Daily Photo Journal

1. "Flames... flames... on the sides of my face..." (can you name the movie quote?)
2. Wednesday, February 10, 2010 @ 12:58am
3. At my house... with water standing by... :)
4. F-stop 5.6, shutter speed 1/15
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Love to read!
2. I listed this one as my Saturday shot, but actually I missed Saturday for photos... so I took this one Wednesday (today) at about 1:00am. Oops! >.<
3. At home, in my dining room. :)
4. F-stop 4, shutter speed 1/15
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. The Holy Family statue
2. Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 8:30pm
3. In my living room
4. F-stop 5, shutter speed 1/15
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Rainbow!
2. Taken Monday, February 8 at 12:12am
3. In my office...
4. F-stop 5.6, shutter speed 1/15
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Pearl necklaces
2. Another one that I totally forgot until too late that night.. this was my Sunday shot, but it was taken early Monday morning around the same time as the colored pencil shot.
3. In my office. :)
4. F-stop 5.6, shutter speed 1/15
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Blinds
2. Taken Friday, February 5 at 11:35am
3. In my bedroom
4. F-stop 5.3, shutter speed 1/250
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Last blossom
2. *sigh* another missed day... I took this one Friday morning, at the same time as the blinds photo. This was NOT a responsible week. :(
3. In my kitchen.
4. F-stop 5.6, shutter speed 1/30
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens


Overall, this was a very irresponsible week... I actually missed THREE days!! *sigh* bad, I know. But I tried to take extra pictures the days I actually remembered, so I used those here instead. Hopefully I'll be much less scattered this week! This was a lot more difficult of an assignment than I thought it would be... I think I'd love to try the 365 challenge someday, but preferably NOT when I'm in school and doing a million things that help me forget. :) Because I'm such a chicken in cold weather, I took all indoor photos, which I know limited me a lot (like I said... not a good week!). However, it was fun to see the variety of things I could shoot in my house, and see what interesting textures I could find!

Enhancements and Luminosity

Match Color:


I took the warmer color from this photo.... and matched it to this original photo to warm up the general blah-ness to create this.......




Portrait Enhancement:


Here's the original with no editing or cropping...


Here's the final version - cropping, levels, increased contrast, portrait enhancement, etc.


CHALLENGE:
Here's my adorable nephew, Jack with the luminosity effect added (by the way - he's got his favorite blankey, which he has named "monkey!" in his mouth...)




The luminosity effect took me about twenty times to get it right... I kept missing some tiny step that messed up the rest of it. :( But I think (hope?) it turned out kind of cool! I also think that the match color is my new best friend... incredibly useful!

Portraits

1. Corinne
2. January 29, 2010 @ 5:20pm
3. Taken behind US Bank in Rexburg, ID
4. F-stop 4.2, shutter speed 1/100
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Corinne (2)
2. January 29, 2010 @ 5:33pm
3. BYU–Idaho Gardens
4. F-stop 5.3, shutter speed 1/30
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Little flower
2. September 2, 2009 @8:15pm
3. BYU–Idaho Gardens
4. F-stop ?, shutter speed 1/60
5. Canon Rebel XTi, 18-55mm lens



1. Tiffany and Gavin
2. August 7, 2009 @ 2:30pm
3. Idaho Falls LDS Temple
4. F-stop ?, shutter speed 1/200
5. Canon Rebel XTi, 18-55mm lens


This has been my favorite post so far... I LOVE taking portraits - it's my preferred type of photography. :) The photos of Corinne were a little complicated because it was so dang cold outside when we did the shoot, but she was a great sport! I chose her for my portrait subject because she is so naturally photogenic. I hardly edited her photos aside from playing with the levels and saturation a bit. The photo of the baby girl is one of my all time favorites - the vibrancy of the colors in her outfit and the flowers behind her are just so beautiful! The wedding shot of Tiffany and Gavin was one of my first weddings - they were both so friendly, and disgustingly in love. :)

Adjustment Layers and Smart Filters

1. Chicken
2. January 25, 2010 @ 4:00pm
3. Chicken coop in the backyard. :)
4. F-stop 6.3, shutter speed 1/160
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Almost fall
2. September 28, 2009 @ 3:10pm
3. BYU–Idaho Biology Cabin
4. F-stop ?, shutter speed 1/160
5. Canon Rebel XTi, 18-55mm lens

I really enjoyed giving the chicken photo some great effects! The chicken is beautifully textured to begin with, looking very soft and fluffy in contrast to the hardness of the beak. It was great fun to add a filter (I can't remember which one!!!) to almost add a sketch-like graphic texture to it, although I erased it off everything except for the chicken head itself to keep the contrast between the subject and the background! It was lots of fun to add both funky filters and layers to the photo of the leaf... I ended up using quite a few, erasing effects out over the leaf, but also erasing some on everything but the leaf! I definitely need lots more practice with adjustment layers and smart filters, but it has been a ton of fun playing with them!!

Flora and Fauna

1. Hershey
2. January 26, 2010 @ 10:00pm
3. Home, Rexburg, ID
4. F-stop 5.6, shutter speed 1/8
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Nestle
2. January 26, 2010 @ 10:05pm
3. Home, Rexburg, ID
4. F-stop 5.6, shutter speed 1/10
5. Nikon D300s, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Grass island
2. September 28, 2009 @ 2:30pm
3. BYU-Idaho Biology Cabin
4. F-stop ?, shutter speed 1/160
5. Canon Rebel XTi, 18-55mm lens


This was a fun project to try to find flora and fauna... I had a hard time trying to find flora in the middle of winter, so I made sure I found new photos for my fauna, and used old ones of flora. :) I've used my pet guinea pigs as photo subjects before, so it was fun to try to get new angles and new shots of them! It was interesting trying to use a quick enough shutter speed to catch them, while dealing with a lack of light. I especially love the photo of the grass and stream from the Biology cabin from this fall... the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the rich blues of the stream, which contrasts so well with the gorgeous green of the grass.

Blending and Type

1. Barrus
2. January 19, 2010 @ 9:30pm
3. Barrus Concert Hall, Snow Building
4. F-stop 3.5, shutter speed 1/8
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens
6. Used overlay blending mode to combine barrus photo with photo of piled Scroll newspapers (taken 1/19/2010 in Spori foyer), added text effect using a quick overlay with reduced opacity



1. Amber
2. September 4, 2009 @ 4:15pm
3. Shelton Inn, Idaho Falls, ID
4. F-stop ?, shutter speed 1/125
5. Canon Rebel XTi, 18-55mm lens
6. Used layer mask to add photo of stacked newspapers over bridal photo, then painted out newspaper with varying opacities over Amber and the window.


This was definitely a difficult project for me - trying to find two images that I liked together took forever!!! I ended up using my texture image of stacked Scroll newspapers twice, simply because I didn't like any of my other textures (leaves, wood, brick, etc.) and didn't have time to take more. :( I think they look okay, but I'm definitely going to go out and take more texture photos so next time I have more to choose from! I love the original bridal photo of Amber, and actually am sort of pleased with how the overlay looked on it... definitely adds an interesting dimension to the photo, although I'm not sold on it yet. Better luck next time!

Landscape and Still Life

1. Stage Fright
2. January 19, 2010 @ 9:30pm
3. Barrus Concert Hall, Snow Building
4. F-stop 3.5, shutter speed 1/8
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Fishies
2. January 19, 2010 @ 10:26pm
3. Snow Building lobby, aka "Fishbowl"
4. F-stop 8, shutter speed 1/250
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Locked
2. January 19, 2010 @ 10:30pm
3. Lockers, Snow Building
4. F-stop 4.5, shutter speed 1/20
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens



1. Brrr...
2. January 10,2010 @ 5:26pm
3. Beaver Dick Park on the outskirts of Rexburg, ID
4. F-stop 8, shutter speed 1/250
5. Nikon D300S, 18-200mm zoom lens


I had a much more difficult time with this week's photo blog... and somehow I managed to find two more ochre-toned photos completely unintentionally. Hm. Next week's goal - new color if it kills me. :) Anyway, it was a challenge for me, as I almost always photograph people, to be able to predict whether or not a certain landscape would be beautiful or not. I took the photo of the frozen river before our last class, so it definitely could have benefited from Sister Esplin's lesson on metering the sky. Better luck next time. I was surprised with how cool the photo of the light fixture in the Snow Building lobby ended up. The original picture is very boring... the bulbs are dusty/cobwebby and the colors dull. But just adding a simple overlay really made the bulbs look beautiful again! Lots of fun. :)