Conference room at my real job

I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since an article appeared at here on iffles.com For those of you that are still checking the site or following the rss feed (or a fan on facebook!), I thank you for not completely giving up hope.

Unfortunately, my real job has gotten extremely crazy and busy in the past month or so, and I’ve had to work some very long hours (up to 15 hours a day), and all weekend long, too. I obviously haven’t had time to write here, but I haven’t even had time to take more than a handful of pictures all month, and that’s just crazy, so this work stuff better start wrapping up soon so I can get back into what I really love!

I promise I’ll be back with more Gimp tips & tricks, as well as what I’ve been reading on the internet, and, of course, posting photos from the iffles.com monthly themes group on flickr! August is almost up, so you only have a few more days to take a photo of reflections. I look forward to looking through them all, you guys are always so inspiring!

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f/4.0; 1/30sec; 105mm; ISO 400

I know a handful of digital photographers that don’t edit their photos much – if at all. I have a lot of respect for those photographers, actually. Not only because they can create beautiful photos without touching them up, but because they can actual resist the urge to edit.

That being said, I think there’s a lot of good reasons to edit your photos. It’s not because I think it fixes bad photos, it’s because I think it transforms good phtoos into interesting photos. It gives them an extra pop, a new perspective, or a creative twist.

I’ve gotten asked a few times how I know what to do with a photo once I open it in Gimp. Sometimes, the photo just speaks to me, and I know I want to just adjust the curves, or transform it into black and white, but often I don’t know what to do with a photo, and I’ll play around with it until something jumps out as being “right”.

And so, the concept of this post is simple. One photo, edited four different ways.

The original photo can be seen above, though I feel I should probably mention when I say something is “Straight Out of Camera”, that’s not really true. I shoot in RAW, and the photo you see above has been converted to a jpg by running it through UFRaw.

Adjusting Curves

This is pretty much the first thing I do to almost every photo. I wrote about using curves back in these entries. In this photo, as with most photos, I wanted to use a simple S-shaped curve. However, because the budding flower was already starting to look a little blown out, I kept the right part of the curve just about on the line instead of pushing it over and blowing out the bud too much. Here’s what my curve looked like:

Here’s what the edited photo looked like:

Adjusted Curves

Not a huge difference. This is actually where I stopped when I originally posted this on my flickr account, though. Sometimes, all it takes is a subtle difference for me to really like a photo.

Black and White

It might seem a bit odd turning a photo of a flower – known for the color they add into the world – into black and white, but I think black and white photos really bring out the contrast and texture in photos, and I love the texture of the bud of this flower, so I’m gonna try it.

I started with my curves-adjusted photo above instead of the original. Then, the way I usually convert to black and white is to use Lasm’s Channel Extract from FX-Foundry. I liked the Green layer the most, which looked like this:

Green Channel

I wanted to adjust the levels, though, to make the darker parts a bit darker and to lighten up the mid-tones. Here’s what my Levels window looked like:

This makes my final B&W photo to be this:

Black & White

A lot of times when making a black and white photo, I check it out in a different tone by using the “Eg Duotone Simulation” script from FX-Foundry. Running that using the Sepia (red) tone gives me this:

Duotone

I’m just throwing that in as a bonus edit… so perhaps I should call this post One Photo, Four and a half Ways :)

Warming and Cooling

Remember the Warming and Cooling Filters? When I wrote that post, I had a lot of fun editing a flower photo and pushing the limits of that filter, so I tried it again with this photo. The first thing I did was duplicate my curves-adjusted photo again to a new layer. Then I ran the Brauer’s Warm filter and set it to overlay at 100% opacity and that gave me this:

Brauer's Warm

I love this. I feel it both warmed it up and gave it more definition – especially the leaf in the background.

Lomo

There is one script I probably use more often than any other when editing photos. Anyone who follows my flickr stream (and actually reads the “how I edited this” I put in the description of every single photo) probably already knows what it is. Hands down, it’s the Bercovich Lomo script that’s part of the FX-Foundry package. However, I rarely use it “as is”.

When that script runs it creates for layers – two that create a dark vignette border around the photo, one that adds a “white flare”, making the center of the photo even brighter and what I like to call the base layer, which is where the main photo manipulation actually happens. I understand the script is trying to duplicate a certain type of photography, so I know why they made that manipulation look the way it does, but I rarely like it as-is. What I do think it works great as, though, is setting the blend mode to Overlay over your original image. And that’s exactly what I did with this photo. I also (as I often do), decreased the opacity of the white flare layer, down to about 60%. Here’s that image:

Bercovich Lomo

Comparison

Here’s the original photo along with all the edits so you can see them all “side by side”:

Original Photo

Adjusted Curves

Black & White

Duotone

Brauer's Warm

Bercovich Lomo

Do you have a favorite? Mine’s the Brauer’s Warm one, personally. But I think the point here is to really show how editing a photo can really change the feel of it, and also that I don’t think there’s any one right way to edit a photo, it’s just what you happen to think that particular photo is calling for on that particular day.

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Just a sumer-time photo. f/4.0; 1/1600sec; 24mm; ISO 200

July is over and August has started up. You all voted over in the iffles.com monthly theme group on flickr, and reflections was the winner, so that’s what August’s theme is. Even if you’re not playing along with the theme group, there’s still some links here to help get you inspired in whatever you’re working on photography-wise.

• A friend of mine recently got his first DSLR and I was try to explain the relationship between Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed to him, as well as how to use the exposure meter in the manual modes of his camera. I should have just saved him some time and pointed him to this article instead!
• I actually don’t look at a lot of professional photographers’ online portfolios… but when I do, many of the things on this list of Online Photography Portfolio No-nos do, indeed, bother me.
• Got a tough lighting situation? Maybe you find the cure on this Three Nightmare Lighting Conditions article
• For a lot of us, it’s now summer time – a great time to get outdoors and shoot before the weather turns cold again. Not sure what to shoot? Check out this list of 10 things to practice shooting in summer.
• I know a lot of you are in the middle of a 365 project right now, so you might need these tips on staying on track with such a project.
• The best way to become a better photographer is to keep on taking photos. If you feel you’ve hit a creative block, check out some ideas on how to keep “swimming” (via Your Photo Tips)

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Anyway, I realize July is quickly coming to an end, so it was about time I posted some photos from June. But you still have a few more days to take some beautiful bokeh photos! Here’s the photos from June, where the theme was urban:

By Hynek S. - Beautiful bright sky!

By jinspain2002 - It's hard to get much more urban than this. I love all the yellow cabs lined up, and the person crossing the street.

By Atlantis_breeze - fantastic urban artwork

By evelynspikes - wow, that's a lot of windows!

By Christopher.F Photography - I was actually really hoping someone would post some light trails in June, and this is a fantastic example. (btw, Christopher posted some more fantastic photos of Chicago this month, so if you like that city as much as I do, you might want to check out his other photos)

By tpavankumar - Love the curved brick street, and the one car amidst all the bikes.

By Noctem Wolf - Oh, man. What great colors and detail!

By thedigitaliris - Love how this photo is both colorful and gritty.

By infion - I love the lighting in here.

By jan.etc - great skyline!

By caitra_ - great composition and I love the simple, bright colors.

By laura oliver1 - I'm such a sucker for rusty old things. And the splash of green behind this is just perfect.

By mtbcat - I think the flares from the light really add to this urban scene.

By Rick Zawodny - this is one of those photos that I really, really like... but can't put my finger on why exactly...

By shirley319 - Love the shallow depth of field on this.

By .:SindyHand:. - just beautiful. Urban, Disney-style :)

By Jon Game - just breathtaking!

By jennifercwlee - Great colors!

By kkaldrich - I've been through this tunnel so many times! I love everything reflecting off the 'ceiling'

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Project Fail.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about failure. Perhaps it’s because I’ve failed in pretty much all of my photography projects I was going to accomplish this year.

The weird thing, though, is that I’ve been thinking about it not because I’m mad at myself for failure, but actually because I’m not. Sure, I’m a little bummed, but why not so upset? In 2008 I did a year of daily self-portraits. In 2009, I did a photowalk a week. During both of those years I was extremely motivated to finish those projects and if I had missed a single day or a single week, goodness, I’d be so upset! (I did actually miss a day in the SP project. I actually cried. And I know others who have said the same thing, so at least I’m not alone!)

So, why I am a bit calmer about it this year? I think these are the three reasons:

Photography isn’t about Projects

I was already a member of flickr when I first “became a photographer” (I define that time period as when it first became a passion for me), as I was already using it as a place to store photos (mostly of my cats because, yes, I’m one of those people). When I suddenly found this passion, I turned to flickr for inspiration and I realized that most of the people that inspired me were doing some sort of project. Most of them were in the middle of a 365 Self Portrait project. And so, it’s not hard to see why I quickly associated passionate photography with such projects.

It’s really only this year that I realized that whenever I told someone I was into photography, none of them asked “oh, what project are you working on?” It was always one of three questions: “What kind of camera do you have?”, “What type of photos do you take?”, or “Where can I see your work?”. Now, granted, I don’t think just having a camera makes you a photographer, and while I question whether you can call yourself a photographer if you’re not sharing your work with anyone, even that one is debatable. But you can’t really get around the fact that people want to know what your passion is – what you like taking photos of, not what projects you’ve accomplished. In fact, when I tell people about my past projects, I mostly get a “ok. Well, that’s kind of crazy.” look from them!

Photography is about passion. And if you’re passionate about doing a project – like I was in the past – then GREAT! But I’m just not feeling it this year.

Asparagus Risotto. f/4.0; 1/60 sec; 60mm; ISO 800

There’s More to Life than Photography

Who knew, right? During 2008 and 2009, I defined myself (outside of work, at least) almost exclusively as A Hobbyist Photographer. That was who I was. That was what I did. And I don’t regret that. But this year I’ve realized there’s really more to me. I like to play geeky board games with my friends. I like pick up my CSA share and then plan and cook entire meals around them. I like to read books on my Nook. Heck, I even like to watch TV.

Maybe none of that is directly helping my photography (though the cooking has given me plenty of new meals to photograph), but being a bit more well-rounded has not only helped me deal with not accomplishing my photography goals, but I think it’s also indirectly making me a better photographer because I’m finding motivation in other things.

FIRE! f/4.0; 1/250 sec; 105mm; ISO 800

I’m Shooting What I Want

I really like taking photos of fire. I don’t think they’re amazing pictures. I don’t think it’s something anyone else couldn’t do with their point & shoot or iPhone. I just like it. During the warmer months, John and I spent a lot of nights sitting out our deck with a fire in the fire pit and/or a fire in our old, rusty charcoal grill. And every time I have to grab my camera and take some shots.

This isn’t some sort of goal of mine, and it doesn’t fit into any predefined project. I just have fun doing it and looking at the results. I’ve also been taking photos of the progress of the veggies in my garden. I’m not sure if this is something anyone other than me cares about looking at, but I like it. it makes me happy not only to see something I planted turn into something I eat, but I like making it look good in photos.

There were a few times last year that I really had to force myself to go on one of those photowalks, and I was only doing it because I didn’t want to fail. I’m still pretty proud that I accomplished my goal, but I also question why I went out and did things that I didn’t even want to do? I’m sure it’s no surprise, either, that on most of the “I don’t feel like doing this” walks, I didn’t get many good pictures. If I’m not feeling it, I’m not getting good photos.

Conclusion

I think my overall point of this entry is that what we individually define as failure isn’t necessarily actually failure. Yes, it’s true, there’s no real way for me to accomplish the goals I set forth at the beginning of the year. But that doesn’t mean I’m a failure. It just means that my goals have changed.

I mentioned at the start of this entry that I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this so-called concept of failure, so expect this entry to be the first a series.

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This photo does NOT follow the Rule of Thirds. And ya know what? I like it.

First off, I wanted to apologize in the lack of posts around here lately, but hopefully things should be back up to normal now. Including a post in a day or two with my favorite photos from June in the iffles.com Monthly Themes group on flickr. June’s theme was Urban. July’s theme is bokeh, and I really look forward to seeing what you all submit! Also, at the beginning of the year, I asked people in the flickr group to vote on what the theme for August would be, and reflections was the clear winner, so keep it in mind for next month!

The real point of this post, though, is something that’s been weighing on my mind lately as I read posts on photography forums where people are putting down either their own photos or critiquing someone else’s and mentioning them not following a certain composition rule. It has bothered me because, to me, a photograph is more about beauty and a feeling you get from looking at it than it is about lines and positioning.

I’ve talked in the past about some composition rules (here and here, for instance). The classic composition rule I hear about the most is the Rule of Thirds – which basically states that you should put something of interest in your photos at the one of the intersections of a horizontal or vertical thirds line in your photo (the first “here” link above describes it in more detail). Often this means putting your horizon line on one of the horizontal lines. But sometimes I think it’s really important to forget about the rules.

Why You Should Forget The Rules

My biggest reason I think you should break the rules is because photography is an art! I try to keep the rules in mind when I’m taking photos, I’m not denying that, but sometimes I get so annoyed when I see people taking these rules so seriously that taking a photo seems more like a chore – a checklist of To Dos, if you will – than something creative.

It is my opinion that the rules are a great guideline, or a great starting point when you’re looking at something you want to photograph and you’re not sure how. But if you’re just going to concentrate on rules, where is the fun? Where is the art? Where is the creativity?

When and How You should Break the Rules

I feel like I shouldn’t even write this part of the post. Aren’t I tell you rules about how to break the rules? That just seems wrong.

But I’m writing it anyway. Here are the times that I especially think it’s important to break the rules.

• When you have a lot of time available to shoot the same thing. Play it safe and take some photos follow the rules, and then give yourself a chance to play around and do whatever you want. You may very well find out you like the ones where you followed the rules anyway, but you’ll never figure out what works and what doesn’t if you don’t play around.
• When you’re taking a photo in some type of tough and/or unpredictable situation. For instance, if you’re at a fast-paced sporting event or taking photos of a moving object like an animal or child. Sometimes it’s better just to get a photo that’s in focus and sharp than it is to spend so much time trying to line things up right that you don’t get any photo at all.
• When you’re trying some new technique. First time panning? Or light painting? I find when I’m trying to learn something new, it goes much better if I throw all the other rules out the window so I can just concentrate on that technique.
• When you just feel like doing something different. Everyone else has taken a photo of the sun setting over a body of water with the horizon on thirds line. Yes, it’s beautiful, but why not play around and turn your camera at an angle? Or purposely go out of focus create an all-bokeh sunset. Just be creative!

I hope that inspires you – and perhaps even takes some pressure off you – for the next time you’re out shooting!

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This really has nothing to do with any of the links, just a photo I've taken recently that I like!

First of all, the winner of the pro flickr account celebrating the one year anniversary of iffles.com was Bouncyczech! You should be receiving an email with your flickr pro account code. Either enjoy it yourself, or pass it one – whatever floats your boat!

And now for some links that you might find interesting!

• I love black and white photos, but even I make some of these mistakes with your black and white photos.
• You all know how much I love flickr, right? Well, read someone else’s perspective on why flickr is a great tool for nature photographers
• Just a few days before iffles.com celebrated a one-year anniversary, another favorite photography site of mine celebrated its one-year. So hop on over to the discerning photographer for a list of top ten posts you may have missed over there!
• Have a prime lens you love as much as I love my 50mm? Check out these 7 tips for shooting with normal primes
• I’ve mentioned before that I don’t have much of a desire to become a professional photographer. But I know that’s the ultimate goal for many of you. So, are you good enough to go pro?
• A lot of these things didn’t apply to me since I shoot more landscapes than people, but it was still an interesting list of items to bring on a photo shoot
• Ronan Palliser gives two tips for shooting in bright sunlight – improvise with fill light or find some shade

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Don’t forget to submit your photos for June – the theme is urban!

By Jon Game - A perfect example of green!

By kalina813 - such bright colors!

By Atlantis_breeze - oh my!

By brad_mc - I love the colors in a sunset.

By .:SindyHand:. - colorful AND yummy!

By bumblebeezack - I love that you called this photo Tennis.

By Karamello - so very yellow, so very pretty.

By thedigitaliris - a perfect pink.

By Noctem Wolf - I don't know what this is, but it's definitely colorful.

By jan.etc - Have I mentioned how much I like to the colors of sunset? And to see it in bokeh? Yum.

By mtbcat - love the repeating pattern in the colors.

By team.breeze - What a beautiful shade of red.

By Governmentality - mmmm, colorful chard.

By miamiredbird - oh my, what a colorful bird, and great action shot, too.

By infion - love the green against the blue sky.

By kkaldrich - now those are colors I'd really like to sink my teeth into!

By rachel_pics - what pretty greens.

By neeta dewan - so bright and green! Love the composition, too.

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One Year Celebration!

Today, June 18, 2010 marks the one year anniversary of iffles.com!

It’s been quite a year of ups and downs – articles that came out just how I wanted them to, and articles that really flopped. Days I was proud of all that I’ve accomplished, and days I struggled with what I would write next. I launched when I had the website “good enough for launching” but still had a To Do list with bunches of items on it left to clean things up. Wouldn’t you know it, there’s still bunches of items on that list.

I’ve learned so much about photography from running this site, forcing myself to learn new and different things so that I have something to write about, which was something I was hoping would happen… and it did!

I was also, however, incredibly shocked with how much time running this site has taken up, which is why I can’t write all that often, which means I’ll never be one of the Big Dogs when it comes to photography sites. And you know what? I’m totally ok with that. One of the main reasons I decided I never wanted to try to make money off of photography was because I didn’t want it to turn into a job, an obligation and/or a stress in my life. So if I get a couple of comments on a blog that posts once a week or so, I’m ok with that.

Speaking of comments – I want to thank all of you that have stuck around, offering encouragement and advice. I feel like I’ve gotten to know a number of you through your comments (and your blogs and flickr streams!).

Top Ten Posts

Ok, enough mushy stuff. Let’s do the typical “one year anniversary of a blog” thing and show you the top ten posts of the past year (for the record, I did this by pageviews. It’s debatable what the best method for this type of thing is, but, well, that’s the one I chose):

1. Gimp Script Showcase: National Geographic
2. What I Learned from the Death of my Computer
3. Why I Think You Should Go On the Third Annual Worldwide Photo Walk
4. Some New Features in UFRaw
5. Making Eyes Pop Using Gimp
6. Introduction to Using UFRaw to Edit RAW Files
7. Faking HDR in Gimp (I cringe putting this one on the list. This is my least favorite post I’ve written for various reasons)
8. Gimp Script Showcase: Warming and Cooling Filter
9. Adding a Vignette (or Blurry Dark Edges) to a Photo in Gimp
10. Gimp Script Showcase: Vintage Photos

What You’ve Missed

A few of my favorite posts didn’t make the Top Ten, and I figure it’s probably because some of you weren’t reading a year ago. I wanted to point out some of my favorite posts that you might have missed:

• Gimp 101: Levels. I think this is such a basic starting point for photo editing.
• Gimp 101: Curves – part one and two. Ok, so I needed two parts because I didn’t do a good enough job explaining the first time, so maybe I shouldn’t include these as a favorite, but I still think it’s good information that can dramatically impact a photo. (btw, there’s a part three to this series still brewing)
• 5 Things to do When You’re in a Photo Rut. Hey, we’ve all been there.
• Layer Blending Modes in Gimp. Ok, so, my hover-over-the-image thing takes way too long to load. And I apologize for that. But if you have a bit of patience, I think you’ll find this entry pretty helpful if you use Gimp.
• How I Did It: The Boots Photo. One of my favorite self portraits I’ve ever taken, explained step-by-step from set-up to final product.

A Final Thank You

I know I mentioned it above, but I do really appreciate the comments I get (even the negative ones – because those are the ones I learn from!), and so I’d like thank you by giving you one more chance to leave a comment. I’ll pick one comment at random from this post to get one year of Flickr Pro. I’m sure you all realize by now that I have one of these things, and while the unlimited uploads and storage, as well as the ability to archive high-resolution photos is nice, I have to admit my favorite perk of a pro account are the stats! Anyway, this is a gift from me to a random noter and is not sponsered by flickr in any way, I just happen to like the site a lot. All you have to do to enter is leave a note before midnight on Tuesday night (I’m in the Eastern time zone, but to be honest, I’m pretty flexible on this timing, but that’s the earliest I’ll choose a winner). One comment per person, please!

I’ll announce the winner on the blog and use the email address from your comment to email the pro code to the winner – flickr upgrade codes are not associated with the email account at all, so you can use any (working) email address in your comment and you’ll be able to use the code even if that’s not the same email address associated with my flickr account. This also means you can pass it on to a friend or family member that you think will really appreciate it.

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By the way, in case you ever wondered, this are just posted in the order they are in the group pool.

By Christopher F. Photography - I saw this one shortly after it was submitted to the pool and knew right away it would make this month's list. What a love-full, beautiful photo.

By bouncyczech - I always love the lighting caused by blinds, but I also like how the shadow was captured in this photo, too.

By rhmom42 - Love the eyelashes and freckles, but also how soft this is and the perfectly black background

By Bron..T.. (aka summerdaze) - I LOVE all the water in this photo, especially on the left hand side where you can see it splashing off to the side. And the colors - just beautiful!

By thedigitaliris - Ok, not only is this a beautiful photo with great focus, but the editing is just perfect, in my opinion. And it was done in Gimp - click through to see the details!

By Frozen in Time Photographers - love the angle, and how this looks like she didn't even know the camera was there and she was just lost in her daydreams.

By Atlantis_breeze - what a great background with a cute kiddo in front of it :)

By NinaCarmes - oh my goodness. What fantastic eyes. So powerful.

By Alicia Furness - another powerful photo, with an almost haunting expression, which is nice coupled with the soft lighting.

By cooperspectivephoto - I love the softness of the fountain, the burst of the streetlamp, and the romance behind a 15 second kiss on a 5 year anniversary :)

By jan.etc - This is the type of street photography I love - nothing too cluttered or crowded, great architecture, and a person where you wonder what their story is (I'm dying to know what's in those cases - is that just luggage?? Equipment for something??)

By WxMom - I just had to post this because it made me laugh out loud!

By shirley319 - ok, I almost died a little when I first saw this photo. Do I even have to describe why I like it so much? The light, the field of glowing dandelions (I'm assuming that's what they are?) and the perfectly timed catpure of the person walking off the bridge - gah!

By .:SindyHand:. - this photo just screams 'love'. Well, actually, I guess it more whispers it because it's so soft and pretty. While I love the light and the expresions on their faces, I think my favorite part is his hand on her hip. It's small gestures - like that - that really say
'I love you'

By bumblebeezack - just a great portrait of a beautiful woman, and I love the colors in the background.

By PhotoMaria83 - oh my, what a fantastic expression.

By team.breeze - I can remember doing this so much as a kid. I love the puffy air-filled cheeks and the blissful expression.

By melissac79 - great representation of 'temptation', indeed.

By kkaldrich - I love the city background... it makes me think this woman could tell a lot of stories about that city.

By a girl named kevyn - so many beautiful colors.

By rachel_pics - what great expressions!

Note: There is one photo that originally made the list that isn’t on flickr anymore, so I just wanted to mention to Priya Pickett – I loved your photo that, if I recall correctly, was of two small children sitting on a bench on a dock or pier of some sort? I think it was black and white, too. I know that might not be descriptive enough for you to remember what photo it was, but I’m not sure I’m remembering it correctly, either! Anyway, I just wanted to mention I liked your photo!

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