May Photo Challenge 3

May Photo Challenge 3
Originally uploaded by schauba

This is the third photo for the May Photo Challenge. The theme is still beverage. I'm starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. I'm a big fan of beverages in general and have a lot of those pictures already. Maybe this is an opportunity to take a second shot at some of those photos to see if my experience and skill has improved.

When I tackled this shot at first I was completely at a loss for what to do. Then I remembered all the bar stuff I had and that bar tools might be a legitimate way to twist the "beverage" theme this week.

I was not very happy with my initial color versions so I changed to gray scale in Lightroom. The shot improved considerably. The next step was to fool around with Contrast, Fill Light, and Curves. It was almost there but I needed a little extra somethin-somethin...then I saw the Vignette option. I flipped things around a little though. This time I have a light vignette instead of a dark one. This turned the contrast of the entire shot from being balanced to high-key. High-key was what the shot needed. The light background and the dark foreground framed the shot nicely.

May Photo Challenge 2

This is my second shot for the May Photo Challenge. I try to drink a cup of green tea every day. The problem is that green tea tastes like grass clippings soaking in the hot sun all day. Fortunately, Tazo infuses a little mint and lemon grass to cut the grass clipping undertones. I had my camera at work today and the pattern of the tea bag packages caught my eye.

I made a few minor changes to the original shot. I increase the exposure a little and emphasized the blacks and shadows in Lightroom. I also pumped up the vibrancy a little to make the green pop a little more.

May Photo Challenge-1

May Photo Challenge-1
Originally uploaded by schauba

This is my submission for the first day of the May Photo Challenge. The theme this week is "beverage". This particular beverage is about two fingers of Woodford Reserve Bourbon and a little ice. Very tasty.

With regard to the photo, I turned up the blacks and contrast in Lightroom. I also put in some heavy vignetting and a added some noise to the photo. It all just seemed to work for this shot.

I was all fired up to do some off camera flash work for this shot but found out that my battery died. Now I need to go out and buy a new 3V lithium for the trigger.

You Might as Well Just Jump in at the Deep End

I've decided to start my first photo project. I am going to contribute an entry to the Photography Book Now contest. My brother in law, Scott, is competing in the Coeur d'Alene Ironman. He and his experiences will be the subject of my efforts. It should be interesting. I just barely know which end the bullets come out of the photojournalism rifle. I'll be updating the blog as I pull myself and the project together.

I've Just Learned the Beauty of Lightroom Presets

This particular shot was a piece of serendipity.  I had the camera down on the ground tilting up towards Cate.  I had no idea what was in the view finder.  Considering that, the framing is excellent.  Combined with the fact that I caught Cate just as she was releasing the rock, I think this is one heck of a shot. 

The one gripe I have is that when I export a photo from Lightroom and then upload that photo to Flickr I seem to lose some saturation and vibrancy.  Has anyone else experienced this?

Morning Moon-1

Morning Moon-1
Originally uploaded by schauba

I like this picture but I wish the contrail behind the airplane was longer. I had a couple of other shots that had a longer trail, but my shutter was too slow. I was zoomed all the way out to 300mm and the lens shake was pretty pronounced. This was the best that I could do with the shots that came out.

Foggy Morning-1

Foggy Morning-1
Originally uploaded by schauba

I took this shot a couple of weeks ago. We had some thick fog when I went out to get the paper and the light was awesome. I had to take a picture. The focus was not what I was looking for. I used a tripod and a long exposure. I should have set my f-stop for a deeper depth of field. Oh well, I'll chalk that one up to experience. This shot is OK, but could have been better.