HDR

The Stairs Between

I have gone HDR obsessed. HDR program done with Media Chance makes it an easy process. Its a fantastic medium to show the detail in every chip of the walls and scuff on the floor. I named this one 'The Stairs Between' because of the dramatic difference between the yellow in the downstairs background and the light blue in the upstairs background looked a bit like heaven and hell. This was done with a one shot HDR and then amped up the saturation.
Canon Rebel xs, f 5, Exposure 1/60, ISO-200, Focal 18mm

The Chapel Doors Stood Still

The chapel doors at Bannack are among the largest doors in the entire town. I'd like to think they wanted them big enough to welcome all to come in. I layered these three to create the one on top. The stains of the wood are my favorite part of the HDR finish piece. I also turned up the saturation using Media Chance HDR downloaded program and used their Sky smoother tool so that my sky wasn't too grainy.

Chapel Doors stood still Light- Canon Rebel xs, f 8, Exposure 1/160, ISO-200, Exposure bias +2, Focal 21mm
Chapel Doors stood still Medium- Canon Rebel xs, f11, Exposure 1/320,ISO-200, Focal 21mm

Chapel Doors stood still Dark- Canon Rebel xs, f16, Exposure 1/640, ISO-200, Exposure -2, focal 21 mm

Action Blur & Freeze

Too Close for Comfort
The beautiful Kelsi Jones is my model for the next two portraits. My biggest mistake is that you can't see her beautiful face in either picture! Here is a shot in the historical hotel. I left the shutter open for about 15 seconds and had Kelsi start close to the camera and then back up and move around while the shutter closes. Then in Adobe Bridge I heightened the black paint and shadows present in the photo
Canon Rebel xs, f 8, exposure 15, ISO-800, Focal 18mm
Topsy Snow
Kelsi gave new meaning to the word Freeze frame as she twirled in the snow and icy streets. This is my favorite out of many freeze shots because you can see the movement not only in her coat, but also in her hair caught in the wind as well. Her extended gloves gives the stark difference of color in the winter wash out. I lightened the picture with PhotoShop to give the difference of Kelsi and the blown out background.
Canon Rebel xs, f 9, Exposure 1/500, ISO-200, Focal 55 mm

Macro Abstract

A hole with a wall

To think of Bannak is to think of texture. The rich wood and peeling wall paper cover almost ever wall. To add them all together is the blessing of Photo Shop.
A Wall
A hole

This is one of the many key holes to peer into at the ghost town. In photo shop I added the wood layer. I put a darkened the entire picture to create more of a focal point on the light through the hole. I also masked out the layer of wood off the already wood to not interrupt the gain that was already present. I also masked out the layer on the key hole as well.

1.Wall, Canon Rebel xs, f 14, ISO 200, focal 35mm

2. Hole, Canon Rebel xs, f 13, ISO 200, Focal 49mm

Reverse Shallow Depth

A wall and nob
The one thing I loved most about these old houses was the details that where run down now, but still beautiful. A perfect way to display this tattered old glory was in a Reverse Shallow Depth pose. First is a focus on the wall.
Canon Rebel xs, f 5.6, Exposure 1/50, ISO-200, Focal 50mm

A nob and a wall
Its such a stark difference to walk into these old buildings and be greeted by decayed white doors, then find a room full of color behind it. The only touch up this photo needed was to add a little bit more detail.
Canon Rebel xs, f 7.1, Exposure 1/100, ISO-200, Focal 55mm

Bannack Portraits

Mountain Man Max
This was photo was taken in the Jail at Bannack. I love the light that was streaming through the one of two large windows in the broken down jail. And who doesn't love the hat?
Canon Rebel xs, f 5.6, ISO-200, Focal length of 29mm

Doorway Milk

Through a break between storms we were able to take pictures with a little sun. Jill, the model and fellow photographer, has the most beautiful skin and inspired half of the name.
Canon Rebel xs, f 7.1, Exposure 1/200, ISO-400, Focal 55mm

Gritty Shadows

This is the same sitting as 'Mountain Man Max'. I wanted Max's stone expression to match the shadows on the walls behind him so I enhanced the black in Photoshop.
Canon Rebel xs, f 5, Exposure 1/50, ISO-200, Focal 42mm

Lady with Bricks
Again we have the lovely Jill Kochel. The sun was out originally so I went into Adobe Bridge and took out the saturation on the wall so that Jill will pop out more then red bricks.
Canon Rebel xs, f 7.1, 1/200, ISO-400, Focal 55mm

Night and Light

Painting with Light- I turned off all the lights in my apartment at night and shown a flashlight at the camera. It took a lot of different tries to get the right amount of light in the right position. I finally got the technique right and painted "Love" in this picture and "Hope" in the other. Hope's "e" got messed up because its hard to write backwards in a quick amount of time.

Moving light capture. I drove out in the dunes area of Idaho so I could get complete darkness without building lights. I then set my camera on my car (because I don't have a tripod yet) and opened the shutter for 30 seconds. In that 30 seconds I was able to get enough of the moon's moves to get it to blur on night sky. I hoped that get a clearer night but getting the streets through the clouds gave a nice effect.

1.Canon Rebel xs, f/11, Ex 10 sec, ISO-200, Focal 29mm
2.Canon Rebel xs, f/29, Ex 10 sec, ISO-200, Focal 29mm
3.Canon Rebel xs, f/5.6, Ex 30sec, ISO-800, Focal 46mm

Fine Art

Fine art was a tricky process! Sister Esplin was right when she said that if you fowl up on part of the process then the clipping mask doesn't work. I opened a new document on photoshop then created 5 or 6 back boxes, I inserted my picture in a 'clipping mask' format so that it would show up in the black box windows. I added the text with my company name "Darling Despot Photography" and with a previous scan of my signature. It was also hard to pick just one picture to feature. The top on is an engagement picture of my friend Chris and his fiance Lizy. The second one was the picture of our wall at home after I posted up the tree and cut-out leaves. The third is an angel picture that I did a couple posts back.

Scanography

It must be Valentine's day- because I've got love on the brain!These 3 Images I used to make the one below. The top left is a pear necklace that ties with a long red ribbon, the top right is me hovering over the scanner with BRIGHT red lipstick and the bottom middle is a shirt that I actually wore to class the day we got the assignment.

We've got quite a lot of valentine candy around the house so I used a bunch of the hearts to spell, "love" I'm actually not 100% in love with this picture and I might try to re-scan something before Monday rolls around!

Borders!!

I was blessed with the best model this week- TRISTAN!!! He's my newest nephew born on February 9.
Tiny Tristan
For this border effect I used creative border number 9- the Sprayed Edge Effect. I did put a nice baby blue edge around it but then decided on the simple elegance of white. Taken with Canon Rebel xs, f 5.6, Expo time 1/13, ISO-400, focal 49mm

Baby Bouquet
Some of the flowers that Tate, Tristan's mom, received in the hospital. I used the Brushed on Effect, lesson 10, and added more saturation in for the flowers to pop. Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f 4.5, Expo 1/8, ISO-400, Focal 37mm

Daddy Bryant
Here is father and sleepy son. The picture wasn't as dark on the mac I was working on verses my pc! I used the quick and simple border we learned in class then tone-down the occupancy on the outside edges so they could show through. Taken with Canon Rebel xs, f 4.5, Expo 1/200, ISO-400, focal 33mm

Enhancements

MATCH COLOR: What an amazing trick! Take the beauty skin tones from one color and add it to another photo. First one taken with Canon Rebel xs, f/5.6, ISO-400. Second on still taken with Canon Rebel xs, f/5.6, ISO-400

REPLACE COLOR: How fun is it to change the color of a sweater. Just select it and go to adjustments. Taken with a Canon Rebel xs f/4, ISO-400

Photo Shop enhancements: It was perfect time because Hysen, model, called me on Wednesday and said she had a cold sore. Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop I was able to snip out the red spots and give her a clear and natural finish.

Portraits

Here are my dating portraits with a 1950's edge.

Everyone remembers that first amazing feeling when the guy calls and asks you out for the first time.

I'd like you to meet my lovely model Hysen.

Kyler is our dater for these portraits. Sammy's were so nice and let us have free range of the place. Here is our environmental shot with the lovely waitress making the western favorite: fry sauce.

I had so many favorites with them they had to get a place on the blog

I think I might send this one into the Coke-Cola company.

I chose to wave out the background on this picture to really make the people pop out more.

What better way to end a date?! Hopefully Hysen's boyfriend doesn't see. Oh, and ladies, Kyler is currently single.

1.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5, ISO-400
2.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/4, ISO-400
3.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5.6, ISO-400
4.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5.6, ISO-400
5.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5, ISO-400
6.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/4.5, ISO-100
7.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5, ISO-400
8.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5, ISO-400
9.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5.6, ISO-100
10.Taken with a Canon Rebel xs, f/5.6, ISO-400