Psychiatric Sunday VI Dark and Edgy

As I move through editing the series I'm figuring out more and more as to what I think the best processing techniques work best with this setting and these photos.

The hardest part of editing is that I feeli like I have to do multiple techniques to figure out what I like most and then I end up spending so much time editing a series.

So, that's what I'm really trying to focus on....looking at a photo and being able to say to myself that I know what the perfect post processing will be just by looking at it. I know this is possible but I just haven't gotten to that point yet.

Don't get me wrong, I like giving the subjects the variety...especially for a shoot like this that has so many opportunities for variety but it really makes post processing take a while.

I hope when I start doing formal portraits I develop some key styles that I love and stick with them so that I can quickly decide how I want to process them.

Here are the latest from the Psychiatric Sundays photo series from 3/9/08. I love how so many of the ones below came out!!

To view the entire series click HERE.



















Check out those eyes!

More With Lee

Finally got back to editing the photoshoot of my pal Lee. I know...you're saying "there's more?" and the answer is yes. Quite a few more to go through and edit.

Lee was a patient subject and even though the time flew by I took a lot of shots. The reason why it's also taking so long is because these photos (in my opinion) are filled with a lot of emotion and I feel the need to try multiple post processing effects until I find the right one for the photograph.











One of my FAVORITE EDITS today! I love how I made Lee's eye look!!





















Since Lee is a writer we decided to do some shots with his trusty blue notebook.



Lee also wanted a shot showing the area where her lives so we took this shot with is pup Elliot Igby.

And The Deep Thoughts Series Continues

In between other sessions I've been working on the "Deep Thoughts Series" also seen here and here and here!








Interesting idea...have your model lie down and take them from this angle:



Classic T-Shirt! PLEASE REMAIN CALM it's no use both of us being hysterical at the same time.



I broke out the Nikon 105mm lens for these...

Lee is a writer so we decided to incorporate some his "tools" into the photoshoot. Once being his "little blue book." He carries this blue book with him and when he has ideas he jots them down in the book.

I like this shot because he didn't realize I was about to take it. He was telling me something and I like that natural moment captured with pen in hand:



Then I decided that since hands can tell a story that I'd focus on them along with the incorporation of the blue book:



I did a harsh gritty look on these 2 shots...I like how they came out...





...these are the originals:








This lens is great! It focused right in on the pen tip here:



More dramatic shots of the hands of a writer...

Experimenting Photographing Snow at Night

It started snowing late in the day while I was at work today and by the time I got got close to my town it had actually started to stick to the road.

Normally my commute is about 40 mins the MOST in traffic but today it took well over and hour. It gave me a lot of time to think and one thing that popped in my head was the idea to photograph the snow coming down tonight on the bulb setting to see if I could capture the snow with a streaky look as it streamed down.

I put the light on by my back door and set my camera on the tripod under the awning (to keep it dry) and I captured this:

ISO 100, f5.6, Shutter 15.2 on BULB setting



After the exeriment was completed I couldn't resist getting a photo of Lucas enjoying "sniffing" the snowflakes:



I tried multiple shots...this one I liked the best. If anything it was a neat experiment. :)



Tonight I worked on these 3 images of a "side of the road" barn & silo that my sister and I loved so much we had to pull over to photograph on our trip to the Mulica River & the Pine Barrens on October 28th (I'm still trying to catch up on 2007!!):



The same photo (above) converted:





And just to show you how funny the two of us are on these photo trips.... Here is my sister taking her version of the shot and my shadow as I take the shot from behind her to the right. We must look hysterical on the side of the road and that's why I like to document us while we're out...my sister tries to do the same for me and those are many of the photos you'll see running along the right side of my blog.





The other thing I tried tonight was a "gritty" Photoshop technique I found while googling. I tried it on a "Lee" photograph and this is what I got as a result. Kinda neat if you're going for this kind of effect:





Found this photo from November.

My Dad moved away and we went to clean out the attic and I found a box of my old stuffed animals...my sister was there with her dog and we had some fun. Can you tell which is a stuffed animal and which is not? LOL. The Jack Russell is hers. LOL!




In other news....

I'm flattered with a phone call I just received while I was writing this blog post. A local Photography club found my website through a web search and asked me if I would be interesting in judging their bi-monthly photography contest. The did a search on local photographers in the area and came across my site.

I declined the offer because I didn't feel comfortable judging, critiquing, and providing detailed feedback on technique to others while I'm still learning myself.

Even though I wasn't comfortable with judging their bi-monthly contest the phone call at least provided me with information about a very local club that I didn't know existed. The person I spoke with shared information regarding the club along with their website so I could review it. Thanks to Cranbury Digital Photography Club for the offer! :)


On another topic:

A few photoshop tutorial site links that were shared on my forum tonight:

http://www.worth1000.com/tutorials.asp

http://www.pslover.com/

http://www.good-tutorials.com/

http://photoshopcafe.com/