Stitching in the Park

I have done multiple image stitching with images several times now and found it to be very fun. However I always have thought of it as an open view of the world type image that you would have to have to make it look OK. While in Oregon however I decided to take an area where there wasn't a view of lots of mountains or wide open area and try out the process with a rather enclosed , limited view area of Tryon Park in Lake Oswego, OR. 

So from one of the observation decks in the park I just started shooting a series of images carefully watching the trees on the right side of the image and shooting them again with them on the left side of the next image as I shot going from my left to my right. It worked rather well except for the very first image that had the trunk of the tree taking up the entire length of the right side of the image and apparently Photoshop couldn't recognize it in the next image. The rest of the images made for a great panorama however and the result is shown in the very last image. The second to the last picture was with just the last three images of the sequence stitched together into one. 

Have a look and then try to do some of your own. Just take a series of portrait style images and make sure you overlap each image with something from the previous image to give Photoshop reference points.

This is the image that is missing from the bottom left side of the final panorama.

Lazy summer Days

I had an hour to wait until an expected client arrived at the park for pictures. I always try to go real early to appointments since I do not know what delays might occur on the way such as road detours, clogged freeways and flat tires. (I hate those flat tires,especially changing the ones on the same side as the traffic.)

Anyway so I laid down under a tree and decided to close my eyes and get a little rest. Except I didn't close my eyes before I ended up laying all the way down and had the trees above me as in these pictures. I got back up quickly , grabbed my camera, changes the lens and started shooting. It helps me to look at them now to realize how relaxing the next few minutes were for me and then to close my eyes if only for a few seconds and imagine that I were there again just lazing around on a long summer day in a park looking up at the tops of the trees providing me with shade from the hot summer sun.

July Fireworks

I decided to put a few of my images from our little towns fireworks show in July onto my blog. They are set off in a park just 100 yards from my home so it isn't hard to get to the park and get some good seats just 35 or so yards from where the fireworks are actually ignited. So these shots are a litle different from most firework shots in that you can see the smoke from their ignition. In one you can actually see the complete thing from the ground to the explosion. I didn't really get to see all of the show because the mirror kept getting in the road of my view for some reason. (Duh!!) Actually this is a situation where I keep both eyes open while shooting so as not to be surprised by something coming at me at an angle lower than the viewfinder so I still see most of the show.

Amber's bridals

So these are for you,Dusty, who was so good to not look at them when you knew they were available. There were a couple hundred to start with and I narrowed them down to these, my favorites, before sending everything to Amber. I liked a lot more of them than this but time limits the opportunity to photoshop a lot of them so I just picked a few to highlight and did some work on them so I could add them to the cd with the others. I hope you have a chance to go through some of the rest of them, if not already, and this will be a way that the other relatives can get to know her from her pictures.

A few more of the wedding of Dusty and Amber

I have had a chance to work on a few other images today and so decided to put them here for Dusty and Amber.

A lucky man.

No it is not the groom that is lucky, well he is really lucky also , but I am lucky to be able to get to work with such neat kids as they start their lives together. Weddings scare a lot of photographers and rightfully so since it is such a special day and there is so much that can go wrong for a photographer. There are time limitations, equipment failures and lighting that is just plain hard to work with but it is also very rewarding. The fact that you get to preserve memories for a bride and groom. The words of the ceremony are very wise but never remembered very well. The cake, well most of it gets eaten quite quickly or thrown out except for that little bit that gets partially eaten a year later and then thrown out. The guests are there all happy about the event, especially the food, and "OH! Can you get these pictures done quickly I'm hungry" has been said more than once. Then there is the whole event itself that is just a blur for the wedding couple UNTIL they get their pictures and then it's "I didn't remember what happeed, Wow, is that what we served?", or "I don't remember doing that!"  Yes, I am lucky because I am the one who has only one of a very few things that really gets remembered from that special day. There is the wedding certificate that hopefully gets framed for all to see and then the wedding album that brings the blur of the day back into focus "I hope, did  I mention equipment failures that could happen?" Well usually it doesn't but it is always a possibility not to mention hard drive failures and other such things..

A little Trip

So I took a little trip around Utah over the weekend with my wife. Actually we were on our annual trip to photograph Utah National Parks Council Silver Beaver recipients for the year 2008. These are men and women that have spent countless hours in the service of youth not only in scouting but also in their communities. So we traveled to places like Delta, Cedar City, St. George, Kanab, Monroe, Annabella, Roosevelt, and Heber plus several others in a whirlwind three day trip around Utah. I took time though to take pictures as I always try to do just for the additional fun. Here are just a few of those images.