flickr

Stardrowned

It's been a while since I posted something. I've been meaning to do so for the past couple of weeks, but then I get distracted. I seem to be distracted easily quite a bit lately. As a matter of fact, right now I'm in the middle of processing some pics and realized I wanted to update my blog...

Anyway, it's been pretty hot around Phoenix, so my girlfriend and I have been taking trips on the weekend up north; places like Prescott, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. I absolutely love living so close to such beautiful places. We haven't gone to Sedona recently, other than when we drove home from Flagstaff and took a detour through there. There are so many places to photograph.

Granite Mountain, just east of Prescott, is a very beautiful place. I saw my first raven while we were eating lunch before our hike. I also took lots of butterfly pics. Oh, and the agave flowers were gorgeous.

Red Mountain, between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, is now one of my favorite hikes. The trail is only about 1.5 miles and it goes right into a volcanic cinder cone. The mountains scattered about Flagstaff are pretty much all former volcanoes and this one particular one has a huge chunk removed from it's side. You hike right into it!! I was going to surprise Mary and take her to the Grand Canyon because it was only another 40 miles north, but on the way I saw that it's $25 to get in and I didn't have enough money. We decided to go the following weekend. On the way home though, we detoured through Oak Creek Canyon. You take a windy road down into the canyon and then follow it out to the red rocks of Sedona. Very beautiful. We stopped and took some pictures. We also made it to a rest stop along I-17 called Sunset Point just before sunset. It was perfect. The sunset was beautiful and we took lots of pics.

We didn't end up going to the Grand Canyon the following weekend, but we did go last weekend. Mary has never been before, so she was quite excited. I stopped and bought a better camera for her for her birthday, which is this coming weekend. Other than getting rained on a little, it was very nice. I took some cool pictures of California Condors. Very cool. On the way home, I spotted some turkey vultures sitting in a dead tree along the highway that goes to Flagstaff. I stopped to take some pictures and then spotted another dead tree with several more turkey vultures. I've never seen so many in one place. I'm assuming it's because it was close to sunset. But then, I saw a whole bunch more in another tree that wasn't dead. There was probably close to 20 all together. That is just insane. I got some nice shots.

So now I have to go and process them all... ;-)

Skull Forest

Today I received a message through my etsy store and was notified that two of my photos are featured in a treasury. Here is the link, but I think they only last for a couple of days. http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=62124

I know that no one will read this because I have no followers, but it's here for my own records. Hopefully I'll make a sale soon!!!

The Frontlines

So my store has been open for more than a week now. Still no sales. :( They'll come.

I've heard that it takes about 5 months for an esty.com shop to actually pick up and start making sales. So for now I have to just keep advertising. I read some good advice in the veganetsy blog about renewing items every few days. It costs $.20 to renew, but by renewing one item, it automatically puts that item near the top when people do searches. It can then lead to other items in my store being viewed. If I renew every three days, it will only cost $2.00 a month. Which isn't all that bad. And I've already seen results from renewing one item today. I have a new heart on one of photos and the item I renewed has more views on it.

I'm also think about posting my watermarked images on various other websites like flikr and such where I can spread the visibility of my work. We'll see how that goes.

This Is No Rehearsal

So I've decided to start titleling my posts the way I used to pick a subject for emails to a friend of mine. I will choose something from whichever album I happen to be listening to like a song title, the album title, band name, lyric, etc... This title comes from Porcupine Tree's Stupid Dream.

And now for the important information. For the past few weeks, I have been working hard on preparations to open my own online store for my photography. I posted my first item on 5/19/09 and I am now open for business!!! I haven't had any sales yet, but I've had quite a few people taking a look at it thanks to my girlfriend who had her own craft store on the same site.

My store is located here: tharnphotography.etsy.com

I've put my favorite photos up there. I need to go through my older stuff now that I know how to use the editing software a little better and pick out some others to sell. One of my favorites is a black and white photo of an ironwood tree in the winter. All the leaves are missing and it has a very bleak and desolate look.

I found a place that prints photos with a metallic finish and it really enhances the photo. It sort of brings out the contrast in the shadows and highlights.

I'm also exploring etsy and joining some of the groups. I now belong to Vegan Etsy and have inquired on how to join Photographers of Etsy (POE - what a sweet acronym!!). Hopefully all this networking will generate some sales. Mary has been posting links to my photos in her tweets on twitter. She uses a website called tiny URL that takes any URL and changes it to something shorter and it hides where it leads to until you get there.

Well, that's all I have for now.

Join the Dark Side

More pics being converted right now. Time to blog again.

I've taken most of my pictures while out hiking and I haven't done any traveling, so all of my pics so far are in the desert. I've taken quite a few pics at South Mountain park in Phoenix because I live so close, but I've also taken pictures at Thunderbird Conservation area, Piestawa Peak area, Spur Cross Conservation area, and Cave Creek Trail. As the temperatures get warmer I'll be making some trips away from the Phoenix area and explore the many wonders of Arizona. Hopefully by the fall I'll be able to afford a trip back to RI so I can get some nice fall foliage.

I've been learning the different features of the camera by using a Dummies guide written specifically for the model I have. I had a basic background before I bought the camera due to an after school class that I took when I was in high school. I forgot what most of the terms meant, but I picked it back up pretty quickly and I think my progress is going well. I'm using the advanced modes on the camera and the pics are coming out pretty decent. I still need to practice more though. That's one great thing about digital photography, you can take as many pictures as can fit on your memory card, and then you can delete them and take more.

Episode 4 - A New Blog

While I've got some photos converting over from RAW files, I thought I should begin my first entry here. I decided to start this blog to sort of track the progress of my photography. This past December I bought myself a Canon Digital Rebel XSi. I'd been really enjoying taking nature photographs, but all I had was a 3.1 megapix point and shoot camera. The pics I took looked nice, but they would have been so much better on a good camera and could be blown up. I also had many people comment on how good my pictures were. So I thought that I would treat myself to a nice camera and perhaps start selling some "fine photography" online. I've been spending the past few months learning the camera and much more about nature photography. I think I have a few shots worthy enough to try to sell them, but we'll see.