Ok here are the shots I took as I walked to and from the Chinese Garden.   The light ended up being fantastic.  I must have recognized it on some level at the time as I took many exposures of this street (but not volumes, thank god.)

I really love these shots.  Click any to enlarge.
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I talked about HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography in one of my posts of yesterday.  Here's a great example.   Click to enlarge.   (Sheesh I think I brain farted and called the acronym something else yesterday, oh well.)



This is by Trey Radcliff.  The photo lives here on Flickr.  And his site, Stuck in Customs, has an HDR tutorial.  There a lots of other HDR tutorials out there.   The main thing with HDR is that it is better to use a tripod and so far I hate using tripods.  But I need to get over that.  I have a lot of photos I took at the Portland Chinese Garden where I tried bracketing into multiple exposures (with and without a tripod) to take my first real try at HDR.   But my poor Macbook just about died under Photoshop trying to merge the photos.

Here is the one photo I was able to merge.    (Click to enlarge.)



But I kinda cheated and didn't do a true HDR merge. Plus since there really was nothing interesting going on in the sky that morning, the HDR effect is not really that apparent.  Usually you can tell HDR when both the land and the sky are in vivid detail.  DSLR cameras are unable to capture the full range of dynamic resolution between both the lightest (often the sky) and the darkest (the land), so for HDR you typically capture three exposures (called bracketing, which is also an available function on most DSLRs), one perfectly exposed, one under exposed, and one over exposed.   Then through the magic of HDR software (or the HDR function available in Photoshop), those (ideally) perfectly aligned via a tripod shots are merged into a stunning, high dynamic range photo.   

Except my first few tries have been less than spectacular.  I think there's more to it than a simple merge - I've merged photos before - I've taken single shots and adjusted them in Photoshop to be both over and under exposed and merged them.  I got better results at that than I have so far for HDR.   The HDR merge does something to the resulting photos that requires a type of photo adjustment that is different somehow than what I've experienced before.  And I've been using Photoshop for going on 10 years now.

From here

Excerpts:

"A resolution is a one-time decision. A mile-marker on our journey, on which we look back when we forget from whence we’ve come and lost sight of where we’re going. But it’s nothing more. The moment you make it, it begins to lose its momentum, and there are very few of us for whom that resolution carries much lasting strength. It’s just the way it is. It’s a strong indicator of a desire, but a poor agent of change. It may, at best, be a compass, but it’s not an engine. And waiting for the magic of January One is just silliness. Do it now. Not tomorrow. Not later."

AND

"none of them come on a silver platter. They come with intention and resolve, they come rough and demand polishing, and they – all of them – extract a price. But I am amazed at how much we can accomplish when we pay that price, and stop screwing around"


( thoughts... )

Note to friends - I doubt this LJ posting will continue at this rate.  Once the first rolls around projects will begin to take off and take more of my energy.  But I will try to post at least more often than 1-3 times a month.   
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I love how taking photos can turn a stressful day into smiles for me.   I captured this random moment yesterday afternoon.

(click to enlarge)

From a_carnal_mink:

Ben Edlund's reply to someone who wrote to him on Tumblr.   He DREW Castiel people.  On a cut-up CD cover.

"This work made entirely with office supplies from the Supernatural office.
Thanks Melissa you crazy - but then me too. 
Ben Edlund."





On a personal note...Today I am bummed because I am sick with a cold and had to choose to skip a photography field trip to Portland Saturday Market (where the Portland Marathon AND the Occupy Portland protest is also happening.)  

:(  

I was SO looking forward to taking shots.  I hope to be able to go to Saturday Market next Saturday with visiting out-of-town relatives.   But I need to get over this cold since we are doing a major software implementation in 4 weeks and between now and then will be intense at work.

:(

 I never post anymore.  I know, I suck.   

Love the news about an extra SPN episode!  \O/

Also I just got my repaired Canon 40D back!  My Jenny!   So Jenny joins my new 7D camera.  Which today I decided to call Sammy.  :-)

We just got back from a 3 day weekend in Central Oregon.  Took some photos of a beautiful lake we went kayaking on Saturday.  (photos here)

Working hard, but having fun.

Bob's birthday is tomorrow and Tim's 18th is on the 22nd, so busy with those as well.

Is it September yet?   I'm very ready for season 7!

I gifted S1-S3 DVDs to my cousin Christine and hubby David who live in St. Paul.  I visited with them a few weeks ago in St. Paul.  Chris and I hadn't seen each other for about 20 years!  But we hit it off like wildfire.   They expressed an interest in SPN.   We watched the "Fight the Faries" episode together on Friday when it aired on CW.   So I sent them S1-S3!

I do read LJ regularly btw.  I just don't post much anymore.   Been kinda living on FB and now on Google+.  If anyone is on Google+ let me know--I'd love SPN friends on there.

I'm taking some online courses on exposure.   Learning how to use shutter speed, aperture, and ISO in different light settings.  And as a "side effect" of practicing correct exposure I'm also learning how shutter speed and aperture can contribute to focus.  Focus is one of my main goals.  I'm trying to get to that point of extremely crisp and in-focus shots.   Also learning a lot about the various bells and whistle camera settings and trying out a lot of manual settings as well.

Below are some shots I took today in our yard.  There are also some shots from my mother's house and a couple from downtown Portland from last year.  I'm supposed to be training myself to gain "muscle memory" so that I *always* check the light meter in the viewfinder for EVERY shot.   It's HARD!!!   I get so caught up in snapping shots that I forget 80% of the time!  Yesterday I took many shots of my mother to practice and I was constantly muttering under my breath that I kept forgetting to check.  I'll be posting those photos of my mother next (probably.)

I've also been playing a lot with photographing in RAW (thanks! bflyw!)   I've spent so much time with my camera and Photoshop the last few days that I am both energized creatively and also getting a little visual fatigue.




( photos under the cut... )

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