Be Still...

Sometimes the good shots take a blood sacrifice

2009-06-19T16:38:00.004-04:00

Blood sacrifice you ask? YES! these were taken on a misty, humid day that mosquitoes thrive in. They were all over me as I was trying to lug my camera gear, swat mosquitoes, cross streams, set up a tripod and make camera settings. It was all worth it in the end though. My mission was accomplished... to get those mysterious soft waterfalls that you always see in brochures!

Here's the secret:

The camera MUST be on a tripod. Keep in mind that anything that is moving in the scene will be blurred (that includes blowing leaves and branches). Set your exposure time to something 1/4 of a second or slower.

What I feel like doing right about now...

2009-06-08T13:51:00.003-04:00

... sleeping in a hammock. :)

I love photographing children.... most of the time. They can be very fast. A "kodiak millisecond" is more like it. So the best time to capture them is when they are asleep (at least I think so.)

Time

2009-05-16T21:32:00.005-04:00

This past semester I was able to work for the University of South Carolina's student newspaper: The Daily Gamecock. It was really cool, I was able to learn a ton. I learned mostly about news style photography, and how to (try to) capture an event. What I quickly came to realize, is that this involves a lot of waiting. But I've come to think that that is what photography is about. When you're trying to capture a moment in time, you have to wait for that moment to come and happen. That's what happened here. I had to take a picture of the candidates for student council. The moderators/people asking questions, were pretty much right behind me to my right when I took this. The debate was set up so that the moderators would ask a question, then all the candidates would answer one at a time. So after the first question, as the last candidate was answering, I got in my position where I knew all the candidates would all be looking at the sam time: right next to the moderators. I had already set up my exposure settings beforehand. I'm pretty okay with how this came out.

I also learned how important it is to figure our settings as quick as possible. Here's an example of when I was in the right spot, but the picture's overexposed a bit. I got a text message one day after class, saying there was a protest to keep a camp open for kids with disabilities. I figured it would be cool to wait for the protesters to walk past me, so I waited by the sidewalk. But I was in the shade; not the best, I learned, for getting even light. Oh well, now I know.

Flowers are usually pretty

2009-05-10T01:43:00.004-04:00

So....I'm finally done with school. That should explain a lot. In other words, I will be posting more regularly now for a while. I have so many pictures I've wanted to post. I'll start with this one.

I was walking back to my dorm from something, I think it was some meeting, and it was about 5:30 PM in early March. Golden hour. I walked past these flowers and thought it would make a good picture, so I convinced myself to stop. Pretty much just basic settings, trying to get right exposure and all. I was physically pretty close to the flowers themselves, so that helped a lot with the depth of field.

Lessoned learned: actually trying is half the work.

Snow

2009-04-11T10:30:00.005-04:00

Here are some pictures that I took in Colonial Williamsburg during a snow storm! Of course my camera had to go and die on me... ugh.

and now blogger is giving me a hard time.
All par for the course.

Something Different

2009-01-27T07:38:00.002-05:00

Thought someone might want to try this.

I think I might.

Fun Stuff

2009-01-23T19:39:00.007-05:00

The South finally got some snow! It is always a big event down here, so I went ahead and got out to take some pics even though there was a two hour delay (yes this was as much snow as we got in the pics).

I really like textures, so I was trying to convey the texture of fresh snow in these last ones.

Please let me know what's good and bad. Thanks a ton.

Turn Around

2009-01-06T13:55:00.008-05:00

One of the first things I've noticed with my camera is how much lighting changes even by just turning around. For example, when I was at my bro's police academy graduation, I had my settings adjusted for the stage lighting, where my brother would be walking across the stage. But then the speaker asked the parents to stand up. So I saw an opportunity when my ma and pa stood up next to me on my right, I just went ahead and started clicking away. But as you can tell, the lighting was not the same. So, all that to say: I need to learn how to adjust my settings quicker and when to do so.

And a practical tip I've learned the hard way; set your ISO higher before slowing down shutter speed or changing anything else when taking indoor pictures. I've found indoor lighting is almost always darker than you think it is.

UPDATE: 1/7/09
Here, the only difference between these is that the second picture is one f-stop higher. It should have been lower to begin with, but it works for illustration purposes. You can see, that there is almost no detail in the face of the one dog in the second picture, but if I felt like cropping the first one a bit, you could actually see the dog's face a bit more. This is how much difference there is in lighting, just by turning around.

I hope this helps

And we're back (!!!!!)

2008-12-26T00:04:00.004-05:00

First: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I got a camera!! I still can't really believe I actually have this amazing thing. (Canon rebel XS, in case you're wondering)

Here's a few of my first pics I took with it.

I have a lot to learn now, but I am so glad I am now able to really take what I want. Key word there is "able". So please feel very free to be as critical as possible on pics I post from now on. Any pointers would be appreciated.

And along the lines of the actual content; I am being taught the ways of photojournalism at school. The photography group I've been going to lately has been pretty helpful. The main thing I've learned so far is to never take a picture that I can't answer the question "why did you take that". In other words don't take pictures that only serve to look pretty. If someone were to ask, "why did you tilt the camera that way?" make sure you have a very specific reason for that; as to why that visual element helps tell the story of your picture (not just make it look pretty).

But keep in mind that this is for journalistic photos. Photos that help to tell a story. But I think that it is somewhat applicable to any other type of photo too. Just sharing what I learned the hard way a couple weeks ago at school when I took some of my photos to a "portfolio workshop". I learned a lot, but it was the hard way =^ P Oh well, one way or another.

So I hope this helps somewhat, I super excited to have a camera again. Please be super critical. I will definitely be posting more regularly now.

Finally!

2008-12-19T15:09:00.004-05:00

My computer has been in the hospital for awhile! It's better now... so I thought I would finally post some more pictures.

Some from Jamaica...

2008-11-24T14:56:00.003-05:00

HDR imaging defined

2008-11-24T14:54:00.000-05:00

High dynamic range imaging

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An example of a rendering of an HDRI tone-mapped image in a New York City nighttime cityscape.

Tone-mapped image made from nine exposures of Trenčín, Slovakia at night.

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

High dynamic range imaging was originally developed in the 1930s and 1940s by Charles Wyckoff. Wyckoff's detailed pictures of nuclear explosions appeared on the cover of Life magazine in the mid 1940s. The process of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range, was first reported in 1993^[1], and resulted in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter that was published in 1995^[2]. In 1997 this technique of combining several differently exposed images to produce a single HDR image was presented to the computer graphics community by Paul Debevec.

This method was developed to produce a high dynamic range image from a set of photographs taken with a range of exposures. With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy-to-use desktop software, the term HDR is now popularly used^[3] to refer to this process. This composite technique is different from (and may be of lesser or greater quality than) the production of an image from a single exposure of a sensor that has a native high dynamic range. Tone mapping is also used to display HDR images on devices with a low native dynamic range, such as a computer screen.

Introducing... HDR Photography!

2008-11-24T14:09:00.005-05:00

I just discovered the great new technique that i'm hooked on. It's called HDR (high dynamic range) and, in a nutshell, it takes advantage of digital technology by expanding the dynamic range (the histogram shows this) using 2 or more shots combined in a 32 bit environment. Here's an excellent tutorial for those interested: http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/HDR_ps/hdr-ps.htm .
Here's some of my very own HDR's...

Pictures

2008-10-03T11:58:00.002-04:00

This picture, and the next one, were taken during Jesus at the Beach. If I remeber right I messed with the ISO setting.

This is from Jamestown. Settings were set on Auto.

This one was also taken on Auto and in Jamestown.

This one is of a reenactor in Williamsburg during a colonial dance demo.

Finally

2008-09-25T16:10:00.012-04:00

Yes....oh yes.

I finally got a camera from the USC newspaper. And it was worth the wait: nikon D40x with the standard 35-80mm lens and an amazing 70-300mm macro lens. It looked like it wasn't brand new, but that didn't matter one bit. The 35-80mm lens was a bit easier to control, and better for general purposes, but the other lens opened up so many more options.

I got the camera at about 5:30, went to the horseshoe, which for my purposes, was a photographers paradise, and just tried to let the camera do its thing. I still managed to take some out of focus, ill-cropped, and plain bad pictures, but it was kinda hard to take a bad picture.

I only kept about 120 pics of all that i took. There's only about 12 different subjects, just a lot if hit-and-miss shots. If anyone wants to see the others, let me know, and i'll put up a album (in picasa). I know this is too many, but i haven't had a camera in a while, and when i got a nikon D40x.......

None are edited for color, contrast, etc. Only one is edited to straighten it out.

And yes, i barely knew how to adjust any settings on the camera.

Ya, so i was already excited to have a sweet camera in my hands, and then this squirrel comes out of no where, right next to me. This is in his mid-jump.

Just messin around with the 70-300mm lens

I think i should have put more of this tree in focus. (?)

Probably one of my favorites. This was the hardest to get, as i had to wait for the wind to stop. Defininetly could have focused better. I have a ton of these tries.

The Horseshoe

I felt like a stalker.

This is the one i straightened out.

I kinda wish this came across better; focusing on the sandals. Maybe if they were mine, and i moved them closer together and got down lower....

This is just outside my dorm. I wish there was someone unlocking their bike. This is also an example of a photo i would edit for contrast/white balance, etc.

Not sure which of these next two i like better

Oh ya, i did crop this one a little too.

Can you say 'oversaturated' ?

4th of July (in August)

2008-08-05T21:21:00.004-04:00

Since i've been using my mom's camera (kodak point-and-shoot), i have to wait till i can get it back from her to get the pictures off. So here are the pics i took on the 4th of July at my grandma's house in Virginia Beach: (fireworks turn a point-and-shoot into a point-and-hope)

Canon Rebel XTi

2008-08-03T22:29:00.003-04:00

I took these pictures, of my triangle loom, using my friend's DSLR Canon Rebel XTi. So cool. I kept it on Auto mode though. I wish I knew how to use all the options but then again i only had about an hour to give it a "test run". I thought they turned out pretty well. I will probably mess with them on photoshop or something. Let me know what you think.

Detail

2008-07-30T00:07:00.005-04:00

Aside from being flat out cool, and darn impressive, i thought this might help understanding detail and lighting. Ya, computers are cheating, but just watch this simply to see how much the kind of lighting can effect a shot. I know this isn't a photograph, but at this level, the principles are the same.

Or, maybe i'm just putting this up because i don't have a camera right now.

Flowers

2008-07-28T21:14:00.002-04:00

I love taking shots of flowers. I think it's because no matter how bad the shot is, the flower is still beautiful... usually. Let me know what you think!

Shadows & Sand

2008-06-24T18:14:00.004-04:00

I love shadows. A simple shadow can add so much to an ordinary shot. Of course my camera doesn't like shadows so trying to keep a shadow in a photo can be (is) a constant source of frustration.

By the way... all photos I post are unedited... I'll let y'all know if I ever have the time to mess with them. :)

Beach Outreach

2008-06-19T22:12:00.003-04:00

These are some photos I took when my family and I went with our church on the boardwalk and passed out tracts and played some worship songs.

PS: Things are finally (sorta) slowing down!

Beachfest 08

2008-06-16T13:57:00.004-04:00

Went to Beachfest this weekend. Very cool. Saw the BMX show and Toby Mac. BMX was a lot harder to shoot than i thought. Of course, this was a point n' shoot. You can tell the difference between the original and edited BMX pictures. Most of the others were really blurry.

Oh, if you ever get the chance to go to a Toby Mac show, go, his shows are so good, even if you're not the biggest fan of his music.

Senior Trip

2008-06-09T01:07:00.006-04:00

So last week we went on our senior trip. It's been in the works since last year, so we got it worked out to stay in a really nice house twenty minutes from all the parks we went to in Orlando. (Except Busch Gardens in Tampa). We did everything but Disney. Lots of action during our trip, so i didn't get much chance to take my time taking pictures. (that's my excuse, and i'm sticking to it). I was actually doing a a lot of filming. Just practicing for school this fall i guess.

Oh, and in case you don't read my other blog, i just got my new laptop too. So i've been having tons of fun in iphoto.

here is some of my faves,

First pic of the trip. We left at 4:30 (yes, AM) to beat traffic. Says my aperture was f 2.8. Ya, i'm not positive what that means. I think it was something like 1.5 sec exposure. Unedited.

Seven thirty in Universal Studios. Pretty much full auto camera settings. However, i am enjoying my new computer, so i edited it a little, also adding the vignette. ('vin-yay'; the burnt corners took me a while to learn that term, but maybe ya'll all ready knew it)

Having no one else to boss around, i made myself the subject in this one. It was six-thirty, and the sunset was reflecting off the concrete pillar i'm standing behind in the pic. I hate to say it is edited, but only slightly.

Good afternoon sun. Edited a little for contrast, took a couple tries to get it with his mouth open. It was a little bit of zoom; we were pretty close.

This is Busch Gardens. Best wooden coaster i've been on. It's ten after one in this pic, but i liked the angle while waiting in line.

Photo contests: results

2008-05-21T23:26:00.004-04:00

I think i got the usual:

"you have a 1:9,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.2 chance in winning. Would you like to purchase one of our $69 photo books?"

I don't recommend online photo contests.

(sorry there's no pictures in this one)

Going back in time

2008-05-10T22:20:00.008-04:00

I love film. It reminds me of the good ole' days. Even scanning film to make digital ruins it a little. But since my camera got its inards' semi-squashed on the bus ride up to our senior trip, i had to use the disposable cameras i brought. I think they came out cool. (I think that's because i couldn't mess with any settings on the camera) But digital is amazing in its "sharability" factor, and it's almost just as good as film if you don't look too closely.

Some of these have a little bit of the negative still exposed because i just had them developed straight from the negative film to a disc. I might make prints from the negatives eventually.

Also, since my camera won't work without two hundred bucks of work to it, i entered this pic into a few online photo contests. If anything happens I'll let you all know so you can get in on them.

A Lonely Bass

2008-05-10T21:24:00.003-04:00

This is the original photo. I like it but can't help messing with it just a little. Let me know what you think!

Sunset

2008-05-06T21:00:00.005-04:00

I took these pictures while our church had a service at Sunset Park in OC. They are all unedited and I would love to know what you think. The good and the bad!!!!!

PS: It has been pretty quite around here lately. I know we are all busy with school, jobs, etc. but I hope that towards the beginning of the summer we will all have a bit more time!

Terms Part1a

2008-04-27T09:09:00.001-04:00

Check out this link for more info on ISO:
http://www.all-things-photography.com/iso.html

Terms Part1

2008-04-26T11:36:00.004-04:00

ISO - The speed or specific light-sensitivity of a camera is rated by ISO numbers such as 100, 400, etc. The higher the number, the more sensitive it is to light. As with film, the higher ISO speeds usually induce more electronic noise so the image gets grainier.

I thought it might help if we discussed some photographic terms. If you would like to go ahead and post some, too! I am not a professional so PLEASE feel free to correct me or add onto anything.

Some Random Stuff

2008-04-20T19:01:00.005-04:00

These are really just some "messing around" shots from last weekend. All these were at the local college.

I wanted this to be a freeze frame; not blurred. But it's way too dark. Should i have turned up the ISO? ( it was at 80)

This is a little too dark too, but i was "panning" with the runners. I probably should have zoomed in too.

And this is just a shot of the "infamous" Hard Rock Park. This was the Friday before its 'soft opening'

Birds

2008-04-10T12:08:00.002-04:00

I don't know.. missed the shot but I kinda like the picture.

This is the how it looks unedited... like I sorta missed.

Some cropping and tada! Looks planned!

Spring Break

2008-04-06T14:11:00.006-04:00

Please don't ask why or how, because i don't know how these turned out not half bad. I did edit most of them, just a little, but i hope you agree with me in how much better they look. Here's the rest

Hmm...

2008-04-03T22:49:00.004-04:00

Isn't it funny how one little tilt or zoom in or out will "make or break" the picture? Like in the one below. Something doesn't "work". It just doesn't look right, at least to me anyway.

So instead I got up close with this one and it seems so much better to me. What do you think?

2008-04-03T20:39:00.003-04:00

Life has gone by so fast and yet slow at the same time. So when i take a picture i freeze the times that will go by in seconds.When i take a picture i capture a glimpse of what will be the past. As i look at a picture or share with others a picture, it brings joy and a thankful heart to me. But yet there can be pictures that brings an awe-inspiring moment and tears. It allows us to think and to be in silence.
I thank the Lord for this blessing to be able to take moments to capture of this life that he has given us.

2008-04-03T20:31:00.003-04:00

Okay im kinda almost done with ocean city pictures.haha.Im about to bring the heat.Just joking i just like photography a lot.

2008-04-03T20:24:00.003-04:00

I took this picture when i was on a mission trip with my church to Florida.This is the Gulf of Mexico.

2008-04-02T21:26:00.005-04:00

From: www.ocvfc.com

These are some pics of the fire last Sunday in Ocean City.

From: http://www.fithp.net/

I know it's kinda corky but this is a pic of me and another firefighter at the 9 alram fire that was this past Sunday. I was in service and Lee said look there is smoke over there. "Our church is one block away from where the fire was". It took two and a half hours to get it under control. Thanks to the Lord for protecting us from getting hurt. In case you didn't know I'm on the right.-Josh

1800's Windmill

2008-04-02T20:14:00.000-04:00

I love these photos. I think they are really neat. This is exactly how they looked when I shot them... no editing. I always feel like I am cheating when I edit or "fix" a picture even though it is really cool all the things you can do with that!

2008-04-02T18:35:00.002-04:00

This is pic of when about 40 people from the Son' Spot went to Florida for about 10 days to a Christian retreat center. One person stayed there to do a 10 week Bible course and just finished a couple of weeks ago. Praise God!

2008-04-02T18:24:00.003-04:00

This is when a bunch of us went to PA to snow board, play paintball, and just generally goof off! It was a lot of fun. Were ready for battle. -Josh

2008-04-02T14:53:00.002-04:00

This is a picture that i took of Ocean City near the pier.

The Dilema

2008-04-01T22:32:00.007-04:00

I'm not that big into photography, but i enjoy it as a pastime. But when i get into it, i guess i'm a perfectionist. Example:

Here's a decent (figuratively) picture of my cousin:

So, now i want to make the light just a little better:

After a little bit of "messing" around i come up with this:

So what's the 'dilema' you're asking? I found out what kind of pictures i like, and the problem is; i know how to make them.

'?' you all say. well, i just want to take honest pictures. I hate being fake, and i wish i could take either of the pictures i edited without editing them. So now that i know how to make the pictures i like....it's kinda like having Christmas everyday. It loses its magic.

Hope somebody got something out of this; if you would like to tell me which is your favorite or tips on taking them, any comments would be appreciated.

Sun & Sand

2008-03-31T22:33:00.000-04:00

Wild West

2008-03-29T16:29:00.000-04:00

These are pictures of 2 of my younger siblings I took after watching a Rodeo. I love Black & White photos. Aren't they cute!

-Monika

His Children

2008-03-28T18:29:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of one of the little girls at the Hanbury Home in Jamaica. It is not an orphanage as some children were taken out of their homes because of situations.

These children were so precious.. I hope one day to go again and spend more time with them.

New Life

2008-03-27T17:49:00.000-04:00

I took this picture in the Florida Keyes in Jan.

Hello and Welcome

2008-03-26T19:15:00.000-04:00

Welcome!
This blog came from a desire to share beautiful, fun, crazy, thoughtful pictures with friends and family as a way to not only work on my skills (or lack thereof) but also to display God's handiwork as seen through my eyes. Maybe the photo posted will give details and tips on how to take a photo like that or why that photo is special or what it makes me think of.