The polo killer
The truck stop killer
The surfer killer
The boy next door killer
These are some HDR portraits we did today. Amazing how you can make someone look so devious with post-processing tweaks. Here is a screen shot of some of the adjustments I did in Photomatix. Here’s some other info so I won’t forget:
ISO 3200, F2.8, 5 frame bracketing, modeling light/no strobe
Driving home tonight I was enamored with how the clouds were forming and how well the colors were coming out. So I did as any well meaning photographer would do and took a quick trip up Howard’s Knob (while managing to slightly tresspass). Used a bit of my new found love, #HDR, and came out with these crazy shots. Hope you like them and tell other people about my blog, and click my ad links, and send me brownies.
I got wowed today when I started messing around with HDR processing. Which stands for Holy Dramatic Render!! Well not really, but it made me a new believer in post processing. I took a few shots on a tripod at different bracketed exposures, merged it as a 32 bit image, and then brought it into this amazing software called Photomatix. It’s a demo which is why it put the name all over the photos, but you can be sure I’ll be laying down my hundred bucks for this one. It took a normal boring scene and made it exciting and refreshing. Wouldn’t you want to work at this desk?
After HDR processing
Before HDR processing
I was like, “Man, that’s really cool.” But I didn’t become a real believer until I processed pictures of my own desk (that I look at every day) and saw how it made the mundane really POP! Click on the image to see the full frame.
Doogh (dooqh, also dugh) a yogurt-based beverage popular in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Doogh is prepared by beating unflavored yogurt until smooth, and then diluting with water to a consistency similar to whole milk. Salt, pepper and dried mint are mixed in. Carbonation is achieved by letting it ferment. Doogh is generally served chilled, or over ice. A variation is adding diced cucumbers to provide an extra “crunch”.
I’m in Charlottesville, VA for a MediaStorm Multimedia Storytelling class at the LOOK3 conference, and we ended up across the street from an Afghani restaurant this evening and decided to stop in. The waitress offered us a special drink called “Doogh” and we delightfully accepted. Apparrently us american fellas don’t quite have a taste for it as seen below in Dave’s disgust…
delighted and excited
taking the plunge
uhhhhhgghh
"I've got to finish it..."
"...sick, no i don't."
We have decided that from now on any edible item that is absolutely repulsive will be called “Doogh”.
example: That drink is so doogh!
My buds Jacob and Brittney have been married one year as of yesterday. Britt wanted some portraits of themselves that they didn’t get during the wedding day, so we went back up to the spot of their ceremony and went crazy.
I hung a strobe from the tree to dangle over them for this shot, then used some funky lightroom post effects.
wide aperture, natural light
gotta love the jumping shot
using a lensbaby
using flare for my benefit
i get the question all the time:
“Paul, how do I take a picture to make a person look cooler than they actually are?”
uncool made cool
I had a quick little assignment today at work, and I’d like to take a moment to introduce (to those that have never heard of it) the shoot through technique. What you need:
It’s actually rather simple and portable. I take a light disc with me wherever I go just incase I get inspired to use it. Hold the flash pointed towards the subject about a foot away from the disc, set your lighting (TTL, Manual, etc.) and start shooting. Badda-bing you’ve got a nice looking shot.
I took a few other ones, but this is the only one that was interesting to me. It is REALLY out of focus, yes. But that’s not the point, as Ansel Adams said once:
“There are no rules for good photographs, there are just good photographs.”
Good is in the eye of the viewer, so is beauty. I may say good, you may say bad. I may say artsy-fartsy, you may say out of focus. I digress…
Buy a disc, get an externable (i just verbalized external) flash and have fun.
this photo serves 2 purposes: showing what the light quality looks like with the shoot-through, and making Dave look like a soft focus stud
this photo also serves 2 purposes: showing you what a light disc looks like, and making me look like a bad a**
this photo serves no purpose, I just really love showing bad pictures of myself. Entitled "coffee?"
The first crop I made of this image looks like blood to some, obvi it’s wine, right?? Maybe not, I made a different crop, to include the bottles in the shot. It’s seems a little more distracting to me, and doesn’t make as strong of an image. What do you think?
including the bottles
cropping the bottles
Can’t play outside? Want to avoid movie overload? Keep yourself entertained and explore your creative side, take pictures, why not?
Spent the evening yesterday with Doc Hendley of Wine to Water doing a photoshoot for a story that a mag is running on him. Used my ringlight and a few SB-800 strobes for the dark super-hero like look. Doc was great to work with and excited to try out the ideas I had. Big thanks to David, Collin, and Shannon for the photo help!
wine and water mix
wine 2 water
jump
stand
