Southwest nights

For this assignment, we were supposed to practice our night shot skills. I was a little nervous because we were in Arizona this week and I was sure that it was going to be difficult to find any good night shots in a city that never really goes to sleep. After I got started, though, I quickly realized that I was actually lucky to be where I was at and that it was my Rexburg classmates that I should feel nervous for. I'm so glad I was here. All of these pictures are taken within a 2 mile radius of my house in Gilbert, Az. Enjoy!


This is one of my favorites. A few of us went scorpion hunting in our backyard (a tradition) and this time I took my camera. If you've never been scorpion hunting, you may not know that a scorpion will glow fluorescent green when exposed to a black light. Cool, eh?


I like the way the stars show up behind the power lines and the cactus in these pictures.


These pics are of Hwy 60, one facing west and one facing east. I love how the moon looks in the first pic.


I paired these two pics together because of their almost identical color schemes. In the first pic it's a green paloverde tree in front of a hideous pink building and the second is an old fashioned market/restaurant near our house.


A cross in a nearby church. It was impossible to get the exterior of the church without blowing out the cross, but I kind of like the effect. The second pic is just a residential road near our house with a few ghost lights running through it.

Picture Info:
1. Scorpion: 26 May; f 5.6; 13.0"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
2. Starry Power Lines: 26 May; f 3.5; 30.0"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
3. Saguaro Cactus: 26 May; f 5.6; 15.0"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
4. Freeway Moon: 26 May; f 5.6; 3.2"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
5. Freeway: 26 May; f 13.0; 10.0"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
6. Paloverde Pink: 26 May; f 5.6; 2.5"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
7. Liberty Market: 26 May; f 10.0; 1/10"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
8. Stained-glass Cross: 26 May; f 5.6; 1/10"; Sony a200 Digital SLR
9. Burk Street: 26 May; f 5.6; 30.0"; Sony a200 Digital SLR

Creative Borders

For this assignment, we were supposed try adding a few creative borders to our photos. I chose to add a burned border and a nice, flexible brushed on border. I'm not sure I'm sold on the effects yet. I like my photos fairly plain and the borders seem to complicate them unnecessarily. In either case, here they are.

Picture Info:
1. Library Fountain, Gilbert, AZ: 26 May; f 6.3; 15.0; Sony a200 Digital SLR
2. Minivan and Ghost Lights: 26 May; f 6.3; 15; Sony a200 Digital SLR

Grunge and Text

For this assignemtn we were supposed to take one of our Bannack pictures and apply a grunge effect and add a little text. I'm not happy with the result, but it's my first try. Enjoy.


1. Grunge Wheel: 15 May; f 7.1; 1/125; Sony a200 Digital SLR

Bannack Best

This week was a lot of fun. Our class took a field trip to a little ghost town called Bannack, Montana. The following are a few of my favorite shots. The first two pictures are of the outside and inside of the old Hotel Meade. A beautiful building with fantastic light. The next pic is a staged "ghost" picture and the gears are from an antique washing machine. I love the next picture, it's a close up of a small spider climbing up it's web. When I took the picture, the spider was eye level and headed toward the ceiling. The last picture is an HDR phot of the old school house. All in all it was a great time with great people, great food and great photo ops!







Picture Info:

1. Hotel Exterior: 15 May; f 11.0; 1/160; Sony a200 Digital SLR
2. Hotel Interior: 15 May; f 5.6; 1/80; Sony a200 Digital SLR
3. Ghost Girl: 15 May; f 25; 20; Sony a200 Digital SLR
4. Gears: 15 May; f 5.6; 1/8; Sony a200 Digital SLR
5. Spider: 15 May; f 5.6; 1/100; Sony a200 Digital SLR
6. Bannister: 15 May; f 5.6; 1/20; Sony a200 Digital SLR
7. Old Chain: 15 May; f 5.6; 1/400; Sony a200 Digital SLR
8. HDR Old School: 15 May; f 5.6; 1/500; Sony a200 Digital SLR

Adjustment Layers and Smart Filters

For this assignment we had to explore editing pictures using smart filters and adjustment layers. This tree is across the street from our house. For this picture, I increased the contrast with a brightness/contrast layer and then I added a drybrush smart filter. Not my favorite, but it get's the job done. Enjoy.



Picture Info:
1. Light: 12 May; f 6.3; 1/60; Sony a200 Digital SLR

Flora and Fauna

As you might be able to guess from the title, for this week's assignment we were supposed to take photos of plants and animals. Plants were easy, especially since it's spring. But unfortunately Rexburg is not known for it's diverse and exotic wildlife, probably because it doesn't have any. All I found was a stray cat and some fish in an aquarium by my office. Oh Well. Enjoy!

Flora




Fauna





Picture Info:
1. Tree: 09 May; f 13; 1/250; Sony a200 Digital SLR
2. Small Plants: 12 May; f 5.6; 1/30; Sony a200 Digital SLR
3. Apple Blossoms: 12 May; f 5.6; 1/50; Sony a200 Digital SLR
4. Cat: 12 May; f 5.6; 1/10; Sony a200 Digital SLR
5. Gobi Fish: 14 May; f 5.6; 1/60; Sony a200 Digital SLR
6. Sea Squirt: 14 May; f 5.6; 1/20; Sony a200 Digital SLR

High Dynamic Range

As I explained below, this week we're combining the same photo with different levels of exposure to get the best parts of each. The photo below is the final composite of the three pictures in the last post... plus a little bit of editing (I tweaked the contrast and the saturation, but only a little). Nice effect, eh?

The only bummer about this whole thing is that I had to use trial software (dynamic photo) that inserts a tacky info bar in the lower third of the picture. Oh well.

Descent Exposure

This week's assignment was a foray into the world of High Dynamic Range photography. The idea here is that you take 3 photos of varying exposures and then combine them to get the best bits of all three pictures. In this post, I'll display the 3 base photos and you'll be able to see the variance in exposures. I'll show the final effect in the next post. Here are the three photos:


Photo Info:
1. Light: 03 May, cement plant; f 7.1; 1/160; Sony a200 Digital SLR
2. Medium: 03 May, cement plant; f 7.1; 1/800; Sony a200 Digital SLR
3. Dark: 03 May, cement plant; f 7.1; 1/2500; Sony a200 Digital SLR