The Monstre! A Photomatix Attempt.

Since I haven't really posted much besides the weekly challenges, I decided to post up another version of the previous week's picture:

I started playing around with Photomatix. It's a very interesting program; it doesn't make any photo that runs through it automatically beautiful, but I really like the gritty, dark feel it gave. I would not call this an "HDR" image. I personally do not know too much about HDR photos, but they have a High Dynamic Range (hence, being called HDR), meaning they have a higher contrast than what cameras can provide. It's a large misconception that HDR photos look like the photo I have above, or unrealistic, tripped out photos of cars and whatnot.

I knew about this misconception before, but I didn't know much about High Dynamic Range at all. So of course did a little research. I found a very helpful article on what it really is, which helped me regurgitate the information above. You can check out the link here:

http://www.secondpicture.com/tutorials/photography/hdr_photography.html

This photo may be considered HDR, it may not. I'd rather just call this a piece of art that I really enjoyed working on.

Oh yeah, I'm also trying to think of a wittier title for this blog. So far, no luck. If you have any ideas, hit me up!

Double Whammy

So, I missed last week's post. I also missed this Saturday's. I technically failed the challenge. However..! I assure you that I actually had a photo for last week. To make it seem like I'm not just a lazy person (although there's some truth to that), here's a list of my excuses as to why I'm tardy:

• Valentine's Day was coming up.
• I have a ridiculous amount of homework. (Two long lab assignments, a Chemistry test to study for, and a Biology project to research.)
• Karen's birthday was on Friday (She's 19 now. Yaay!)
• Trying to get all of my homework out of the way ASAP to have a stress free day with Karen on her Birthday. I also didn't do homework on Valentine's day.
• I started playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3. This game is waay too addicting. If anyone wants to play with me, send me a message!

That last one's not a good excuse, but..  hey, I'm being honest!


I'm going post both last week's and this week's photo today.


Week 6:

Clicking on this photo will lead you to my Flickr.

EXIF Data:
F-Stop: f/3.5
Exposure time: 1/125 sec.
ISO Speed - ISO 400
Focal length: 50mm
Exposure bias: 0.0

This is a candid shot that I took at the Rec Center at the University. There was a lot of post processing, especially when it came to removing stray hairs.

Week 7:

Clicking on this photo will lead you to my Flickr.

EXIF Data:
F-Stop: f/8.0
Exposure time: 1/60 sec.
ISO Speed - ISO 400
Focal length: 50mm
Exposure bias: 0.0

Another shot taken at the University. You have to look at a larger version to do it justice (click on the photo). This is my favorite shot of that day. The stairs and the railing complement Dave and his air baby (that's what the freeze is called) very well.

Two flashes were used in this picture, both diffused by the shoot-through umbrellas.

Out of boredom, I decided to draw a diagram of how I set this up:

So for Karen's birthday, I took her to Fogo de Chão. The beef is delicious there! I'm not much of a beef guy, but the food was exceptional. We didn't take pictures of the main course, but we did take pictures of the desserts.

Flan

Creme Brulee

The waiter asked us if it was a special day, and I told him it was Karen's birthday. He decorated the Creme Brulee plate, and said it was on the house. Both the flan and creme brulee were the best I've eaten. Overall, it was a great experience. I'll definitely go there again.

I wasn't able to stay up through her whole birthday, and I knocked out at around 9:30. She even took a picture of me.

Me, taking up the whole bed.

Well, that's all I have. It's a big update this week. I'm also planning on recording my bboy sessions sometime. If I do, I'll probably post them here as well.

An Introduction.

So I started a Blogger. This decision came to me when I decided to take up a 52 Week Photography Challenge. I'm going to post at least one new piece of work every Saturday, for the whole year. If this goes well, I'll continue to do so for the years to come. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some extras in between Saturdays. I would love to take up a 365 Day Challenge, where I would post one a day. Unfortunately, being a College Student, it will be difficult to follow that goal. After an hour of fidgeting on the site (and getting a ridiculous amount of help from Karen, who I love so, so much), I got my Blogger running! I'm going to keep record of my photography on this blog, and see how I improve as time goes on.

Without further ado, here's week one!

EXIF Data
Dimensions: 3872 x 2592
Camera Model: Nikon D60
F-Stop: f/2.5
Exposure time: 1/60 sec
ISO Speed: ISO-400
Exposure Bias: 0 Step
Focal Length: 50mm
Flash Mode: No Flash

You will be redirected to the Flickr version of this photo if you click on it. You can check out other stuff I have as well.

This first photo is of my buddy, Hien, at the University of  Minnesota. I actually took this in the beginning of the semester. It's somewhat cheating (I did edit it today, however), but due to the weather, I haven't been able to get any recent photos in. It really bugged me that I couldn't get a start on New Year's, so I dug up some of my older photos. It's nothing special; Karen and I just decided to bring our cameras to the campus, and took pictures of random things. However, I really like the reflection on his shades.You can even see the group I hung out with on it!

So, there it is. Hopefully I'll get some shoots in for next Saturday. I'm heading to California on Monday for a week to attend Karen's cousin's wedding and maybe, just maybe, I'll get some good shots there as well.