Split Personality...

The Proud Few...

Photographic Talent vs Editing Talent

Cropped, Sharpened and B&W

Today I find myself fixated on the idea of photographic talent vs editing talent.  The last three days have been spent looking at photographs that inspire me and trying to replicate the photo using similar subjects. It seems as though nothing I try gets as wonderful results as the photograph I originally saw. I realize that a lot of this has to do with my skill level but I wonder if, to some degree it is because the photographs I have been trying to replicate have been manipulated in Photo Shop after the image was taken. It seems as though all the photographs I see are so incredibly sharp, yet even when I left my camera auto-focus and I have a large aperture, I still find myself disappointed, feeling like the photo is out of focus. Is photography today more about the special effects, and image smoothing that can be done after the photograph is taken, is there any real value in an untouched original image anymore? I included some photographs that I took around 8 months ago on the way to Seattle.

Original

Original

Cropped, Sharpened, and Changed to B&W

Cropped, Sharpened, and Reduced Saturation

Cropped, Sharpened, B&W, and Darkened

Original

 I suppose there is a perfect balance between great original composition and exposure, and artist manipulation. I just wish I had more original photographs to measure my own work too. I believe it would change my outlook drastically and help me to understand what I originally did wrong.

Second Day...

   It is so rejuvenating to get excited about something again. My entire day was spent pondering photographic ideas, and all night at work was spent longing to be home to view the photographs I took. I captured around

twenty images today, yet only a few stand out to me. Most of the photographs I have posted today have not be edited with the exception of cropping. 

          As you can see Oli, loves to be my model, he squirms a bit too much, but all in all it is better than nothing. I had to bring Clever Bones into the shoot though because, lets be honest, I was getting sick of photographing the same subject. Day off tomorrow, so I am going to get out into the world again and drink it in. Hopefully snap a few of humans for once too! Wish me luck!

First Day Back...

First Picture of the Day

Picture Taken Quickly Through Window While At a Stop Sign

Changing Perspectives

"The best thing about the future 
is that it comes one day at a time. "
Abraham Lincoln

End of the day

This quote sums up my feelings about today's photography shoot. It has been so long since I have taken any photographs, and getting back out there was challenging.

Lighting was tricky on this one

Trying to make Graffiti Beautiful

 I desire greatness but I have a long way to go, so I suppose it is a wonderful thing that the future only comes a day at a time. Here are a few of the photographs. I took today. I shot mainly in Aperture Priority mode...but I did get to full manual by the end of the day.   
       


My theme for the day was beauty. My goal for the day was to capture the essence of beauty in things from the past.  The present crept in a few times though, as you can see. 

View Full Shoot