I’ve been organizing and uploading some manips at DeviantArt. This is something that I really can get focused on and find it very relaxing. Since I can’t play music these days due to tendonitus, this is a great emotional outlet.
Girl in the Wall:
Rob and I spent 3 nights at the Green Lakes area in the Three Sisters Wilderness last weekend.
Another great trip! This is an absolutely beautiful area and is pretty easy to access (4.2 mile hike in). Unfortunately, that means it gets fairly well pounded. It wasn’t too crowded, but there were people around most of the time. If you’re looking for solitude, you’re better off in a less popular area.
We set up base camp at Green Lakes and did day hikes from there. The first hike was north to Park Meadow, and the second was a scramble up a ridge line toward the peak of Broken Top.
Be sure to hit page 2 for more photos.
It’s been a crazy spring. After snowfalls more than 200% above normal, there is still a ton of snow yet to melt and the rivers have been very high all spring. They’re finally getting down to more reasonable levels, but still too much water to get much of anywhere without a boat.
Byron and I got out to Black Canyon Campground on the 3rd to check it out. Couldn’t get him off the boat ramp due to water levels, but we had fun. He got to try out his new waders, and we both agreed it will be a fun place to camp later in the summer.
Chrissy graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology this morning. Needless to say, I’m bursting!
Saturday was our first float of the season on the Willamette. The water was pretty high and slightly chilly, so the fishing wasn’t gang-busters, but not terrible either. I think everyone except me caught at least one. The day was lovely and the river was gorgeous. No mishaps.
Looks like David Hobby is getting some well-deserved press.
Click the photo to read the full article at USA Today:
For years, I have been intimidated by the prospect of using manual, off-camera flash. When one of my web clients asked for help photographing clothing items for her boutique, Due Donne, I knew I was going to need to use something other than shop lights or window light and a reflector. I of course went straight to Google looking for inexpensive lighting kits. What I found was strobist.com. Strobist is the generous brainchild of David Hobby, a photojournalist with the Baltimore Sun.
David takes you from the very basics and tells you everything you need to know about using relatively inexpensive flash units off the camera’s hot shoe. But the best part is that he concentrates on ways of doing this without spending a fortune and that’s a rare thing in the world of photography!
As it turned out, I already had an old Nikon sb24 that used to match my n8008s. All I needed to purchase were a used sb26 flash, a couple of radio remote units from Gadget Infinity, two light stands and two umbrellas plus attachments. The total output was under $300.
David’s writing is a joy to read. He follows up every concept with example after example almost all of them from his real-world work. The result is a mind-blowing amount of information and the only cost is a request for participation in the adjoining Flickr community discussion and photo pool. There is already a community that is 26,000+ members strong and growing.
Strobist is an example of everything that is great about blogging and social network sites.
This shot couldn’t be more simple. I held the flash in my left hand and bounced it off the ceiling. I then added the background in Photoshop to get the result in the first photo above.
My garage is the only place I have enough room for a make-shift studio. With 2 flashes in umbrellas, a foam-core board reflector and a piece of white fabric hung up as a back-drop, I took some photos of Byron. On all of these, one of the flashes is on the background blowing it out pure white. The foam-board is providing fill from camera right. The last photo had the dark background and some texture added in Photoshop.
A high-key attempt:
This next photo is a manipulation. The background was downloaded from StockXchng:
First off, I hope everyone enjoyed a safe, peaceful holiday.
What fun is a blog if you can’t play with the template every now and then? I decided that the main purpose of this blog is to display and talk about photographs and the best way to display them is on a dark background. That is the ONLY reason I would use light text on a dark background. That makes it a bit more difficult to read, but I think it’s a worth-while trade-off. (I totally stole this theme from strobist.com.)
It’s been a nice, relaxing holiday. Gwynne and I got away to do a little snowshoeing up on the Pacific Crest.
We’re crouched in the opening of a shelter and the camera and flash are laying on the table. It is so beautiful in these woods in winter!
I just stumbled into this site. It’s a great place to get lost in. You have to do some wading, but it’s worth the effort. There are some great artists sharing their work. The photo-manipulation section is wonderful and inspiring.
I liked the site so much, I decided to share some select pieces that I’ve been working on. Here’s an example:
