365.196 coming to

I normally don’t do artistic crops like this, but I started playing with this shot, and realized that it is pretty much what the Agents would see as they emerge into the bodies of the policemen at the beginning of that car chase scene in The Matrix Reloaded, and that this therefore really needed to be widescreen… Can you see it?

I really like the little flames or sprites or bad cgi smoke coming off the red truck-like think on the left… spooky and otherworldly and really not what I was looking for at all when I made 180-odd pictures on the 25 minute drive home, but sometimes accidents become nice ideas, decent starting points, or just fun times. So… Groovy.

D7000. Sigma 30mm f/1.4. ISO100, 1/6th (APmode), f/8, -1EV. Processed rather heavily in Aperture, and could probably use a bit more…

365.195 I’m a driver, I’m a winner (2)

In the spirit of sharing failures as well as successes, I give you my second attempt at capturing “I’m a driver, I’m a winner. Things are gonna change, I can feel it” line from Beck’s Loser for Levi Moore’s SLIproject.

I got a bit closer to the going nowhere aspect of the line, and I had the focus correct, but the composition is off, and I need to switch back to the 30mm Sigma for this, methinks. (And I definitely need to move back toward even on the exposure compensation dial, but that’s beside the point.)

So I should really be shooting a nice abstract macro or something to try and keep my quality level up, but instead, I’m sharing this failure, more for my own growth, I suppose. Plus, I’ve been wanting to branch out, or move away from the macro abstract world, get out of my comfort zone, learn some new things, etc., not that this is particularly new: I’ve submitted 5-10 shots from the car though out this project. Still.

D7000. Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G. ISO100, 1/800 (AP Mode), f/11, -2EV. Mild adjustments in Aperture to try and bring back some of exposure I lost…

365.194 Para Evitar Roturas, for Jeff Koons

Looking at this a bit more closely, Koons would probably have made the water slightly bluer, and the fuchsia somewhat more fuchsia-y… Oh well: close enough.

When I went to fetch a cup of tea early this morning, I discovered the coffee pots in the sink, all full up with sanitizer liquid.

Even under the nasty fluorescent lights of the break room (or perhaps because of them), the fuchsia of the handle and rim absolutely sang against the blue of the disinfectant.

Out came the iPhone, tap went the Home button, slide went the camera icon, and I was snapping away.

Now. Several months ago, I told the built-in camera app to start making HDR shots ever time I told it to make a picture, and so a couple of hours passed, and it dawned on me that I could pop these into CS6 Merge to HDR Pro, and have a bit of fun when I got home, so I did.

The first, non-HDRified shot was fine as it was, all candy-coated goodness, and the HDR version was weak, washed out, and unappealing. But together, and with a bunch of tweaks of sliders (in Merge to HDR and in regular Ps, and a tiny bit in Aperture), they made something that would make Jeff Koons proud, methinks… (or makes my memory of some Koons work from the late 1990s & early Naughts think that he might approve).

If I had the means (some timber, a saw, a large roll of canvas, and a garage), I’d be making a 6×8 foot painting of this Right Bleeping Now: believe.

iPhone 4. Built-in Camera App, set to HDR. ISO320, 1/15th, f/2.8 (all auto: it’s an iPhone shot with the built-in camera app, and I didn’t even set the focus point…). Original and HDR versions merged in CS6 Merge to HDR Pro, with my special sauce; some levels adjustment and a few photo filters in Ps; and an import-renaming-resize-export operation in Aperture.

365.193 Always Crashing in the Same Car

And so week two of the SLIproject begins, and seeing as I listened to Low almost all day, I think this image fits rather nicely.

Every Chance, Every Chance I Take
I take it on the road
With kilometers, and the red lights
I was always looking left and right
oh but I’m… Always Crashing, in the Same Car

And if it’s not that, it’s definitely not the sad effects of the cocaine, I’m thinking that it must be love, especially since I’ve been clean and sober for 28 months already… HA!^

D7000. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Zomb-E Series. ISO400, 1/3rd (APmode), f/3.5, -2EV. Mild-to-Medium processing in Aperture, mostly to get back to the jpeg… I should really start shooting RAW+jpeg again, just for cases like this, or figure out a preset to convert the RAW file to something like the jpeg… something to look into, for sure.

^note: I never had much involvement with cocaine…

365.192 We can’t go on togethuh, with Suspicious Minds

(Suspicious Minds)

And just so’s I don’t double post… This must be my entry for Levi Moore’s SLIproject . Not that it’s a brilliant photo or anything, but just because of the look of sheer contempt I captured on Ivan’s fluffy little face, and because of the rather nice b/w-conversion that brought out the thoughts of murder flowing through his little kitty mind. Sure, the shadows are a bit clipped, and the highlights are a bit blown, and I didn’t let Ivan nap, but at least I ended up with something that I like, mostly!

So it’s 1 down and 4 to go, and I have some ideas that I didn’t quite capture this week, so I’m glad I have three more chances.

D7000. Nikkor 50mm 1.8G. ISO800, 1/20th (APmode), f/2.8. Mild post processing, a bit of straightening, some generous cropping, and a blue-filter b/w conversion (with a bit of green through in to bring out the eyes) in Aperture.

365.191 I’m a driver; I’m a winner.

Things are gonna change: I can feel it

Conceptually, this is definitely my strongest attempt at Levi Moore’s SLIproject.

Execution wise, it’s close, but my pre-focusing was not set at infinity as I hoped… It’s close, but no cigar.

So this one’s out of the running for this week, but 1) there are 3 full weeks left and 2) the entry isn’t due until tomorrow, so there’s time to pick a winner.

In other news, I really need to start stretching my photography muscles. I’ve shot about 85% macro (non-scientifically, more or less) through the (slightly over) first half of this project, and I’ve gotten quite good at getting results that I like (even if I’m the only one).

So now I need to get out and do a bit more, but I don’t quite know how, or what. Oh well. 174 days to go, at least.

D7000. Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G. ISO100, 1/320th (APmode), f/8. Quite a bit of post work in Aperture, including some selective polarization (on the buildings), as they had taken on a blue cast.

365.190 it could be a balloon. it could be Franky. It could be very fresh and clean.

All these are the days my friends and these these

I was trying for “it’s not so much a living hell” today for the SLIproject, but I didn’t get it. I did do some experimenting, though, and I know what I need to do to get (closer to) the result I want. I won’t bore you with further details…

Instead, I give you what I thought was going to be an outtake… I was just messing around, and found a bit of macroed book that looked strikingly like Mount Fuji, and I hastily slapped together a pano. Unfortunately, the lens that I used has some rather harsh vignetting on the right side of the image (left side of the lens) due to me having to hold my finger there to block up the excruciating light leak that would otherwise ruin the shot for me.

Anyway. The Mount Fuji pano failed, sorta… I’ll keep it around and may do some more work on it. It’s close to almost being something. Or I may reshoot it.

And this looks quite a bit like Knee 1 to me (the first several minutes anyway), and so it works for an attempt at the SLIproject, though I planned to shoot “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” all week…

D7000. Holga 60mm f/8, stacked on 100mm extension. ISO800, 1/15th (APmode), f/8 (non-adjustable on the Holga…). Mild-to-moderate processing in Aperture.