More of the same thing

The Wind Caves

Mendenhall Valley

Western Hemlocks: Juneau AK


Rexburg Idaho

I imagine that if someone were going to update a blog they should share with the world their insights and views. In the case of a photo blog you might also come to expect the informational aspects of the photos; how it was done where and what camera settings were utilized. I have done none of those things. But, in my defense it's hard. Here are a few more photos I liked enough to enhance a few things.

Its been awhile.

Well I only have the one photo I will be posting today. I figure that it has been so long that there is no point trying to edit the hundreds of photos I now have. I really like this one so here it is

This was a fun day. I dropped off my guests at the glacier and went to have my own adventure and before you know it there was Baloo. This is an older cub and I think 1 of 3 cubs in the area, I don't know where the mother was. These pictures I am not particularly proud of but they were the best I could do on short notice.

Mendenhall Glacier

This is the pride of Juneau. The mighty Mendenhall. The second photo is a panoramic photo merge of the amazing Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau Alaska. I took these photos in Juneau while I was waiting to pick up a tour group. The Glacier sits in front of the stoic Mendenhall Towers, very reminiscent to the Tetons in Wyoming. The clouds are low and block most of the view of those mountains, but the real view here is the green Alaskan valley. I really think the accent of the pinkish purple Fire Weed is my favorite. Enjoy the blueish hue of the glacier and the freedom of AlasssKA!

I'm back... Like sequels that are good.

This is just a quick update to all my followers. (I don't have any) I will be posting some photos and writing that I will be working on. Hopefully you guys will see some things that you like and can give me some feedback.
I am currently sitting at the Boise Airport waiting to bored my flight to Seattle and eventually on up to Alaska the last frontier. I will make some updates on Facebook and Twitter. (As you read that last sentence read it as though it were a cutting snobby remark)
I will catch you later.

My Fine Art Template

1. Mesa Falls, Island Park, ID. 07-24-09 4 p.m. F/4.6. 1/640 Coolpix

2. American Flag. Dubois, ID. 03-03-10. F/4.5. 1/25. Nikon D3000

I wanted to try some different things with this assignment, so i put a colored background of white on the second and made the first a transparent background. Looking at them I feel that with only 4 squares it would have worked better with the American flag.
I shot the first one last summer at mesa falls with a metal fence in the way to add contrast, in this shot it might just detract.

HDR Friendo's

One Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/9 1/50 Nikon D3000

Two Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/6.3 1/25 Nikon D3000

Three Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/5.6 1/10 Nikon D3000

The Final HDR

One Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/9 1/50 Nikon D3000
Two Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/6.3 1/25 Nikon D3000
Three Bannack, MT. 03-03-10F/5.6 1/10 Nikon D3000

This HDR thing is amazing. I really liked all this wacky stuff. One photo didnt work out very well because the wind blew and moved the bush in the front and made the image look a little blurry. Other than that i think the 3 different HDR images were fun. I like the extreme on and also the halo one as well. It was pretty fun.

Bannack's best

1.The Chair. Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/10 1/60 Nikon D3000

2. The Room. Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/9 1/100 Nikon D3000

3.The Mustache. Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/5.6 1/25 Nikon D3000

4. The Kathryn. Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/5.6 1/50 Nikon D3000

5. The Road. Bannack, MT. 03-03-10 F/29, 1/60. Nikon D3000

6. The Ghost. Bannack, MT. 03-03-10. F/3.5, 6.0. Nikon D3000

7.The Doorknob- Duboise, ID. 03-03-10. F/5, 1/15. Nikon D3000

I loved the trip I thought it was fun and I managed to get some good shots. I messed around with the saturation on most of them because I really wanted to push the natural colors of the rust and the sky. I couldn't decide on only six photos so I threw in an extra. I had a ton of others that surprisingly were really good. I must be a prodigy. I think my favorite though is "The Road" or "The Mustache" because everyone loves a mustache.

Photo Illusions edit, the ode to the movie Aliens.

1.Sponsored by Snickers-3-2-10 Kitchen, Rexburg, Idaho F5.3 1/15 Nikon D3000
2.Living Dustin- 3-2-10 My Apartment, Rexburg, Idaho.F 5.0 1/20 Nikon D3000
3.Dying Dustin- 3-2-10 My Apartment, Rexburg, Idaho. F 5.6 1/15 Nikon D3000
4.Ode to Aliens- 3-2-10 My Apartment, Rexburg, Idaho. F 5.6 1/15 Nikon D3000

This was fun, I hope its not too morbid. My roommate made this face and I could only think of the movie Aliens sooo... I added the snickers because I thought it lightened the mood. One problem is i couldnt get rid of the white line on his under arm. I added a shadow and cut each photo out individually.

Photo Illusions...spooky

1. Tyson's smile- My Apartment, Rexburg Idaho, F 5.6 1/10. Nikon D3000
2. Nice lungs- My Apartment, Rexburg Idaho, F 5.6 1/13. Nikon D3000


This was by far the hardest assignment yet for me. I couldn't think of anything good or new to do. I also was having trouble following through once I had the idea. I guess I have a lot to learn. In these photos I dropped the saturation a lot just so it would blend better with the images used in front. I found it difficult to line them up correctly. Its kind of fun, I want to try some more.

creative boarder edits

Smoke and Mirrors. Rexburg, Idaho. 10:15 p.m. F/11, 115.0. Nikon D3000 with tripod.

This picture I really think turned out pretty good. Maybe its not the best photo but i like the way it came out. I tried it a couple of times and the wind picked up in this shot blowing the smoke. It is not as sharp as i would have liked it but what can you do. I did the border effect from tutorial 13. I thought out of all the ones I tried 13 matched the style best. I couldn't get the stroke to show up for some reason but we can figure that out later.

Night lights

1. YES, Rexburg, ID. 2-23-10, 11:22 p.m. F/10, shutter speed was set on bulb for about a minute. Nikon D3000
2. Stars, Beaver Dick Park, Rexburg, ID. 2-22-10, 1:30 a.m. F/11 also set on bulb. Nikon D3000

I love this sort of stuff i think its fun and there on few limits to the creativity that can be accomplished. This night though was so dang cold I couldn't feel if i was holding the button down still. I really like the wispy clouds and the blurred stars. The moon was brighter than I thought it would be but still cam out great. I boosted the contrast a little on each photo and messed with some of the levels and saturation.

photos for panoramic

1. head- My apartment, Rexburg Idaho. F/4.5, 1/20, nikon d3000
2. legs- My apartment, Rexburg Idaho. F/4.5, 1/20, nikon d3000
3. feet- My apartment, Rexburg Idaho. F/4.5, 1/20, nikon d3000

I was trying to think of other things to take panoramic photos of, thinking outside the box. So i did one of my roommate and my car and some buildings. These shots i did some small edits on just adjusting the saturation and stuff.

Panoramic edits: What else can go wrong

I think panoramic photos are cool! I, however for the life of me, can't get it to work the right way. the first two seemed to work really well, they were only 3-4 photos. The last two were supposed to be a 360 degree shot of my room and the last was a 180 degree, during the editing i couldn't get all the pictures to line up. Woe is me. i like the way the bedroom one looks and my roommate looks like a giant.
P.S. i couldnt get rid of the cracks where the photos line up.

Photo week template

Using a pre-made template,I rearranged the photos a little bit to add some contrast to the whole template. I think if I had to do it all over again I would custom make my template so I could get the photos exactly how I wanted them.

7 day photo journal

1. Wednesday- Conversation- 2/03/10, 11:38 pm. Orem, UT. F/5.6, 1/15, Nikon D3000
   
2. Thursday- Road trip- 2/04/10, 11:00 pm. Kaysville, UT. F/5.6, 1/6, Nikon D3000
   
3. Friday- Sick Day-2/05/10, 8:30 am. Rexburg, Idaho. F/5.6, 1/13, Nikon D3000
   
4. Saturday- Frozen Sun-2/06/10, 10:25 am. Driggs, Idaho. F/13 1/320, Nikon D3000
   
5. Sunday- Shut down- 2/07/10, 5:12 pm. Idaho Falls, Idaho F/10, 1/40, Nikon D3000
   
6. Monday-Fire- 2/08/10, 10:17 pm. R Mountain, Idaho. F/5.0, 1/200. Nikon D3000
   
7. Tuesday- Ice- 2/09/10, 5:41 pm. Sugar City, Idaho. F/4.8, 1/800. Nikon D3000

This was a fun assignment to try. I cant imagine doing a whole year though. It got pretty ugly trying to make things in my apartment interesting. Luckily the ones i took outside turned out well. I tried to have each one tell a story of the day. For example, Friday was a sick day, i dulled down the color trying to make the pills look groggy. I did some small edits on this nothing to big a few layers mostly trying to make them not so blown out.

Edits: Enhancements

1.Leah, 1/27/2010. Driggs, Idaho. F/9.0 1/200. Nikon D3000
2.My Eye, 9/8/2009. Road trip to California, probably I-15. F/2.8, 1/30. Cannon powershot

With this edit assignment i had some major issues, especially with the eyeball. i liked the idea of easily changing the color of my eye. I may have under estimated the easiness. I wanted to change my green eye with brown highlights to a blue with brown highlights. At first it would only work if i messed with the saturation of the replacement color, then it came out all tie-died. So eventually i got somewhat of the goal.
On my friend Leah, i just whitened her teeth and took some freckles off of you chin and cheek bones. game over