Lens Effect

I recently wrote about Adjust, one of the many photography software made by Topaz Labs. So impressed I was by Adjust, that I went ahead and bought the whole bundle! I haven't had time to play around with all of the various functions but thought I'd try out Lens Effect with its recent upgrade.

Lens Effects simulates a wide range of lens, filters and specialty cameras. Topaz has very helpful online videos on how to use it, as well as a short "how-to" pdf tutorial to get you started. Like Adjust, it was an easy to use plug-in. I launched Lens Effect from Lightroom and edited a photo in under 5 minutes as an experiment. Please note that the effects has been exaggerated for demonstration purposes! I do feel that the program is powerful enough to give realistic effects. Although capturing the effect on camera would still be ideal, the program is a great alternative for those who don't own the various filters and lenses (which can be expensive), as well as being a great tool for those with creative flair!

The example below uses the Bokeh - selective option

Before

After

Adjust

In the past few weeks, I have been researching HDR photography in a bid to improve my skills and techniques (another excuse for why the blog has been neglected). For the benefit of those who know nothing about HDR photography (like I was just a few short weeks ago), HDR stand for high dynamic range. In essence, the technique consists of taking a series of photographs at different exposures and merging them into one in order to overcome the inability of the camera to capture the whole spectrum of dynamic range. The end result is that all the details both in shadow and in light are captured at the right exposure. The effect is quite surreal, some say too surreal, as the photograph then doesn't look realisttic. That is a whole other topic altogether! I think people generally either love it or hate it. Trey Ratcliff has some great examples.

I love the effect because it DOESN'T look real. Some of the photos almost have a comic book feel to them. This sense of fantasy is what I want to give to my Disney photography, in order to capture that magical feel that one experiences at the Parks. I have been somewhat disappointed with my photos taken at both Disneyworld and Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Anaheim. That's wasted opportunity at three Disney Parks!!! I had spent too much time looking at spectacular Disney photography and unfortunately my own work came up short. I was hoping to use HDR photography I had one year to learn about HDR photography. My aim was to have at least one "WOW" photo when we head to Disneyland Paris come December 2012.

And so began the process of self education online. After trawling through seemingly endless websites and forums, I chanced upon a comment made by a poster. All that was written was one sentence "Try Topaz Adjust". I don't know what made me google it but I did and it appeared that I had struck gold! I was sceptical at first. The program was advertised to be easy to use and allowed the user to create HDR effects with only a single jpeg image. Really?!?!? Could it be that simple? No tripod, no taking repeated shots, no learning how to bracket? No fiddling in CS5? I saw that Topaz offered a free 30 day trial whereby the final processed image had no watermark. What did I have to lose? I did have a photobook to complete.  I am prepared to try anything that could make my photos look better!

I downloaded the program and I was sold within 24 hours! It was so much fun and so easy! Dull and lifeless photos became amazing explosions of colour. Suddenly, my Disney photos came alive. Photos that I had dismissed as sub par were magically resuscitated. Then I moved on to other photos from previous trips. I "Adjusted" photo after photo until the early hours of the morning. I soon learnt which photos the program works well on and which ones to not bother with. I think it is important to mention here that the program doesn't take away the need for good photography in the first place. It helps a lot but can not cure everything. To my husbands dismay, I discovered that Topaz had other products which did equally funky things! There went a few more nights of photo editing that extended well past midnight.

Here are some before and afters. All done with a single jpeg image using Topaz Adjust.

Picture Perfect

Our family photos have arrived and they have been hung! Thanks to dear father-in-law, who only asked for a cheese and salad sandwich and a hot cup of coffee in return. If only all tradesmen were so cheap! Having in-laws who own an interior decorating business also came in handy when it came to getting the photographs framed. We paid a total of $200 for all three. Bargain!

We were fortunate enough to score two free 8" x 11" prints on top of a free sitting. We had grand plans of walking out the door without purchasing any more...but they knew how to hook us in! And of course, we fell for it... But no regrets, we love it!

The boys

The girls

The children

Photos on the wall!

Reviving An Old Love

With my recent other "obsessions", I have somewhat neglected my photography. The topic for the March Shwanda challenge was "Still Life". The shot below was my rather poor entry. I say poor as it was along side a whole host of very impressive shots.

I have to be honest and admit that I found the topic tedious and "artificial". Yes, I do realise that the whole point is for deliberate arrangement to enhance a specific feature and to control the environment to reach a desired effect. However, I feel that great photography is about being able to capture moments in life, whether it be an object, a person, or a landscape. In other words, it is about capturing things as they are. I was sorely disappointed the other day, when a colleague pointed out that many photographs which I thought were amazing had all been photo-shopped. Perhaps I am being too naive. I have nothing against photoshop. In fact, I love that program!

Anyway I digress! My point was that I was so terribly short-sighted. As a result of my dislike for the topic, I just did not open myself to the endless creative possibilities that were our there. I was so impressed by the all the other entries and it wasn't long before I had to come to the harsh realisation that I really knew nothing about controlling light or studio photography. I do regret not finding the time to use the flash unit that I had purchased and having the rather defeatist attittude of dumping the whole thing in to the "too hard" basket. It is so unlike me! I am glad that I am participating in the challenge. It keeps me honest about my shortcomings. There is so much more for me to learn in order to improve my photography as a whole.

So...photography is back on top. Besides, I need good images to scrap book! I just need to be more organised and find a few extra hours in the day...

The end of a lovely weekend

Inspired by a friend, here are some photos from Sunday, a lovely end to another busy but wonderful weekend.

Highlights of September

A very tired little chipmunk

Well not so much highlights but things worth mentioning without necessitating a whole post...

• The US dollar is on a high! Yippee!!!! Here's to it reaching parity before we go.
• Our second Kindle arrived, a graphite 3rd generation Kindle. I am still deciding which one to keep and which one to hand down to the rest of the family...
• We welcomed our newest au pair. An amazing girl who is making my house tidier by the day. Definitely a keeper!
• We ended up winning trivia on Thursday night. Woohoo!!!! We also won the jackpot for the second time in a row. It consists of 3 questions which you must answer correctly in a short space of time. If you get it all correct then you win the cash in the jackpot. If no one gets the answers right, then the jackpot increases the following week. Anyway, the point of this particular bullet is that I managed to name the element Fm ... Fermium. What a genius!
• Crazily went to church camp at Stanwell Tops last weekend by myself with 3 children in tow. The highlight would have to be the children's performance as the Chipmunks and the Chipettes

The excuses begin...

OK so I said I'd be right back. Sorry! I thought I should try to at least explain my absence. Being away for work for a few days and going to church camp definitely hasn't helped. However, I have been rather down lately as I have lost my "phojo". All the photos that I have been taking have turned out to be quite disappointing. It seemed like even those taken by a point and shoot looked much better. This has consumed me somewhat as I don't know what to do about it.

I have also been reading the Stieg Larsson Millennium series. Once I started, I couldn't put them down! I finally finished the last book last night. So perhaps I can now devote my time back to the computer and tend to the multiple useless activities which I have ignored (including...shock horror...the DISboards).

Bird on buoy

Today we went on a boating trip with Malcolm's parents. The children were up nice and early, always excited to be on nana and grandpa's boat. We set off on what was to be a glorious day, pulling in to anchor next to Berry Island reserve. We will be meeting up with my mother-in-law's dentist and his family for lunch. His wife just happened to be a former Miss Colombia...

To my joy, I noticed that we had dropped anchor right next to what seemed to be a naval dockyard with several buoys in front of it. I needed a photo of both a navy ship as well as a buoy, with bonus points for a naval officer on the former and a bird on the latter. I waited and waited, and waited. C'mon darn birds!!! How hard was it to sit on that big yellow thing?!?!? When it finally happened, the bird of course chose one that was farthest away and hence a hazy shot.

Spot the bird if you can...

Sorry I digress...Miss Colombia turned out to be warm and lovely who was recently cast for several gigs but had to decline because of motherly commitments. She wants to be a newsreader here in the future which was what she did back home after her Miss World campaign. Don't you hate it when they have it all?!?!? Beauty, personality, brains, and a nice person to top if off. I had to delight in the fact that she had two little tornadoes as children who were hard work. Shucks, who am I kidding? I have three of those...

Unfortunately, the only photo I took of Miss Columbia was of her back (apologies to the male population), demonstrating how to use a dinghy efficiently. That is, with a motor. Unlike Malcolm, who earlier chose to use a board intended for scaling fish...

The children had a great time on shore nonetheless, despite going without shoes, socks or pants. They both seriously considered removing their undies as well for fear of getting them wet when they discovered how they were to make their way to shore. I assured them that this was not necessary. They also enjoyed the fishing upon their return to the boat. Elliot was delighted when he reeled a fish in himself. He later ate this fish for dinner at Oma's house who grilled it for him.

Elliot's fish

We made our way home tired but content. I managed to get several more shots for my scavenger hunt and PAD including one of a sunset. I have now uploaded all my recent shots online and suddenly realised that there are only 6 days left to our next Disney planning meeting. That means updating all the summaries with the details of my research and completing all my to-dos before then with the children at home. Eeeks! I have also committed myself to visit 2 friends before then. Hmmm....It appears that I have alot to do. Better get some sleep in then.

On a cold winter's day...

Had a lovely day today visiting a friend and her baby. I never thought a simple chat over lunch could be so relaxing. It was great to be able to catch up with friends, and to see her doing so well as a first time mum. Little Kaela, who surprised her parents by coming out 8 weeks early, has chubbed up and is a real cutie! It was oh so nice to be able to hold a baby and give it back...

Kaela

Jonah, was well, Jonah. Messy, full of sound effects and laughing for no reason the whole time he was there. However, I have to give the poor child some credit. He survived being dragged around town by his scavenger hunt crazy mother. I was determined to get some shots of the Harbour today. So I drove down to McMahon's point before visiting my friend. This was after a trip down to Luna Park to get some photos as well. It was so cloudy and bleak that the photos just turned out all wrong. Everything was so lifeless. And it was so damn cold I couldn't bear to stay and take any more photos!!! So I abandoned ship...

Luckily for me, the current theme for the photo a day challenge (hereby known as PAD) is winter. So bleak and lifeless fitted right in! So here are today's efforts, in stark contrast to yesterday's PAD debut photo...

Becoming a photobug

My interest in photography has really taken off in the last couple of weeks. It was all inspired by a fellow Disney mother of three whom I 'met' online on a travel forum. She had also bought a DSLR camera with the intentions of taking better photos at Disney and taking better photos of her children.

To cut a long story short, I had the privilege of seeing her photos on facebook and I was blown away! What great shots from someone who had only been learning for 6 months. So off I went intent on improving my skills. I enrolled myself into an 8 week course at the local community college. That starts on the 27th July and I'm super excited! But it isn't soon enough. So I borrowed a Tom Ang book from my brother, not too impressed. I decided to bite the bullet and purchased Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure as well as Scott Kelby's book. Besides, I had to take advantage of Border's attempts to price match Amazon...In the meantime, I joined a group to take "A photo a day" on a local forum. The aim being to encourage myself to pick up my camera and use it every day. That is to start on July 1 and hopefully I will last the whole year.

What I've really enjoyed though is the Photography scavenger hunt on the DISboards. The concept is simple. There is a long list of items you have to take photos of. All photos are to be taken in the months of June, July and August. Each photo is scored. The person with the highest scores wins! Surprisingly, mostly from others' photos both good and bad, and with little instruction, I've learnt a lot about composition. It has really encouraged me to take photos of things I wouldn't normally have thought of as "good shots". It has also shown me how little I know! I want to do all these things but I don't know how to do it! The kids thinks its fun and points things out that I need to take photos of. Everyone else thinks I am mad. I find myself doing stupid things like chasing the little train at Darling Harbour so I can take a photo of it from the front...as well as asking the train driver to pose (gave me extra points!). Next was lying down on the ground on my tummy to take a better photo of the boardwalk. I was stalking tourists to see if any would get lost and look at a map. I nearly crashed my car a few times when I saw native wildlife that I needed to take a photo of.

I've even started talking my children to the park voluntarily by myself to practice taking photos of them! We decided to print 3 of them on canvas for my mother's 60th birthday present and thankfully she loved it. Thought I'd share some of my recent efforts.