Rust and Weeds

During a break at work Dave and I decided to go for a walk - I had wanted to see if one of the old tractors from Szalay's was still rotting away nearby. It was still there and in better condition than I would have imagined - those old Oliver's were built to last. I hadn't been back there in 7 years and expected it to be just a 'pile of tractor'. Unfortunately its on private property so we had to be a little sneaky and quick...its a shame this classic tractor is dying this long, slow death.  

Levee Building

I had a busy last-week-of-the-year so I didn't get to shoot or post as much as I would have liked. However, I did get my camera out at work a few times...these are photos of the levee we are building in Billy's Field.

All these photos were taken with the kit lens that came with my Canon 7D - the EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. Being a cheaper, kit lens it has many weaknesses(such as a lack of sharpness and its prone to color fringing) but there is a certain quality I like about this lens - especially at the long end as in the above photos.  

Analog Beer

With my Canon 7D I can take a photo, do a few tweaks in Photoshop, and then upload it to Mpix.com and have some beautiful, colorful, high resolution prints in a few days. So why am I relearning how to develop Tri-X 35mm film and make prints in the dark room? I guess the answer is that it is a craft - something made by my own two hands.

Laura and I are attempting to homebrew our first batch of beer, an IPA, and I feel there is a pretty good analogy here. Yes, we can go buy a multitude of great IPA's at the store - but there will be something about drinking there beer we made ourselves. I'll let you know how it all turns out.....

Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning I took photos using my wide-angle lens and flash bounced off the ceiling and then I switched to my 50mm and natural light...but that is irrelevant - its all about family!!

The Presents!

Laura double-fisting!

Merry Christmas!

'Twas the Night.....

Happy Holidays!

I hadn't taken or posted any Christmas-like photos yet this year....so here ya go!

Above is an "Ornament Self-Portrait" and below is my "Holiday Bokeh".

I guess I should start my Christmas shopping now that these photos are out of the way....

Shallow Depth

....the water and the lens...

I have a "thing" for taking photos with a real shallow dept-of-field where the foreground has a sliver of focus and what would seem to be the main subject is blurred. The photo above is a perfect example as is the barn/house in the photo from yesterday's post. I took a few decent shots today at work while keeping my eye on a three inch pump - we were draining a a piece of woods that has been wet since the July flood.

Muranyi's

Today on my way into to work it was snowing and as I passed the Muranyi's House I decided I had to turn around and snap a few photos. The house was converted from an old barn by the Muranyi's and then later leased by the park to a lady who ran it as the Crooked River Herb Farm.

I was in a hurry and didn't have a tripod so I had to bump up the ISO a bit and hold the camera as steady as I could. I wasn't thrilled with the quality of my photos when I got home and saw them on the screen, but since I liked some of the compositions I decided to use a few Photoshop effects as a bit of a cover. On the one above(of the sheds) I desaturated and sharpened a considerable bit. In the bottom one I (obviously) went black & white and used a "lens blur" effect on the house. There were a few other contrast tweaks and the like and I came away with a few photographs worth posting....

The Best Camera...

...is the one you have with you - as the old adage goes...

Unfortunately the one on my cellphone is really, really awful. I often contemplate buying a nice compact camera to have with me when I can't carry one of my DSLRs - but I've never been able to justify the cost as that money could go to a new lens or other equipment ...and I don't plan on upgrading to a smart phone with a nicer camera anytime soon. Maybe its time to explore the used compact camera market....

Akron Art Museum Wedding

Tonight I shot a wedding reception at the Akron Art Museum - it was a little tricky but I got some really good stuff....tons of editing ahead of me in the next few days....

Buy Now!

I'm trying to sell this "classic" Toyota Camry - I think this shot may be a bit artsy for the Craigslist Ad though....I mean, you should read some of the other ones on there. Anywho - hows abouts a grand, g?

Analog Time

I've been shooting film again for about a year now and have been getting my negatives developed at a lab and then scanning them with my Canoscan 9000f. Last Spring I acquired a bunch of darkroom gear and since then I've been wanting to relearn the art of developing my own film. Yesterday I received the chemicals I need to develop my black and white negatives from B&H. I also bought four rolls of the classic Kodak film Tri-X 400(its what I used in high school and was the photojournalist choice for decades). I have a a bunch of different rolls of B&W film but I figured I should use the same kind until I start to get the results I want. I've just loaded one of the rolls into my Minolta X-700 and I'll begin posting about the process when I finish the roll...

I Can Drive My Car

There is really no reason for this post or photo - just messing with the old wide-angle...

Fireplace

I love fires. This is a 30 second exposure of my fireplace.

Into the Sun

Near the "magic hours", at sunset or sunrise, experienced photographers usual turn away from the sun to capture the golden colors and the great contrast from the low light. Amateurs are trying to capture the actual sunset while landscape photographers are trying to explain to them to turn around and capture a scene in the best light. Its really good advice - but I still enjoy shooting directly into the sun from time to time.....

First Snow

Last night we got the first significant snow of the year - a few photos from Szalay's Farm this morning.

I read a lot of cool photography blogs so I decided that I'll share one or two cool posts a day.
Today's Link:
Jose Gayton On Lens

Treaty Line at Sunset

Earlier I decided to get out of the house and go for a hike. I really just wanted to get a little bit of exercise but as usual I had to have a camera with me(actually I had two). Like always I couldn't just enjoy a walk - I knew I'd be seriously uncomfortable if I didn't make at least a couple decent images....its a curse. Anyways - I messed around with my 35mm camera and a macro lens for a bit then spent the rest of the hike trying to capture some interesting light with my Canon 7D.

Infamy

I shot and uploaded this photo of my 48 star American Flag in honor of The Greatest Generation on the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Fuji Color Superia 1600

I started a roll of Fuji Superia ISO 1600 last Spring before the farm season. I finally finished it and got it developed at Akron Commercial Color Lab today. I shot the roll with my Minolta X-570 and a Rokkor 58mm f/1.4. I love the look I got from this lens - its totally different from the Rokkor 55mm f/1.7 I shot my last roll with. There were a few frames that failed but I'm not sure why - I did have to fix this camera up a bit - but also the film was from a garage sale and was probably pretty old(you can tell the colors are off).

I've said it before - if you want that old, filmy 'Hipstamatic' look - all you really have to do is shoot old film!

Black and White

My shutter clicks today were for a family member and will be part of a Christmas present so I can't share those - but I did turn the camera on myself for one shot.(the Christmas gift photos were pretty cool so I'll share them after the gift has been given.)

Earlier I was reading a article in Digital Photo Professional Magazine about doing black and white conversion in Photoshop - so I decided to do this shot in black an white. I used the HSL screen in Camera RAW(same thing as in Lightroom) and then did a few final tweaks in PS. I added tons of the Unsharp mask too. I add far more sharpening to my B&W's than I do to color photos - which I guess makes sense becase sharpening is all about contrast - as is black and white.....

Tests

Today I shot some senior photos for my friend/co-worker Anthony. As usual Laura was my stand-in for some test shots....

ISO 6400

It truly is amazing the quality you can get out of the tiny pixels on my Canon 7D at ISO 6400. Yes - this isn't what you could do with a Nikon DX3 and it wouldn't make the world's prettiest large print - but for a snap shot without the hassle of a flash its good.
I can only imagine what the digital SLRs of the next few years will be capable of.

Frosty Morning

I'm trying to get back to my original concept with this blog - shooting, editing and posting at least one photo per day. I took this photo of the frosty weeds this morning when I got to work.

Christmas Tree

During yesterdays Brown's Game we decided to finally throw out the pumpkins and put up the Christmas decorations. From Fall to Winter here at the Zipper City World HQ!

In the above photo I used some vignetting and a gradient map to add a bit of an old, filmy look to the photo.