Sunny Days!

Yes, yes, hiatus. I've been off my game for a while but that happens when life gets you down. Its been more than a while actually and I'm dying to get back on my game. I'm going to be doing a little bit of some revamping to this little blog since it wasn't really working out in some ways. But the sun brings the best of things and it brought about this fantastic little inspiring flower.

The flower above is a Teddy Bear Sunflower that I grew in my window sill. Its beautiful capturing the colors of your own plants but yes this edited as well. I took my Photoshop CS3 to it and changed some coloring but I don't think it much matters because it makes the statement I wanted it to. I understand that it doesn't have anything to do with the previous photo project, but that's one of those things we are going to be working on changing. I don't want to get bored with this because its honestly very good for someone to enjoy their work so much so we are going to be doing the photo projects that's for certain but we are also going to be doing a clause. This time around we are going to be photographing whatever the heck we want, IF for whatever reason life wants to get in the way. we aren't going to let it because being a kid on Sesame Street is way better than being a mopey and annoying adult from boredville. Its kind of nice getting back into the groove, I've certainly been wanting to and that means that we need to get the projects back as well. Since I started up again without my list of types of photos we are going to go by ear this week.

I hope I can redeem myself with you all. Ready, set, CLICK!
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Baggy Bunny!

*EDIT*

BAH! No I'm not about to say that this edit is to retract that I'll be doing this blog religiously. Nope this is a good edit. It is.... EDITORIAL!!! We've moved on to the land of editorial photography. BWAHAHA!

Now the Photographs that follow this field is actually defined as photographs that describe written word. More over like issues you see in the news paper. Photographs we see in the newspaper and on FOX NEWS, those things are all editorial. Nothing advertising is considered edit style. It has to be the issues! Like in Urban, only present more... obvious issues. Like this poorly taken picture right here!



That is the massive land mine of a night time pothole that has overtaken my driveway and parking lot. There are several of these bad boys and sadly because I have no tripod I can't just get perfectly clear night shots like I would love to have. Anyway this picture demonstrates the editorialness...nesss of potholes. This is a common issue in the news and thus means that this is yeah as I said above. Editorial. I would like to take a bow now... as editorial will require a ton of research on my part tomorrow to more properly define. I shall be using all my resources!!!

From your friendly neighborhood landmine detector,
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baggybunny

A Warm Fuzzy...

Yes it is all too nice to have that fuzzy feeling inside. That is in fact, exactly what today's subject matter told me. I had been playing around with doing normal still life instead of getting in its face and to prove I can do it! The bear family. These two bears climbed Mt. Age-Old-Rocking-Chair just for this picture of normal and everyday still life. To commemorate the this week's theme that managed to get my entire family involved, including, my mom who is still coming up with ideas and jotting them down in her notebook of things for me to photograph, I am posting two different subject matters entirely. ENJOY! Mr. and Mrs. Bear by the way had a ton of fun today. So thank you still life!!!


They were not however on the clock today like myself and are now giving me the eye in the corner of the room because instead of doing as I said and taking the time to study who was the most renown Still Lifers, I was busy doing household errands, helping me soon to be cousin with her dress shopping, and walking off some of what St. Patrick's day will be adding to me. I apologized to them already for my overly busy schedule but now I must apologize to you guys. SORRRRYY!!!! If you feel like enlightening me further PLEASE I would appreciate any more words of wisdom or info on people who are important to Still Life.

Sadly though, it is late and I will be going to my wonder bed in just a few moments, sooooooo... GOODNIGHT!
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baggybunny

Have a Palette for Life?

That's right. My little sister was painting today and boy is she cute. Sadly people are not part of still life shots, sooooo all those will be put in the family album. But her messy paint stuffs was a perfect little thing to photograph. I quite pleased with the outcome.

Now as the whole outcome was a painting project, I made an effort to Photoshop the first one to have a watercolor paint brush effect. Thought it would be appropriate. Sure I know this one wasn't exactly POW still life, it was still... well still. It gets sort of tough finding proper table space around here to get decent backed out shots, so those I do take aren't always that perfect.

Its definitely tough considering I thought this was going to be a walk in the park. But at least things are going well. I haven't done any looking about at well considered professional still lifers, but that will be tomorrow's endeavor since it will also be our last day of still life. Today was just another day among days. Also had a nice cooking party today with family and friends. English Toffee Bars. They were grand! But they did give me the idea that cooking utensils would be great for my next shot as well. Incidental, it shocks me to realize that most my favorite shots are close ups of utensils. Makeup, paint, and pens. Certainly this says a lot as to subject matter...

I think I'll have to talk to my sources about this notice...
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baggybunny

Slowly but Surely

Yes its true. I have difficulty with white. I think its a horrible and miserable color. So what do I do? I finally take a real, honest to goodness still life shot and I PhotoShop it so that the white is overtaken! Just because my apartment happens to have white walls. Oh well... at least I am slowly working my way towards a real still life photo. Not to say that those last two days weren't, they were just not as good as this one.

Now as I was photoing today, I find it is important to off center your main point just a bit because well... its just not truly artsy until you get that thing out of frame. Heh. Also you need to frame it with a pastel color. I myself am a big fan of my enigmatic boyfriend's mom's still life shots. She has a way with color that I envy. At least in a particular shot of her's that I find... maybe one of the only still life pictures that I honestly like. I mean lets be honest here. Still life is boring!!! But at least she makes it look fanciful. If you are interested in the piece I'm talking about, TADA!

http://camaem.deviantart.com/art/Balance-125863583

Yeah, I mean she's good with all that stuff. Sadly, I simply can't find the space to take a picture like that. On top of that the wall color. I could certainly use a good wall to have colored something like... GREEN! Do you have any idea how boring a picture with a huge white wall behind it looks? Do yourself a favor and go find out. Its like a winter wonderland of annoying frames before you find one that is even possible to photoshop.

Anyway. over the weekend I might try and find some time to create a nice Still life of my plants. That might be good. The trowel, pot, and some dirt... sounds like a good idea. Now if only I could find a Green gorgeous wall somewhere...

Stacking Blocks

You know it seems to me that upon looking further at these still life shots all over deviant art and on the net, that I should most certainly be taking a step back. I mean still life captures stillness, and I creep in so close because when I started doing photography I lived in its face. Macro is my safe place. Soooo today is another failure to quite capture what it is that still life is, but I do say that I still like these anyway.

Stacks seem to me a very common thing in still life. A stack of books, a stack of dishes, and even stacks of of pens and pencils. So today I tried picking out a few of my old school novels. Moby Dick is the big one. And then randomly stacking them on my side table. Upon this I discovered that books do NOT like flash. Ever try taking a picture of a book while its open? Not pretty I can assure you. You blind yourself and anyone else in the room, on top of that you can't read anything that was on the page. It reminds me of a white out in Antarctica.

By the way, while taking these photos I had to move the things off my side table and realized... I have perfect still life stuff. A random fake flower bouquet, an old looking bowl with some change in it, and little trinkets that look like leaves. So that will be my attempt throughout tomorrow. To manage to take a far away shot of these things on the table... or a table. You know I haven't quite decided where, but I'll figure it out.

Also I realized old things make for a very fine subject matter. Grainy things like wood for instance. Make a very fine texture shot. We'll see if I can't manage to stack some of the long books too for another shot in my spare time. Not for this of course unless it turns out great because we all know what a mood I get into when I photograph the same subject matter days in a row. Soooo here we go. Which reminds me, the photo below... its not some special diary of secrets, it might not look it there, but its just my plant journal, heh. I'm starting this one out to record how my sunflowers grow this year. So its not as secretive as it looks, haha.

So try it yourselves, its rather fun. Making the simple ordinary things look suspicious.

I lead a Still Life...

My goodness could I have dropped the ball any closer to the ground?

Don't answer that! I know I've been a terrible person in not sticking to the plan, but I plan and have great intentions to get the train back on the tracks. The first of those stations being Still Life! Yeah I know I lead a rather boring life myself, and how I could have fallen behind is inexcusable, so I'm not even going to waste my own time in explaining on how bothersome it is because it doesn't matter. What matters is we are back on track and no one can stop me! Even it it means in order to take my next shots I must remain perfectly still....

Now here's what to do! We are going to start of with something exciting! Gather up a whole bunch of random objects from around the house. Right now! Run, run!

Got um? Good. Put them on your coffee table, or kitchen table, or the floor. Whatever is best for you. Now before you get too comfortable with this arrangement, close your eyes and mix them up!! Make a great mess of the whole bunch and just start shooting. Still life is the capturing of usually a ton of little things. A lot of archeologists use this technique to make their exhibits look pretty, but I'm tellin' ya it works for anyone. Now that you've taken the photos of the mess... arrange those puppies however you want. And not that does not mean use puppies, because honestly those don't sit still at all!!!

We want composition now that we've gotten out our creative side and make it... make it mean something without any kind of movement at all. Use some creative lighting and make sure there isn't anything behind your photos when you are taking them because it makes it cluttered and sometimes they reflect light awkwardly, unless of course that's what you are going for. Now upload those lovely photos without a second thought and lets see our masterpieces.


Mine... still and capturing my rolling perfume bottles at the same time. Though I think I need to back out more next time. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, tomorrow!!!

Yum-O

I'm just going to stop apologizing for all these missed days because its not like anyone REALLY notices that I'm gone, its just a major disappointment for myself. But on that note I will post yesterday's picture at the bottom of this post to prove that I wasn't just not doing it, I actually just didn't have the time to type between work and grocery shopping, and everything else. But yes, on to today's topic.

FooooOOOOoooOOOoooddddddddd!!

Delicious, wonder tasty food. But why wait? grab a snickers! No seriously talking about food makes me hungry and I've been thinking non-stop today about what I want to make. Now, whatever we end of photographing, it should in all respects look delicious. I don't have to think it tastes delicious, but it should make my eyes want a piece. That is the art of food. I mean first the smell, that wonderful aroma. (And if Alton Brown cares to let me barrow this), but if we had smell-o-vision that would be a big part. Then comes the sight of it, it should look like it was made from the soul!

Now I'm aware my food was bought in a box and sold at Walmart, but it looks darn tasty and that's my version of love. Tis called, Monkey Bread. Now as someone already pointed out to me my pictures make things sometimes look bigger, since in the way I started this whole photo love was in macro photography. The art of making the itty bitty, not so bitty. So when photographing, this time around we want to make the food look like... its size and glistening color. Now some of us may be prompted upon seeing the chocolaty goodness of a brownie or some such, feel the need to zoom in on the rivers of luscious fudge, but the point is to show its lovely foodieness as a whole.

So, as you can see, since this thing was somewhat huge... I've done what I can to put it in such a way that we can adore its while. This is because unless your food comes in portions, it should be displayed the way it truly is. I on the other hand its... New York Cheesecake slices, then by all means photograph the slices ^.^ But this monkey bread only looks this delicious because it hasn't been yanked apart yet. But believe me... it was sticky, and it was good.
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baggybunny

O.o

I'm not sure about you, but I am getting so tired of missing my updates. I mean I sit here preaching about how I'm going to keep this every day and then I let work get in the way. Well I don't know about you, but that's just bothersome. I'd get rather frustrated with me. Its like those people that I watch on livejournal and they don't update for a week. Bleh.

Anyway, I was going to tell you all about my adventures at work with possibly the most adorable children known to man! but that was interrupted by the fact that I was doing a lot of driving around once again and everything was interrupted this week. So I'm going to use the weekend like Thursday and Friday. Hopefully that will make up for my stupidity.

Now, today I will be doing placement of subject. In my photos, I find it is best to set things off center when doing black and white. Allowing for the light to enter the frame and bring out both the shadows and the contrast. Sooooo I am going to use this opportunity to get some prime people pictures into the game. The first is of the little girl I watch, because I promised you all a soft now contrasted picture. And then later tonight I will post pictures from the endeavor with my almost new cousin at the dress store. She's getting married and well... we need to document.

Exciting!
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baggybunny

Edit: Well my cousin looks amazing in her pictures that I took, but unfortunately I can not post them until her wedding because she doesn't want her soon to be hub to see her pictures. Understandable, so then I will be adding another picture from the baby shoot. Tada!

Shiney

There is something about metal that is fantastic for taking photos. The reflective surface allows for that nice contrast we were talking about yesterday. This particular piece of metal is a lovely necklace that my amazingly understanding boyfriend gave to me. It is suppose to be a guardian angel. Particularly nice for this photo session because the light and dark play against the metal enough to give that sense of protection already.

Wood, metal, and glass are all very good reflective surfaces, so when it comes to pictures in black and white, when you find something you want in black and white, but you need some way to get light into part of the picture, put something reflective beside your subject matter. They are very interesting shots. Now for the most part contrast is what black and white is all about, but for tomorrow and the day after I think we should try taking some soft pictures, using the black and white to cut out depth. Skin, fabrics, and random objects are what its all about.

Black and white is simple ^.^

Sorry for keeping these so short, but as far as black and white is concerned it isn't tooo difficult. Tomorrow though I'll talk about something interesting, and if there is anything in particular my wonder fans have to say, or ask for... Ears are open!
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baggybunny

In the Beginning...

there was black and white photography. The mother and father of contrast between light and dark, good and evil, happy and sad. Yes friends here we are, together entering a world that has been explored billions of times before us and probably most assuredly will be explored long after my useless blog. There is something just so enchanting about the battle in these photos that brings a rather bright smile to my face, because of this I thought today we go over the simple stuff I learned today while at work.

Its the first of all the photo types that man was ever plagued to practice. And for of any of you who are younger than me by a good deal, we use to have these really hideous old school cameras that resembled a box with the siding of an accordion. You also had to hold these things over your head... well lets say watch Lady and the Tramp, the end scene shows one of those hideous things. I would hate to ever use one let alone see one again, so lets just say I am very grateful for the invention of the digital camera.

Most the time black and white photos, from what I have seen, are now used for abstract photos and portraits. Its a very beautiful thing that people can do with these images, heightening the contrast between bright white and black, attracting you to the space between the subject, delivering the message and in the case of portraits, bringing to light the details of the soft or sharp features of that individual.

This week is going to be one of my favorites of all time because there is no dictation on any subject. Hey you could photograph a gallon of water, or pictures of a pair of shoes. That's right, complete artistic freedom has been granted to us in its entirety, lets explore!
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baggybunny

Got Milk?

Well I certainly do! 15 terribly out of focus pictures of pouring milk, 4 completely blank frames where there should have been a water balloon, and 10 frames of black where I attempted to catch pictures of someone throwing stuff. I tried a variety of objects, once again, epic failures.

Oh well, you can't necessarily blame me, I mean they do claim that my camera can't handle this high speed stuff. I mean I did what I could. Stupid weekend... Though you can't really blame the camera either. I had very little time this weekend to work on our high speed project because of this on going issue with my mother's truck. Little to say other than lots of driving and a sore throat. Sometimes I wonder if life is too full of work, then I remember that that's the reason I'm doing this project. Heh. Of course also so that you are all aware, I began working again today and will be working for the next 6 weeks, so most my posts and pictures will be posted well after 5pm. I apologize for this, but since I'm in child care, my time is spent with the wee people, not with the computer.

So I'm putting all those failures and such aside and continuing on with the exploration of photography! Today we say farewell to high speed, and tomorrow begin anew with: Black and White. Lovely and artistic, prefect for allll sorts of stuff. Can't wait to begin ^.^ I'm very excited and hope that you will all join in with the fun.
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baggybunny

First Weekend Project!

http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_high_speed_photography_at_home

I have been researching this all week long and have procured over the years, a rather large amount of bb guns. Airsoft really, but not so soft. Anyway, I plan to be attempting this all night and weekend as my first weekend photo attempts. You know this after all, I'm suppose to have weekends off. I am very excited, especially after today's disaster.

The picture you see before you is an empty spot, where there should have been a bottle busting, but I was too amateur with my clicking skills to capture the moment just right. If you look close enough, there is a bit of glass shards all about. At the edges of the frame. This is my first outdoors attempt, but not my last. Once I get the hang of this, there will be no stopping me!! This is what the the super speedy multiple frames setting is for... now if only I could find that...

*Wanders off to locate the manual for the camera*
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baggybunny

Speed Junkies

Indeed, that's what I'd call those crazy cats that spend all their time taking amazing, sometimes hazardous pictures of high speed greatness. I am no where neeearrr as exciting as these people. I mean honestly, if you spend time to look up the high speed junkies of this new era you'll find some wild stuff.

Speaking of, I would like to bring attention how incredibly lame I am, that I did water pictures when there are sooo many different mediums that I could have attempted. But on that note I plan to be quite the rebel and try some interesting shots of my own. Of course I have been quite busy lately and those interesting shots require other people's help because I don't have the equipment necessary for all those complicated shots. So that is my lame explanation for repeating the water experiment. Hopefully this one is at least different enough that no one hates me. ^.^

I dedicate this picture to Martin Waugh, a high speed genius with water. He sculpts water! Its amazing, his work inspires the curiosity in my head. Of course, despite the stunning greatness of this guy, that's not the most popular type of high speed. Of the plethora of types of high speed, the most common is that done with a pistol. They set up an object and then they shoot it. Some of the stuff I've seen getting shot is rather humorous actually. Apples, water balloons, eggs, light bulbs, and more. I mean honestly, to get the one shot, image how many things they have to shoot!

I found most of the popular photographers on WebUrbanist.com and upon studying the pictures from a speed demon contest. There are many interesting pictures out there in high speed. Most the most memorable for me, well the most memorable of HS to me is the Tropicana commercials where they show the drop of orange juice popping up.

But as for the picture I took today, I finally got an entire picture shoot without noise! But I ran into another problem that I have had with great frequency. Reflective surface totally sucks. Everything you take a picture of, if its in a glass bowl, don't expect it to come out. That's just plain trouble. So if you plan on using a bowl for pictures I suggest clear ones or if aim slightly up so that the flash doesn't hit the rim of the bowl. Oh and I would also recommend you do not do your shoot in a big bright sink. Very... shiny. Best of luck!
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baggybunny

Stage Left

Yes, the oh so fascinating story of how to set up the stage for the high speed ballet. Now I found this wonderful site made by this nice person named Mike. Its all about how to set up, so yay. At least I'm not in this endeavor all alone.

Now according to our good friend Mike, the best thing is to keep the set up simple. Make sure you are very, VERY close to the object you are about to photograph because flash is greatly reduced when doing the high speed stuff. Because yesterday's reasoning about how we need to be fast with our flash and also mentioned was the unattached flash mechanism. This time around we won't be using that big hulking thing (because honestly I don't own one). Now, remember close to the object. Try also using that tripod or stool that you may be using to substitute that. This way there is no nasty noise. Ugly nasty noise!

KEEP ISO LOWER than 800!!!!!

This is a tip from Mike because its also one of those things that reduces the nastiness of noise. I honestly hate that noise. I should just put a pair of ear muffs on the camera. Stupid visual static.

After that, play around with your fstop so that you get a chance to see which setting gets you the most appropriate clarity. Now lets hope this works out! Add colored objects for the background. Whootness!


And for the record, these pictures were taken this afternoon with the camera that I bad mouthed yesterday, so remember all... with a lot of studying and attempts, we learn we can do things you could never image.
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baggybunny

The F-Word!!!

That's right guys no picture for yesterday and since the camera doesn't do anything near high speed, I bring here for your enjoyment, the mighty F WORD! I swear at thee evil camera of earth. (For the record I really love that camera so no one tell it I said that). And the f-word that I mean is actually, f-stop, the settings used for high speed photos meaning frame stops. That's right, tonight is settings night.

Now, since I am sick, I studied how to take the picture instead of the ranges of the camera itself. First of all, I definitely need that tripod I've been talking about because the stool just doesn't do for height, and for high speed, same as lowlight, you want a very steady surface because otherwise its going to add a lot of noise. *snickers* That's right, noooiiiisseeee can be heard on a picture. How ridiculous is that, its not a speaker, so why do I have to worry about noise?

Stupid noise. Noise in camera pictures is that stuff that you see that looks like hideous static that makes pictures that are nice and well taken look disgusting. Its awful!

So we need a medium f-word... I mean f-stop. Around f5.0... Next thing you need would be aperture. Remember that the aperture is just about the same as your iris. The more light in your face, the small your iris contracts, and that's what you want with the aperture. Apparently though, most of the people who do high speed pictures stay in a dark dark room with a detached light. They aren't too expensive and on top of that very nice and bright. Good for taking profiles and stuff.

Now since this theme is a 6 day week, I'm going to be continuing this conversation tomorrow based on the set up of the scene. Best of luck to me ^.^ And to all a good night.
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baggybunny

Triumphant Return

I have returned!

Indeed! Unfortunately the returning topic of this week is kind of tough considering my camera's limited capabilities. High Speed awesomeness. Yeah, unless you had a super high speed camera like an SLR, its almost impossible to capture high speed stuff. Now this may confuse some of you, since I haven't quite defined the subject matter, which leads up into today's post!

High Speed Photography!

Alrighty, here we go. Defining high speed photography. The act of catching actions that the eye can't see on camera. Things like a bullet speeding through a glass, a water balloon breaking and the water still left in the shape of the balloon. It requires a major high speed camera which can capture frame after frame, in fact it seems to be the that from site to site that I visit, you require at least over 120 frames per second up to hundreds which they use for sports commercials and such. As you can see, this is why my camera will be very hard pressed.

What we will do this week is PRETEND that my camera is capable of all these amazing things by choosing subject matter in my photos that aren't particularly amazingly difficult to capture, but with artistic help, I will try to make it seem high speed.

This subject matter actually is he first of several types of photography that will be getting extra attention. Six days of study instead of the normal five. These posts might be shorter because there is extra time, but then again I might be getting more technological around this time because my camera won't really be able to capture these things we talk about.

High Speed is a beast, and we begin today, capturing something people usually don't capture with their... naked eye. That or things they don't especially pay attention to.
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baggybunny

Grieving!

I must take this time here to apologize to myself and any readers who might be paying attention. The reason that portrait week suddenly seemed to come to halt bothered me greatly. Unfortunately there were a great many family and personal problems which kept me from keeping up with the weeks assignment.

I beg forgiveness for not having continued the week as I originally promised myself, this weekend. But unfortunately I haven't much time this weekend aside from all the house hold work that must be done to hunt down another willing person to have their photograph taken by me. This makes me very sad, but the coming week is a light at the end of the tunnel and we will get on track once again starting Monday with the new theme: High Speed Photography!

Once again, I am sorry about the delay in explanation and I hope your Sunday is wonderful.
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baggybunny

Knock, knock!

Who's there? My neighbors!

Hahaha. Yes that's right, today's photo shoot was one of whoever I could take pictures of. I spent forever trying to get pictures of my buddy and all around nice guy, Josh. We did a few good ones, but then when we got home from the day I was simply inspired! My neighbor was just sitting there, waiting for a ride in the hallway and POW! He just had the look. So I manned up like a photographer does and asked if he wouldn't mind being today's subject matter. To my great surprise he thought I was funny as hell instead of all around funky and weird and did a good ol' pose for me. He looked great!

Now as you may have noticed I also have used Photoshop on this piece. I created put a background (not of my own photography), and paint daubed it. I was very pleased over all. Now I was suggested to use the white wall that he was against, but as my mother, the over lord of all, walked by, she suggested this.

Now as far as all the mistakes made today, I can tell you now, it is NO FUN trying to take a low light portrait. All I kept getting was the shaking of my hands and otherwise. Here we go for today's learning! Do NOT! I repeat, do not try and take photos in a bathroom without washing the mirrors first. EW! Secondly, moving car pictures... kind of difficult if you are trying to take a backseat photo of the front seat driver. What you'll need, is a super high speed shutter setting, so that motion isn't an issue, but you need to absorb light, soooo high lighting as well. Josh was a great subject, but unfortunately these factors are things I did not discover until seated here at home and after meeting my wonderful neighbor.

Now as far as how I added such a background to my portrait of my neighbor? First I picked a picture and made sure it matched mine size wise. Secondly, I dragged that photo on top of mine, clicking layers and multiply. After multiplying, click the background photo (the one you have added), and erase around your photo so that it comes out clear. Tada! Then lock the layers and you have glory!!!! I learned this after 800 times of finding that everything I tried became something like... mutated from erasing everything and using one click at a time.

This is an art, and not to be rushed!
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baggybunny

Attennnn HUT!

At least that's what they sound like they are saying. Portraits are ridiculous when trying to get attention. Man, oh, man. You know getting children to pose in a picture is possibly one of the most difficult things I have EVER done. Especially with this little one. You can say look here, look there. Doesn't matter it just stresses out, Sooooooo what I read is a great stress reliever is to give them snacks and talk nice and point cool things out to them. Makes them snap attention off into the distance. My mom did me a great justice today by dressing her so pretty. This picture was taken after 80 other attempts. I had all but given up when she posed so perfect without thinking about it. I was just able to pull up my camera and snap the shot right before he moved.

Awesome!

This picture was completely randomly with prop. To grey the background I used a photoshop sponge brush. Portraits are just the face shots, so this one with the chair and window were slight props. With babies you see it more and more, but with older kids basketballs and sports stuff or all that other stuff is good. Plus it makes them super happy. Less stress in the face creates pretty pictures. ^.^ I think it might be easier to take pictures of random people though, because you don't expect anything except what's there. Since little one here is my sister, I expect a certain quality because well.. I have seen her other pictures.

Now the best thing you can do, for taking inside pictures without props and stuff, is to position the person in the middle of the room, because that way the things behind her won't stand out and instead will get blurred automatically by the camera. Me... I just used the portrait setting on my dial. Heh. As far as it goes, this little girl is a super star.

Now as far as portraits go, I want to try a shoulder shot next. There are varying levels of where you take the picture. There are face portraits, shoulder portraits, waist, and finally complete portraits. So far I have done a face and a full body picture. Now from what I hear and read a lot of pictures are waist highs, capturing hand motion and emotion through body language, which is what essentially makes a portrait, showing how beautiful a person is through the expression of emotion through movement. Something about hands and a person's back are so... Its the details in muscle definition.



Tomorrow we will try a waist high with hands!!! And talk about the settings we can try!
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baggybunny

Window to the Soul

Portraiture. Possibly something I require more and more work with the more I study. Its only been one day and I'm already having trouble with the technique, but at least today's gorgeous little model will always look adorable no matter what. A round of applause please for my little sister Emma please!

Now aside from her being one of the cutest little things ever, I am having trouble getting a clear picture. I don't know why, just yet, because I haven't entered into the settings study yet, but I did what I hear is right. Lots of light so that you don't need flash, but... still very fuzzy.

Now the book I have studied from, 'A complete guide to digital photography' and all the sites I have visited, claim that if you crop out parts of the face other than the eye, then you will be alright... because the eyes are what capture, but I just could NOT miss the opportunity to prove how great this little one's eyelashes are. Such a serene little girl. Also the other trick is to create an interesting angle, turning the camera and such. Or shooting from looking up at them, though I find if I do that I wind up giving people a double chin, so I find shooting downward at them much more... well less insulting.

Heh.

Hair is also very distracting as I read, but the other photographer that I constantly see work from has a way of making the hair of her subjects stand out in lovely ways. Perhaps tomorrow will yield better results when we enter into settings. Fun fun.

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baggybunny

And the Sun Rises

Low light we must bid thee farewell. Of course not before admitting to the world that I'm a big fat idiot. Yup, you heard it people. I'm an IDIOT! Yesterday when I was gloating about wanting to take another picture of the moon at night for my project... yeah. Guess what last night was... the night before the new moon. I got diddly SQUAT! Sometimes I even amaze myself with how little I know.

In substitution of this annoying happening, I wandered with my family to the local university. Northern Illinois University to be exact. It looks, in pictures, to be an insane asylum, but one must keep in mind that the university is where hundreds and thousands of students go mad every year... so, appropriate.

Alright, well we must say goodbye to low light. Saying goodbye to the greatness that it is tough, but due to the scheduling I have created for myself, we must say... adieu.

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baggybunny

Lovers of Low Light

Yes, that's right, today is the day we study those few greats who have made low light photography their wonderland. Somehow its not that hard for me to pick out photographers that have excelled at this field and thank goodness we have A LOT of resources at out disposal. If not we might have to rely on me! Scary.

Now I'm going to be prejudice here only because I am familiar with one photographer in particular who's work caught me years ago. He does a large bit of night photos, especially with that lag effect I was talking so longly about yesterday. For the most part the most all these works contain the unmoving structure which I'd mentioned, giving the light rivers a more... science fiction effect. His name? Heck if I know. Hahaha. Yup that's right, I don't know his name. All I know s that he's won awards and is widely regarded across the world of DeviantArt.com as... a genius. His alias? 'foureyes. My favorite piece by his is of the Water Cube in China. He also does what we call... I mean what I call, low light portraiture. Very god considering he even has his own models. Amazing work, definitely worth checking out if you enjoy that particular thing.

Our next photographer was one I found on our beloved Internet, Beau Comeaux. A studio photography by degree, night artist by heart. This fellow has made a significant contribution to the 'Night & Low Light Photography' book by Jill Waterman. There are significant amount of people in that book, but as I have been going through Beau is the only one that does such a thing regularly. Most of his work, as I have seen on the Internet is largely accenting of rural homes, making them seem almost ethereal. Now he is no 'foureyes, but he is certainly got the trade down to an art.

Unfortunately for us, low light photographers are not highly praised, so finding them by specifics creates great difficulty for people like me. Its like searching for 5 needles in an endless lake of hay. That Internet... woo is me for your girth is too overwhelming. This brings me to the sad point that for today I can only give you three of these grand masters. Some of you may think I'm lame, but I don't see you writing a blog about it!

Ahem...

David Elias. Another well known around the DeviantArt scene, David does mostly photo-shopped work to give more emphasis to his photographs, but he is still certainly amazing in his craft. David has a unique way of capturing landscapes in low light. Two of my favorites are the piece 'Waning Light' and the other 'Light of Luna.'

Now I have never, in all my time of owning a camera, been able to take a picture of the moon that honestly captured its beauty the way that he has done. I mean who hasn't looked at the moon, taken its picture, then looked at it later and realized the picture you have taken resembles that of a huge glow-in-the-dark kick ball that you kind of lobbed into the air and is simply just a round thing... instead of... you know, craters and the rabbit that's making rice balls? This is why tonight's project shall be!!!! Photographing the moon. For those of you interested this is usually where I say lets do something in an ode to one of these photographers, but tonight... tonight lets do something for them all, and which ever one comes out the nicest will find its way here.

Yes indeed, tonight will be the night to end all nights!
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baggybunny

Laaaaagggg....

You know for the most part, lag is a horrible, horrible thing. We go through every aspect of life we can to avoid it. In fact, in my case, if you get lag on your computer, then you just shut off the computer manually and then start it up again. Losing everything you just worked on to avoid having to deal with the massive slowness. Well... sometimes its not all bad. In fact, in the photo world, there are many people who make their artistic living off of lag. I mean, its not like any of the things I photograph make me money, but I will say they are certainly enjoyable and the lag in this case... not so bad.

The basic idea is to capture so much light that you get a stream. Its cool looking, especially on cars. More over, its pretty darn cool if you can slow it down just enough to get pictures of people so they look like they are traveling 'Back to the Future!'

Anyway, this happens from taking your nice night time settings, mine were set somewhere as low as 80 ISO and down to 1". This was all down on the TV settings, or Shutter Speed. Basically, it was stop at a red light, point out the window, click, go, end of picture. I believe that's why you can make out the other car, but still, very cool and if I can I will take a more experimental one now that I know what I'm doing. If I'm more successful I'll stick the 'better' one down here at the bottom of the page.

Now in oder to capture lag, it doesn't take a REAL genius, just a moron who's good enough to fake it. Most lag pictures like mine are more... landscape like. They want to capture something in the picture as well that is clear, like a building or street light, this gives the feeling that the light is moving... cool I guess seeing as after the picture was taken, nothing is actually moving, but then again in 3D movies where they give you those glasses, things aren't really coming up to your face to eat you either, but... thus is the life of optical illusion. Mine not so great as others, but its a great thing to learn. Gives some... ppaatttiiieeennnceeee.... CLICK!

Hopefully this helps you out, but if you don't like the whole car thing, try glow sticks on a string, they move fast AND its indoors where its nice and warm.

baggybunny

Tip the Scale

Yes, that ever annoying balance between shutter speed and aperture. Wait... WHAT? What the heck is aperture and how in God's green earth does it make a difference?

Yup, this is the trouble I came across last night in my effort to take a night landscape photograph. Well, apparently there are these annoying little things you have to set for... what they call... exposure to light. Meaning... its like.. say someone was trying to surprise you, blindfolded you, took you someplace you had never been before then only allowed you to open your eyes for half a second before asking you, what did you see? Mmmmhmm, darn well impossible, all you get is blur from what few lights there are.

Yes, so the thing that they call Aperture is for creating depth. And this wonderful book beside me, (Digital Photography: A Complete Visual Guide) claims that for a low light image, we want a larger aperture so that we can gather up more areas of light. This can be adjusted by going to your AV setting on your camera dial, OR the M. Aperture is set in 'f' and we want to slow it down, so something around f2.8. Sounds like a way to confuse a person for hours if you ask me. Pffft...

And now for the other end of the scale. Shutter speed. Now according to my previous statement, that if you only get a half second to look then you only get blur, thus we try to have more time before the blink. Shutter speed is the same. To absorb more of the picture, we slow that down as well. TV is the setting for changes of shutter speed, this way we can slow it down to B, pretty much the most annoying setting where you hold down the button as long as you want with hands shaking an blur accumulating, all the way up to.... 1/15, but keep in mind. I've noticed that the longer your shutter peed the darker it claims your photo to be... soooo. best of luck!

I'll be testing out these settings later tonight and let you know what I found to be the best mix. Way too scientific for me though, Haha. If you have the night button setting that could be used just as easily!

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baggybunny

Freeze Tag!

In the dark?

That's right all, its time for some good old fashion lowlight/night photography. I mean, basically the same thing, except that low light doesn't necessarily have to be at night. I mean for example, I did today's random photo shoot in my room at 8a.m. I mean talk about bright outside, but see I have these fantastic curtains that make it look like its constantly 2a.m. no matter what time of day it is. Glorious! Sooooo, all the lights off except a candle and then POW! Photo shoot galore. For the record though, this one is the only one that didn't come out fuzzy, sooo that leads us to lesson one about our low lighted friend.

A short a simple learning, GET A TRIPOD! Yup, and we are talking about a person who doesn't even own one herself telling the rest of the world to get one. Well, no necessarily true, I use something similar, I set the timer on the camera and set it down on this small stool that belongs to my sister. Works like a charm except on angled shots, at that point once again, use your timer because pressing the button causes a hand shake, timers gives you time to hold the camera as still as possible. Otherwise you end up with something that reminds you of the 'Blair Witch Project.'

There are several different approaches to low light photography but this one coincides with the tripod. For those of us stubborn people, well... just pick an unmoving object for your picture and set the camera down on something sturdy, problem solved and more over! Its the reason why most low light photos are done of landscapes and buildings. Not likely those are going to get up and traipse around the house if you are feeling artsy.

Soooo, for the days project, get rid of those shakey hands and turn them in for a beautiful new little tripod or handy stool to carry around with you. Fun, fun.

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baggybunny

P.S. Tomorrow we'll work on those technical things, but today I wanted to see just how well we can do with the raw talent. ^.^ Best of LUCK!

It's... the END!

Of urban studies.

That's right guys, today is our final day focused on 'UP.' Now I don't know about you guys, but not just because this was my first thing to study, but I am definitely going to keep a tab on the urban scene. I have enjoyed each night of this photo discovery and it has thrilled me to learn. For the last day's shoot I was feeling like I should dedicate and do something in the style of the great photographers who make this style so intoxicating.

The photo above is one that I took in ode to James Wakefield. Now we don't have many sky scrappers here, but lots of these smoke stacks and such. The angle is to prove the significance of us in relation to its huge reason in life. James, I hope I have done you proud.

Now since today is the last of our days with urban photography I was fighting hard between either doing a last study session or reviewing. But I think I would prefer just to say what makes this particular photography something I would enjoy doing again. People. Despite the truth that most photos in 'UP' are based solely on the buildings it gives the message always about our place in the world. This is our home, our place. 'UP' goes without prejudice to the places of the city to show us all that we are all people and people alike. It shows the working man struggling to do what it is the high class need us for so that they can work in the giant urban structures and work just as hard at other things.

I do love urban photography. Thank you for joining us in studying your greatness.

baggybunny ^.^

Next week, Low Light Photography....

Lights! Camera!

Failure!

Alright, for the record. Winter officially sucks. Any of you who disagree, I'm about to make my point so hold onto your horse! Snow.

That's right, snow is the killer of all hopes and dreams. The reason I say this is of course not simply because I was bred to love sunshine and birds, but because when taking a night photograph in the snow... everything turns yellow! I went out last night in an attempt to get a decent shot of the storage facility where we keep our things because well... that's strangely urban. But what do I get? 800 pictures of everything shining freaking YELLOW! It is the king of distortion. If you don't believe, go out there and see for yourself.

On top of that, the weather of winter has destroyed tonight's photo shoot with the glamorous and fantastical Aimee Korby. Far too much snow to be romping around 30 miles to the next city, especially after yesterday's baja incident. Oh well. All I have good to tell you from last night's attempt at a night shoot is that I forgot one very important detail to night photography.

FLASH SUCKS!

It is a killer of perception and must be smote! I mean that's not to say that flash isn't great for other things, but night time snow pictures... holy crap you want to stay far away from that train wreck. Oh well, of those shoots last night, I did manage a single decent shot, but nothing compared to the previous day's successes, but you know, they can't all be good. ^.^



Oh well.  This leaves room for improvement, but its the only one that isn't completely saturated in yellow.  On to today's research.


Popular Urban Photographers!

I mean if we are to at all understand the photography itself, shouldn't we understand those who are praised for it? Or at least the most popular of those people to understand better what it really looks like in action? Alright then, for this I chose our good friend Google to aid us in the search and typed in the above as a search request.  What we got was... Patricia Hogan, an urban landscape photographer, and I'm telling you now people, if you are interested in that sort of thing, she is the one to search because the colors she captured on those landscapes... magical. Next on the list, one Jodi Collins, a person who does wonderful things with urban portraiture. There is a lot of children and baby pictures in her studies, but if you like portraits within the urban jungle she's a good choice. Next, my particular favorite, James Wakefield. Now here's a fellow who knows how to make a message. He published a book called zero with the most delicious pictures of sky scrapper action I have ever seen. And most of it is so simple that its hard not to understand or even over read his messages. If you are going to look this fellow up I earnestly request you go look at his piece called 'Silence.' Positively amazing. And my final suggestion when it comes to the greats of Internet urbanites, visit the site of the Roxor. This place will rock your world with its near distorted reality even though all pictures went untouched after being taken. I mean a truly surprising piece of art that it reminds you that we are all very small in our urban jungles. The ferris wheel shot is captivating!

I suggest we all go out and examine what we can of these great artists. You can never be too shocked by these urban masterpieces.

Danger Will Robinson!

Now this adventurer knows just what they mean by dangerous photography. Today, whilst going on my photo errand, I spotted the perfect mark. Here's the crazy part, rural roads, with snow covering hills... that's right, this adventurer slid into a ditch. But guess what people, I got the shot!



In 'UP' we all have to understand that the picture is all that matters. Who cares if you are stuck in the middle of no where with no phone and a stomach ache, I took that picture and I'm darn proud of it. In fact, it was TRESPASSING!... Well, sort of, I mean there is a trespassing sign... I didn't actually go on the other side of it, but still, I'm a rebal damn it! Haha. Well as far as it goes, I was hoping to get a picture of the nice fellow that pulled over to save us. The nameless tow truck man will go down in history for saving my life from the arctic tundra. So today's lesson will be dedicated to him!

We are going to go into the special little details of the camera for this lesson. Short and sweet, but things you need to remember if you are going to take 'UP' in the dark, a common place occurrence in this field and a necessary one. Now I know we are not all techno smartie pants so we'll use dumb people terms so I can understand ^.^

BAM!

First of all, you want to find a well lit place. Street lamps and all that junk, because, well no matter how important you think your photo is, this it not the 'Midnight Meat Train.' No reason to follow mass murders into meat packing plants where you get slain trying to get that one perfect shot. We all want to go home to our families, so remember. WELL LIT PLEASE! On top of that. You will want to lengthen the time that your camera absorbs light so that you capture all the little details that it usually misses. So... if you have any knowledge of your camera, you want to go to the dial spot, TV, and slow that puppy down. And finally! Get something sturdy to set the camera on because if I know the rest of you like I know me. Shaky hand syndrome runs in the human race. We are a shaky lot.

Alright guys? So lets try this new bit out tomorrow night. Super Bunny and I will be heading into Elgin,IL, a place unlike my ghetto-less town, to try and get some prime urban photographs. Wish me Luck!
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The baggybunny

15 Minutes of Fame

Alright, more like 5 to 10 minutes, but the point is....

Climb abroad explorers!

Today we continue our lesson in urban photography with a look at what makes a good modern subject. Now most photographers will tell you that you are stupid for trying to find common subjects because all people are unique, blah, blaaahhh, BLAH! Its a lie, no matter what subject in life you study, there will be trends. The idea of the natural urban setting is to mix the bland coloring of run down city life, with a bright eye catching color to set it off. Many people do this with photography during sundown, letting the oranges and reds in the sky balance out the rather dismal setting of a trashy city.

Now if you aren't taking landscape shots for your urbanite fix, there is another little trick I see continue to see floating around the DeviantArt common place. Sign, sign, everywhere a sign! Yup, that's right. Signs are another big thing. A lot of subway signs, pedestrian signs, graffiti, and most importantly street signs. I mean who doesn't enjoy a good street sign? These things are the staple of urban photography because what a good sign does is not only direct you to where you are, but it also, in this style of photography, sets out the rules for that place which in most good 'UP' is being obviously ignored in the picture. And lets all say it at once...

FIGHT THE POWER!

Haha. Yeah, that's the basic concept. And since people don't really just like looking at those corporate giants strutting their stuff on main street, us 'UPs' have a far better idea. Yup, trend numero tres! Take those fancy high class giants and glamor models and put them in the grungy city settings that we all know and love. Makes the background pop to see someone like that in a mold infested contaminated building, plus we get a super good laugh.

Now a quick list: Deliveries are cool to see on camera, car garages, black and white, reflections off the high class glass (usually onto something scummy), and rainfall is always a plus, if you can capture it without ruining your stuff.

I myself will be trying to capture a few of the latter later this week, but thanks to the lack of transportation in my little city, I shall be going on that endeavor a little bit later this week. Today I will attempt another go at the Laundromat, never know what kind of people you can find there.

See you on the flip side,
baggybunny.

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Photo of the Day: Wash my Soul
Location: Sycamore, IL

Urban Explorers

Buckle up urbanites because J.R. Konen is on the way! That's right, first on the photo education train issssss!!! URBAN PHOTOGRAPHY! In this wild endeavor I will be taking on a new and exciting mission to explore the city life around me. And since this explorer lives in the 'Corn Capitol of Illinois' I will be struggling extra hard to make my little bitty neighborhood look the part.

So Here's the skinny!

Urban photography is pretty much the 'ghetto' of photography. Its there to make a statement, or convey a message.

(Of course when I first began the search for answers on this particular subject this morning, my idea of urban photography was something along the lines of not quite within the city and of houses and such, so that proves how little I know).

For the most part, the subject matter of urban photography is illicit or illegal. Graffiti, broken windows, and broken down or abandoned buildings. For this reason us explorers will be keeping our heads down and hands in our pockets, unless you don't mind going to jail. Joking, there is pretty much nothing you can do in Cortland that would constitute that kind of thing, but for you explorers out there who are joining in, remember the code! If a cop stops you while you are trying to take a photo..., cry like a baby.

But seriously, once I spent some time exploring the world of Google's Image Search, I came to realize though, its not only the broken down and smashed up windows that make up 'UP.' Its also high commerce (Hahaha big words from the net, basically meaning the rich peeps). So here's a bit of information taught to us from birth, but I didn't realize would apply here as well. MIDDLE CLASS DOESN'T MATTER! That's right, I have to suck it up and realize the world does not revolve around me, again, heh. But this does make it easy for those of us that do not want to get mugged at our local motorcycle bar, instead of exploring the dangerous side of 'UP,' go for the fancy pants rich society.
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So as far as today's education, we've learned the basic idea. So lets go out there and make a statement!


JRK (baggybunny)

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Photo of the day:
Urban Graffiti