Wall Art

RandyWayne · #1 10-22-2010, 08:12 PM

I had to stop by briefly to post some new photo's. We've been shopping for years for art (photo's and paintings) to hang on our wall, and decided that we have all the photo's we need to make our own. Even subtracting the price of a new wide format printer and frames, we came out way ahead!

I call this photo simply "Why?".

My wife sitting way to close to the edge.

Near the half way point on the Bright Angel trail between the trail head and the CO river.

A Hawaiian party!

Sunrise over Monument Valley!

*AQuietPlace* · #2 10-22-2010, 08:19 PM

Gorgeous!

Hoovie · #3 10-22-2010, 08:20 PM

NICe!

Cindy · #4 10-22-2010, 08:35 PM

Love the photos, RW.

Azzan · #5 10-22-2010, 08:37 PM

I really love the sunset pic! I so want to vist the western part of the country again some day.

RandyWayne · #6 10-22-2010, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azzan

I really love the sunset pic! I so want to vist the western part of the country again some day.

We have many dozens of those pics from the days we stayed there. The Navajo tribe run a hotel where all the rooms face the same direction, guaranteeing a great view no matter what room you have.

This particular photo was taken with an ancient Canon Rebel XT using a 50mm 1.4F prime lens in bracketed mode (-1, 0, +1 exposure). Then combined in Photoshop CS5 and a number of tweaks performed using Noiseware noise removal plug in and onOne's Phototools plug in.

Azzan · #7 10-23-2010, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

We have many dozens of those pics from the days we stayed there. The Navajo tribe run a hotel where all the rooms face the same direction, guaranteeing a great view no matter what room you have.

This particular photo was taken with an ancient Canon Rebel XT using a 50mm 1.4F prime lens in bracketed mode (-1, 0, +1 exposure). Then combined in Photoshop CS5 and a number of tweaks performed using Noiseware noise removal plug in and onOne's Phototools plug in.

I figured you were pretty serious about photography after seeing your cameras in the pics. I am a huge nature freak and just love landscape shots, especially sunsets. Would love to see more anytime you care to share. Thanks for sharing.

MissBrattified · #8 10-23-2010, 11:31 AM

Those are great, RW!!! I love seeing personal photos enlarged and framed. That's what we've done with our kids. I've always taken passably good shots, so I have them blown up into 11x14's or 16x20's and have them matted and framed. They're much more interesting than formal studio pics. We've only done formal family portraits 4-5 times.

RandyWayne · #9 10-23-2010, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Those are great, RW!!! I love seeing personal photos enlarged and framed. That's what we've done with our kids. I've always taken passably good shots, so I have them blown up into 11x14's or 16x20's and have them matted and framed. They're much more interesting than formal studio pics. We've only done formal family portraits 4-5 times.

We have been looking for artwork for years now and finally realized that we can blow up and print our own far FAR cheaper than buying someone else's. (Although the guy that got us interested in photos is so good that I will probably never compare to him, Peter Lik. http://www.peterlik.com/)

We decided on one picture, also taken at Monument Valley with my little Canon S90 compact, that were actually blowing up -after heavily cropping the bottom and top, to 36 by 12 inches. I got a special plug in JUST for this picture who's sole purpose is enlarging pictures with better accuracy then Photoshop itself is capable of. (You can see a description here: http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=7). It is challenging because not only was it taken with a compact point and shoot, but it was also pretty cloudy that day. I keep working at it and trying different techniques and am confident it will come out good, but also somewhat stylized.

RandyWayne · #10 10-23-2010, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azzan

I figured you were pretty serious about photography after seeing your cameras in the pics. I am a huge nature freak and just love landscape shots, especially sunsets. Would love to see more anytime you care to share. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the compliments. I used to think that taking landscape shots was cheating in the sense that most of the work has already been done for you in regards to the landscape itself. After all a gorgeous waterfall is already "gorgeous" whether you take a picture of it or not. But as I learn more and more I am only discovering how much I don't know and have yet to figure out -just like with computers! One thing that really helped me in my composition skills is moving to the 50mm prime (no zoom range at all). It is like shooting through a semi-telephoto all the time and forces you to really think about your shots and angles. In some ways it is the worst lens for landscapes where the natural tendency is to use a wide angle, but in others one of the best because of its extreme sharpness and the fact that they tend to be so much faster (low F stops) then a zoom lens.

On the other side of photography is learning to master Photoshop. It is relatively easy to do major editing such as removing people, adding people, and getting rid of other unsightly items such as power lines, poles, and airplanes in the sky, but the REAL skill comes in with regards to performing minor (yet vital) color corrections, noise removal, using layers to sharpen up some sections while leaving others alone, etc.