Albany New York PhotoTrip

OK it really wasn't a photo trip it was more a trip to Albany Medical Center for a Test and I had for hours to kill while Deb slept, lucky her. :) Don't worry her test came out great, and she is going to be fine. Me on the other hand thought walking a few blocks to Washington Park was no big deal and I think it just about killed me! I don't do a ton of walking because of my disabilities so it was a bit more than my legs and back where used to. And to top it off it was like 85 out and a bit humid! Well I did manage to get a few pictures I liked.

Patriotic

Brown Stones

I thought these came out really well.
A few days before I went out and came a across a field of Blackeyed Susan's.
And got these shots.

So Close

Twins

Blackeyed Susan's

I shot the Blackeyed Susan's and then played with them a bit in Photoshop, using the Orton technique. It really makes a slightly out of focus picture look so much better. And that day the wind was blowing and I was having a hell of a time seeing through he lens, one because of the sun, and two because it was so much lower than I can physically get to.
I am seriously thinking of getting the Olympus Evolt 510, I think because the anti shake feature is built into the camera and not the lens it might be a better camera for me. But will save that for another article.

Batch Processing Resizing Photographs

I found this neat little free utility put out by Microsoft it's called Microsoft Photo Resizer. Now this is only available for Winxp. But it works like a dream. You highlight multiple pictures (hold down the ctrl key while clicking on each photo you want to resize) then right click and click the photo resizer. Check it out it is a huge time saver if you want to email or post a bunch of pictures. And it is easy and quick. Can't beat that.

Ten Things You Should Know About Digital Cameras

Here is a great list for people who are considering buying there first digital camera.
Digital Cameras: The Top 10 Things You Need to Know

Although I already have a digital camera, I think it answers a lot of basic questions and gives some great suggestions for the beginner. I plan on pointing all my friends who are interested in photography here first just to get them started.

There you'll also find an interesting article on Camera Buying Pitfalls

Ten Most Common Photographic Mistakes

This is a great article on photographic mistakes. Andre Gunther put together a list of mistakes I know I am guilty of a few of these. Ten Most Common Photographic Mistakes
Very informative, and some great pictures too. A definite read for any amateur photographer.

Free Wallpaper For Your Computer

Well I have been a little busy with designing a website for a client and I have been trying something new. WordPress it's pretty cool and you really have thousands of themes to choose from and then you can even customize it even further.
So I was looking to ad a header photo and decided on using one of my favorite ones.

The Road Home

I liked it but I need something a bit softer and dreamer. So I "Ortonized" it.

The Road Home "Ortonized"

Cool huh! You can check out the final results for the header Here I think it turned out well. Keep in mind the page is only just been started so there isn't much there but the colors and the layout.

Now about the free wallpaper I thought I would offer the "ortonized" version as a free wallpaper to anyone who would like it. It looks fantastic on my 17" monitor. So if you would like a copy just leave a comment or drop me an email and I will send it to you.

Tricky Lighting & Macro Shots

So we had a bit of a storm today and I thought I would go out and get some shots of the sky. However I was side tracked by the beautiful flowers in the yard. As the lighting was dark and storm and windy, I thought maybe I would once again give the "macro" shot another try.
This is what I started with....

As you can see the lighting isn't that great and the blossom no that appealing.
So I decided to play with it a bit in Photoshop Elements.

This is what I came up with.
I love it! I used the previously post "Orton Effect"
This is only the second time I have been able to get a decent macro shot and I didn't even use my macro lenses.
I am certainly going to be trying some more macro shots and maybe even adding the Orton effect.

The 100 Year Old Photography Blog

I came across this very interesting photography blog called Shorpy The 100 year old photography blog.

This is such a cool site! I found myself milling through the photographs of history. There is just about every subject imaginable and most with information about each photograph, who, why, what, when and where. And of course who the photographer was.

Why Shorpy? Shorpy is the name of a very young Alabama coal miner Shorpy Higginbotham.

Cruising through each page is such a treat for me as I am an avid History Channel watcher and of course photographer. I found that our photographers before us wrote the rules we photographers follow religiously today. Although they didn't have schools of photography way back when you can still see, the composition, the rule of thirds, color, aperture, and subject where well thought out.

All I can say is I wish I had thought of that website first! :)

Canon & Outdoor Photography Magazine Photo Contest

I was checking out the online magazine of Outdoor Photography. Although I get the magazine I like to enter there sweepstakes, each month they give away some pretty cool stuff. This month they are giving away a Nikon D40x and some other great photography stuff.

Anyway they are sponsoring a new photo contest with Canon.

Canon Presents Your Favorite Places Photo Contest

"Canon is a leading company with more than 60 years of camera know-how and Outdoor Photographer has been providing avid photographers with sophisticated content for more than 20 years, so it was only a matter of time before the two joined creative forces. The Your Favorite Places Photo Contest combines one of the most popular features of the Outdoor Photographer Website, Your Favorite Places, and turns it into a competition that draws inspiration from the beautiful and scenic photography seen in the online gallery."

" Here are the submission guidelines:

1. › Entry deadline is July 20, 2007. All entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (PST).
› You can submit up to two photographs.
› Photos should be in keeping with the general themes of landscape, wildlife and travel that form the usual content of Outdoor Photographer.
› The maximum file size is 125K each; image size up to 640x480 pixels; and resolution of 72dpi."

Heres the Prizes

1. » Grand Prize
› EOS Digital Rebel XTi Camera Kit from Canon
› $1,000 cash
› Tamrac 5577 photo backpack
2. › Giottos MT9370 professional tripod from H.P. Marketing Corp.
3. › Datacolor’s ColorVision Spyder2PRO Display calibration package
› 16x20 print of winning photo from Duggal
› Photo published in October 2007 issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine
4.

1. » 2 Runner-Up prizes
› Tamrac 5768 photo backpack
2. › 16x20 print of winning photo from Duggal

1. » People’s Choice prize
› Tamrac 5577 photo backpack
› 16x20 print of winning photo from Duggal

* » 2 People’s Choice Runner-Up prizes
› 16x20 print of winning photo from Duggal
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Heres my entries -

Candle Mill Village Falls

Sun Cones

Up at Dawn

I was called at 2:30am this morning to take my brother to the hospital for a migraine. By the time we left at around 5:30am the sun wasn't quite up yet and the fog was heavy on the mountains. So I figured I could always sleep later, photography comes first! LOL
I was out for a few hours and had seen about 6 or 7 deer, and I was even able to stop and get some shots of one. Now I know your asking yourself why that picture is not up well it is simple. One 1st my zoom isn't that good. 2nd I was shooting hand held and all the shots came out blurry. I tried to get my tripod out without making noise but you know how that goes the quieter you try to be the loader you are! LMAO

I just can't seem to get the hang of hand held shooting. I try and try and well it isn't working. So if anyone has some advice I would love to hear from you.

So this is just one of the shots I took of the sun coming out this morning.

Schtickers Artwork

Wow! it's been awhile since I have posted anything. Mostly because I haven't really felt up to doing much of anything. I think after my fall I had a bit of a depression and just had a hard time shaking it. But I seem to be doing much better now. So I am slowly getting back to my old self.

Anyway I wanted to share with you something I just got in the mail today. It's called a Schticker.



This is what I got. Great isn't it? I love it. It is a laptop skin. My laptop was getting scratched up mostly because of my 7 kats, so I wanted something to make it look great, and this is what I found.

It cost me $28.84 with shipping. All I did was upload one of my favorite photos and they sent me this a few days later.
It is beautiful! I would put this on my wall seriously. Anyway I love it and would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to spice up there laptop, ipod, or wall.