I finally stopped

OK, so I had another Silver Beaver shoot last night in Orem, Utah and then had to go to Spanish Fork to pick up some of the graduation pictures that I had being printed. On the way home from there I finally stopped to take some pictures of a farm that I have passed many times and just never stopped to photograph. It is interesting also since a lot of the farms in this valley are quickly giving way to high priced developers. My wife and I were even commenting the other day that pretty soon there won't be any land to raise hay and grain to feed the horses that are so popular around this valley since homes and sub-divisions seem to be overtaking all of the available land. Anyway I decided it was about time to get some pictures of it before the farmer gave in to developers here also. So here are four images of the same farm taken from two different perspectives and then enhanced in photoshop.

Working, Waiting, Learning and Practicing

I was photographing Boy Scouts of America, Utah National Parks Council, Silver Beaver recipients last night in American Fork, Utah. I have 93 of them in the council to photograph this year and so I go to key locations and have them come to me. Well that requires a little waiting while they arrive at different times according to their abilities and schedules. So last night I arrived a little early and set up the flag that I would use as the backdrop and since this is a scouting thing I did it outdoors. ("Scouting" is "Outing" when you take off the "S".) Anyway so while waiting for the first one I took a couple shots of the mountains that I could see from there. (MT Timpanogos and the peak behind Alpine, Utah) Then during the course of the next three hours as I would wait I read in a book "The Creative Digital Darkroom" by "Katrin Eismann" and "Sean Duggan". The subject matter was on the use of the blending filters in Photoshop and making black and white images with some of them. So for my few minutes of personal study this morning to make my knowledge of Photoshop better I practiced a couple of the uses of the filters and also the use of other thing in photoshop that I have been learning in the past.

The following are what I came up with and as usual I leave it to you to be the judge of what you like the best. 

This first image seen above was saved as it was taken in the camera Raw original image.

This second one was with a standard levels adjustment.

Here in the third one I used the Multiply blend mode with the second layer opacity moved back to Approx. 70 %.

In the fourth one I applied the LAB process with the multiply blend mode and opacity dropped again on that layer to 70%.

The final image of this series was made using the Black and White Adjustment layer option to increase the contrast of the image by adjusting each specific color level. 

These last two images were made by using the Multiply blend mode and the Black and White adjustment layers as in the first series.

WOW! I Thought it might and Yet

I had arranged a photo bridal shoot last week for yesterday after the weather had prevented us from doing it then. And wouldn't you know it the weather started turning bad a little after noon and I was worried we might not be able to do it again but I knew we had to since the forecast was even worse for the next two days and she would be leaving for Oregon the third day. It just had to be done that night. Well I can do them inside but she wanted them outside which is where I also prefer to do them so we just went with it. She arrived and the wind was blowing and my wonderful assistant (my wife) kept saying we just can't do them in this wind and I said we will just have to try and then do some inside as well.
We went out and the wind was blowing but it sure made for some neat wind blown looks and so we did several and then went in and did some more. I had noticed however before we went in that I would need to watch the window because it was looking like there could be a beautiful sunset and I would want to do some with it as well. She had also forgotten her flowers so we did these pictures while her sister went back for them and just as her sister was getting back we were ready to go back out. I did a few in my yard with the sun in the background but knew I still had some time left so we went to a home not far from us where a very generous family has allowed us to take pictures now for several years. (He loves flowers and landscaping and so it is a beautiful place to work with brides and families.) Well the following are some of the images we were able to do when the sun started to get in the right position.
These first three are the same image only I have adjusted them to make one I felt might be better. The first image is the original image as shot,
This second one is adjusted with the levels control so that she would show up better but then it made the sunset wash out a little more than I wanted so I did a third one with three layers and then adjusted the second layer to show this amount of brightness.
I then masked out the second layer only bringing back the bride , her dress and the veil. It made her lighter while keeping the color that I wanted in the sunset.  All three images could stand alone and be beautiful but since photoshop is available why not do some adjusting as we use to do in the darkroom.
Here is one where the wind helped in moving the veil around for me. I liked how it helped.
Now below are some of those shots I have talked about when I said to take a time out. These were some of the images I was able to capture of the sunset that really did turn out to be beautiful. (Despite the wind making the grass a little more blurred than I wanted.) You will see some differences in them since I also did some LAB color adjustments to some. You decide which ones you like the best. By now you probably know I like to leave the final choice up to the viewer.

Random Trunks

Remember my story about picking a subject and then doing a series of images on that thing. Well I get off on different ones and sometimes they are pretty random such as the ones today. However to justify myself in these random, (and somewhat meaningless I suppose to some people), subjects that I pick I just need to let you know that I find beauty in a lot of things and it only requires looking a little closer or pondering about what might have led to the image even being possible. 
You see this trunk(pictured above) told me there was a beaver nearby and I hoped I would get to see it. Little did I know it would have a close encounter with a swan only a few minutes later that would end up not only letting me photograph it but also giving me some interesting blog material that I least expected..
Then there is this trunk that you see above here. Why was it cut down, or was it dead before it was cut down, or how old was it and what types of winters had it experienced? All types of questions that I sometimes think about as I photograph different things, I know it's kind of strange but sometimes I really would like to know the history associated with things in the past. (Did a bear ever walk past the tree or a deer rub off the velvet of it's horn on it's trunk? You see I can come up with all sorts of questions.) Bet you can too.
Then sometimes I take pictures just to use in instructing others. Can you guess what instructions might come from an image like this? Well I am a scouter and have started a lot of campfires using a little bark from a tree like this. They are not trees that grow everywhere so the instruction to scouts is much clearer when they can actually see what the bark might look like on the proper tree and thus know if that tree is even around to use.
Then last of all is this image. I took it simply because I liked the lighting that had been placed by the owner to light it at night. However when I looked at it later I could imagine at Halloween and turned upside down that it could be something totally different, like the walking trees often portrayed in movies. I'll leave it to your imagination for whatever else you might see in this tree or image.  (Use a whole bunch of imagination and you might almost see an elephant walking by you, and now I really have you wondering about my sanity.) Have fun with images and a whole new world will open up to you (and might even keep you from going insane).

Time Out

When doing a photo shoot I like to always be aware of my surroundings and watchful for a quick time out shot as I move from place to place. Such was the case this weekend as I photographed a wedding and a family on separate occasions. The flowers were at the Salt Lake Temple and we were there with 73 other photographers (in other words there were 73 other weddings) and so there were times that we would have to wait for another photographer to finish in a setting before we were able to move in and take our images. It is sometimes frustrating having to wait so I have learned to take time outs as needed, and let my bride know why of course, so that I can at least feel like I am accomplishing something anyway. The images I will often use to make composites of the bride and groom later so they really are not a waste of time or pixels.


Then these next two images are the same image but with photoshop variations added to the second. I took this one and liked what I saw in the camera's display so we then moved the family to the lawn area just in front of the trees and did a family picture there. I had already taken the group shots in another location but did it again when I saw this scene. I think it will actually be the one I use in the final image. I could have just not noticed but I have found again through experience to never count out a shot or possible shot until you have parted ways with the client. You never know how the daylight may change in your favor as time goes on during you session.