Cassius

This is a shot I took of my roommate's dog.  He's an American Staffordshire Terrier and his name is Cassius.  Cassius hates old people and small children.  If you even look at him wrong, he'll chew your face off.  Cassius diet consists of raw steaks and the neighborhood kids.  If your paths should cross on good day, he might just decide to let you keep one of your legs.  Beware of dog... 

ISO 400, 105mm, f/5.6 at 1/50sec

New Website Coming

Hi all.  I've been looking around at some good web hosting companies to get an actual site up and running.  If I end up getting one of the jobs I have lined up, they wouldn't start until April 1st, so that leaves me with over a month with nothing to do.  I figured I could devote the time to setting up a website and some better galleries to showcase more pictures.

Like I mentioned in an older post, I've been using Apple's MobileMe for my web gallery and the trial period is almost up.  Not worth it for me to keep using it so I'm going to get rid of the account in a couple days, before they start charging me for it.  I figured I can pay for a few months of hosting service and see how that goes rather than cough up 100 bucks for a MobileMe service which I wont really use.  Personally, I think they're online galleries suck anyways.

The picture above was taken on a walk at Kingman Farm.  I really like the sense of drama the clouds add to the photo.  100 ISO, 18mm,  f/18 at 1/10 sec.

Cheers

Zack Arias Video

On Wednesday's guest blogger post over at Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider blog, Zack Arias chose to post a video instead of writing something.  I was absolutely blown away by this.  Check it out if you have the time.  It's one of the most inspirational things I've seen in a while.

Click here for a link to the post with the vid.  Enjoy and share it!

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

Time to talk about one of my new favorite things in photography. High Dynamic Range or HDR. This shot I just took a couple hours ago came out pretty cool, but would you believe that it's actually 3 of the same photo merged together? That is pretty much what HDR is.

I took three pictures of the same scene, with each one exposing the detail in a different part of the landscape. First, I took a shot that brought the details out in the sky, then another to pick up the detail in the mid-tone areas, and finally a shot to grab the details in the shadows and trees. Using an application called Photomatix, I merged all three files together and defined the contrast strength for the three pictures. The software pretty much does the rest for me. Once I export the final image, I load it into Lightroom and then to Photoshop to fine tune some details.

I should have waited till dusk to grab this shot. I'm sure it would have lookwd a lot better, but I dont have a job right now so I honestly don't have much to do in my free time. Maybe I'll go out again tomorrow to try and get a better one.

Stay classy.

Discin' at Dusk

Met up with my buddy Ryan over at Bellamy Park for a little disc golf action late this afternoon.  The sun was just going down and the light was perfect so I got some nice shots of Ryan and the course.  Haven't finished processing the pictures of Ryan yet, but this shot was taken at the end of the day and I think it might be one of my favorites.  Probably gonna head back there tomorrow before class, and try to get a couple more shots of the river that runs through the course.

If you've checked out my gallery using the link provided at the right, you've noticed I've been using the gallery provided with my Apple MobileMe account.  It's not bad, but I think I can do better myself with a separate web host and save some money too.  I'm nearing the end of the 60 day trial for the MobileMe service and to be honest with you, I don't find myself using the other features aside from the gallery.  Doesn't make much sense to keep it, so I'll be doing away with my current web gallery and starting over.  So enjoy the photos while they're still posted.

Well it's bedtime for me.  Night all.

One More Before Bed

I took this shot about a month and a half ago but I never got around to posting it.  I was just lying in bed going through some older shots when I came across this.  It's the view from my bedroom window.  I took it through the screen so if you look close enough, you can see the grid going across the picture.  I think it gives it kind of a neat effect though.  Looks almost like a painting.  Anyways.  Thought you might enjoy.

Thompson Hall

This weather we've been having recently has been wonderful.  Granted, it was a little colder today, but I certainly will not complain.  It's all a big tease though.  Those of you who actually live up here know that we can get our worst snow in February and March.  Hopefully we can ride this next month or so out without anymore snow though.  I'm getting sick of it.

Managed to take a stroll through the UNH campus today to try my skills at some architectural photography.  It was a lot harder than I thought...especially at around 1:30 in the afternoon.  I didn't have a whole lot of angles to work with at that time due to the sun so my shots were quite limited.  Can't wait till the summer when I can get up early and have it be above 10 degrees.  This shot of Thompson Hall came out okay though.

Cheers

D300

Depending on what Nikon announces at PMA this year, and if I have a decent job by then, I would very much like to purchase one of these.

Mmmmm.  Tasty.

Migrating to Lightroom

For the past few months, I've been using Apple's Aperture to catalog and adjust my photos.  I've recently been giving Adobe's Lightroom a try and I have to say, I like it a lot better...for a couple reasons.  First, I find the file system much more convenient.  Aperture's standard library comes in a "package" file that stores everything.  Adjustments, metadata, versions, the actual images...EVERYTHING.  So when you go look in your file directory, you dont see your photos, you see the single library file.  Now I don't know about you, but the idea of storing all of my precious masterpieces in one single file scares me a little.  If something were to happen to that file, I'd be F'd in the A so to speak.  Lightroom stores all this information in a catalog file as well, but it keeps all the images separate in their own directories.  This puts my mind at ease and also makes the switch from my laptop to my desktop much easier.

The next thing I've found better in Lightroom are the adjustments, especially the new adjustment brush in version 2.  There's just so much more control now than what Aperture has to offer.  I also like the adjustment interface better in Lightroom.  Granted, there are no modules in Aperture and you can adjust pretty much anywhere at anytime, but I haven't really found the module separation in Lightroom that much of an inconvenience.

Finally, the training and documentation available for Lightroom beats Aperture 10 fold.  The Kelby Training website has a three part in depth series on Lightroom which I just finished and was absolutely amazing.  I highly recommend signing up for their online training programs if you're interested in learning more about Photoshop and Lightroom.  

Well that's all for me today.  Gotta finish laundry and get started on migrating my library over.

Cheers

Is It Spring Yet?

Man was it nice out today or what?  The weather helped to offset the negative vibrations I received this morning from my trip to the unemployment office.  That was quite degrading.  I even ended up dressing the part since my gym was right across the street.  I figured I would skip right over after filing my claim so I showed up in sweat pants and sneakers.  Still had bed-head too since I hadn't showered yet.  Real classy indeed.

Anyways....the rest of the morning was spectacular.  I took a nice long walk over at Kingman Farm and enjoyed the wonderful sunshine.  Managed to snag a couple nice shots while I was out there too.  I was hoping I would see some kind of wildlife while I was out there, but no dice.  Don't know where all the fury critters were, but they sure missed out on some spectacular weather.

Anyways.  Gotta run meet my sister and then head to the lady's place for the night.  Catch you all laters.

Cheers

In Class

Tired.  Don't want to be here.

Adam's Point Revisited

Just wanted to throw up this other pic from this morning.  I think I might like the other one better, but only because of the moon.

I'll let you in on a little secret too...that moon wasn't taken in the original photo.  In actuality, the moon was to the left, out of the frame.  I took the picture of the landscape first, then spun the camera around and grabbed the moon.  A little help from photoshop gave me the final product.  A pretty simple procedure too.  Maybe I'll do a post about it.

That's all for now.  Night all.

Adam's Point

Made my way out to Adam's Point this morning in hopes of grabbing some cool sunrise shots over the Great Bay...and boy did I ever.  The pic above was taken at about 6:15 this morning just as the sun was starting to creep over the eastern horizon.  It was about 15 degrees so I didn't stay out for too too long, but I was able to snap off a few nice shots of the sunrise.  I'll be sure to upload them to my gallery once I put them all through post production.

Weather.com said that the sunrise was due at 4:59 this morning.  Liars.  I was out there at 4:45 this and the sky didn't begin to light up till almost 6.  I will definitely be hitting the sack early tonight.

The sun might also be rising on my job search too.  Interview tomorrow afternoon for a database position.  Would be a moderate pay cut, but at least they'll pay for the rest of my MBA.  In times like these, any pay check will do just fine though.  Wish me luck.

Cheers.

Guest Blogger Chris Orwig

Scott Kelby, one of my favorite photographers and instructors, has a guest blogger every Wednesday over at his blog.  About a couple weeks ago, he featured a photographer by the name of Chris Orwig.  I was blown away by some of his pictures and found his post to be quite inspiring.  Check it out if you have time.  It's a great read.  Click here to go to the post.

Last day of work tomorrow.  Wish I would at least hear back from a couple of places.  Playing this waiting game really sucks.  Hopefully we have some warmer weather next week so I can get out and take my mind off things.

Cheers

No Job = More Opportunities to Shoot

In case anybody hasn't heard, I've been laid off.  Due to budget constraints, my company has decided to part ways with my services and abilities.  Pretty messed up eh?  I still can't believe this has happened.  What 25 year old gets laid off?  You'd think from a human resources perspective, it would the worst decision a company can make.  Think about it...  I've been there for three years.  I'm still quite young.  I haven't become "stagnant" in my position and without the ability to change my role effortlessly.  I don't make nearly as much as most people there.  The company has already paid for almost half of my MBA, a $6,000 value so far.  Seems like a real waste to me.  Idiots.  My last day is Friday.

It's just now hitting me that I will have a lot of time on my hands starting next Monday.  Of course searching for another job will be top priority, but I've also realized that I've been provided with an excellent opportunity.  I no longer have a schedule that owns my time 40+ hours a week.  I can now get up early and stay up late in order to capture those perfect landscape lighting conditions.  I'm hoping that I find another job ASAP, don't get me wrong, but I also hope that the time that I do have away from the grind is blessed with some great weather.  Look forward to a multi-part series showcasing my first crack at some landscape photography.

Cheers.

Winter Day at the Beach

Took a little trip the beach yesterday with Sara.  There was a nice break in the wind which allowed us to take a little stroll along the water.  I got a few good shots will I was there too.  Check the rest of the pictures out here.

I made the stupid mistake of not changing my ISO setting back from the hockey game the night before.  Wasn't really that big of a deal, but a nice sunny day at the beach should not be shot in ISO 400.  Oh well.  The pictures still came out pretty good I think.

Time head out and pick up a couple things for the superbowl.  Gotta squeeze in some studying time too.  Mid term this Tuesday.

GO CARDINALS!!!

UNH vs UVM

Sara and I went to the UNH hockey game the other night at the Whittemore Center in Durham.  Was nice to visit the old stomping grounds, but more importantly it was nice to try my camera out at a sporting event.  I was pretty impressed with the results.  The camera handled the indoor lighting nicely.  The venue is also a great place to shoot...not really a bad seat to be found.  I was able to get most the shots right from my seat.  

The game itself was amazing!  UNH ended up scoring a goal in the final two minutes of the game to give them the 3 to 2 edge over UVM.  A real nail biter.  I encourage anyone who lives in the area to check out a game if you haven't before.  They're very entertaining.

I've posted the pictures to my online gallery which can be found here.  Let me know what you think!