The inaugural photo of the week, I am re-running this image of my daughter, taken at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Enjoy.
On 12.21.09, In Gear, By Chester
Back when I edited this image in Lightroom, I used the selective exposure tools to bring out some contrast in the clouds and sky. It was painful, and the result was less perfect than I would like. Next time I revisit this image though, I will have a new tool to help. You see, the first time I did this, I was using a mouse. Granted, it is a Razer optical mouse with on-the-fly adjustable sensitivity
It all started with a gift card I won at a conference (also won an iPod 16GB Nano, which I gave to my wife). I had always wanted a tablet, but didn’t know much about them. So I started out small. I got a Wacom Bamboo
Back to the retailer to return the Bamboo. And as luck would have it, they had the Intuos4 Small. Now we’re talking. Supposed to do what I want, AND comes with a mouse and more robust pen. OK, I am pretty excited at this point. Get it home, and let it sit for a few days. I do have a real job after all, and I had more important things to do than play with pixels (or maybe it was the 3 business trips in 5 weeks – my head is still spinning).
About 4 days later I installed it. Went just as easy as before. But this time, I found the settings the Bamboo was lacking. A few simple dialogue boxes later, and I can isolate it to one screen. Good enough for me. Open up a picture in Lightroom and start playing. Wow, this is a dream come true. Such control, and the quick buttons are helpful too. Not long and I am feeling really confident. Yep, this will ease my workflow for sure.
And then my 4 year old came down to see what Daddy was doing. She took to it instantly. I now have two original works of art created digitally by my 4 year old. She loves it, and still asks to use it. Way better than crayons she says.
The bottom line is this: if you do any sort of image editing, you owe it to yourself to try one of these. There are a couple of brands out there, but Wacom is the recognized leader. And speaking from experience, I can say I wouldn’t buy any other – and yes, I actually paid full retail for mine!).
This is one of the two major sandstone formations that comprise the Red Rocks Amphitheater in suburban Denver, Colorado. To me it looked like a guardian, protecting the lonely pine tree struggling to survive in the rocks. Order your copy today and save 15% with the coupon code “fb2009″ (only valid through 12/31/09).
My entry for the flickr888 day last fall, this leaf was shot shortly after the sprinklers had watered it. With spring coming quickly to Colorado, it will be very soon that the gardens are brought back to colorful life at Washington Park and other locations around Denver. Order your copy today.
On 11.20.08, In Commentary, Photos, By Chester
The other day I lamented about how my little girl goes crazy once the camera comes out. I have figured out the secret. Put her in an environment where she is distracted, and you can get the really candid pics. Yesterday she and I went to City Park and Washington Park in Denver. Out in Lakewood, the parks just don’t have the massive, modern play structures you find at the better Denver parks. We had a great time, and she played hard as she always does. Since Washington Park is about a 15 minute drive from City Park, she had time to wind down a little bit.
Upon arriving at Washington Park (or Wash Park as the locals know it), she saw the ducks and geese in the lake. We went over to take a look, which was when I was able to snap this shot. I actually got a few good, candid portraits yesterday. She was in her own element, having a grand time. That is the secret.
I have the rest of the images from yesterday available if you want to see them.
On 11.05.08, In Commentary, By Chester
Last week I said that I felt like I was ready to start offering my services. Today I am announcing that I am officially in business. I am now offering my services for both portrait (senior pictures, group events, family portraits and corporate headshots) photography as well as real estate photography.
Why both?
Well, because I like both. And I have time for both, at least right now while my business is new. I decided to pursue portraits because of two things:
1) Megan’s Senior Pictures for Lakewood High School came out so well.
2) One of Megan’s cheerleading friends told me, in no uncertain terms, that she wants me to do her Senior Pictures when it’s her time. That made me feel pretty confident about what I am doing, and confidence is often the last hurdle when undertaking a new endeavor.
I also decided to pursue the real estate photography business because I think I have an eye for it. I know what sold me on my house, and I think I can help a realtor project the image of a house that will speak to people. With how badly the credit market is tightening up, I think it will be more important than ever to have the highest quality imagery for a property that is for sale.
I am not limiting it to real estate for sale though. I also intend to do resort and hotel photography too. Based on the photos I have taken at the Westin Kierland Resort and the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, I want to offer my services to those types of properties as well.
I have added pages to this site outlining my portrait services as well as my resort/ real estate photography services. You will find sample portfolios for each service. If you are interested in either, please contact me so we can get some dates on the calendar.
On 10.13.08, In Software, By Chester
When you are shooting a room with a great view, it is a good idea to show that view, if you can. But that is more complicated when you think about the exposure levels outside versus inside the room. Since I was in an awesome location recently (the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek, Colorado), I decided to use the property to do some practice on. I have posted a few images from this test in the Photography For Real Estate Flickr group (yes, it is a Flickr complement to Larry Lohrman’s excellent site/ blog) and have received some useful feedback from it.
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On 10.08.08, In Photos, By Chester
Last week in Beaver Creek I was able to take advantage of the great surroundings to do some practice photos for real estate purposes. At the same conference, I met with the manager of a new property in the mountains that is wanting some photography done. They don’t have a budget per se, but do love to trade. So I am planning on trading my photography for a couple of nights in the property during ski season. Should work out well for both of us.
The picture above, while not quite what I wanted, was generated on my laptop from 5 exposures (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2) combined in Photomatix. It is my intent to do a full on review of Photomatix in the next couple of weeks. But all in all, I am happy with the result here. I’d like to lighten it a bit of course, but it does give the feeling of the view you get from my room at the Park Hyatt. I think that the next time I do this, I might be inclined to take 9 exposures, shooting at -2, -1.5, -1, -0.5, 0, +0.5, +1, +1.5, +2 and seeing if that results in a better image. I need to go back to my notes from the HDRI book I read so long ago.
I could probably hang my shingle out for this now, but I want to get it right before I start expecting people to pay for my time.
On 10.06.08, In Commentary, Photos, By Chester
Last week I had the privilege of staying at the Park Hyatt Resort in Beaver Creek, Colorado for the 2008 Governor’s Colorado Tourism Conference. The event was a huge success, and the keynote’s and breakout’s alike were immensely valuable.
One thing that kept getting mentioned was how intense the fall colors were. A co-worker and I drove up Wednesday morning. Along the way we stopped near Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks to take in the color and snap some photos. I hate doing my PP work on my laptop (the photo above was done on the laptop and I think it is time to recalibrate the color on it), so I saved most of them until this week. I’ll work on the post processing and get the photos online in the next few days. I think I got some good shots, including some beetle kill ones that might make for good stock imagery, since that is such a hot topic these days.
Sadly, the beautiful color may not have lasted through the weekend. As we were leaving Beaver Creek on Friday afternoon, storms were blowing in with a fury. And I saw on the news last night that it was snowing pretty good in the mountains. That usually equates to the leaves being knocked off the trees. Hopefully you were able to experience it while it was there, I can’t remember the last time the colors were so vivid. By the way, the photo above is the view from my room at the conference.
Capturing Little Kids
My daughter is one of the hardest kids to get a good picture of. At 3 years of age (4 in a couple weeks), she is a non-stop dynamo of energy that never seems to stop. That energy is magnified even more when we are exploring a new (to her) place.
This past weekend she decided she wanted to go see Red Rocks – as in the Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, but famous by the U2 video in the 80’s. It is actually a pretty popular hangout among people in Denver, there were a lot of people using it for a workout today (running up and down the stairs and “seats” is a popular workout).
Natalie was in explorer mode today, so she wanted to go all the way down to the bottom and look around. I was able to convince her to pose for me a little bit at the top first though. As she gets older, she is starting to enjoy being in front of the camera. Later in the day she told me I should be taking pictures of her splashing in the puddles left by the rain.
I haven’t shot any families with little kids other than my own, but my advice would be to be patient, follow the little ones around, and shoot a lot of pics to get the keepers. It’s kind of like shooting sports. They are that unpredictable and fast paced.