365.199 Abstraktes Bild

In an attempt to have a wider variety of city roads to choose from for the sliproject shot, I snapped a bunch of pics on the way to Momma’s house this morning, and on the way home too.

The light was all that beautiful morning light, the time when you’re supposed to get the best shots, but in the canyon that is US75 through Dallas, the dynamic range was too high to get anything useful, and I could see that without even looking at the pictures I was making.

But some interesting reflections happen in the early morning, and so I casually sprayed out the side windows a couple of times…

And lo and behold, when I got home, uploaded the pictures, and started looking, this one jumped out.

I think I may have the makings of a brief series… But I think I’ll keep it to myself for now, as I may never do anything with it, may decide it’s a banal idea, or may just give up before I even get properly started…

I wish I had a bit more control over the exposure in this, as it would’ve been nicer had the sky not been completely blown out. But then the trees would’ve been black, and there would be very little detail in the shadow areas.

I’m not really sure how to solve this, but I’ll do some research, and keep experimenting. If you have any ideas, I hope you’ll share them!

Anyways, I like this, and maybe you do too.

D7000. Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G. ISO100, 1/40th (APmode), f/4. Mild processing in Aperture.

365.198 July 13, 2012

Homage Gerhard Richter

I somehow don’t think this photo, depicting the ubiquity of road construction, will have quite the same impact on viewers as Richter’s October 18, 1977…

For one thing, October 18, 1977 depicts a national event of some import: the suicide of 3 imprisoned members of the Baader-Meinhofm Gang, and other events of the Deutscher Herbst.

My July 13, 2012, on the other hand, depicts something that is unending: highway construction in North Texas.

Oh well. I like the he treated his subjects in that series (and in his realistic oeuvre as a whole), and the treatment of the tractor in my photo reminds me of poor digital approximation of his analogue painting style.

If you’re not familiar, do a search for his Woman Descending the Staircase, or perhaps Uncle Rudi and you might see what I mean.

D7000. Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 AI. ISO100, 1/15th (APmode), f/8, -1EV, .9 and .6 ND filters attached. Moderate processing in Aperture, mostly to straighten, crop slightly, and add back that stop of exposure I lost.

365.197 Ohne Titel

And another happy accident finds the scene being sucked up by the Shop Vac of the Gods or something…

This really needs a better title… if something pops into your head, please to pass it on!

Tonight: I attach .9 and .6 nd filters to the front of the 24mm f/2.8 ai… Tomorrow, I shoot daytime long exposures on the drive home, and hopefully get some nice motion blur and/or camera shake. fingers-crossed that some of them are win.

D7000. Sigma 30mm f/1.4. ISO100, 1/10th (Ap mode), f/8, -1EV. Rather torturous slider-sliding in Aperture.

365.196 coming to

I normally don’t do artistic crops like this, but I started playing with this shot, and realized that it is pretty much what the Agents would see as they emerge into the bodies of the policemen at the beginning of that car chase scene in The Matrix Reloaded, and that this therefore really needed to be widescreen… Can you see it?

I really like the little flames or sprites or bad cgi smoke coming off the red truck-like think on the left… spooky and otherworldly and really not what I was looking for at all when I made 180-odd pictures on the 25 minute drive home, but sometimes accidents become nice ideas, decent starting points, or just fun times. So… Groovy.

D7000. Sigma 30mm f/1.4. ISO100, 1/6th (APmode), f/8, -1EV. Processed rather heavily in Aperture, and could probably use a bit more…

365.195 I’m a driver, I’m a winner (2)

In the spirit of sharing failures as well as successes, I give you my second attempt at capturing “I’m a driver, I’m a winner. Things are gonna change, I can feel it” line from Beck’s Loser for Levi Moore’s SLIproject.

I got a bit closer to the going nowhere aspect of the line, and I had the focus correct, but the composition is off, and I need to switch back to the 30mm Sigma for this, methinks. (And I definitely need to move back toward even on the exposure compensation dial, but that’s beside the point.)

So I should really be shooting a nice abstract macro or something to try and keep my quality level up, but instead, I’m sharing this failure, more for my own growth, I suppose. Plus, I’ve been wanting to branch out, or move away from the macro abstract world, get out of my comfort zone, learn some new things, etc., not that this is particularly new: I’ve submitted 5-10 shots from the car though out this project. Still.

D7000. Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G. ISO100, 1/800 (AP Mode), f/11, -2EV. Mild adjustments in Aperture to try and bring back some of exposure I lost…

365.194 Para Evitar Roturas, for Jeff Koons

Looking at this a bit more closely, Koons would probably have made the water slightly bluer, and the fuchsia somewhat more fuchsia-y… Oh well: close enough.

When I went to fetch a cup of tea early this morning, I discovered the coffee pots in the sink, all full up with sanitizer liquid.

Even under the nasty fluorescent lights of the break room (or perhaps because of them), the fuchsia of the handle and rim absolutely sang against the blue of the disinfectant.

Out came the iPhone, tap went the Home button, slide went the camera icon, and I was snapping away.

Now. Several months ago, I told the built-in camera app to start making HDR shots ever time I told it to make a picture, and so a couple of hours passed, and it dawned on me that I could pop these into CS6 Merge to HDR Pro, and have a bit of fun when I got home, so I did.

The first, non-HDRified shot was fine as it was, all candy-coated goodness, and the HDR version was weak, washed out, and unappealing. But together, and with a bunch of tweaks of sliders (in Merge to HDR and in regular Ps, and a tiny bit in Aperture), they made something that would make Jeff Koons proud, methinks… (or makes my memory of some Koons work from the late 1990s & early Naughts think that he might approve).

If I had the means (some timber, a saw, a large roll of canvas, and a garage), I’d be making a 6×8 foot painting of this Right Bleeping Now: believe.

iPhone 4. Built-in Camera App, set to HDR. ISO320, 1/15th, f/2.8 (all auto: it’s an iPhone shot with the built-in camera app, and I didn’t even set the focus point…). Original and HDR versions merged in CS6 Merge to HDR Pro, with my special sauce; some levels adjustment and a few photo filters in Ps; and an import-renaming-resize-export operation in Aperture.

365.193 Always Crashing in the Same Car

And so week two of the SLIproject begins, and seeing as I listened to Low almost all day, I think this image fits rather nicely.

Every Chance, Every Chance I Take
I take it on the road
With kilometers, and the red lights
I was always looking left and right
oh but I’m… Always Crashing, in the Same Car

And if it’s not that, it’s definitely not the sad effects of the cocaine, I’m thinking that it must be love, especially since I’ve been clean and sober for 28 months already… HA!^

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO400, 1/3rd (APmode), f/3.5, -2EV. Mild-to-Medium processing in Aperture, mostly to get back to the jpeg… I should really start shooting RAW+jpeg again, just for cases like this, or figure out a preset to convert the RAW file to something like the jpeg… something to look into, for sure.

^note: I never had much involvement with cocaine…