Halo Beauty – Home

14. February 2012 · Comments Off on Halo Beauty – Home · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

So normally my primary image is an attempt at a serious picture, but for a change I’m swapping things round (just for today).  My lead image is a Halo picture.  I wanted to do something “special” for Valentine’s Day, something fun, something  romantic, something RED.

So I thought, what represents love and Valentine’s Day?  Immediately I thought of roses and immediately after that I thought of American Beauty.  You know the scene, Mena Suvari lying naked on a bed of rose petals (I think that’s the image – I can’t really remember).  This was the inspiration I needed.  I ran out and brought some red roses (which are pretty abundant at the moment), got home and cut their heads off.

We made a bed of petals and posed our Halo hero.  The resultant picture is below – and I’m really pleased with it.

Happy Valentines Day.

My secondary image was taken at Kirkland waterfront (by Marina Park).  They have this massive gazebo there, I have no idea what it’s there for or who uses it, but I thought it might make an interesting image.

Red Trail Wheel – Redmond Ridge

13. February 2012 · Comments Off on Red Trail Wheel – Redmond Ridge · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I’ve mentioned before that we have around 16 miles of nature trails around our neighborhood and for a change I went for a walk with the camera down one of the trails.  On my travels I found this green post with a red wheel in the middle of nowhere!  I have no idea what it does but I thought I’d try a picture with the wheel as the subject and the trail behind.

Some people will tell you that when they take a picture they know exactly what they are trying to capture – they can “see” the finished image before they take the shot.  Now that does happen sometimes but really it’s pretty rare.  For me I see something interesting, and try “working the scene”.  I may spend 10-20 minutes trying different angles and perspectives (this is why Lisa NEVER goes out with me when I photograph – it drives her mad!)  So here I was out by the wheel.  No idea if this would look interesting and I took several different shots.  Some wide, some close, some with everything in focus and some with the wheel in focus and some with it out of focus (you get the idea).

Now the back of the camera is a little 3″ screen and while you can check it out to see if there are any major issues (out of focus, bad composition) you can’t really tell if you’ve got a good picture until you get the shot on a computer screen.

When I got home I found the image below and it kind of grabbed me.  But in honesty I don’t know why I like it.  Maybe it’s the red wheel against the green background or the weathered look of the metal – I don’t know.  Interestingly Lisa said the same thing, so tonight this is the image I’m posting.

With Valentines day coming up tomorrow, our Halo dudes are feeling a little romantic.

Leaves – Redmond Watershed

12. February 2012 · Comments Off on Leaves – Redmond Watershed · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

So I admit this is an odd posting.  I really understand if people don’t like this picture or even don’t get what I’m trying to do.  (In fact I expect that response from most).  But as I spent three hours today trying to create the image I thought I’d post it.  I should say here that I don’t think this is a great image, but for a first attempt I think it’s OK.

So what’s this picture about?  What am I trying to do?

This is an exercise in focus harvesting.  The premise is simple.  You take a number of shots of the same subject but focus each time of a different part of the image.  Then (in post processing) you create a new image that includes the “parts” you want in focus in the finished image. I guess it’s a bit like HDR, but with focusing. So why do this?  Why not just take a picture of the leaves I hear you ask!

Well the reason for doing this is to have better control over how the viewer “sees” the image.  By playing with different image aspects like focus, color, brightness and contrast etc., the picture can kind of force the user to start looking in one place and then travel around the image as the photographer intended.  For me the images can also take on an almost 3D look with some parts almost popping out of the photograph.

This is my attempt at that.  If you hold the mouse over the image below you will see the original picture I shot (or at least one of them), and I highlighted where you are supposed to be “drawn” first, then second and so on.  Have a look and let me know if it works and what you think.  This isn’t something for every picture but I wanted to give it a go.

Today our Halo warriors are carrying out Torture training.  Why? Coz they can, and it’s funny 🙂

Redmond Ridge Community Center – Redmond

11. February 2012 · Comments Off on Redmond Ridge Community Center – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I watched a video the other day on something called focus harvesting. This involves taking numerous shots of the same subject but with the focus on different things.  You then blend the images together to create a shot that ‘kinda’ looks three dimensional.

So I headed out today to find something to shoot and found some interesting flowers and foliage that might work.  While out I also took the photograph below.  I actually shot this building back on January 19th (when it was covered in snow), but all the white stuff’s gone now and I thought the building from the other end looked nice, especially with the bushes below.  The down side of today was it was quite overcast, so the sky wasn’t that interesting.

Anyway, when I got home I had a bit of a Halo frenzy and took nine different images for my Halo postings.  By the time I finished taking the pictures and processing the shots, it was too late to fully process my attempt at focus harvesting so I decided to post the community center below.

Look out for the focus attempt in the next few days.  Mind you if it sucks I will never post it! 😉

With Valentines Day approaching, the Halo troops decided some tactical training was required.  No idea why, just thought it was funny.

David E Brink Park – Kirkland

10. February 2012 · Comments Off on David E Brink Park – Kirkland · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I really like this image but I’m not really sure why!  There are so many things wrong with the photograph like the lack of anything really interesting and the horizon in the middle of the image.

However when I showed this shot to Lisa it was one of her favorites too.  I guess there is something in minimalism!

This one was taken on the road between Kirkland and Redmond in David E Brink Park.

It was the post sticking out of the water that caught my eye, that and the floating platform out in the lake.  The whole area was completely deserted and the sky looked great, at least that’s why I took the shot.

I know, this has happened to us all.  You happen to hold a few balloons and all of a sudden you take off.  Hugely embarrassing!

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