Barrel of Monkeys

Land of Peeves!

2010-04-03T14:21:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are again. After months of wallowing in hibernation I have reemerged from my slumber to once again bring you photography goodness. It isn't that I haven't been taking pictures, mind you, it's that I haven't been taking any pictures that I feel are of any interest. I've actually been spending time getting my gear bag all set for the coming spring/summer season. I got a 2nd camera and have been diligently trying to learn how to use it. The challenge is that it is so different from my main camera that sometimes I try to do certain things out of habit only to be greeted with a button that isn't there or something similar. Ok, let's move onto the rant section of this entry.

I've been spending hours reading other blogs, group postings on various sites, and reviews for a lot of gear. I'm finding some trends that quite frankly annoy me to no end! I'll list my musings in bullet form:

A point and shoot camera, regardless of how expensive it is, is NOT a DSLR! Yes, I received the Canon S90 point and shoot camera for Christmas. It is a fabulous little camera and the coveted control ring is a wonderful addition and certainly makes things ever so much easier. But expecting this little camera to replace your DSLR is just asinine! And going into group discussions and/or posting "reviews" blasting it and whining how it isn't as good as your Nikon D90 just makes you look like an idiot!
It's great that you are researching before your purchase but going into every group you can get into and asking "which lens/camera should I buy?" should be immediate grounds for expulsion from said groups. Of all the lame and unintelligent sounding questions to ask this has to be the worst! Rather than asking that stupid question (yes, there are stupid questions) perhaps you could try something like this . . . "I'm in the market for a new lens/camera and I would appreciate some opinions on which one to get. I'm not a professional by any stretch and I've only been using an old Casio point and shoot digital camera. I'm looking to take pictures of flowers/kids/sporting events/birds/concerts/etc. I'm looking to spend around $500-$1000 and just want to maximize my purchase with the best all around gear I can get for that amount. Thanks!" Everyone that reads this can give you an intelligent opinion because you've now told us your skill level, what you intend to take pictures of, and your budget.
You should immediately smack yourself if you've uttered any version of this phrase . . . "I've heard that the XX takes soft pictures so I don't think I should buy it." Whether you're talking about a lens or a camera at some point in time you will take soft pictures. Is it because the lens/camera takes soft pictures? Possibly. Is it because you don't know how to use your gear? More than likely! If all it took to take a great picture was to buy the most expensive gear then 90% of people buying DSLR cameras and professional lenses would be making millions. Or, people using their camera phones or point and shoots or bargain DSLR cameras would be shooting pictures that look like sludge on paper. Guess what? This just isn't the case! I usually walk around with my Canon 40D complete with a grip and a 70-200 f/2.8L lens with the hood. I'm usually wearing a Cotton Carrier harness and a Think Tank waist pack. My wife is usually right next to me with a Canon Rebel XSi with a 50 f/1.8 lens with a cute strap she bought from Etsy. Pretty much 10 out of 10 times anyone approaches us they comment to ME, "Wow, that's a heckuva camera you got there. You must take good pictures." My wife rolls her eyes and I just sort of mutter something that passes for nice and we carry on with our business. I can guarantee you that my wife takes amazing pictures with her gear and I can also guarantee you that I can take some really crappy pictures with my gear. It's not the gear, it's how you use it.
This is perhaps my biggest peeve! Most cameras being bought these days are 1.6 crop factor cameras rather than the much more expensive full frame cameras. The simple explanation is if you put a 50mm lens on a 35mm film camera you get 50mm. If you put a 50mm lens on a 1.6 crop camera you get 80mm. If you put a 50mm lens on a full frame digital camera you get 50mm. Now, keep in mind I said that MOST of the cameras being bought are 1.6 crops so this is a general statement not a hard and fast law! Most people that are buying these 1.6 crop cameras have never shot a film camera and will probably never be able to afford a full frame digital camera. Right now the Canon 5D MkII is $2500 for the body only and the Nikon D700 is approximately the same price. And those 2 cameras are currently the cheapest full frame cameras on the market. So you get my point. Most people are buying Canon Rebels and Nikon D3000/5000s for under $700. So, my peeve is this . . . when you are buying/using a lens inevitably some yahoo will come up to you and say something like, "oh, a 50mm, but it's really an 80mm on your camera." GAH!!! I've never shot a 35 film camera. I've been using DSLR 1.6 crop factor cameras since I started shooting. To me, a 50mm lens is a freaking 50mm lens because that's the only way I've ever used it and the only way I've ever seen it! So when I'm going to be doing a shoot I know which lens I'm going to have to use because I know what my 50mm lens can do or what my 70-200 lens is going to do. I don't give a damn what that lens can do on a 35mm film camera! I'm not shooting a 35mm film camera!

So there you have it! The 4 biggest peeves in my world of photography. Remember kids, if you bought a digital camera and you want to take good pictures you need to spend time playing with your camera. You need to press every button, look at every menu, shoot a picture in every mode and heaven forbid buy a 3rd party book about how to use your camera. And be sure to actually read the book and try out the suggestions it gives! Keep shooting!

Until we meet again!

A New Year Brings New Adventures!

2010-01-11T16:23:00.004-06:00

Welcome to the new year! Yes, I've been a bad blogger. I've taken thousand of pictures but I haven't blogged in quite some time. I promise to be better this year!

That said, I've acquired some new gear (thanks Santa) and it's forced me to go back to the basics. I've been reading my Magic Lantern Guide and it's had me thinking about ISO, white balance, aperture, etc. Any good coach will tell you that you have to master the basics to become one of the greats. I'm afraid that this past year I've strayed from the fundamentals and I've ended up pretty frustrated on a regular basis. I've stood there whining to my wife cursing the gods and asking why my pictures were so crappy when I was doing what I've always done. Recently, I've realized that by doing what I've always done my photographic growth has been stunted. That's why this year I will be studying my fundamental photography lessons and pushing myself to stray from my comfortable path and venture into the great unknown or at least the great untried!

Until we meet again!

Home of the Fae!

2009-08-18T12:45:00.004-05:00

With every summer season comes my favorite activity of the year - - - Renaissance Faire! A few years ago I wouldn't be caught dead at Renaissance Faire but now I can't get enough. My absolute favorite part is the Faerie Glen! I could sit in the Glen all day and I usually do! So this post is just going to be pics of Faeries!

I usually just take pictures of the faeries all day but I have been known to actually venture out and get pics of the other wonderful parts of the Faire. Those will be coming in other blogs.

Until we meet again!

Walkabout - Animals Edition!

2009-05-04T11:44:00.006-05:00

As promised, here are a collection of pictures of our animals friends taken over the course of the past several months. Enjoy them!

Until we meet again!

Hello May!

2009-05-02T22:15:00.008-05:00

It was an absolutely gorgeous day out today and it just screamed walkabout! So I give you a May Day Walkabout - People Edition!

Stay tuned for the Animal Edition!

Until we meet again!

West Virginia Walkabout

2009-04-30T15:39:00.006-05:00

I've been a bad blogger! April was a terribly busy month! The first half of the month was pretty much ruled by the tax deadline. The rest of the month was dedicated to taking care of everything that I neglected the first half of the month and trying to get it all done prior to leaving for our mini vacation in West Virginia. So, sorry about that!

That said, my wife and I went to West Virginia to visit her extended family and we took our cameras with us. As luck would have it every day we were there was gorgeous. We had perfect blue skies, 90 degree + temperatures, and nature at her finest! All of the flowers were in bloom, the trees sprouted their leaves, and all the wildlife was out in full force. Here's a small sample of our trip.

This is an old shot tower where they made shot for ammunition in wars past.

It just wouldn't be a river in the south without the ever present fishermen.

The varieties of flowers and trees in bloom were just a color extravaganza!

I just loved this particular scene from my vantage point.

Of course I'll limit pictures of my wife to just this one just to spare you the hundreds that I usually take.

This is just across the street from my wife's grandmother's house. I could have sat on the porch and stared at this all day!

And I'll leave you with this beautiful sky!

Until we meet again!

Hell Has Frozen Over . . . Phone Cam Pics

2009-03-24T11:50:00.009-05:00

So, here I stand with my tail between my legs. I've been whining about how useless phone cams are for years. In fact, I've tried unsuccessfully to find a phone that doesn't have a camera that still has what I need a phone to have. Then out of the blue I start using the phone cam on one of my phones. Then I start to use the cam on my other phone. Yes I have 2 cell phones. One is for business and the other is for personal use. They both have cams and the difference in the cams and the pics they produce is significant enough to use them both for different situations. Now, the tail between the legs part . . . I'm having a blast! Taking and posting phone cam pics to my Tumblr blog has become a daily event for me. Sometimes I post dozens of pics a day. And by doing this I have discovered the necessity for having and using a phone cam!

When I first started in the photography world I was brutally hard on myself. Every picture had to be perfect! Everything needed to be centered, it needed to be razor sharp, the coloring had to be dead on, it had to be "interesting", etc. If everything wasn't up to my ridiculous standards the picture got erased. I could just kick myself for all of the fantastic images that went into the oblivion of the recycle bin rather than being shared with the world. After five years and tens of thousands of images under my belt I have realized that just about every picture can be used in some form. Hell, I could have just photoshopped them and made them more interesting! Tee hee!

I'm certainly not saying that I'm going to throw away my dslr in favor of my Motorola Q. However, I am saying that I now see where the phone cam can fit into my world. I hope you enjoy the images!

Until we meet again!

Making Photoshop Work For You

2009-03-03T12:29:00.009-06:00

In a past blog I spoke of my distaste for over-photoshopped photos. I explained that changing a human being's skin to fake plastic-looking almost video game quality is just wrong. Of course I meant in a purely photographic way not in a "if you use Photoshop you suck" kind of way. Photoshop is a very useful tool that can transform an ordinary photo into a very striking image.

After I became an ordained minister I wanted one of those striking images for what I was doing at the time. I got dressed in my Sunday best (sorry, I couldn't resist), grabbed a few props, snapped a pick and then set about doctoring it up with Photoshop to create that perfect image! This is what I came up with and it was relatively easy.

The more you do to set your shot up with your gear means that much less photoshopping you have to do. Also, whatever you can't produce with your gear can be taken care of with some simple photoshopping. Using photographic techniques and Photoshop can help you create images that are both cool and easy to produce.

And sometimes you can just explore Photoshop for fun and find that there are some really neat things you can do with just a few mouse clicks!

The point here is that Photoshop isn't evil and I didn't mean to make it sound that way in my previous blog post. On the contrary, Photoshop is a wonderful tool that can help save you countless hours of set up for shots and can help you create wonderful images. I guess my warning is just don't make the model's skin look fake!

Until we meet again!

Female Allure

2009-02-20T14:18:00.010-06:00

I've been shooting for almost 10 years. More than half of that has now been artistic nude and fetish photography. While I shoot just about anything including nature, animals, events, etc., my passion lies in the female form.

Every woman is different. Every shoot is different. Sometimes we shoot in the studio.

Sometimes we shoot outdoors.

Some like to dress up.

Some prefer not to dress at all.

Others prefer to draw the attention to what they feel are their better assets.

In the end, every woman has a different motivation for why they are shooting with me. Some are professional models and it's just what they do. Others are trying to build a portfolio as they enter the world of modeling. More often though I've found that many women I shoot are looking to capture how they look at that particular moment in life so one day they can look back at the pictures and remember how "hot" they were. Regardless of their motivation for shooting I love capturing their forms.

Until we meet again!

Photoshop - - - Use Only When Necessary!

2009-02-13T10:41:00.008-06:00

I spend countless hours looking at pictures on more sites than I care to recall. I'm always studying the technical aspect of the shots. I look at the lighting and try to imagine what the photographer did to achieve the effects. I look at the models to see how they're posed and try to imagine what they're thinking. But mostly I'm looking to see if the photographer has over-photoshopped the image. Call it a personal pet peeve, but, I absolutely cannot stand to see over-processed pics! To me they are no longer photographs they are digital illustrations created by graphic artists not photographers! It just makes me lose a little of my soul when I see people swoon over a digital illustrator's pictures and laud them with praise of their photographic skills. I've personally witnessed one of these lauded "photographers" hold her point and shoot camera at arm's length and take a quick snap and then spend 3 hours photoshopping it until she was happy with it. After posting she got no less than 60+ comments praising her for her photo skills. Gah!

Now, don't get me wrong! Photoshopping your pics is a must. Fixing the levels, cropping, adjusting the color a tad, are all legitimate and sometimes necessary processes that every photographer has to perform. That is no different than a film photographer doing a little adjusting in the dark room. Blemish removal isn't even what I'm talking about either. I'm talking about complete and total image manipulation resulting in something that is hardly human in the end. Skin that looks porcelain and doll-like. 15 years of wrinkles and freckles painted away in minutes. I interviewed a model who clearly looked almost twice her age in person compared to the pics in her portfolio. That's just wrong! Do that if that's your thing but don't claim to be a photographer! You're a digital illustrator!

For instance, here is a picture straight out of the camera.

And here it is after I digitally manipulated it.

To me, this is how obvious some "photographer's" pictures are over-processed and still called photographs. They just aren't, anymore than this one is!

Here is another photograph almost straight out of the camera.

The only photoshopping done on this photograph was a desaturation (black and whited), a level adjustment, and some burning to blacken out the background. Still a photograph despite some photoshopping.

I would love to post some digital manipulations of things that were once women but aren't anymore. But I don't think they or their digital illustrators would appreciate it.

The bottom line here is photography. If you are going to call yourself a photographer then work to perfect your photography skills. If you are going to be a master photoshopper then call yourself a digital illustrator and stop claiming to be a photographer!

Until we meet again!

Self-Portraits . . . The Staple Of Learning.

2009-02-05T16:29:00.008-06:00

It's great to have a lot of models at your disposal. Firing away at the drop of a hat anytime inspiration hits you. Different outfits, different settings, different hair styles, different moods . . . Unfortunately, sometimes the only model you have to work with is yourself. But that is a good thing!

You don't have to pay yourself. You can change outfits at your whim. You're available just about anytime you need yourself.

With some hats, some clothing and a different background you can look completely different.

You've got the lights, the backgrounds, the props all right there.

With lighting you can completely transform yourself into someone else.

And sometimes even into something else.

The point here being that you don't have to have lots of models to practice your craft. You don't even really have to have a lot of expensive gear to produce really awesome pics. What you really have to have is a desire to strive to always learn more. In the world of photography there is always something new to learn. The only way to learn is to do. You can set up 1 shot and try a different lens, different lighting, different backgrounds, even different angles. And take advantage of the best model who always works for free . . . yourself!

Until we meet again!

Friday Walkabout

2009-01-30T19:16:00.009-06:00

I am in the habit of taking my camera with me everywhere I go so that just in case I happen upon a "Kodak moment" I'm prepared for it. The few times I didn't have my camera with me I missed some really amazing opportunities to capture some one of a kind pics! What I usually do is purposely grab my camera and just hit the streets and just shoot away. I call these "walkabouts."

That said, I had my camera with me today and was, as my wife put it, "snap happy!" Here are a few of the shots.

First, my lovely wife in her office at work right before we left to have lunch together. I used Urban Acid to process this pic.

Next, the rafters in the library. Used the Channel Mixer to black and white this one.

And lastly, the sunset from the top of a mountain of snow in the parking lot at the Starbucks I was at earlier. Other than cropping and some level adjustments this is straight out of the camera.

Given how crappy the weather has been and how brutally cold it's been I haven't done any walkabouts since October. I still froze my ass off but it was nice to hit the streets again. I can't wait until the weather gets better so I can get back to the regularity of my walkabouts. They're very therapeutic.

Until we meet again!

Sometimes People Suck!

2009-01-28T16:49:00.006-06:00

So I turn to Mother Nature for inspiration!

And I can never get enough of our furry and feathery little friends.

Until we meet again!

Lighting Is a Bitch!

2009-01-27T20:43:00.007-06:00

I've been trying to play with light lately. The easiest way for me to do that is with all of the little action figures/dolls that I have laying around the condo. I've been using LED flashlights, strobes, and even incense smoke to try to create moody shots.

I figure if I can't get models to actually show up I can at least practice with what I've got! I suppose I have to start doing more creative self portraits again. After all, we're our own best/cheapest models, right?!

Until we meet again!

The First Post

2009-01-26T19:00:00.005-06:00

I've had this blog for awhile now. I erased all of the original posts and I'm starting fresh. I've decided to make this more of a photo blog of sorts since I'm a photographer and all. I'm going to post a variety of shots. I shoot everyday and while I try to produce top notch pics as often as possible sometimes all I end up with are shitty pics that look very amateur. I'll mask those ones as "art"! :-D

Some of the pics that I post will be artistic nude and/or fetish shots so if that isn't your thing just go ahead and move on to somewhere else. But, for the first post I will post a recent picture of me.

Until we meet again!