Thursday, November 18, 2010

AR 33 - Trees in Motion

This is from a while back, about two weeks ago. I'm behind on my work.




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It may seem easy to make these photos. At least that's how they look in finished form.




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What's really hard is judging them in the field as they're shot. I've learned that the LCD review doesn't often show the subtleties that can distinguish between a good photo or a throw-away.




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So that's it for a while, perhaps. I have a major problem now with the time change and my normal walking route. The days are getting shorter and it's significantly darker when I walk now.


The crossing at Highway 6 and Patterson Road no longer has a time delay for pedestrians. When the light turns green for Patterson traffic, so does the crosswalk. Nearly 100% of drivers starting up do not realize when there are pedestrians present and that those pedestrians have the right away.


This makes for an incredibly dangerous situation further worsened by lack of light. By the time I'm back from my 4 miles and ready to cross the 6 lanes of Highway 6, it's dim enough to need a flashlight.


Anyway, I'll have to find an alternative. I still need to exercise!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

New Big Bend Work

I have a ton of new work in the "works" (about 37 GB of files that need weeding, selecting, and editing). I've started posting some images from the recent trip to Big Bend over on my "photos-only" blog.




click to enter photos-only blog


See you over there, thanks!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

AR 32 - Fall Has Arrived

Fall, or what passes for fall down here in Texas, is in full swing. Today is cold and rainy, and I probably won't get out for a walk. I don't mind the cold, but the damp isn't good for electronics.




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I thought my fascination with motion blurs wouldn't last very long, but it seems to have taken hold of my interests. The more I do it, the more I get a feel for what works and what doesn't.


What I like about it is that it abstracts colors and shapes into information that is easier to digest. Literal shots are hard to make sometimes because you have to deal with all the information in the photo (the messy looking pile of leaves and branches in the near background that's in focus with the foreground subject, for example). Blurred abstracts can smear away other detail not critical to the main subject if you do it right.




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Not all scenes lend themselves to blurring, and there are many factors to play with such as shutter speed, camera movement, focal length, and distance to the subject. I've mostly played around with simple panning along defined lines in the scene (e.g. tree branches or trunks).




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We'll see where this goes. The days are getting shorter and daylight savings is about to end. My normal walks will be in near darkness soon.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

AR 31 - Color and Motion

The literal world is starting to escape me.




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A cool feature of the Canon G11 is a built-in neutral density filter. This has been used on nearly every motion blur that I've shot recently.