Day 107/366

So for this image we head back to DC. After the Chinatown Image from a few days ago, we headed in to check out the monuments. It was       and myself. We had arranged to meetup with   and  at the steps of the Jefferson Memorial. While there is usually a no tripod rule, they seemed pretty lenient with it at this time, there were times when there was 10 to 15 tripods set up to take pictures.

The trick was to either shoot Long Exposure, so all the tourists would blur and maybe add some motion to the shot, or to wait until there was no one, and luckily a large group left and we had the place basically to our selves for a few precious minutes.

My shot came from that period of time. This is an HDR composite and i actually did 2 different HDR's and then blended those two in Photoshop CS6.

Let me know your thoughts and thanks so much for stopping by. And if you aren't following all the people mentioned on Google+, you should be.

Day 104/366

We return to some images from my DC trip.
On our first photowalk, there were these construction cranes, I love trying to make Stark Graphic Shapes. I added a little color to enhance the overall feel.

I will be out all day tomorrow shooting on the Washington Coast.

Thanks for stopping by.

Day 100/366

Continuing on with the recounting of my trip,

The Archway leading into Chinatown apparently has a story behind it. My friend  wrote a bit about it over at his blog, http://bit.ly/Ibz62b. He also posted some images of the archway in different light. It's a good read and i suggest heading over and giving it a read. So after dinner at the BBQ joint, i ran out with a tripod and went to take some long exposure shots, I wanted to capture the intensity of the colors and the motion of the traffic. Also this helped to remove the people from the shot. As long as they were moving they would be invisible to my sensor. I was still in the "Experimental" mindset, not wanting to do what i was seeing done around me I wanted to make a unique image.

So for this shot, it was a composite of a couple of different exposures, I embraced the chaos and texture of Chinatown and tried to retain that in the image. I love the streaking of the headlights, and the flares from the streetlights, i also layered a couple of different textures to capture my vision for this shot.

Day 99/366

The night before PSW began, a big group of us got together and headed out to shoot. We headed to Chinatown and then found someplace to eat. There happened to be a BBQ place that sucked in  for it's HDR potential. So we decided to eat there, the food was a little pricey for BBQ and a little underwhelming, but really, not sure what we expected from a Washington DC BBQ joint.

Anyway, i was trying some "Fine Art" style imagery. When you are surrounded by so many great photographers it brings out the Experimental Photographer in me. I also believe that being experimental helps to push your other work.

If you look in the background you can see all the dollars stuck to the wall. Thats what attracted RC, Not sure he has posted his image from that place. I look forward to seeing it.

Take Care and Happy Easter

Ryan

Day 98/366

Alright, I was feeling much better today and finally started ingesting the images into my MacPro. I figured i would just start chronologically in my approach to showing my Daily photos.

I was very excited for this years East Coast Photoshop World. I hadn't been to Washington DC since I was 12, so i don't remember all that much, although i do remember there being a little more water in the Reflecting Pool. Anyway, for the week, I thought i would rent an 85mm f1.2 Lens. The  rep had warned me that at 1.2, the Depth of Field is like a razors edge. So naturally i had to test this.

I had flown into New Jersey and stayed a day visiting family before I drove to DC, So I got in a quick trip to Atlantic City, mainly to get my iPad replaced. So i was shooting everything at 1.2, just to get a feel for shooting this thing wide open. So how shallow is this lens as 1.2? I think i found a great example.

Image one is my Daily Image. This is the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk.

I know i am penalizing myself having a vertically cropped image, but it works better for the image. So if you click on the blurry photo, you will see a couple of yellow slivers in focus and everything else is out of focus. Those yellow slivers are from the yellow center line that runs down the middle of the Boardwalk. I have included a reverence photo of said Yellow Line.

Razors edge indeed. I absolutely loved that lens. Unfortunately it's way down on the list of new gear I want/need. So i will rely on the fine folks at www.lensprotogo.com to have it when i need it.

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Day 97/366

One of the great things about Photoshop World, on the expo floor  puts on a great shooting opportunity, they bring in some great models and do some really cool setups that you can just walk up and shoot. So on this day i happened to be at the  booth and they had the brand new Canon 5D MK III, AND the 200mm f2 lens. They were generous enough to let me take this setup over to the Westcott booth and shoot some with it.

Now I have to admit that I usually shoot with a 7D, which is a crop sensor, and have never shot with the 200 F2 lens. So I can't really say it was the camera or the lens that had the greatest effect.

But anyway, I snapped a shot and got a pretty good pose out of the model, and this is the first time that I have been able to zoom all the way in on my display and have it remain super sharp.

So the B$W Image is the Image of the day and the eyeball is just to demonstrate the incredible sharpness.


All this processing was done in Lightroom 4.


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Day 96/366

I am hopefully on the mend from my cold, had enough energy to unpack and got one of my NYC photos processed.

I got a great shooting location tip from Brian Matiash He had suggested Highline Park, it's a really cool Park that is a converted elevated train track, So it's only about 20 feet wide, but is about a half mile long, maybe a mile, I lost track because I kept stopping to take pictures and it took me about an hour to walk it. I only had a 24-70 lens and saw lots of opportunities for a longer lens. Definitely someplace i will hit up anytime i am in NYC.

So for this shot I wanted to mimic a vintage shot, I tried to frame it so there was just a hint of cars, but not clear enough to make out a year. i wanted dynamic lines that would help lead the eyes and made sure to have some of the beautiful flowers that line this park.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day importing all the images into my MacPro, and working on my bigger screen. should be a fun next few weeks processing and sharing all these images with you.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.