Day 314 of 365

Day 314 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Day 313 of 365

Day 313 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I thought the clouds were kind of neat looking tonight so I snapped a few shots from my backyard. I didn't really do much to try and make an "artful" photograph as I was more interested in seeing what I could do with the images creatively. I took a few moments to see what I could come up with in Photoshop. I tend to be pretty quick in Photoshop when it comes to playing with my images. I have a few things I try and if they don't give me a feeling of "hmm...maybe I'll run with this concept" I tend to abort and move on. I figure if I can't come up with something fairly appealing in a few minutes, no amount of tinkering is going too.

So here are a few extra images to show you what I think a fairly normal image can look like with a few simple Photoshop adjustments.

The orange version is a color negative curves selection with a hard light layer adjustment on the curves layer.

This darker more abstract version is a duplicate background layer that I ran a sumi-e filter on. Next I applied a linear burn layer adjustment on the duplicate and lowered the opacity to 45%.

Two completely different images from the same base image. Two different feels for me. The orange is bright and cheery...something I might see printed rather large on the wall some place where you might want to invite a sense of calm. The opposite is true with my dark abstract. For me it reminds me of growing up in Washington State. A storm is brewing, the rains are coming, the floodgates are about the open. Doesn't mean I don't like the photo...I actually like it a little more than the bright and cheery version.

Day 312 of 365

Day 312 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Day 311 of 365

Day 311 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Any guesses?

If I get a chance to reshoot this I think I want to try and get more light. It would be difficult to use a tripod so may have to bump up the ISO more. Ah...ISO. I've gone almost this entire year long project without learning how to use my ISO effectively. I've only recently realized I probably should increase it from 100 on occasion.

This photo was shot at 50mm f/1.8, 1/20 sec, ISO 400.

Day 310 of 365

Day 310 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

With the sun going down so early now I decided to head out and try for some photos near sunset. While it started out that way I ended up searching for reflections. I've spent so much time trying to reproduce reflections in my garage using various things that I thought maybe I should look for some natural ones. I was more interested in the lights on the water and wasn't sure if I would like the buildings on the pier but after looking at the shot on my computer screen I ended up liking it.

Day 309 of 365

Day 309 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

When I can't come up with any normal ideas I tend to experiment. Tonight I used the sheet of reflective paper and some strips of colored paper and my hand for no other reason than I wanted to see how it would look. The nice thing about the paper is it is rigid enough that it will stand on it's own while being a bit warped so it has a funhouse mirror thing going. I will be playing with this more with different objects to see what I can come up with.

Day 308 of 365

Day 308 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I took part in a Flickr event titled "A day in the Life of November 4, 2009" today. Nothing special about the date...the guy who started it just wanted to see how many people he could get around the world to chronicle their day with photographs.

I started with the first thing I saw this morning (yes I had my camera sitting on my nightstand ready to take this very photo as I lay there) and ended with my drive home from work. I didn't spend a lot of time being creative...just took shots to tell a short story of my day and to do something a little different today.

You can find the rest of my day in photographs here.

Day 307 of 365

Day 307 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Lit from below with a piece of white poster board above for light bounce. Could have used a bit more light on the little pumpkin to the far left. It also looked in focus in camera but it appears to be a touch out of focus when viewed larger.

Day 306 of 365

Day 306 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

On my short drive home from work tonight I noticed the full moon was just high enough over the hills to the east of us to make for a cool shot. So I grabbed my tripod and camera and walked out to an open spot near the main road but by the time I got there the moment was gone. Yes...I didn't have my camera with me again but I wouldn't have had my tripod and cable release so it wouldn't have mattered. Since I missed the shot I was going for I finally got around to taking a shot I've been meaning to take for a while...it just happens that a very nice and orange sunset was in the background. I want to do this same shot when it's really foggy so all you can see is the fog and street lights...now if it will only get foggy again.

Day 305 of 365

Day 305 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Was cutting some onions and found myself paying more attention to the rings than the knife...thankfully didn't cut myself.