Steampunk Cowboy

This is a shot I took as part of a massive Steampunk photo shoot at FanExpo 2011.

I did some minor editing of the shot in Photoshop including the removal of a few background people and changing the shot to sepia.

I love Steampunk, but this shot still needs something... maybe as simple as vignetting it but damned if I know right now.

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More of Emily in Niagara on the Lake

A few more shots from the photo shoot with Emily. These shots were also taken in Niagara on the Lake, but instead of the park these were taken in a cemetery and down by the beach.

Messing around with sun and flares on the lens. I was probably laying on some one's grave as I took this shot.

In front of a small mausoleum in the cemetery.

The same mausoleum.

Down by the beach. If you look closely you might be able to see the little old Korean man who asked to have his picture taken with Emily soon after I shot this reflected in her eyes. OK the person you might see is me but I promise the old man is behind me somewhere.

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Slightly Adventurous Photo Journey in Black and White

Here are the same two shots from the last post in black and white.

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Slightly Adventurous Photo Journey

So the other day I found myself with an open afternoon and a chance to finally go take some shots of a waterfall that I have always liked. The only problem was the shots I wanted to take of the waterfall involved me getting below the falls. This involved climbing down into a ravine and shooting up at the falls from below, this is where the slightly adventurous part comes in. Getting down the ravine while somewhat treacherous was not too bad thanks to a well placed rope, what made it adventurous was the fact that I had no idea if I could get out again. As it turns out there were lots of people down there so I knew getting out couldn't be too bad. Seriously, I had no idea it was such a popular place to go swimming.

Here are a couple of shots that I took and there are definitely more to come.
Yes I used photoshop a little to increase contrast, and colours a little.
And yes my shoes were soaked as many shots I took while standing in the stream, river, whatever you want to call it.

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Emily

I recently did a photo shoot with a good friend of mine who is always willing to have her picture taken. We actually spent quite awhile doing this as we were constantly changing locations and occasionally dealing with an old Korean men who wanted to and did have his picture taken with  Emily.

These shots were taken in Niagara on the Lake in a local park with a small amphitheatre and my daughter's guitar. All of these shots have been edited in photoshop in various ways.

I will post more of Emily from the other locations soon.

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A couple more Carnival Shots

Just a couple more quick shots from the carnival.

It's kind of embarrassing that it took me this long to change this picture to a sepia tone when you consider that this was the type of image I had in my head when I was taking the shot to start with.

This is another of the fireworks shots. It is actually quite a bit of fun taking these so I think I will have to take a shot at lightning sometime. Guess I will actually have to pay attention to the weather more.

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Walk in the Forest

Back in April we had some extremely nice weather so one afternoon we took our little girl for a walk in a local park. She loves parks and has really taken to walking in the woods lately so this was perfect for her.

After clearing the fallen tree, she spent the next several minutes throwing sticks and branches on the path to block my way.

I do not remember at all what they found but she was enthralled, until she later found an old spoon.

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Local Carnival

This shot was taken at the same carnival as the fireworks. Again I used the bulb setting on my camera and an infra-red remote with a tripod. I used Photoshop again to increase the vibrancy and contrast, as well as add a vignette. I decreased the exposure by 1 stop (if I remember correctly) to darken the tree and the people sitting in the foreground as I really did not want them drawing attention.

I like the way it turned out... but here it is in black and white as well.

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Fireworks

My wife and I recently took my kids to a nearby carnival to see the firework during our last long weekend. My kids love the carnival and have been chomping at the bit all winter to go to one. My wife and kids really like fireworks and I have been waiting to try my hand at shooting some. Well the time finally came and they got to see them and I got to shoot them.

With all of my fireworks shots I took them using the bulb setting, while my camera was mounted on a tripod. I also used an infra red remote to open and close the shutter.

Generally speaking I believe I used photoshop for the following adjustments on all the shots, although to varying degrees; increasing the vibrancy of the colours, increasing the blacks and improving the contrast to a small degree to ensure that the streaks stood out.

I still have a few more shots that I will try to get edited and posted soon. Actually shooting these was a lot more fun than I would have expected. I will have to try it again soon.

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Sorry

For the 3 people that actually read this blog, you have my apologies for not posting for the last 2 months. You have no idea how much easier this would be if I could access Blogger through my iPad reliably... and use the app to post pictures. Anyway sorry about the disappearance.

One more round of Vivianna

This might be my last one of Vivianna, but that is not a promise as I might have more. You have been warned... or maybe teased. You decide.

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I wish I had a good title for this post.

I love this picture. Sure there are things I wish had gone a little better (IE. catch lights in the eyes) but the reality is I shot this on the fly as she ran around at top speed fighting pirates with a sword (stick.)

What do I love about it? Everything. I love the look of menace in her eyes, as she knows exactly what she is planning for those (very real) pirates! I love her red hair flying wildly behind her as she attacks. I love the small scratch of unknown origin that will now go down in history as a battlescar from a very lucky pirate.  I love the set of her jaw as if she will not only use the sword but possibly eat the pirates face too. Mostly though, I love watching her be a kid. I didn't (and still don't) see a lot of this with my son. He goes through childhood differently due to his autism. This one though reminds me of how I played and I love watching and shooting it.

It's a bad day to be a pirate.

Hmmm, maybe I do have a title for this post.

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Twins

This picture is from the same day that I shot Vivianna and is the other set of twins that was on site that day.

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Vivianna

I took this shot as part of a model shoot during my Portraits photography class. Vivianna was one half of twins who had come out for the shoot and was a lot of fun to work with.

I did some minor editiing on this picture using photoshop.

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One More for Fun

One more for today, taken on the same day as "Brotherly Love."

 "I Spy with My Little Eye"

I am pretty sure she was looking for me but could only find her brother.

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Brotherly Love

It has been way too long between updates, partially due to weather, renos, crappy computer, laziness... but it is time for a new one.

My two favorite models back at it again as the weather starts to get better.

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That's Not in the Tourist Guide!

Yeah... nothing subtle about this sign we saw in Key West behind one of the bars on Duvalle St. Over the course of a week we saw this sign several times while walking Duvalle and the "H" was never lit. My wife is convinced there wasn't even any neon in that section of the sign. Not exactly what you expect to see, but a hell of a story to tell.

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Some Times Photoshop needs to have a heavy hand.

As much as I prefer to get a shot right within the camera itself, there are definitely times where I screw it up. Most of the time it is no big deal and you have lot of other shots to choose from, but occasionally that it not the case and you have to hope that photoshop can help. These two shots were taken on a day trip to a park with my son, and both needed some serious help to be presentable. To be honest I didn't think they could be saved for a long time and was really disappointed that I had "dropped the ball" on them. Maybe I was just feeling confident one day but I finally took a shot at tying to save them and I have to say I like the result a lot. SOS it is nice to know that if I really like a shot where I messed something up with the lighting or another technical aspect that I may still have a shot at redeeming it.

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TaCL Portraits

As I mentioned in a previous post, TaCL Portraits is a new endeavor of my wife's which branches directly out of Through a Cracked Lens Photography. Links to both can also be found in the right hand column below the Library.

The primary idea for TaCL is to provide photo shoots for families with someone who has special needs, whatever they may be. Of course it is not limited to just those families. Shooting special needs families takes a different skillset which makes it difficult to take SN kids to Walmart or Sears photo studios and get something that works for you. You need to have a great deal of patience and at the same time constantly be ready to shoot and capture that fleeting moment before it is gone. It helps if there is a brother or sister involved. You can work with them until everyone is comfortable enough to join in. Since this can easily last 15 minutes or longer depending on the child, the method really doesn't work for any of the department store studios who are trying to push as many clients through as fast as possible.

So do I have these skills? I like to think I do as I have been photographing my kids for years and my son has autism.

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Eye Spy

Here are two more portraits that I took within the last month, month and a half. These shots was taken as part of a shoot done for TaCL Portraits. TaCL is an endeavor of my wife's, specializing in photo shoots for family with special needs children (although we are of course not limited to just those families.) The girl in this photo, we shall call her M, has a special needs brother but is not special needs herself. She really took to the camera and you would have thought she was auditioning for America's Next Top Model. She really seemed to have a lot of fun with everything we did and was constantly making suggestions for places to shoot and calling her brother over to be in the pictures. This was especially great to see as we were in a public place, in fact a major tourist destination and she was not phased at all by onlookers, as she constantly posed on anything in sight. Keep it up M!!

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There was one winter day...

This is just a random shot I took near Niagara Falls during maybe the only winter day so far. I just like how the ice created by the mist from the falls forms a separate spiral from the metal one as it starts to come away from it.

This shot is completely unedited.

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Zombie Horde... of a not so scary nature

This shot is one I took just prior to Christmas as part of a photo shoot for Through a Cracked Lens (TaCL) Portraits. This shot is just part of Lisa's Crew with 5 of the 7 kids present that day. I love how much fun the kids were having as they all seemed to find their inner superstar.

This shot was one of the finals that I provided to Lisa so it definitely had some minor editing done in Photoshop including the change to black and white.

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New Year will hopefully bring more Posts

Hope everyone is having a good new year so far. I will definitely be trying to post more going forward, the only drawback being I like to shoot outdoors and I hate the cold. Guess I will have to learn to like shooting insides more or get used to the cold.

This shot is from a photo shoot that I did with a family about 3 weeks ago now... wow time really flies. This is M and he is a super sweet kid and I think it definitely shows in this shot.

See you next time.

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