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Jeremy  > Photo Diary > My 40th Year
This gallery is a complete chronicle of my 40th year, starting on my birthday in 2008. I posted one photo each day for a year. The photo-a-day project continues in this gallery here.
Gallery pages:  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>
< 33 of 365 >
Jeremy > May 30, 2008; Day 28. In NH, all vehicles must pass an annual inspection to stay on the road. My car is 7 years old and for the last couple of years it has needed a little work in order to pass. Today I had to sit for 2 hours while they replaced the rear coil springs. The appointment time completely overlapped the Jerry Springer show, which was playing on the TV in the waiting room. The last time I had seen this show, I promised myself that I’d never watch it again except under duress. So outside I went, in search of art in new Audi automobiles. (Here and here.) Not completely successful in the harsh mid-day light, but fun. The sun was burning my scalp, so back inside I went. The show is even worse than I remember, so I definitely renewed my self-imposed rule...just as soon as the show was over... Raw: Fill Light: +20 Raw: Saturation: +20 PS: Merged a much better screen capture from a more poorly composed image into this one.
Jeremy > May 31, 2008; Day 29. Once each month, my friends gather for a potluck supper. This month, we gathered in Deerfield at the home of my friend Bob. His house is a converted barn with a two-story tall great room. Along the walls are a myriad of plants and artwork. I'm using the fisheye to get really close to this piece, and I liked that this shot doesn't shout "fisheye" too much. I like that I included the original barn beam, but I wish I had observed the merge with the statue. And yes, I ate too much. My friends really know how to cook! Raw: WB: 2850K Raw: Exposure: +1.5 (hand held) Raw: Fill Light: +20 Raw: Saturation: +20 PS: Rotate: 1 degree CW PS: Crop: Just enough to remove the black bands from the rotation PS: Color Balance: Yellow to Blue +20
Jeremy > June 1, 2008; Day 30. Peter and I enjoyed a beautiful late Spring day by taking a short bike ride through a neighboring town. I quickly metered with the camera to my eye (that’s as close to living on the edge as I get), then let it hang as it fired away. I like the angle of the horizon and the motion implied by the road. I’ll be doing much more biking starting now…I’m planning to ride my first century (124 miles, actually) in September. No post processing…JPEG from camera.
Jeremy > June 2, 2008; Day 31. It’s Monday which means I’m in Portsmouth, NH. Some of you may recognize this as one of the Wyland Whaling Walls. This one is number 37, painted on June 14, 1993. This scene depicts humpback whales near the Isles of Shoals, a set of 7 little islands shared between NH and Maine. This HDR was created from six exposures. The aperture was held constant at f/8; the shutter speed varied from 1/30s to 1/1000s in one-stop increments. Photomatix did the work. I also shot this wall using my fisheye lens. (Note to self: The fisheye really exaggerates an unlevel horizon!) You can see a lot of repairs to the building that are slowly obliterating this painting. PS: Rotate 2 degrees PS: Crop away black bars PS: Color Balance: -5 Magenta to green PS: Unsharp Mask: 20-30-0
Jeremy > June 3, 2008; Day 32. Oliver alerted us to the Orton technique last week. I had never heard of it before but I was atwitter to try it. For this first attempt, I was blessed with overcast skies, a nearly dead calm atmosphere, and lots of rhododendrons in full bloom. This is a blend of two exposures. The first is at f/16 and focused on the front flower. The second is at f/5.6 and focused at infinity. Due to my proximity to the front flower, the first exposure was blurry at infinity. This seems to have made it possible to have a front-to-back Orton effect. This first attempt is a little hot in the front and there is some ghosting that may have been caused by my batting away the dive-bombing mosquitoes during the long exposures. Still, I see lots of potential with this technique and will add it to my list of things to try when I’m working a subject. If I hadn't known about Orton, I almost certainly would have posted this as my daily. PP after the blend: Color Balance: -40 Yellow to Blue.
Jeremy > June 4, 2008; Day 33. Please forgive a second rhododendron shot in a row, but I got even better conditions than yesterday: raindrops and fewer mosquitoes, in addition to overcast light and no wind! Oliver suggested that I try the Orton technique with a single exposure where everything is in focus, then apply the Gaussian blur and blend them. This is what I got. The greens are WAY better than yesterday, and so is the flower. I had taken several bracketed exposures of this flower for HDR practice. The HDR wasn't so great (it flattened the flower too much). Not surprisingly perhaps, the most correctly exposed original was the best for Orton. (I used the Apply Image->Screen step to lighten the originals.) Here’s the original photo. Before applying the Orton technique: Raw: WB: 5500K (daylight) PS: Unsharp Mask: 20-30-0 Post-Orton: PS: Cloned out hot spot in lower left.
Jeremy > June 5, 2008; Day 34. Bitter Harvest. Today I harvested the biggest stalks of rhubarb from my rhubarb patch. As you can see, they all fit comfortably in a 1-cup measurer. At this rate, I’ll get a pie every four years. Sigh. Here again I’m having fun with wireless flash, holding it low in the leaves. I love how the light brings out the red of the stalks, the vein of the leaves, and the grain of the table. Here is a shot of my rhubarb patch before the harvesting. Only the skinny little stalks remain; we’ll see if they improve with the competition removed. You probably know this but rhubarb greens do NOT make a festive addition in your salad! The leaves have oxalic acid in them which is fatal in sufficient doses. JPEG from camera. PS: Rotate 3 degrees to better align cup top, then crop out black bars. PS: Unsharp Mask: 20-30-0.
Jeremy > June 6, 2008; Day 35. Tonight I spent several hours helping my very good friend Dennis set up his new PC. He's an artist with a deadline and I was happy to help. Luckily, he let me set up my camera in order to grab this self portrait, the only photograph I was able to capture today. The gem of this shot is the artwork on the wall, particularly the stunning tribute to Mel Blanc. Raw: Exposure: +1 Raw: WB: 4300K Raw: Saturation: +15 PS: Unsharp Mask: 20-30-0
Jeremy > June 7, 2008; Day 36. Tonight I enjoyed a very pleasant dinner party hosted by friends. I had actually never been to their house before, a mid-18th Century ranch with attached barn. This is the first thing you see when you step into their kitchen. At first glance, I thought it must be much older than the Copper Clad wood stove that my parents own (since this one is “rounder”), but it’s actually a hybrid wood and gas stove, which ought to make it much newer. If its shape doesn’t grab your attention, its complimentary color will. My friends also raise chickens. This rooster had a uniquely shaped comb and was a serious contender for the daily. PS: Color Balance: +40 Yellow to Blue
June 4, 2008; Day 33. Please forgive a second rhododendron shot in a row, but I got even better conditions than yesterday: raindrops and fewer mosquitoes, in addition to overcast light and no wind!

Oliver suggested that I try the Orton technique with a single exposure where everything is in focus, then apply the Gaussian blur and blend them. This is what I got. The greens are WAY better than yesterday, and so is the flower. I had taken several bracketed exposures of this flower for HDR practice. The HDR wasn't so great (it flattened the flower too much). Not surprisingly perhaps, the most correctly exposed original was the best for Orton. (I used the Apply Image->Screen step to lighten the originals.)

Here’s the original photo.

Before applying the Orton technique:
Raw: WB: 5500K (daylight)
PS: Unsharp Mask: 20-30-0
Post-Orton: PS: Cloned out hot spot in lower left.
> June 4, 2008; Day 33. Please forgive a second rhododendron shot in a row, but I got even better conditions than yesterday: raindrops and fewer mosquitoes, in addition to overcast light and no wind! Oliver suggested that I try the Orton technique with a single exposure where everything is in focus, then apply the Gaussian blur and blend them. This is what I got. The greens are WAY better than yesterday, and so is the flower. I had taken several bracketed exposures of this flower for HDR practice. The HDR wasn't so great (it flattened the flower too much). Not surprisingly perhaps, the most correctly exposed original was the best for Orton. (I used the Apply Image->Screen step to lighten the originals.) Here’s the original photo. Before applying the Orton technique: Raw: WB: 5500K (daylight) PS: Unsharp Mask: 20-30-0 Post-Orton: PS: Cloned out hot spot in lower left.
June 4, 2008; Day 33. Please forgive a second rhododendron shot in a row, but I got even better conditions than yesterday: raindrops and fewer mosquitoes, in addition to overcast light and no wind!

Oliver suggested that I try the Orton technique with a single exposure where everything is in focus, then apply the Gaussian blur and blend them. This is what I got. The greens are WAY better than yesterday, and so is the flower. I had taken several bracketed exposures of this flower for HDR practice. The HDR wasn't so great (it flattened the flower too much). Not surprisingly perhaps, the most correctly exposed original was the best for Orton. (I used the Apply Image->Screen step to lighten the originals.)

Here’s the original photo.

Before applying the Orton technique:
Raw: WB: 5500K (daylight)
PS: Unsharp Mask: 20-30-0
Post-Orton: PS: Cloned out hot spot in lower left.
Camera: Nikon Corporation (Nikon D80) |
More details: exif |
Original size: 3872px x 2592px |
Current: 400px x 268px |
Other sizes: Small • M • L • O |
Share photo: links, forums, blogs |
Keywords: flora orton rhododendrons 70 to 210mm
Gallery pages:  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>
< 33 of 365 >

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