Future Blog Site Relocation, Mid or Late June 2010

This may be one of my last posts to the blog until I have time to relocate it to either http://www.faroutphotographic.net/ or another blog hosting service.  Our move to Addis Ababa for the forseeable future is prompting the change due to the dictatorship that controls its citizens' access to the internet and blocks many popular sites, including Blogger.  Hopefully, the move will be made sometime in mid-late June.  If you follow the site or just happen to stop by once in a while, please check back during that time and I'll post the new address. 

This image was made on my way to Ethiopia.  Benyam and Sampson are two brothers and photographers in their own right - we had some great conversations while crossing the Atlantic.  I'm hopeful we'll have some time exploring Ethiopia together in the future.

Canon G11, ISO 400, 1/25s@f8

Reflecting Puddle 2010

Returning from errands in DC yesterday, I was passing the Reflecting Pool and noticed it was drained for leak repairs.  Having my camera (always, just in case!) with me, I parked near the Lincoln Memorial and walked into the reflecting pool.  All but a few large puddles attracted small waterfowl to feed on the algae.  These ducklings, only part of a huge flock of more than twenty, began to walk across the reflection of the Washington Monument.

Canon 5DmkII, 200mm 2.8L, ISO 400, 1/320@f14

Morro de Sao Paulo 2008

This HDR shot was optimized and cleaned up by layering one frame in Photoshop to eliminate ghosting among the moving palm fronds.  Hue adjustments also eliminated the magenta cast in the clouds that is a common result using default HDR settings.

Note to Self 2010

We had the pleasure of listening to a superb jazz trio yesterday at our friends' house.  I didn't  spend too much time shooting but felt a couple of images from the set were worthy of a post.  These two illustrate that a tight crop (in-camera, not in post-processing) can make all the difference in balance and structure.  While both work, I prefer the second because of the position of the musicians relative to one another (inverted triangle/rule of thirds).  The three also are in a more pensive state in the bottom frame, giving more of a sense of concentration.  However, the second shot deserves additional curves processing to bring out additional contrast whereas the first frame is about right.  When converting these to black and white, I realized I liked the softness of the high ISO noise with the G11 - instead of blotchy noise, it appears as fine film grain.  A slight increase in yellow split-tone provided warmth.

Canon G11, ISO 1600, 1/160@f8