A bit of everything
i swear, I'll try to increase my update schedule to more than once a month! I really need to try harder, I've been slacking 
Today, I have several small things for you:
Some weeks/months ago I spent a day playing tourist guide to friends in Frankfurt. It was also my first chance to test the Sigma 10-20mm lens I bought two days earlier (yes that trip made me buy sooner). I shared one photo with you but never the whole gallery.
While we are on the topic of Frankfurt, I also spent a day in the local botanical garden in September and took lots of flower macros *yay*. Due to the number of photos, there are two galleries: Flowers and a separate one for Dahlias.
I live in a fairly old town with a real castle ruin and each year we have a fair there, which is always great fun but most years it conflicts with another engagement. But not so this year
I got two galleries for you from that: Some photos from the fair using my Lensbaby and at night they had a Keltic Fire Show, which I got some great photos from (if i may say so myself 
).
On we go: I spent a long weekend in Prague, Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) and Marianske Lanske (Marienbad) in September. Truly spectacular cities with tons to see & do and just a dream for photographers. Almost all of the photos in the three galleries I have put online are HDRs from three exposures. I'm in a total HDR phase right now. The galleries are divided by location: Prague, Karlovy Vary, and Marianske Lankse. We spent three days in Prague and then an afternoon in Karlovy Vary and a morning in Mariankse Lankse and i mainly used my new Sigma Wideangle Lens.
Last but not least, I spent a Saturday at a small zoo that specialises in reptiles - you know how much me and my Macro lens love reptiles Here are my best shots in a gallery.
Sorry for dumping so many photos on you - I definitely need to update the blog way more often...
As a last side note (to german readers): Ich "darf" jetzt auch für die Arbeit bloggen und habe nach einer Diskussion über die Qualitätsunterschiede in den Aufnahmen mit einem iPhone und einem Blackberry einen Blogeintrag über das Thema geschrieben auf der Basis der grundlegenden Technik, die solche Unterschiede ausmacht. Für viele Leser hier sicherlich nichts neues, ich wollte es aber trotzdem erwähnen (Die Webseite selbst wird übrigens bald im neuen Design erscheinen).
Today, I have several small things for you:
Some weeks/months ago I spent a day playing tourist guide to friends in Frankfurt. It was also my first chance to test the Sigma 10-20mm lens I bought two days earlier (yes that trip made me buy sooner). I shared one photo with you but never the whole gallery.
While we are on the topic of Frankfurt, I also spent a day in the local botanical garden in September and took lots of flower macros *yay*. Due to the number of photos, there are two galleries: Flowers and a separate one for Dahlias.
I live in a fairly old town with a real castle ruin and each year we have a fair there, which is always great fun but most years it conflicts with another engagement. But not so this year
I got two galleries for you from that: Some photos from the fair using my Lensbaby and at night they had a Keltic Fire Show, which I got some great photos from (if i may say so myself ).On we go: I spent a long weekend in Prague, Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) and Marianske Lanske (Marienbad) in September. Truly spectacular cities with tons to see & do and just a dream for photographers. Almost all of the photos in the three galleries I have put online are HDRs from three exposures. I'm in a total HDR phase right now. The galleries are divided by location: Prague, Karlovy Vary, and Marianske Lankse. We spent three days in Prague and then an afternoon in Karlovy Vary and a morning in Mariankse Lankse and i mainly used my new Sigma Wideangle Lens.
Last but not least, I spent a Saturday at a small zoo that specialises in reptiles - you know how much me and my Macro lens love reptiles
Here are my best shots in a gallery.Sorry for dumping so many photos on you - I definitely need to update the blog way more often...
As a last side note (to german readers): Ich "darf" jetzt auch für die Arbeit bloggen und habe nach einer Diskussion über die Qualitätsunterschiede in den Aufnahmen mit einem iPhone und einem Blackberry einen Blogeintrag über das Thema geschrieben auf der Basis der grundlegenden Technik, die solche Unterschiede ausmacht. Für viele Leser hier sicherlich nichts neues, ich wollte es aber trotzdem erwähnen
(Die Webseite selbst wird übrigens bald im neuen Design erscheinen). |
Project Entry: Edit John's Photo
One of my favorite bloggers, Brian Auer, is doing another Photo Project. He asked users to send him photos they would be willing to share for another "Edit my Photo" contest. I wanted to participate in this part of the project - but of course, I forgot about it... But I did remember to vote on which photo should be used for the editing part of the project (You can find all entries here).
The winning entry by John Huson
I really liked the photo that got chosen, because I was drawn to the structure in the wall. I really wanted to focus on the wall for my entry for the project because I think it has a higher draw to it than the person pictured. Brian supplied me with the RAW version of the photo so I had a whole range of options at my disposal to play with the photo.
I started out by opening the photo in Photoshop CS3 and the Camera RAW editior. Next I tried the different outputs for changing the white balance. I decided to go with the results from the tungsten light, which gave the whole photo a nice blue tint.
The photo with white balance set to tungsten light
Next I decided to use a Lomo action for Photoshop I had downloaded some time ago and had gotten really great results from in the past (You can find this photoshop action here).
The photo with the Lomo action applied
I really liked the direction this was going and also how that yellow thingy on the ground was standing out of the photo but the guy in the photo had become too dark and the texture in the wall did not jump out at you, either. Due to this, I decided to keep playing with the photo.
My next idea was to make a new layer with the original photo on top of the lomo-rized version and try different blending modes. The one I decided on was "overlay"
The guy in the photo is looking even worse but the wall had gotten a really nice texture. Now that I liked the wall, I decided to see what I could do to bring the guy in the picture back to a look where you can see his face. For this I made two additional layers on top with the original photo. In the lower one I used the masking tool and only left his face visible and used the blending mode "Lighten", which brought back the details in his face but he still did not have enough contrast in comparison to the rest of the photo, so I selected the whole of him in the next layer and masked this and used Overlay again. This increase the contrasts in his clothes and his skin a lot. Lastly, I decided to use a curves adjustment layer and played around with it until I was satisfied. The result of this I liked to much, that I decided to enter it as my entry into the project:
My final edit
If you want to partcipate in the project, you can do so until October 16th
The winning entry by John Huson
I really liked the photo that got chosen, because I was drawn to the structure in the wall. I really wanted to focus on the wall for my entry for the project because I think it has a higher draw to it than the person pictured. Brian supplied me with the RAW version of the photo so I had a whole range of options at my disposal to play with the photo.
I started out by opening the photo in Photoshop CS3 and the Camera RAW editior. Next I tried the different outputs for changing the white balance. I decided to go with the results from the tungsten light, which gave the whole photo a nice blue tint.
The photo with white balance set to tungsten light
Next I decided to use a Lomo action for Photoshop I had downloaded some time ago and had gotten really great results from in the past (You can find this photoshop action here).
The photo with the Lomo action applied
I really liked the direction this was going and also how that yellow thingy on the ground was standing out of the photo but the guy in the photo had become too dark and the texture in the wall did not jump out at you, either. Due to this, I decided to keep playing with the photo.
My next idea was to make a new layer with the original photo on top of the lomo-rized version and try different blending modes. The one I decided on was "overlay"
The guy in the photo is looking even worse but the wall had gotten a really nice texture. Now that I liked the wall, I decided to see what I could do to bring the guy in the picture back to a look where you can see his face. For this I made two additional layers on top with the original photo. In the lower one I used the masking tool and only left his face visible and used the blending mode "Lighten", which brought back the details in his face but he still did not have enough contrast in comparison to the rest of the photo, so I selected the whole of him in the next layer and masked this and used Overlay again. This increase the contrasts in his clothes and his skin a lot. Lastly, I decided to use a curves adjustment layer and played around with it until I was satisfied. The result of this I liked to much, that I decided to enter it as my entry into the project:
My final edit
If you want to partcipate in the project, you can do so until October 16th
Not all HDRs are equal
16/Aug/09 21:08 Filed in: Photo | Processing
As you might know, I really like to work with HDR files from time to time and I always prefer to keep them pretty close to natural looking (just with a higher dynamic range). Some time ago I spent a day playing tourist guide to friends in Frankfurt, which was kinda fun since you never look at cities you consider your home the same way as tourists would (in fact, this was the first time I had my camera with me in Frankfurt). During that photo shoot, I took almost exclusively three RAW files of every file to be able to make HDRs since the sky was super blue and I didn’t have an ND filter with me.
One subject was especially suited to HDR: a dark gate under an overhanging on which the sun was shining.
This is how it would have looked as a normal photo (totally unprocessed)
It’s really not too bad but the gate does not really pop and you can’t really see all the details in the structure. Therefore I took three shots with the AEB automation with exposure of +/- 2 to get extreme differences in exposure.
As I said, I had taken a lot of shots for HDR processing that day, so I decided to do a batch processing in Photomatix, which is pretty great, even though I can’t do much more with my Mac while this is running. I always let it do three versions of the photo (the two options you find under tonemapping and the fusion option with automatic lighting). The best version was this one:
As you can see, it is pretty close to the originall, just the gate itself is a lot lighter and the reflections in the glass are more pronounced. There is also more contrast in the stones. But I wasn’t totally satisfied with it, so I tried a few more ideas:
The first was a version for which I made the HDR in Photoshop CS3 and then used the tonemapping plugin of Photomatix in Photoshop. The result can be seen below and while I liked this version, the details in the gate do not come out at all, in fact, I have a lot of artifacts in the darker areas (remember, click any photo to see a large version).
Then I decided to try Hydra, a HDR app for Macs (I am still using the first version, though), which has pretty good results sometimes, too. This was the result from Hydra:
I didn’t really like this result because it did none of the things I wanted to accomplish, so I decided to fire up Photomatix once again and do a manual processing with it of the photo. I also decided to play a bit more with the levers in Photomatix than I usually do to get a bit more extreme results than usually. This is the version I finally decided on:
As you can see, its a much more moody picture than any of the other versions and the details look like they are supposed to look! It’s really amazing how different you can process an HDR and how different the results can look.
What do you think, did I decide on the right version?
One subject was especially suited to HDR: a dark gate under an overhanging on which the sun was shining.
This is how it would have looked as a normal photo (totally unprocessed)
It’s really not too bad but the gate does not really pop and you can’t really see all the details in the structure. Therefore I took three shots with the AEB automation with exposure of +/- 2 to get extreme differences in exposure.
As I said, I had taken a lot of shots for HDR processing that day, so I decided to do a batch processing in Photomatix, which is pretty great, even though I can’t do much more with my Mac while this is running. I always let it do three versions of the photo (the two options you find under tonemapping and the fusion option with automatic lighting). The best version was this one:
As you can see, it is pretty close to the originall, just the gate itself is a lot lighter and the reflections in the glass are more pronounced. There is also more contrast in the stones. But I wasn’t totally satisfied with it, so I tried a few more ideas:
The first was a version for which I made the HDR in Photoshop CS3 and then used the tonemapping plugin of Photomatix in Photoshop. The result can be seen below and while I liked this version, the details in the gate do not come out at all, in fact, I have a lot of artifacts in the darker areas (remember, click any photo to see a large version).
Then I decided to try Hydra, a HDR app for Macs (I am still using the first version, though), which has pretty good results sometimes, too. This was the result from Hydra:
I didn’t really like this result because it did none of the things I wanted to accomplish, so I decided to fire up Photomatix once again and do a manual processing with it of the photo. I also decided to play a bit more with the levers in Photomatix than I usually do to get a bit more extreme results than usually. This is the version I finally decided on:
As you can see, its a much more moody picture than any of the other versions and the details look like they are supposed to look! It’s really amazing how different you can process an HDR and how different the results can look.
What do you think, did I decide on the right version?
Some new photo galleries
11/Jul/09 20:00 Filed in: Photo
Sorry for being so quiet for so long - but somehow I am fresh out of ideas on what to write currently. But I was out taking photos several times in the last few weeks and I added a link to the photo galleries with those photos in my photo album overview.
The galleries include:
Two galleries of visits to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. One with a normal Macro lens and one with my Lensbaby.
One gallery with photos from a visit to the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.
One gallery with photos from a special rose exhibit in the Palmengarten in Frankfurt.
One gallery with photos from a trip to the Opelzoo near Frankfurt.
Enjoy!
The galleries include:
Two galleries of visits to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. One with a normal Macro lens and one with my Lensbaby.
One gallery with photos from a visit to the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.
One gallery with photos from a special rose exhibit in the Palmengarten in Frankfurt.
One gallery with photos from a trip to the Opelzoo near Frankfurt.
Enjoy!
Trying my Christmas present
No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, I am talking about my christmas present, which I tried out last week for the first time (don’t even ask....). For Christmas I got a Lensbaby Muse. If you don’t know what a Lensbaby is, it is a special lens that you can use with an SLR camera that has a special optics in it, so that you can take photos in a way that only part of the photo are in sharp focus. An example would be a focussed middle section with everything blurred out towards the edges. The great thing with this lens is that you can have the sharp part anywhere in the frame that you want to have it, you just have to tilt the lens in that direction.
I first wanted to get a Lensbaby Composer, which is the newest version of the Lensbaby lenses and allows you to lock the lens once you have decided on a sweet spot and has a regular ring for shifting focus. But the problem was that the Composer is a lot more expensive (even though Lensbaby lenses are far less expensive than your regular DSLR lenses) and that no shop in Germany had them in stock and I needed to get it before I went back to the US the week after Christmas. So I went for the Muse, which is the classic version of their lens and a lot of fun to work with. The hardest parts are that you need to shift your sweet spot with your hands and by doing so you also focus the lens. As you can imagine, I am getting a lot of out of focus photos at the moment
The Lensbaby lenses are very much manual - its not just that you have to focus the lens, but you also have to use the lens in manual mode or Aperture Priority mode, since you have to set the Aperture into the lens with your hand. You get 5 or 6 different aperture rings with the lens and can buy additional ones that you can cut to your liking (for example using a star shape instead of a circle). Depending on the aperture you will get a different level of blurring from the sides.
In addition I also got the Macro kit for it, which is a fancy way of saying that I got two close-up filters They are specifically made for the lensbaby and get screwed onto the top of the lensbaby, like they would on a normal lens. With my obsession with flowers I had to have them
Now, my first try with the lens... I decided to take the lens with me for a trip to the Botanical Garden here in Atlanta. It was very different and strange at first because I hadn’t tried the lens much before this but I soon got into it and found out how to take photos I liked. Even though I had a „What now?“ moment in there, as well: Somehow I thought I couldn’t find a focussed sweet spot with the lens, so I thought that the wheel for adjusting for your eyesight had been somehow gotten changed, which happens to me from time to time. So I started changing the wheel - until I thought about it and realized I did not have any Autofocus-able lens with me... What to do? I tied to take photos that I thought were sharp and then checked them at a zoom level on my display till I felt that the sharpness was okay in the photos. Took me a while....
Overall, I really, really liked my first experience with my new lensbaby and have, in fact, already gone out again for a second try with it - to the Georgia Aquarium. I think, I am getting addicted to it....
I first wanted to get a Lensbaby Composer, which is the newest version of the Lensbaby lenses and allows you to lock the lens once you have decided on a sweet spot and has a regular ring for shifting focus. But the problem was that the Composer is a lot more expensive (even though Lensbaby lenses are far less expensive than your regular DSLR lenses) and that no shop in Germany had them in stock and I needed to get it before I went back to the US the week after Christmas. So I went for the Muse, which is the classic version of their lens and a lot of fun to work with. The hardest parts are that you need to shift your sweet spot with your hands and by doing so you also focus the lens. As you can imagine, I am getting a lot of out of focus photos at the moment
The Lensbaby lenses are very much manual - its not just that you have to focus the lens, but you also have to use the lens in manual mode or Aperture Priority mode, since you have to set the Aperture into the lens with your hand. You get 5 or 6 different aperture rings with the lens and can buy additional ones that you can cut to your liking (for example using a star shape instead of a circle). Depending on the aperture you will get a different level of blurring from the sides.
In addition I also got the Macro kit for it, which is a fancy way of saying that I got two close-up filters
They are specifically made for the lensbaby and get screwed onto the top of the lensbaby, like they would on a normal lens. With my obsession with flowers I had to have them Now, my first try with the lens... I decided to take the lens with me for a trip to the Botanical Garden here in Atlanta. It was very different and strange at first because I hadn’t tried the lens much before this but I soon got into it and found out how to take photos I liked. Even though I had a „What now?“ moment in there, as well: Somehow I thought I couldn’t find a focussed sweet spot with the lens, so I thought that the wheel for adjusting for your eyesight had been somehow gotten changed, which happens to me from time to time. So I started changing the wheel - until I thought about it and realized I did not have any Autofocus-able lens with me... What to do? I tied to take photos that I thought were sharp and then checked them at a zoom level on my display till I felt that the sharpness was okay in the photos. Took me a while....
Overall, I really, really liked my first experience with my new lensbaby and have, in fact, already gone out again for a second try with it - to the Georgia Aquarium. I think, I am getting addicted to it....
Project: Edit my Picture
Another blog project: This time the project initiator, Phil Price, asks participants to edit his photo, which you see pictured here, and to submit their results to him. In this post you’ll find most of my edited versions of this photo, including what I did and what I liked and disliked about each one. Of course, at the end of the post you’ll also find the photo I am submitting to his project Lesen Sie mehr...
Playing with Textures
A lot of people are playing with their photos and textures to give their photos a slightly different feel. I always wanted to try this but for whatever reasons, I never did. After downloading a few textures last week, I decided to finally try it on one of my photos from last year.
The photo is an HDR of a church in the Smoky Mountain National Park and is very moody due to the heavy clouds with the light coming through. It’s a prime example for a photo that pratically begs to be made look like it was taken 100 years ago. There are several ways to achieve this but I decided to go with some dark, grungy texture and giving both the photo and the texture a sepia color overlay. Additionally, I lowered the opacity and the fill of the texture to make it look more natural.
In addition to that I also cropped the photo so that the cars are not visible in the photo since they would not fit with the mood of the photo. After I had done that I felt that something was still missing from the photo, so I decided to add some old-looking frame to it, which makes it feel more natural and lets the texture seem more like a natural part of the photo.
What do you think of my first try at textures? It definitely was easier than I thought it would be - so if you haven’t be sure to try it
The photo is an HDR of a church in the Smoky Mountain National Park and is very moody due to the heavy clouds with the light coming through. It’s a prime example for a photo that pratically begs to be made look like it was taken 100 years ago. There are several ways to achieve this but I decided to go with some dark, grungy texture and giving both the photo and the texture a sepia color overlay. Additionally, I lowered the opacity and the fill of the texture to make it look more natural.
In addition to that I also cropped the photo so that the cars are not visible in the photo since they would not fit with the mood of the photo. After I had done that I felt that something was still missing from the photo, so I decided to add some old-looking frame to it, which makes it feel more natural and lets the texture seem more like a natural part of the photo.
What do you think of my first try at textures? It definitely was easier than I thought it would be - so if you haven’t be sure to try it
Project: Best of 2008
15/Jan/09 21:20 Filed in: Project
In my last post I focused on my favorite pictures from 2008 and I also told you about the project I was participating in with that blog post. Well, the results of the project are in and 93 photographers participated in the project! Since Jim was kind enough to share the HTML of the list with all participants, I want to share the whole list with you, too. So go and check them out (I know I will) and tell them about how you like their photos.
Once again 2008 proved to be an incredibly productive year for the many photographers who read the JMG-Galleries blog. The results of this "Best Photos From 2008" blog project puts a twist to the normal "Best of Photo" list by aggregating links to the work of 93 photographers from around the globe who are passionate and dedicated to their craft.
The results from "Best Photos From 2007" by JMG-Galleries Blog Reader's were impressive, but this year not only did the number of participants exceed expectation the quality and vision of those who submitted were exceptional. This year participants ran the gamut of experience from enthusiasts to professionals.
Enjoy and good luck picking out your favorite from these great submissions
[tags]Best of 2008, Photography, Blog Project, Photographers[/tags]
Once again 2008 proved to be an incredibly productive year for the many photographers who read the JMG-Galleries blog. The results of this "Best Photos From 2008" blog project puts a twist to the normal "Best of Photo" list by aggregating links to the work of 93 photographers from around the globe who are passionate and dedicated to their craft.
The results from "Best Photos From 2007" by JMG-Galleries Blog Reader's were impressive, but this year not only did the number of participants exceed expectation the quality and vision of those who submitted were exceptional. This year participants ran the gamut of experience from enthusiasts to professionals.
Enjoy and good luck picking out your favorite from these great submissions
- "My Top 10 Favorite Photos of 2008" - Jim M. Goldstein
- My Favorite Shots of the Year - View from the Little Red Tent by Edie Howe
- 2008 Favorites - Photine by Laurie Ballesteros
- My Nephew - Amit Goyal
My nephew woke me up in the morning and was in a very chirpy mode when this was clicked - Another world (+Vorher/Nachher) - Visuelle Gedanken by Martin Wolf
- Boy, Hanoi - The Sun Shines & The Igloo Melts by Jon Gresham
- Best Photos from 2008 - Abraham Neben
- Apocalyptic Capitalism - Sultana Sandwich by James Hill
- Top 10 Photos of 2008, My first year in Wisconsin - Sierra Visions by Steven Bourelle
- My Best Photos: 2008 - Shutter Photo by D Travis North
This past year was a huge growth year for my digital photography skills which I feel is exhibited quite nicely in my photo favorites of 2008. - Best Photos From 2008 - G Dan Mitchell Photography
- Protesting Prop 8 - Quan Photography by John Quan
- Bir y?l böyle geçti... - Caglar.ca by Caglar Tukel
Most of Photos taken during our traveling around Turkey and hiking around our hometown, Izmir. - My best shots of 2008 - Jonesblog by Bryan WIlliam Jones
- Flamingo and Desert Landscape - pl?dys's photoblog by Mike Reys
Both pictures are from one of the most beautiful places on earth: Chile's Atacama desert. The salt lakes there provide for some stunning colours and beautiful wildlife. - Suspended - Mark Groves Photography
- My Favorite 10 Images from 2008 - IM Digital by Ivan Makarov
- My Best Photo of 2008 - Matt Ward Photography
This photo was taken in Oct at 7am after a cold night in Atlanta, GA. - Highlights of 2008 - Lori Jackson Photography
In 2008, I picked up my camera again after a year long hiatus following pregnancy and my son's birth. - Favorites from 2008 - Adventures Through The Lens by Rebecca Jackrel
- Top Ten Photos of 2008 - Chris Moore Photography
- My Photo Record - Kriz Cpec Photo Blog
- Best of 2008 - Catavino by Ryan Opaz
- Looking Forward and Back - Graf Nature Photography by Mark Graf
- Lloyd's Favorites of 2008 - L.D. Cross
- My Favorite Photos from 2008 - Epic Edits by Brian Auer
A selection of my favorite photos from 2008, broken down by each month and supplemented with a few thoughts. - Derryclare Lough - Focus Pocus by Albert MacSweeny
My best photo of the year was when I was lucky enough to get a still lake in the usually turbulent west of Ireland - Best of 2008 - News and Views by Dave Wilson
- Needle - Andel's Photoblog by Andel Früh
This photo has been shot with the kit lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) in retro position (front lens to the camera) - Year in Pictures - Marcin Retecki
- 2008 Top Ten - Lois Elling
- My Best Photos of 2008 - Out of My Mind by Steven L. Mullen
These are travel and nature shots taken in Michigan, China, and locally. - One from 2008 - Hockley Photography by Aaron Hockley
It's a photo taken at night, looking across a bridge towards another photographer also taking a picture of the same ferris wheel as I was. - 2008 in Pictures - Sawlani Photography by Hitesh Sawlani
- My Top 10 Photos for 2008 - by Neil Creek Photography
- Best of 2008 - The Quiet Picture by Minna Kinnunen
My 10 favourites from 2008, everything from flower closeups to landscapes and starry nights! - Best of 2008 - by Stig Nygaard
Just a quick little mixed selection of what I consider my best photos from 2008 - My Top Ten Photos from 2008 - Korn on the Blog by Justin Korn
Of the 1,800+ images I uploaded to Flickr this year, these are what I thought were my top 10. - Blog Project: "your Best Photos from 2008" - Jim's Photography by Jim Wheeler
- My Best Photos from 2008 - TrevorCarpenter.com by Trevor Carpenter
- Best Photos of 2008 - by Dave Reichert
- 2008 Favorites - by Beth Madison
- 01/01/2009 Best of 2008 - Brad Barton Photography
- 2008: My Favorite Photos - My Digital Life by Jeremy Brooks
- 2008: The year in photographs - Katie the Scrapbook Lady by Katie
- Gotham. Or maybe London - SFT Photography by Steve Thomas
I love the dark and moody feel, combined with the futuristic look of the building. I really enjoyed shooting it! - My Best Photos of 2008 - Malphoto.com by Andre Maltais
I'm particularly proud of these submissions this year, as it seems I've made some great strides in my photography from the beginning of the year. - Best of 2008 Project - Photos From The Top Floor by Carsten Fischer
- La Arcada seating on a rare rainy October morning - gZphotoGraph
- Jaguar - by Jarrod Erbe Photography
This jaguar image was taken at the Milwaukee County Zoo. The background was generated using a combination of Aperture, Photoshop Elements, and DFT Light. - Best of 2008? - Suzy Walker, Underwater Photoblog
My top ten fav travel, underwater and macro photos taken in 2008 - My best shots of 2008 - TemujinPhoto Blog by João Almeida
- Best of 2008 - by Rick Goldwasser
- My Top 10 Images of 2008 - The Jim Stamates Collection by Jim Stamates
- #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 - Mannedspace: Photographs by MT Fanders
- Best 10 of 2008 - by Duffy Knox
- Future Christmas Card - by Massimo Belloni
- Best Photos of 2008 - MIZSPONTANEITY: A Girl With A Camera by Elaine
I got a Nikon D40X for Christmas 2007, and although some of these photos were with my trusty Sony W70 point-and-shoot, these are my favorite 10 results of my first year with a digital SLR. - Best of 2008 - Changing Perspectives by Jenni Brehm
- My Best of 2008 - by Eliya Selhub
In 2008, I have found myself increasingly drawn to animals as subjects, and a slight cartoonish absurdity always appeals to me. - My Best Photos From 2008 - Lilahpops - Plunging into Photography by Anthea Brown
Looking back over my photos for the past year shows my increasing interest in post-processing experimentation alongside my favourite macro format. - My top 10 favorite photos of 2008 - The Taeleman's Blog by Kris Taeleman
- My Favorite Photos of 2008 - Coulter Photos by Scott Coulter
- Favorites of 2008 - XGray Vision by Stephen Gray
- My Top 10 Favorite Images of 2008 - Cornforth Images by Jon Cornforth
Spectacular nature and wildlife photography, photos, and pictures by award winning professional photographer Jon Cornforth. - Sitting Backwards on My Horse - latoga photography By Greg Lato
- Top ten images of 2008 - Enlightened Images by Gary Crabbe
These are some of the image I took in 2008, and which rose toward the top of the - I Like - pile. - Best 10 photos of 2008 - Have Camera Will Travel by Paul Dymond
Images from professional Australian travel photographer Paul Dymond which ironically were all taken pretty close to home. - Best of 2008 - Heidi Donat
- Best Photos of 2008 - by Luca Filigheddu Photography
- Favourites of 2008 - by Chris Brown
- Best of 2008 - by William Kahn
- Pics of the pops 2008 - fotoVoyager by William Fawcett
- My Top 10 Photos of 2008 - Always Breaking by Gary Hegenbart
- Best of 2008 - by Trevin Chow
This is a set of my best photos that I took during 2008 which is a combination of Flickr's "interestingness" meter and my own selection. - Best of 2008 - Hotel Yankee Foxtrot by Alex McGeagh
A collection of the better images captured in a progressive and productive year for me. - Top 10 Photos of 2008 - Digital Kloc Photography Blog by Brian Kloc
- Burrard-Lucas Top Ten Photographs of 2008 - Burrard-Lucas Photography by William Burrard-Lucas
We are brothers from the UK with a shared passion for wildlife photography – in 2008 we followed Meerkats in the Kalahari, stalked Jaguars in the wetlands of Brazil and waded through swamps at night to photograph Caimans... - My best 10+3 pictures of 2008 - All Day I Dream About Photography by Antoine Khater
- Best of 2008 on Highway 89 - Ann Torrence Photography
Transecting the west from Mexico to Canada on US89. - Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance - by Dave Fitch
A railway bridge in Leith [Edinburgh] that was restored and then left to rot. It's not perfectly symmetrical, but then neither is the bridge - My Top 10 Photographys of 2008 - Nuwomb Bits by Scott Webb
- Best of 2008 - Matt Sallee Photography
- My 10 best photos of 2008 - Stephen Trainor Photography
Mostly landscapes, mostly of the Southwest, but with a hint of other anglophone countries. - 10 in 2008 - k|d loftis photography
My favorite images from 2008 which include weddings, maternity and newborns, families and babies and a few personal images from the year. - My 10 Favorite Images of 2008 - Della Huff Photography
My ten favorites from 2008 include California landscapes and cityscapes, with a couple of extra goodies thrown in for fun! - Best Photos of 2008 - by Dave Schumaker
- Best of 2008 - by Jay Goodrich Photography
- My best photos from 2008 - All Narfed Up by Bryan Villarin
Choosing my best photos from 2008 was really hard to narrow down, especially since it was my first year with a SLR camera. - Mein Flickr Photostream 2008 - Best of - by Stefan Neuweger
- My Best Photos from 2008 - Why Yet Another Photo Place by Rafa
- Best Photos from 2008 - by Daria Sukhanovska
Only until i created this set of 13 photos, i realized how much progress i have done this year: I have traveled a lot, got one photo printed in the magazine and had my first own personal exhibition in the university library and simply had fun with my photos - My Best of 2008 - by Phil Price Photography
[tags]Best of 2008, Photography, Blog Project, Photographers[/tags]
Best of 2008
08/Jan/09 18:05 Filed in: Photo
Now that the year is over, it is time to look back at all the photos I have taken in the last year and figure out my favorite ones. As many of you know, this is not easy since there are a lot of really good photos in the time of a year, so I have decided to go with a Top 10 of sorts and some honorable mentions. Additionally, Jim Goldstein is doing a Blog project on his great site JMG-Galleries, in which he is asking his blog readers for their favorite photos of the year and I want to participate in this. I also participated in this project last year with my favorite photo of 2007 (on my old blog).
Some honorable mentions (all of them are linked to Flickr so you can see them in a larger version and leave comments on individual photos if you want to do so):
A church in the Smoky Mountains
Some palm leaves in the Atlanta Botanical Garden
Details of a butterfly in my garden
A close up of a rattle-snake
A sleeping gecko
A snail house in the Desert House in Vienna
A lux licking his paw in the Opelzoo
And now on to my Top 10 for 2008 - since I have a really hard time putting them in a definite order, I’ll post 10 to 2 in an unorganized fashion. Only my favorite photo of the year is distinguished from the rest for the year.
The outside of the Palmhouse in Vienna - my first real try at an HDR
A swimming turtle in the Zoo in Berlin, the lighting was just amazing for this shot that has not been edited at all.
A heavily edited flower in the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Usually I go for less editing but I love the contrasts in this photo.
A Poladroid of a rose in the Atlanta Botanical Garden - so much nicer than the original image
The old carrousel in my home town
I absolutely love to photograph reptiles, they are always striking poses for me. Gotta love it!
A water lily in the botanical garden in Frankfurt - I love the colors and perspectives of this one
This snail house was in the same exhibit as the one in the honorable mentions and I absolutely fell in love with its colors. I was so glad I had my macro lens with me that day
This photo was taken in the zoo in Berlin - the tiger was putting on a real show of showing his strenght and I was able to get some great photos of him in the process.
Last but not least, my favorite photo for the year:
It was taken during a roadtrip over thanksgiving break and I absolutely love the colors and the depth in the photo. It has been my wallpaper ever since I processed the photo (link to my blog post on the processing).
Some honorable mentions (all of them are linked to Flickr so you can see them in a larger version and leave comments on individual photos if you want to do so):
A church in the Smoky Mountains
Some palm leaves in the Atlanta Botanical Garden
Details of a butterfly in my garden
A close up of a rattle-snake
A sleeping gecko
A snail house in the Desert House in Vienna
A lux licking his paw in the Opelzoo
And now on to my Top 10 for 2008 - since I have a really hard time putting them in a definite order, I’ll post 10 to 2 in an unorganized fashion. Only my favorite photo of the year is distinguished from the rest for the year.
The outside of the Palmhouse in Vienna - my first real try at an HDR
A swimming turtle in the Zoo in Berlin, the lighting was just amazing for this shot that has not been edited at all.
A heavily edited flower in the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Usually I go for less editing but I love the contrasts in this photo.
A Poladroid of a rose in the Atlanta Botanical Garden - so much nicer than the original image
The old carrousel in my home town
I absolutely love to photograph reptiles, they are always striking poses for me. Gotta love it!
A water lily in the botanical garden in Frankfurt - I love the colors and perspectives of this one
This snail house was in the same exhibit as the one in the honorable mentions and I absolutely fell in love with its colors. I was so glad I had my macro lens with me that day
This photo was taken in the zoo in Berlin - the tiger was putting on a real show of showing his strenght and I was able to get some great photos of him in the process.
Last but not least, my favorite photo for the year:
It was taken during a roadtrip over thanksgiving break and I absolutely love the colors and the depth in the photo. It has been my wallpaper ever since I processed the photo (link to my blog post on the processing).
Quick way to make your picture a Polaroid
Two weeks ago or so I read a post about a pretty cool software on TUAW.com that I immediately downloaded to try it. What software that was? An app called Poladroid (currently there is only a beta for Mac OS X but they are also working on a Windows version) that allows you to simple drag your photo onto the icon of the app and it will start processing your photo as a Polaroid. It will start out as a blank Polaroid, just as it would when you use an actual Polaroid camera and it will start processing from there, slowly revealing your photo, which you can speed up by shaking the Polaroid.
It really is a very fast and convenient way to transform your photo into a Polaroid. I also like how it affects the colors of your photos, making it feel so much more realistic. The most pressing thing that is missing right now is the ability to choose the area it should crop to for the square size of the Polaroid. Here are some more examples of my photos transformed by Poladroid:
and the originals:
If you want to see more, feel free to check out my flickr set.
How a camera strap can make such a difference...
03/Nov/08 21:16 Filed in: Hardware
A few months back I had read several posts in german photography blogs about a new camera strap. I was thinking about getting one but forgot to do so until I read a blog post by Scott Kelby about that strap. After that I decided to finally get one. I was using the standard strap that comes with the camera until then. While I like that one, the camera can get pretty heavy if you carry it around your neck all day. This had gotten such a problem that I was wearing it around my shoulder half the day during my trip to Berlin last summer.
So now you are probably wondering about what kind of strap that is and how it makes a difference. The strap is called R-Strap and is made by Backrapid. It’s one of those things were you think: „Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?“. The strap is a basic shoulder strap with your camera attached to it, so that it will hang next to your hip while you are walking and you can just lift it up to your face for shooting pictures.
Because my explanation doesn’t do it any justice, here is a promo video where they show of how the R-Strap works:
I got mine several weeks back and was finally able to test it out last week when I visited the Zoo here in Atlanta with a friend of mine. I was carrying my Canon 40D with the 75-300mm IS lens attached, which is a pretty heavy and long combination. But all day I didn’t notice that I was carrying a camera - it was as if it weighs nothing! In fact, my Crumpler camera bag with my 60mm Macro lens and a bottle of water, on my other shoulder felt way heavier. Another great thing was that I didn’t have to be afraid for my lens when I was walking through crowded areas, since the camera was hanging at my hip in a way that the lens was protected from harm and didn’t swing at all while I was walking. I was really pleasantly surprised after my day in the zoo. I absolutely love my new camera strap!
New photo gallery - Atlanta Botanical Garden
21/Okt/08 23:21 Filed in: Photo | Organizational
Just a quick FYI, I added a photo gallery with the best photos from my trip to the botanical garden last week. I hope you like them
Beware of the effects of flash
This week I was able to go out and photograph for the first time in over a month. It was an incredible feeling to be „out there“ again and being totally „in the zone“. I went to the Botanical Garden here in Atlanta. As always, i took lots of photos and I’ll publish a slideshow one of the next days but today I want to focus on something I realized once again when I was shooting inside the giant houses of the botanical garden: Flash changes a lot about your picture!
I was shooting handheld (I didn’t take my tripod to Atlanta with me), so I had to use the flash for some shots to get a sharp image. There is always a difference in picture between the two but I had one instance where the difference was truly astounding to me.
Here you have two photos that show exactly the same subject and perspective. The first one without flash, only natural light, and the second one with the flash of my 40D. Notice the difference in details but also in shading. A subtle difference is also the unfocussed part in the background. Notice the ground in the upper left area, it is much more pronounced in the picture with the flash.
I guess, what I am trying to say is that you should always try to be aware of the effects your flash will have on the look of your photo. It can make or break your shot if you aren’t aware of the effects. (Instant review on the display is a great way to ensure that it does not break your shot).
I was shooting handheld (I didn’t take my tripod to Atlanta with me), so I had to use the flash for some shots to get a sharp image. There is always a difference in picture between the two but I had one instance where the difference was truly astounding to me.
Here you have two photos that show exactly the same subject and perspective. The first one without flash, only natural light, and the second one with the flash of my 40D. Notice the difference in details but also in shading. A subtle difference is also the unfocussed part in the background. Notice the ground in the upper left area, it is much more pronounced in the picture with the flash.
I guess, what I am trying to say is that you should always try to be aware of the effects your flash will have on the look of your photo. It can make or break your shot if you aren’t aware of the effects. (Instant review on the display is a great way to ensure that it does not break your shot).
Flickr Favorites Till 17. Sept. 2008
Sorry, I haven’t posted in way to long but I have been pretty busy with school But nevertheless, I want to show you my Flickr Favorites from the last three weeks. Most of these pictures are from my contacts on flickr - two especially, whose photos I really love: yappingjak and BigCatLover. Both take very different photos - yappingjak has an incredible distinc stlye for Macro flower pictures and BigCatLover does what his name implies: he takes absolutely stunning pictures of Big Cats.
As always, my short disclaimer: The photos belong to the artists who have posted them on Flickr and if you like one of the pics be so kind and visit their pics on flickr and comment on the pics or even fave them, too.
Enjoy
Following this stunning pictures are my uploads to Flickr in the last few weeks:
But nevertheless, I want to show you my Flickr Favorites from the last three weeks. Most of these pictures are from my contacts on flickr - two especially, whose photos I really love: yappingjak and BigCatLover. Both take very different photos - yappingjak has an incredible distinc stlye for Macro flower pictures and BigCatLover does what his name implies: he takes absolutely stunning pictures of Big Cats.As always, my short disclaimer: The photos belong to the artists who have posted them on Flickr and if you like one of the pics be so kind and visit their pics on flickr and comment on the pics or even fave them, too.
Enjoy
Following this stunning pictures are my uploads to Flickr in the last few weeks:
Flickr Favorites Till 25. Aug. 2008
Summary: Here they are once again: my new favorites from Flickr for this week. A total of 14 new favorites this week and my new shots this week, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
Playing with potential
Summary: A post on how I took this picture and made it look a lot better using selective coloring and cropping. Additionally, the picutre exampes will give you a good example of how the composition of a photo will have an impact on the overall impression you get from the picture. Lesen Sie mehr...
Flickr Favorites Till 17. Aug. 2008
Summary: I’m back again. So here they are : my new favorites from Flickr for the last two weeks. A total of 14 new favorites and my new shots, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
Flickr Favorites Week Till 30. July 08
Summary: It’s Wednesday again. So here they are once again: my new favorites from Flickr for this week. A total of 23 new favorites this week and my new shots this week, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
Flickr Favorites Week Till 23. July 08
Summary: It’s Wednesday again. So here they are once again: my new favorites from Flickr for this week. A total of 25 new favorites this week and my new shots this week, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
New Photo slideshows
21/Jul/08 16:10 Filed in: Photo | Organizational
Link to this image on Flickr
I spent the whole of yesterday evening processing and editing the pictures I had taken during the day. My workflow usually consists of looking at all pictures while the rest is still importing to get a first overview over what pictures I have and about the average quality of the pictures. Afterwards I go thorugh the pictures a second time and give ratings to the pictures I like best - 5 stars to those that are pretty perfect in every regard, 4 for quality pics that are sharp and everything but somehow are missing „something“ and 3 stars for pictures I like but do not love. The rest does not get a rating, indicationg that they are not worth publishing but not so bad as to delete them. This time I decided to do the processing while I was rating the pictures which took me a pretty long time even though I only edited pics that got a rating and only did very basic editing on most of them. But after a few hours I was finished and this morning I decided to split the pictures into two slideshows: one with pictures that got 4 or 5 stars and one with pictures that got a rating (so all with 3, 4, or 5 stars).
You can find the shorter slideshow (even that has 140 pic or so) by clicking here.
The long version can be accessed via this link.
I hope you ejoy the pictures and feel free to leave me a comment here in the blog post or via email
I will also upload the best pictures to Flickr in the next weeks.Teaser: A lot of new pics
20/Jul/08 22:22 Filed in: Photo
Just a small teaser photo. I spent the day in the botanical garden in Frankfurt and took loads of photos (over 750). I have already gone thorugh them and edited a lot of the and I am left with 345 I want to show off - but I am still debating the best way to do that, so it’ll be a few days till I do post a slideshow (or several).
iPhone Wallpaper
18/Jul/08 23:16 Filed in: Photo
On my old site I had a photo album containing pictures already resized for the use as wallpapers on the iPhone that I had created for my personal use and then decided to share with other users. This post on the german photosite photoappar.at reminded me that I wanted to update my selection and also post them on this site, since I will not be updating the old site.
So now you can find some of my favorite photos in portrait orientation in a separate photo gallery, already resized for the use as a background on the iphone. You can download them for free but all rights remain with me - that’s also why I added a little watermark to them but that is very discreet, so it won’t get in the way of viewing the picture. In total there are 58 pictures, so a lot to choose from. I hope you’ll enjoy them.
Additionally, you can download all of them from here.
Presenting a photo to its best advantage
Summary: Last week in my entry „make it POP“ I spoke about selective coloring as a way to make your subject stand out more. While browing my photos from the trip to the Berlin Zoo I saw another picture that I thought would benefit from selective coloring. As you can see (if you look closely), there is a reptile in that tree looking directly into the camera. The problem? Nobody will be able to see him hiding in that tree because he has the same coloring as the leaves around him! Click on „Read more“ to find out what I was able to do to improve this shot. Lesen Sie mehr...
Flickr Favorites Week Till 16.07.08
Summary: It’s Wednesday again. So here they are once again: my new favorites from Flickr for this week. A total of 58 new favorites this week and my new shots this week, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
Make it POP
Summary: A short exploration into the reasons why sometimes selective coloring will give you better results and also an explanation on how you can use this simple technique. Be sure to check it out to see the full before and after shots. Lesen Sie mehr...
Flickr Favorites Week Till 09.07.08
09/Jul/08 14:26 Filed in: Flickr
Summary: It’s Wednesday again. So here they are once again: my new favorites from Flickr for this week. A total of 56 new favorites this week and a lot of animal and landscape shots this week, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
Taking out unwanted objects
Berlin Cathedral
Flickr link
Summary: Do you know those awesome architectural pictures you have - which would be really awesome if it weren’t for some object taking away from their beauty? Sounds familiar, right? But what to do about them? You can’t just go to the people using the crane and ask them to remove the crane for a minute... (if you DO go out and try it, please tell me about your results
).I don’t know how you got rid of them during the film days but I do know how you can get rid of them in the digital age. Lesen Sie mehr...
Trip to the Zoo in Berlin
Close up of an Orang-Utan
Flickr Link
Summary: In my last post I shortly mentioned that I was in Berlin for a two-day trip last week. One of these two days was pent in the Berlin Zoo, which is has the most types of different animals in the world (according to their website) and is the oldest zoo in Germany. Find out more about my trip and the pictures I took by clicking „Read More“. Lesen Sie mehr...
Flickr Favorites Week Till 02.07.08
04/Jul/08 14:01 Filed in: Flickr
Summary: Some of you might remember that I used to do a post with my favorites from Zooomr and DeviantART each week. I got out of the habit because I didn’t have the time for it but I want to try this again - but this time with the favorites from Flickr. Below you see my favorites from the last week - starting with the first one, going all the way to my most recent favorite. All of them provide the links to the pictures on Flickr - so if you like some of the shots, head over to Flickr and leave those guys and gals some comments or favorite their pictures, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
Colorexplosion
29/Jun/08 10:25 Filed in: Photo
Colorexplosion
Flickr Link
Summary: Today I just want to do a short post about a picture I uploaded to Flickr in the last week that’s been very popular. Get to know a bit more about what kind of shell it is and where I took it plus pics of two other shells. Enjoy! Lesen Sie mehr...
Flickr Favorites Week Till 25.06.08
25/Jun/08 21:36 Filed in: Flickr
Summary: Some of you might remember that I used to do a post with my favorites from Zooomr and DeviantART each week. I got out of the habit because I didn’t have the time for it but I want to try this again - but this time with the favorites from Flickr. Below you see my favorites from the last week - starting with the first one, going all the way to my most recent favorite. All of them provide the links to the pictures on Flickr - so if you like some of the shots, head over to Flickr and leave those guys and gals some comments or favorite their pictures, too.-----Pictures after the jump----- Lesen Sie mehr...
Extension Tubes
A bug on a rose petal
Link to this photo on Flickr
Summary: For my birthday I got three extension tubes for my camera. Here you’ll find a post on my first experiences with it including some first observations as well as three pictures I took using extension tubes. Feel free to check out the whole article by either clicking on „Read More“ below or the title of the blog entry
Lesen Sie mehr...First tries at HDR pictures
HDR of the ruins of Burg Hayn in my hometown
Flickr link
Summary: One of my first real experiences with HDR. I highlight what a HDR is and what app I used to create the photo above. Additionally, the photos I used to create this HDR are shown. So go and check it out
Lesen Sie mehr...