Finally!

Apparently, keeping up with regular updates on a blog is a bit tougher than I imagined. Not to make excuses, but the last 2 1/2 weeks have been quite busy. Obviously, since my last post I have had some time to familiarize myself with Apple Aperture 3. The transition was a bit bumpier than I expected mostly affected by my need to know exactly how something works (didn't I mention that in a previous post?). But, I managed to import my photos...at least 2 or 3 times before I finally settled on a library structure I am happy with.

As far as picture taking goes, it seems like the last month has been pretty slow. But, there's been plenty to occupy my mind: getting the kitchen ready to paint, researching chickens...and then buying some, researching chicken coops...still need to construct one, kids.

But, as I strolled across the parking lot last Friday to end my work day, I noticed the sky was filled with puffy white clouds. The light wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad, either. Instantly I knew that I had to take some back roads home. My quest was in finding some landscapes where the final image(s) would be converted to black and white. Sounds easy, but it's not!

First, harsh mid-day light, in my opinion, can provide some of the best lighting situations for black and white photography. I don't think I'm the first to realize this, either. There's just something about the deep shadows, bright light, and available contrast that make it work. If you want an idea of what I'm talking about, go through any set of so-so, ho-hum landscape photos (color ones) taken during mid-day lighting and convert them to black and white. I guarantee they will take on a whole new look with far greater emotional impact. It won't instantly make them great, but most of them will be better. When I said earlier that it, "sounds easy," what I'm referring to is the idea that it IS very easy to take any color photo that wasn't specifically taken to be a black and white image and convert it to black and white and think, "Hmm, that looks a lot better." But, that rarely works when trying to produce really good black and white photos. Instead, finding landscapes where you already know you want black and white as the final output can be very difficult because you have to visualize the tones and create a pleasing contrast with those tones. Also, in working and visualizing black and white you lose a powerful design element in color. Instead, you have to rely more on other design elements such as patterns, lines, textures, and shapes to make the image interesting.

So, without further delay I present my first two photos edited using Aperture. Both of these photos were specifically taken with a final conversion to black and white already in my mind. I have to say that Aperture offers some great tools for black and white conversion and the ability to play around with those tools rather easily. I'm still getting to know the software, so the entire process took quite a while before I was happy with the final results. None-the-less, I think it's the start of a good relationship!

Enjoy!

New Software

I've taken a slight hiatus from any major picture taking this last week, simply because I've been busy organizing photos to import into my newly acquired photo software, Aperture 3. And, like pretty much everything I do, I couldn't take the easy route and simply import my photos. Instead, I've spent a great deal of time browsing the net reading about Aperture and the best way(s) I should tackle the future organizational structure of my photo library. Let me be the first to tell anybody, there is a TON of information out there (both good and bad!) and I've discovered there are almost as many ways I could go about accomplishing my task.

I set out thinking I would easily find a couple articles detailing exactly what I wanted. But, that wasn't the case. I think the first 5 articles I read, each author went about organizing their photo libraries in a different manner. So, the scenario went something like this:

Read first article thinking, "Yep, sounds good. This is what I want."
Read second article thinking, "Hmm, this sounds pretty good, too."
Read third article thinking, "Wait a minute. This is kind of like article 1, but different
and possibly better."
Read fourth article thinking, "Holy s##t, how the hell am I going to figure out what I'm
going to do?"
Read fifth article, "F##k!" (Yes, my favorite curse word.)

I'm now into day 3, or maybe 4, since purchasing and installing Aperture 3. And, I have yet to get my photo library imported, but I'm close. As I write this, I'm finally about 1/2 finished.

Some people might read this thinking, "What a waste of time! Just import the damn photos and be done with it." But, those people obviously don't know me. I like knowing exactly what I'm getting into. And I feel that the better informed I am, the better off I'll be if something goes wrong. And, my photos mean A LOT to me, so if something goes wrong and there's any chance of losing or corrupting photos, I want to be ready. Even before I started I made 2 separate back ups of my current library. And, once I finally picked a horse to ride I still wasn't ready to fully commit, so I did a test run on a small batch of photos spanning 3 years. Once that worked, I felt pretty confident with my decision.

The overriding issue I started with was that my existing library didn't have much organization to it. I've used iPhoto since first purchasing my iMac G5 back in 2004. I never upgraded the os past OS X 10.4.11, so my existing library is using iPhoto 6. Therein lied my first problem because Aperture 3 would not allow me to import an iPhoto 6 library. Instead, it asked me to update it to at least iPhoto 7, or maybe 8. Anyway, that bit me pretty hard and jumpstarted my internet search for other options. I actually thought about updating the iPhoto 6 library to iPhoto 9 (using a Macbook) and actually attempted it...and I guess you could say that it worked. But, it took over 24 hours to accomplish because I converted using my wifi network pulling everything from my iMac G5 (newly appointed file server). After the conversion, I was never able to really access any photos since iPhoto didn't seem to like the fact that the library was stored on a file server. It probably would've worked had I had a wired network set up.

Anyway, back to the organization issue. iPhoto actually stores things rather well, but using the default method, I had a very large amount of folders that were simply named using a "film roll" number. I didn't like the idea of having to remember some random film roll number if I wanted to quickly (and easily!) find some photo from the past. So, I set out to take my existing library and manually organize it. Yes, you read that correctly, MANUALLY. That wasn't a good idea because I spent about 7 hours manually pulling photos into folders, of which many I would have to stop to think about how I wanted it labeled (i.e., family, nature, vacation) and I managed to make it through about 1/80th of my library. Obviously, this wasn't a good use of my time, so, back to the drawing board I went...or, rather the internet.

I finally stumbled upon an article that talked about using Aperture to import files into a structure using the year and month each photo was taken. The cool thing was that I could specify where I wanted to store the photos outside of the Aperture library. Essentially, I could use an Aperture import to organize my files almost exactly how I wanted. Great!! However, there were a couple "gotchas." First was that the article was written for Aperture 1.5 or 2.0, so some of the options in Aperture 3 were a bit different. Second, I essentially would have to import all my files twice, doubling the amount of time. But, I was willing to try, so I set out to test the import method on a small batch of photos and it worked exactly as it should. That was last night, so the first chance I got this morning, I began the process on my entire library. It's now 11:18 PM and all my photos are imported and Aperture is processing them, which will probably take a few more hours.

So, it's been an entire week and the only pictures I've taken have been of my kids (not that I don't enjoy taking pictures of my kids, because I do!). But, I'm hoping tomorrow I'll finally get the chance to mess around with some photos in Aperture and start learning how this software is going to help me. And, I'm looking forward to a week where I'm not thinking about how to organize my pictures and get back to taking the pictures I love to take!

Browsing, Organizing, Posting

I finally took some time last night and added a few pictures to the photography website.  They can be found in the "Landscapes" gallery here.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the appearance of my website.  There are a few little things I still want to do with it, but my biggest priority is to get some more photos added.  I've realized that it's going to take me a lot longer than I first anticipated to go through all my photos to find those that I feel are worthy enough to display.  My current library is sitting at about 23,000 photos, of which probably 90% of those have been shot in the last 4 years.  I know that number is a far cry from what some professional photographers' libraries probably look like, but I'm assuming they have a lot more time than I do to go through photos.  It's their job!

It's a daunting task, but exciting at the same time.  It's giving me a chance to look at my photos more closely than ever before and I'm finding new favorites and some old favorites that don't seem as good anymore.  It's strange how your tastes can change and the more I take photos (and the better my "eye" becomes) it's interesting to look back to see how I've progressed.

Up to this point, I haven't been one to sit in front of my computer for hours on end using Photoshop or some other photo editing software to make my photos "better."  I really strive to get the photo as close to what I want as I'm taking it so that I don't have to spend a lot of time editing later.  I don't know about other photographers, but I'd rather be out taking photos than sitting in front of a computer any day!  But, I also know that the digital darkroom has it's place and it's an area where I would like to gain some more knowledge.  So, I'm also using my time going back through photos to mess around a little bit with editing.  Right now I'm using GIMP (I love opensource!), iPhoto, and LightZone (cool program!).  I've thought about purchasing Photoshop in the past, but I can't get past the price tag.  I've also given serious consideration to Aperture 3, especially after reading several good reviews.

My last goal in going through my photos is to better organize them so I can find a specific photo easier.  My current system isn't much of a system at all.  It's basically using iPhoto to import and organize everything.  I'm planning on abandoning any software's default organization scheme to create my own folder system.  Hopefully, it works!  My plan is to also incorporate a similar organization scheme into my website because that's one thing about my site that I don't really care for.  In my haste to get photos up for display, I didn't really give myself much time to consider how I wanted my photos organized.  So, that may be a change that people see in the future.

Just Up the Road

The last 2 weeks, the winter weather has been showing signs that spring is on its way.  So, taking advantage of one such spring-like day, I decided to take the long way home from work and I ventured off onto a few of the many gravel roads that cut the landscape in this area.  I had a particular destination in mind and with the way the light was changing I knew I was going to have an opportunity at some great photos. 

However, it's always interesting how mother-nature can throw a twist when you least expect it.  After finishing up at my chosen destination where I was rewarded with some fantastic early evening light, I started my way home with no intention of making any other stops.  In fact, I came close to putting my camera back in its bag, but I knew better.

Cruising down a gravel road, less than a mile from my house I caught some movement in a cut cornfield off to my left.  As I turned my head for a better look, my only instinct was to slam on the breaks, which I did, although I'm lucky I didn't "flat-spot" any of my tires (gotta love gravel!).  Standing in the cornfield were 20-30 whitetail deer basked in beautiful, warm, sunset light.  However, they weren't going to stand around for long, since they definitely had taken notice to my skidding stop and they weren't impressed.  I grabbed my camera and starting firing away as the deer began to scatter.

It's pretty astounding how many photos you can take when you don't lift your finger from the shutter button for several seconds! Unfortunately, the majority of those photos came out less sharp than I wanted and some were extremely blurry.  In my haste, I had selected an aperture that didn't allow a shutter speed fast enough to stop the deer's motion completely.  Add to that the panning motion I made with the camera in order to follow the deer and you have blurry photos.  Of the photos I was happy with, these two are my favorites and I feel they both are great reminders of a wonderful sight.

The first picture really shows the deer's natural instincts to flee when threatened.  Maybe they didn't get the memo that deer season had closed?  The second picture came after some of the deer had settled down a bit and were showing some curiosity in what I was doing.  The buck in the center of the frame was where my eyes were focusing since I had noticed that he was the biggest buck out of the 3-4 that were in the herd.  I kept watching him hoping that he would strike a pose and he finally did!  I love the light and the contrast between snowy shadows and sunlit trees in both pictures.

Great Light + Wildlife = Stunning!

Very Strange!

It's been a very strange week here in NE Kansas, due mostly to the massive snowstorm that pummeled us early in the week.  That storm really through my normal schedule for a loop and caused a short work week that seemed really long.  We were snowed in for about 1 1/2 days, so I didn't do a lot of photography outside of taking pictures of all the birds that flocked to our feeders, even when the storm was at its worst.  I really don't think the storm phased them at all!

But, I did get a chance to spend some more time updating the layout of my photography website.  So, if you visit that site you'll now see a short informational page and a new guestbook.  If you do visit, please feel free post something in the guestbook.

I also spent a bit of time going through my photo library, so hopefully I'll get a chance this weekend to add some more pictures to the site.

Daily Photo: 2/1/2011 - "Is it Spring Yet?"

Considering the Midwest is getting pounded by the snowstorm of the century (could be!), I'm thankful to be watching it from my living room window!  Even with the blizzard raging, our bird feeders are probably as busy as they've been all winter and one of our feeders is in need of a refill.  Just great!

Since there is no way I'm getting out for an type of photography today (except some shots of the crazy birds), I've decided to post another picture from the weekend.

What first caught my eye for this photograph was the fading sunlight painting the top of the tree in the distance.  As I set up for the photo, I decided to try and get the contrast between the cold, snow covered field and the bright blue, almost inviting, sky.  In my opinion, the fact that the field is in shadow helps give it a feeling of being colder than it really is.  Finally, like the picture I posted a few days ago, the clouds add the final touch to the image.

Daily Photo: 1/29/2011 - "Always Carry a Camera!"

Several times this week I made an attempt to get outside specifically to take some pictures.  These short winter days make it tough because there's very little daylight shooting available when an 8-9 hour workday is factored in.  Right now, sunrise doesn't occur until 7:40-7:45, so it's very difficult to get to a location for first light and make it to work on-time.  The better option is to go to work earlier and then leave early to set up for the sunset "golden hour."  But, that didn't work out for me this week, either.

But, there's a reason I carry my camera with me almost everywhere, because I was finally rewarded this evening.  But, it came at a time when I was outdoors for a different kind of shooting.  I had just finished an afternoon putting some rounds through one of my pistols accompanied by my son and a good friend.  Logan and I met up with my friend on some property he recently purchased and we had just trekked back to our trucks from the creek bottom.  As I put my gear back in my truck, I noticed these trees silhouetted against a beautiful sunset lit sky.  The clouds really caught my attention and are really the reason I framed the picture the way I did.  Without those clouds, I think the picture would be bland and lacking emotion.