What I Am Working On: Seemingly Small Adjustments

Sometimes it is little things that can make a big difference. The original file:

ISO 250 f/11 22mm 1/640 sec

The edit:

ISO 250 f/11 22mm 1/640 sec

Custom white balance and lens distortion, these are two adjustments that I started with that made a big difference.

Seemingly unimportant details like the trees in the foreground are helping to tell an important story about this scene, like how far up you have to hike to see this view. I wrote about that a bit in a previous post and showed a different part of the landscape. In this case, I think a photo of this scene without the trees would be telling a completely different story. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Added to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Summer Scenes and Tuesday Photo Challenge, Trees.

Cheers!

Who is Luckier?

So, who is luckier?, the kid who gets to play hockey or the parents who get to watch?

ISO 2500 50mm 0ev f/7.1 1/250

It’s a toss up I would say.

This photo I took at a game this morning.  I’ll show you the original in a moment.  When I take hockey photos, I always start with the white balance on Auto and take a photo of the rink.  Then I use that photo to set the Custom white balance in the camera.  That works in helping set the white balance correctly.  Given the conditions of the rink, I always have a high ISO and fast shutter speed.

When I get the photos on my computer, I open up Photoshop.  I shoot in RAW, so first I open the photo in Camera Raw and do a white balance adjustment.  Then I open the photo into Photoshop and do any cropping that I want.  Sometimes I also do a levels adjustment, although on this photo I did not.  Then I sharpen the photo.  From there I convert my RAW photo to a JPEG.  I make it into a JPEG because that makes it easier to share with other parents on the team.

Here is the original:

ISO 2500 50mm 0ev f/7.1 1/250

So, what do you think? who is luckier? What do you think of my adjustments and workflow?

Written in response to the Daily Post prompt: The Luckiest People

Cheers!

 

Photographing Art

A project that I am working on is photographing three paintings that my friend and local St. Louis artist, Amy Adams, has painted for a soon to be open restaurant.

My job is to photograph the paintings in the most realistic color possible.  Amy will be using these photos for her own personal use as well as promotional materials.

All three were shot using a tripod and a custom white balance.  While these are ready for web use, I might have some more work to do in getting them ready to be made into prints.

Cheers!

 

It takes a village to get a tomato on a blog

I did not grow these tomatoes, that was the work of my neighbor.  Then she left town, leaving the tomatoes in my care.  So here they are on my blog:

ISO 100 50mm f/16 1/2

I set a custom white balance on this and used a tripod.  What do you think? would it make a good stock image?

As for the tomatoes, they will be for dinner.  This one plant that has been producing a crazy number of tomatoes.  So far enough for 4 families to share, that is a lot.

For my own personal notes, I started at a smaller f-stop number, but ended up liking the f/16 shots best.

Cheers!