Working a Subject

Often times when I go out for a fun day with my camera I find a single subject that catches my attention.  Ages ago I would set up a shot that I thought was good and take a couple of exposures.  Then, I would pick up and move along.  Now days though I tend to want to work the one subject just to see the different looks I can produce.  That extends to post processing as well.  I create several "virtual copies" in Lightroom and try different settings to see what happens.  I might even move it over to Photoshop and try working with some layers.  Sometimes all of this works and sometimes it doesn't.  I recently went to South Beach for some sunrise fun.  I wasn't overly excited about the photos I was getting in the beginning and so I became interested in the lifeguard stand that was next to me.  I worked it from many angles and took multiple exposures so that I could do some HDR work on them in post.  Take a look and let me know what you think.  Remember, don't just run up, take a shot, and run away.  There are many ways to explore a single subject.  

Lightroom 3 Keyboard Shortcuts

Lightroom 3 Keyboard Shortcuts

I have been using Lightroom for a good bit of time now and I have learned some very useful shortcuts.  These may not seem like they save that much time but when you spend hours editing it can really add up.  There are hundreds shortcuts in Light room but I want to show you the ones that I find most useful.  Since I am now a Mac guy that used to be a PC guy I will also list the shortcuts for both Mac and Windows.  Reminder:  This is not a complete list.  You can find all of the short cuts straight from the Adobe website here.

Action	Mac OS	Windows
Show/hide side panels	Tab	Tab
Hide all Panels	Shift + Tab	Shift + Tab
Enter Library/Develop Grid view	G	G
Open selected photo in the develop module	D	D
Cycle forward/backward through Lights Out modes	L / Shift + L	L / Shift + L
Cycle Screen Modes	F	F
Zoom	Z	Z
Increase/decrease Grid thumbnail size	=/-	=/-
Scroll up/down Grid thumbnails	Page Up/Page Down	Page Up/Page Down
Cycle Grid Views	J	J
Group into stack	Command + G	Ctrl + G
Unstack	Command + Shift + G	Ctrl + Shift + G
Flag Photo as Pick	P	P
Flag Photo as a reject	X	X
Unflag Photo	U	U
Star Rating	1 – 5	1 – 5
Show/hide Library Filter bar	\	\
Edit in Photoshop	Command + E	Ctrl + E
Develop Shortcuts
Sync settings	Command + Shift + S	Ctrl + Shift + S
Select Spot Removal Tool	Q	Q
Select Crop Tool	R	R
Constrain Aspect Ratio	A	A
Select Adjustment Brush	K	K
Increase/Decrease Brush Size	[ / ]	[ / ]
View before and after	\	\

Guest Blog for Angeline-Marie - Developing a Style

Recently I was asked to write a guest post for Art Studio Reports by Angeline Marie.  Take a look!  If you are interested in art make sure you check out some of her other blog posts and website.  Just follow this LINK.

Abstracts in Nature

Often times when I shoot landscapes or nature I look to tell a story or to show an event.  The following photos on the other hand caught my attention while I was searching.  I really dig abstract art (much to my surprise) and I look to find ways to add it to my chosen art form.  The best part of the four photographs that you see were all taken the same day within about a 3 hour period.  The abstracts are there we just need to take the time to look.  As evident by two of these photos you don't even need to be close to the subjects to pull out the abstract.  These were all fun for me to photograph and a cinch to post process.

I like the two color images but the black and white photos really draw me in...  One of the abstracts even tells the story of the rising sun and the moving mist.    The next time you are out trying to tell a story just relax and look for the abstracts that surround you.  You might be surprised at the story they tell.  To me...  All four tell me that the world continues and lives barley aware of my existence.  I love it!!

Art Exhibit in Homestead, FL

Last night the family and I had the pleasure of visiting the Children's Museum on Krome Ave right here in homestead.  It was a solo opening featuring the works of Angeline Martinez (a local artist).  The materials used to create the various works were beyond the "standard" painting materials.  It included encaustics, acrylics, and mixed media.  The works are unique to say the least (that is a good thing).  Her work is so unique in fact that I believe once you are familiar with it you can pick it up out of a line up.  The work will be displayed there for the next month so if you get a chance drop by and take a look.  You will not be disappointed.

I know...  I know, this is a photography blog...  What does this have to do with photography?  A LOT!!!  We as photographers need to study all art to get a better handle on what we are trying to accomplish.  We are artists after all.  Looking at works as unique as Angeline's helps us to take chances with our own art.  Don't settle for the mundane or the "standard".  Go for the unique in your own works.  I am speaking of your own works that you do for you.  Often times clients have a certain style that they are looking for.  All the more reason to expand your repertoire.

Incase you missed the links at the beginning of this blog here they are again.  Check them out!!

http://angeline-marie.blogspot.com/
http://thechildrensgalleryartscenter.org/default.aspx

Photoshop Elements: A Poor Man’s (or Woman’s) Photoshop

With the switch to Mac I lost my Photoshop CS5 Extended… which is just sad. I do not have the $999.00 to spend on the Photoshop CS5 Extended so I reluctantly went with Photoshop Elements 9. Elements 9 only costs $99.00 (which I got free with my Wacom Tablet). The first thing I noticed is that it works very similar to Photoshop CS5. Then, I noticed that everything I do in CS5 to develop my images is available in Photoshop Elements 9 with only minor exceptions.

It’s tools include:*
Photomerge (for panoramic photos)
Layers
Blend Modes
Most Filters
Supports the Wacom Tablet sensitivity

What it does not include:*
Smart Objects
Not all filters

Since I still use Photoshop Lightroom 3 for 95% of my editing this was not a big deal. All and all I still want CS5 because of the power and all the available options but until I can come up with the 999.00 for CS5 Extended Photoshop Elements 9 will certainly do the trick.

Now, if you happen to go to college, have a kid in school, home school, or you work for an education institution you can get CS5 for $168.00 using the education discount. Wow is all I can say!

*This is not a complete list but rather a list of items that I specifically use for photo editing.

The Switch

My first computer was a Commodore 64 but since then I have always been a PC guy. Why? Well, they were the cheapest and the most versatile… I owned my first PC 21 years ago (DOS and eventually Windows 3.1). Since my first PC I have had many variants of the PC. The timeline (or stages) of PC ownership has always been the same.

Year 1 - Thrilled: Happy that I didn’t spend a HUGE amount of money but managed to get good performance. Later in the year you upgrade the RAM and maybe the video card.

Year 2 – Denial: Your computer begins crashing fairly often and you begin to have issues with disk space (for unknown reasons). You check for virisus, delete everything you can, take off programs, and run system clean up after clean up. But, hey this is still a great computer right? You begin to search websites on occasion looking for a new one.

Year 2.5 – Realization: This is the realization that your PC is in full “Windows Flail” mode. Constant crashing (blue screens), no disk space (don’t know why), simple programs take forever to load and are buggy at best. The fans begin to make noise and system tools to help improve your computer just don’t work anymore. Finally, you reformat your heard drive and clean install the operating system.

Year 3 – Waiting for Trash Run Thursday: If you have made it this far you are on the verge of a nervous breakdown if you ever have to do work on the computer. The clean install worked for a few months but it passes quickly. You buy another computer and you start the cycle back at Year 1. The old computer gets stripped of any usable parts and tossed in the trash.

I am trying to break the cycle.

I used to look down at Mac users because they had systems that couldn’t run EVERYTHING (I was mostly concerned with games). I would laugh and talk about how inferior their operating systems were and how much faster my processor was. Here was the deal… They always seemed to hold onto the same computer for a very long time. Being a photographer I also noticed that most of the professional photographers I followed used Macs. I started the research and quickly realized that from a photographer’s perspective the Mac platform stands above the rest. I use the computer for one primary purpose and that is post processing my images. You guessed it… I bought an iMac 27”. No, I can’t play all the games I used to but that is why we have console systems. I would say the photographic processing performance of the Mac is as good as (maybe a little better) an equivalent PC but I am hoping that at the Year 3 stage I will not be waiting for the trash to run. Stay tuned for some photography specific reviews as it relates to the Mac platform.