The Final Post – 3 Years Later

Three years ago in January, 2009, I made my first blog post. This post will be my last one on this blog.

It has been a wonderful experience sharing photos, stories and tips about life and learning through the lens. I’ve had photo contests where I gave away lenses and trips and other goodies (how fun!). I’ve had a seriously controversial camera review (Sam and I won’t live that one down… but we do get emails daily totally in agreement with our findings)  But best of all I have shared with you the amazing work of many fellow photographers through Inspirations and Photographer of the Month posts. Thanks to these photographers for letting me feature their work!

I have been inspired and humbled by he response to this blog. Thanks mostly to you dear visitor for stopping by to read and make comments!

Going forward Samantha and I will do all our photography and community posts over at oopoomoo where we will have tons of free photography tips and tricks and techniques and of course our popular How-to and Photography Guide eBooks and announcements of workshops and tours. We still plan to keep the inspiration up and have lots to stimulate the eye and mind on the topics of photography and living better on this planet. I hope you will join us at oopoomoo.

Finally, I want to thank a Samantha Chrysanthou, Sabrina Henry and Catherine Byram for help with posting blog entries.

Darwin

Inspirations – Temple of Heaven by Christian Ortiz

© Christian Ortiz

Nikon D700, 14-24mm f/2.8 at 1/2500s ISO 200

I had seen boring pictures of the Temple of Heaven before and I wanted to capture a much more grandiose photo of it against a blazing sunrise. Unfortunately, Beijing has a bit of a pollution problem and the one day I was there I was greeted by a flat gray sky and about 1,000 tourists swarming all over the poor temple. I decided to work with what I had and see if I could spice it up in post production.  I walked around the massive structure looking for an area with minimal human density. When I found this angle, I set up my ultra wide angle lens to 14mm on a full frame D700 sitting on top of a tripod with a remote control trigger. I then began the long 37 minute wait for all the giddy school girls to finish taking pictures of their friends holding up the peace sign. I saw an opening and I fired out my shot. When I got home I liked most of the photograph, but the gray sky was so dull that I decided to take it in a more creative direction. This was the Temple of Heaven so I wanted to give it a celestial feel. I searched stock photos for a space background that seemed fitting and I purchased it and used it as my background.  I set the blending mode in Photoshop to multiply and added a layer mask to punch through the important details of the temple. I then used curve adjustments to bring out more of the intricate detail and finished it off with some unsharp mask. Making this photo was an an enjoyable exercise in unobstructed, child-like creative flow that we often don’t allow ourselves to indulge in for fear of not being taken seriously.  ~ Christian Ortiz

The Weekly Photo – December 27

This will be my last weekly photo post on this blog. I will no longer post to this blog after December 31st. After that all my blog postings and new images will appear over at oopoomoo. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter over there if you want first dibs on workshops, discounts and unpublished photo tips.

These two photos of Hoodoo Creek Bay at Abraham Lake were taken on one of the Fire and Ice Photo Tours this last November. If you are interested in the 2012 tour check out it out, it is nearly full!

©Darwin Wiggett

©Darwin Wiggett

Creative Expression Masterclass results – Philip Lo

Below are the six favorite Creative Expression Masterclass photos from Philip Lo.

©Philip Lo

©Philip Lo

©Philip Lo

©Philip Lo

©Philip Lo

©Philip Lo

Inspirations – Amanda Large

© Amanda Large

Nikon D90, 16-85 mm f/3.5-5.6, ISO 250, f/3.5, 1/25 seconds

Sometimes the images that say the most about people don’t literally show much of them at all. This portrait of my odd-socks-wearing friend was taken on the spur of the moment; hand-held, no premeditation, no set up. We were getting ready to go out, I think – or rather, he was sitting on the couch waiting for me to get ready – and I grabbed my camera in the hopes of nabbing a shot of him. Being a modest soul, he didn’t want to show his face and grabbed a conveniently located painting to hide behind. I directed him to move it slightly so that his scarf aligned with the tie in the painting and took a shot using the available light before he lost patience with me. For me, a big part being a photographer is being able to go with the flow and seize the moment. I originally set out to take a simple picture of my friend on the couch, and ended up with what I find a far more interesting portrait.

As a side note: it was pointed out to me that the painting is based on a photo (of 20th century political philosopher John Rawls), so this is actually a photograph of a painting based on a photograph. ~ Amanda Large

Inspirations – Spiritual Wood by Philippe Sainte-Laudy

© Philippe Sainte-Laudy

Nikon D300 Nikkor 18/200mm at 
38 mm  
2 sec. 
f/16 ISO400

Hi, I’m Philippe Sainte-Laudy. I live near Strasbourg in France. My goal in the world of photography is to strive for originality, and create my images into an art form. I like photographing nature and in particular landscapes. Photographer by passion for years, today I have my own business.

I also like optimizing and working my images with software such as Photoshop, Aperture or Lightroom.

I hope that photography can bring people closer to nature and encourage them to preserve it for future generations.

This photo was taken this autumn in France near Strasbourg. The season was beautiful this year! The woods were bathed in a light yellow to brown. Almost magical! I also used a tripod to get a good depth of field and bring out maximum detail. I used several layers set in Photoshop to optimize the atmosphere of this forest and give an artistic touch.

I recently published two free ebooks. The first talks about landscape photography and the second includes my best photographs of autumn this year. A kind of Best of …

Thank you to Darwin for allowing me to talk about myself without moderation.

Creative Expression Masterclass results – Richard Douglas

Below are the five favorite Creative Expression Masterclass photos from Richard Douglas.

HDR 1  Aperture Priority   –   F/13   –   ISO 200   –   105 mm

HDR 2 Aperture Priority   –   F/18   –   ISO 200   –   28 mm

HDR 3 Aperture Priority   –   F/18   –   ISO 200   –   65 mm

Tone 2 Aperture Priority   –   F/13   –   Shutter Speed (1/80 sec)   –   ISO 200   –   28 mm

Tone 3 Aperture Priority   –   F/18   –   Shutter Speed (10 secs)   –   ISO 200   –   300 mm

Inspirations – Kouji Tomihisa

© Kouji Tomihisa

I normally take photos on my way to the office. As a result I take a lot of photos at sunrise, sunset, night and in train stations. One thing that differentiates my photos from other photographers is the height of my view. I often use the ‘live view’ finder of my camera, thus the view is as low as a 5-year old child. I intentionally take my photos that way so that you can feel you have gone back to those days. ~ Kouji Tomihisa

Fire and Ice Photo Tour Results – Jagjit (Monty) Dhillon

Below are Jagjit Dhillon’s six favorite photos from the Fire and Ice Photo Tour.

©Jagjit Dhillon

©Jagjit Dhillon

©Jagjit Dhillon

©Jagjit Dhillon

©Jagjit Dhillon

©Jagjit Dhillon

Inspirations – Thomas Sivilay

© Thomas Sivilay

1/320s, f/4.0, ISO 160 – with a CANON 50D and SIGMA 10-20mm

This shot was taken at the World Exposition in Shanghai in 2010. It’s one of the many structures at the Exposition, but it’s maybe the first one you will see if you take the subway. So it was my first shot for this long day, and I was at the bottom of the structure. I used an ultra-wide angle, but I’ve re-sized it to have this Fibonacci number composition. There is also a contrast between lines/triangle and curves. ~ Thomas Sivilay