TMS photography

Full Moon Photography

2016-01-25T12:22:00.000-06:00

Full moon photography can be challenging especially if you don't have the right equipment. Today I want to write about a couple of things regarding this subject. One is, if you're using a DSLR, you may not have a good zoom lens and/or a lens multiplier. Two, there may be a solution with a compact digital camera.

So let's review the DSLR method. With the right lens and the right multiplier you can get outstanding shots of the moon. I've seen photos online where a 200mm and 300mm zoom lenses plus a two multiplier was able to take great shots. I also have experience in taking moon photos with this type of equipment. What I have noticed is that you find yourself editing the image and cropping it to make the image look good. I'm ok with that.

On the other hand, I also have a Nikon Coolpix P520. This camera falls under the compact digital camera format. It has a lot of functionality for a camera in this category. For example, the focal length is 4.3-180 mm (angle of view equivalent to that of 24-1000 mm lens in 35mm [135] format). Now I've had this camera for a while and I understand there are newer models available, but for me, I have specific use for this camera and I enjoy it.

The following image was shot with my Nikon Coolpix P520 at full zoom plus 2X digital zoom (part of the cameras functionality). So in essence, it was a shot with 2000mm zoom. Let's take a look.

Now keep in mind that I did put the camera on a tripod for stability and this is what I captured. I was actually pleased with this image but then I popped it open in Lightroom. All I did was crop this image and got the following.

So in order to photograph the moon it is best done with the camera mounted on a tripod. If using a DSLR turn off VR. Use your equipment to the best of its ability. Then edit as needed and share.

One other note, this Full moon capture was done on Christmas 2015. The last time there was a full moon on Christmas Day was in 1977. This won't happen again until 2034, with any luck I'll be around to photograph that one too.

For a real kewl look at a full moon visit https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/rare-full-moon-on-christmas-day I think it's an outstanding looking image.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago and keep up with my journey.

To Square Format or Not

2016-01-18T11:51:00.000-06:00

I'm going to be honest, I've never been a fan of the square photo format. That said, I've been going through some concert photos recently and stumbled on some photos that I did not really care for. Here is one of them.

So in this image I like the shot of the guitar player. What I don't like is what is going on in the left of this image. I decided to make a square (or 1x1 ratio) edit and came up with the following.

I like this much better. In addition, the image does not go to waste because now I can use it on Instagram.

Here is another image I don't really like.

As you can see, and maybe it's just my opinion, there is too much dead space on the left and right. Once again, let's look at a square edit.

I like this edit much better!

Now the next shot I like in it's original format more than the square format. Take a look.

Now to me both images are good but I prefer the original format shot of the two.

My goal in photography is to shoot images that could be used in print format, even though I don't print a lot of images. So my preference is to shoot in the rectangular format of the image and not square.

If I learned anything from this, it's to consider more than the original image format, especially in this digital age where we are not locked into specific image formats.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago and keep up with my journey.

Snow Photography and Editing

2015-11-24T14:33:00.000-06:00

Today is Tuesday November 24, 2015 and we are coming up on Thanksgiving. This past Friday began our first snowfall of the season. I enjoy snow photography and sometimes more than taking the photos I enjoy editing them.

Like many photographers I enjoy using Lightroom to edit photos. But, there is something about snow photography that makes me want to explore the possibilities in other editing software. Let's take for example the following image.

I took this photo yesterday after I spotted it while running some errands. This is a first run edit in Lightroom. I like the image but I really like snow photos in B&W. For the next edit I used Alien Skin Software because it has a Kodak TRI-X 400 filter. Yes, I know Lightroom can do a B&W edit but it doesn't have film selection capabilities. So check out this edit.

I know I could add more contrast but I am going to take this edit a step further and use Alien Skin Snap Art and create the following.

This edit is a pastel landscape edit that I modified not to have texture as a canvas. So from my perspective, this edit is unique to me in and of itself. If I choose to have this printed I could select a canvas background and it might look pretty interesting. But I'm not done editing and have more to get done. For the next edit I'm going to use the TRI-X 400 image and open it in Smart Photo Editor.

Smart Photo Editor is an application I picked up some time ago. I used two filters from this application to create the above image. One is the "Contrast Realistic" the other is "Hyper-real" there are actually a ton of filters in this application I could choose from, but these two are in my favorites list. This image itself is one worthy of printing as is. But I'm not done.

Now I'm going to layer the above image over the pastel image and set the opacity at 30% to create the following.

This is what I was looking to accomplish! To me, it's an abstract look and feel that really embraces the snow image I wanted.

Now I know that photography and art are subjective. Some viewers of these images may prefer one over the other and not like my final results. I'm ok with that. I guess I just want to present to you options in regards to photo edits. You can think about it.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago and keep up with my journey.

iFast Photography

2015-08-19T11:15:00.000-05:00

Many years ago when I was learning photography I learned about the "FAST" rule. The fast rule was pretty simple. It's an acronym for ...

F = focus

A = aperture

S = shutter

T = think

It was a pretty good tool for me to keep in mind back in the day. I should point out that in those days I, like many photographers, bought film with an ISO value. Some professionals carried multiple cameras with different ISO films in them so they were prepared for lighting changes. I was an amature photographer and on a budget so I did not have that luxury. I would select my film based on the conditions outside and hope they didn't change too much on me.

With DSLR photography life taking pictures is a whole different game. No manual advancing film to take your next shot, no loading film and a pluthera of automation. I try to remind myself of the "FAST" rule even today, but it was lacking something.

Thanks to Apple, there is an "i" this and an "i" that and suddenly one day it came to me, but not before I made an error taking pictures at the zoo. See, I forgot to adjust my ISO setting and ended up taking a number of photos at ISO 3200 outdoors on a bright and sunny day. My Bad! I was able to salvage the shoot, but I also learned something new.

In order for me to prepare better for my photo shoots and changing conditions I created my own new acronym, "iFast." Broken down iFast stands for ...

i = ISO

F = focus

a = aperture

s = shutter

t = think

Now I'm far from being an expert photographer, but I hope this helps me be a better photographer. I hope this helps you take better pictures as I hope it helps me. Feel free to share this with you photo friends!

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Lastly, here is a zoo photo I made an ISO error on.

Nikon D5300f/5.6ISO-3200300mmSo I made a mistake when I took this photo. I forgot to reduce my ISO setting. I made a couple attempts at correcting the image. Which image do you think is best?
Posted by TMSphotos on Monday, August 17, 2015

Seeing, Enjoying, Photographing and Sharing

2015-05-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

So recently I was at Cantigny Park and Gardens taking photos. There were several student groups there on field trips. I would guess they were from various middle schools.

Anyhow, one of the young girls said something to the effect that "I would rather be here to see the flowers instead of looking at a picture." Well, that got me to thinking. See, there isn't anything wrong with what the young girl said or her opinion.

Here's the way I see it for me ... I was there to see the flowers too and I saw a lot of the beauty in the various garden areas. I saw flowers like this ...

I was also able to enjoy it and the flowers surrounding it. In addition, I was able to capture the image, which sets a certain type of permanence to the image because it will never look that way again. Then I can also edit the image and create ...

This image. Granted it's not the same as the original, but I can create a new type of image that I can enjoy. From my point of view I got to see the flowers, enjoy the flowers, photograph the flowers and share the flowers. Not only am I sharing my images on this blog post, but I also share my images through other social media outlets.

Here are a few more images I was able to take and enjoy ...

So through my ventures I feel I accomplish what I have set out to do. But I must say, there are times that I do venture out without a camera and many times when I do that I regret it.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

The Photographers Position

2014-08-25T17:45:00.000-05:00

I love Summertime, especially when I get to spend time at the beach. Earlier this month I was at North Avenue Beach in Chicago with my son and daughter. They were doing their thing and I had my Nikon Coolpix P520.

The Nikon Coolpix P520 is considered a compact digital or point and shoot camera. It is not a DSLR but it has some pretty cool features that I have been learning to use. I truly enjoy the zoom capability of this camera. It's pretty awesome! But I digress.

Back to the beach. I brought along a folding chair so I could sit and enjoy the sun and the weather. I took a number of photos of my son and daughter but I started looking around. There were a number of families there enjoying the weather too. Then I spotted this dad who was running around trying to capture moments of his son playing in the sand. Here is what that looked like.

I'm not quite sure what he was doing with his camera but I was keeping an eye on the young guy with my camera at the ready. Then it happened ... and I captured this.

The minute I saw this shot in my camera I was pleased. For me it was a moment in time that just signifies the beauty of Summer and a young child enjoying the simple things that life has to offer.

So let's talk for a moment about the photographers position. For this shot I was sitting in a folding chair a distance away from the subject. With the zoom function on my camera I had now problem zooming in close on the subject. The beauty was my fortunate position and angle.

Photographing children many times requires to get down on the childs level in order to capture images like this. Children make great subjects since they are so curious about things we adults tend to take for granted.

So next time you are out taking pictures take some time to relax and enjoy your surroundings. But, be ready to capture that one moment in time that seems to say more than imagined.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

Snow Photography - Editing Fun

2013-03-06T11:46:00.000-06:00

We have had some snow around here recently and I can’t remember when I have had so much fun going out to photograph the scenery. The scenery created by a fresh fallen snow is art in and of itself. To capture it’s beauty is enjoyable, but there is more that can be accomplished. Let’s take a look at the photo taken.

I like the photo but I wonder what I can do by editing it. The first thing I did was to convert it to B&W and crop the image to 13x19 in order to remove the picnic table on the right side of the image.

Using Color Efex Pro 4 I created the following image.

This edit was created using the Standard High Key filter. To me, it’s an interesting effect.

Using Alien Skin Exposure 4 I created the next image.

This High Key - Glowing Skin effect is an image I like. Now I know that not everyone will like this type of edit and that’s quite alright. But I do like it and art is a matter of personal interpretation.

This next edit creates an effect of an image that was taken years ago.

This edit was made using Alien Skin Exposure 4 Vintage Daguerrotype Sepia Black Frame filter. After I created this image I then wondered what a what the High Key - Glowing Skin effect would look like with this filter, so I created it and made the following.

What I enjoyed about this whole process is getting out to see nature at a pristine moment in time and capture the beauty. What I enjoyed about editing the image was creating a whole new image to enjoy.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Travel Photography and Presentation Ideas

2013-01-04T15:37:00.003-06:00

I'm not proud of this particular photo but that's alright. This is about taking your travel pictures and presenting them to others. Go ahead, read on, certainly there is something you can learn or share.

This is the original photo I took of Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans. This is a scanned image from a negative taken in October of 2000. To be truthful, I don’t like this photo and while looking at it, I wonder why I took it at all.

For discussion purposes let’s assume I did not have much time to take a good photo and I wanted to have a photo of Cafe Du Monde. Let’s face it, it is probably on the list of places to visit for a traveler of New Orleans.

Looking at this photo though, there is a lot that I don’t like about it but let me edit it and see what I come up with.

Well, I’m not really pleased with this horizontal edit that much either. The guy on the left who is waiving or hailing for someone is distracting. Towards the middle is the person walking away and it’s a bit, well, it’s not really prize photo worthy.

This portrait framed image is a bit better though. I like that there is more attention to the building and the street lamp in this image. Is the image prize worthy? No. But in this edit, the image is not a total loss either. Let’s face it, compared to the original image, this edited image is much better.

Let’s think about travel photography a bit further though and how we share images. Before the internet and this digital age we are now living in, if we wanted to share our photos many of us had prints made and stored them in photo albums.

Today when we want to share images we post them to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. But we can do something more today than we did in years past.

We can search images on the internet and we can include them in our own story. For example, this artistic rendering is an image I like. With a quick and simple save as command I have the image on my pc and I can include it in a presentation.

Here is another image obtained from a search. This is a pretty good shot that was taken. Even though I did not take the shot it is still a shot that could be used in a personal presentation. In fact, if you are ever in New Orleans and want to photograph Cafe Du Monde you may want to consider walking around and getting that perfect picture for your presentation.

Here is another image obtained from my Google Search. I really like this image on many levels. For me though, it really brings out the feeling of New Orleans not just because of the history and popularity of Cafe Du Monde, but because it incorporates the music of New Orleans.

That same Google search also provided me with this image. Now even though this image is dated it shows a side and history of the building and how it’s changed from then to now. Take some time after reviewing these images to compare for yourself what has changed over time.

Now this image from a scanned postcard can really shed some light on the history and how things change. This was obtained from that same Google search and for me it’s an image I really like a lot. I learned years ago, when you travel, buy postcards and tour books of the areas you visit. And nowadays, purchase travel CD’s and/or DVD’s. If you want to create good travel presentations you’ll be able to do so with your images/video and the local tour info.

One more quick tip ... Get a pic of the coffee and Beignets. Also, most people that visit are will to take a photo of you or you and your family. Make your photo memories special!

This concludes my presentation for today. I hope that it has provided you with ideas for taking photos and creating your own travel presentation.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

There are Larger Images of this blog post on my Facebook Page, here is a direct link ...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.454122134642595.107856.162269090494569&type=1

Artistic Photo Edit of Sunset Coast Shoreline Oregon USA

2012-11-13T11:04:00.000-06:00

Recently I was looking around at Public Domain Photos and found one that captured my eyes. (Reference http://pixabay.com/en/sunset-coast-shoreline-oregon-usa-51574/ werner22brigitte)

At first glance I thought this would be a great image to run through my abstract photo art process so I gave it a shot.

I really didn't care for the results so I set it aside and slept on it.

When I woke up I still did not know what I wanted to do with this edit so I started playing around with my editing software. The following artistic images are the results of playing around with my software.

As a photographer I’m sure many would prefer focusing on the detail of the original image. I know I was looking at ways I may have made this a better photo had I taken it. But taking time to create a totally different and artistic image can be fun also.

If you have Sunrise or Sunset photos that you would like to see with an artistic edit send me a message and let’s discuss it further. I have worked with other photographers creating artistic edits before and it’s something I really enjoy doing.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Autumn Leaves After the Rain

2012-10-16T10:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was one of those days that I had an intent to go to the pumpkin farm to take photos. That quickly changed when my daughter needed to use my car. That's ok though, the morning brought me something to think about.

When I went out on the back deck yesterday morning there were a couple of leaves with water beaded on them from the overnight rain. I thought it would be a kewl photo so I took some pictures shooting straight down on them, the pictures were not as good as I thought they would be.

So as the sun was coming up I saw the leaves in a new light. I took several more images and the edited images came out better than I expected.

Sometimes as photographers we need to look at objects from different views to capture the images we really like. At other times, if time permits, we need natures light to help us out a bit more.

Lessons learned yesterday, I like to learn things and share my knowledge. One of the things I noticed recently is image sharpness. I had taken some photos recently and noticed that with certain lenses I was loosing some details. Keep in mind that there are times I shoot with my old manual lenses. I found that in my camera settings there is a setting that allows me to increase the sharpness. With the lenses I used today I know it helped.

When it comes to editing images I found a favorite of mine is Smart Photo editor. When cropping images I have found that it helps to de-noise the images, I use Topaz for that because of the control I have with it.

I know that there are some photographers that are not in favor of cropping an image and I can appreciate that. On the other hand, I have my reasons for doing specific crops and edits and it makes me happy.

In the long run, don't we all want to be happy with the images we share with others?

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

FACEBOOK PAGES - I'M ANGRY

2012-10-08T12:11:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure what is going on at Facebook these days and sometimes I wonder if they even care. See, right now, Facebook seems more concerned with their stock market status than its actual users.

I have a facebook page and I have had it for a while now. As a photography page user I tend to "Like" other photographers work. There are also other photographers that like my page. I'm pretty happy with that. What I am angry about is the fact that I can't see all of my photo friends postings anymore. When I am in my facebook page I used to be able to hit the home button and I could sort between "Most Recent" and "Top Stories." The "Most Recent" selection would show all posts from all of the pages I liked. It doesn't do that anymore and I don't know why.

Aggravating, it sure is! I can't express that enough.

Granted, all technology is in constant change, I can understand that. But when you can't see what others post whether it is a technical issue or an intentional issue then it must be corrected.

Imagine for a minute if Twitter decided what posts you could see from your friends. Would you be a little angry? I know I would.

Anyhow, facebook needs to take some sort of corrective action. If you anger us enough, we will look for options. They do exist. If we go elsewhere, facebook will loose revenue.

MICROSOFT SCAM ALERT!!!

2012-09-24T20:53:00.002-05:00

Just received an "Out of Area" phone call from a person who CLAIMED to be a "Microsoft Technical Support Representative." He told me that there was a trojan virus that he wanted to fix on my computer. I told him that he was scamming me.

I told him that my microsoft OS is not even registered with the phone number he called. He went on on on about how he knew my wife, me and my children along with my credit card number. I told him he was a SCAM and asked how many children I had.

He said he will email me a link, I said go ahead, what's my email address? He could not answer that. I told him if he was with microsoft that he would have my email address on file. I said again he was a SCAM! I asked him what version of Microsoft I am using. He couldn't answer that. I told him he was a SCAM again.

I got him all frustrated to the point that he told me he was going to infect my pc and render my computer useless. I told him to go ahead, I'll sit here and watch. He finally hung up on me.

P.S. He could not tell me how many children I have nor how many computers and laptops I am running microsoft on.

TMSphotos Photo Contest

2012-09-14T10:43:00.000-05:00

WIN A FREE ARTISTIC EDITED IMAGE

For me, this is not the typical photo contest. I am looking for entries that have the potential for artistic photo editing.

WINNERS receive High Quality artistic edited images of their submitted photo for FREE!

There will be TEN winners! TEN winners and you could be one of them!

Submit your photos to tmspicschi@gmail.com

Submit your photos NOW!

The contest rules are quite simple:

Image Size - 25 MB max due to the limitations of Google email services.

Image Resolution - High Resolution images are needed in order for me to run them through my photo editing process.

File Types - RAW, JPEG, PNG, TIFF (NOT EDITED)

LIMIT - Three entries per person

In return, I will not sell or distribute your original or my edited images.

I retain the right to use the images on my Blog, website or other social media websites in reduced files sizes crediting the photographer on the image.

I will not submit the original or edited image in any contests.

You could win a FREE ARTISTIC PHOTO EDIT !!!

This $60 value could be yours for FREE !!!

You must submit your images to WIN to tmspicschi@gmail.com

Here are a couple of examples of artistic edits …

Here is an original photo

Here is an artistic edited photo

ENTER NOW !!!

You must submit your images to WIN to tmspicschi@gmail.com

This $60 value could be yours for FREE !!!

ENTER NOW!!!

Expiration for entries is September 28, 2012

Additional Artistic Edit Samples can be seen on my Facebook Page

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=400156866705789&l=baa7d87abe

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=399035453484597&l=46f7b3163d

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.397399780314831.94996.162269090494569&type=1&l=b8e01174db

Why am I doing this?

I suffer from a brain injury and I do not have the abilities that I once had to travel and take photos. I am a veteran that has had the fortunate opportunity to travel half way around the world before I was 23 years old. I fell in love with photography and still love it to this day.

Now in my mid 50's I am unable to do what I once did so much. As part of my therapy I am trying to do new things. I have been blessed with the ability to make some very interesting artistic edits to photographs. I have been told that I have an eye for seeing things in an image that make a great image even better.

Now, I offer this opportunity to you. I have worked with a couple of photographers to date and I do this because of my love of photography and out of kindness. If you have any questions before you send me an image to edit you are welcome to contact me at tmspicschi@gmail.com

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

TMSphotos

2012 Revolutionary War Reenactment at Cantigny - Part 1

2012-09-10T13:05:00.000-05:00

Cantigny Gardens in Wheaton, Illinois has always been a favorite place for me to visit and take photographs. This past weekend they hosted the 2012 Revolutionary War Reenactment which is quite an event. The reenactment participants actually pitch tents and spend the weekend at the park doing their best to create an atmosphere of the Revolutionary War times.

I really had been looking forward to this event for a couple of reasons. One, it’s a great time to capture some great photographic images. Two, I have some new photo editing software I wanted to try out.

The participants of this event do an outstanding job of creating a scene of the events around 1776. As you walk through their campsite you get a real sense of authenticity in what is presented. Throughout the campsites you see campfires along with cookware used back in the day. It sure made me appreciate my kitchen. Below are a couple of images of a campfire with utensils.

I’ll discuss more about the photo edits later but for now, as we walked through the campsite you would see a variety of meats and poultry being cooked and turned on their spits for their meals, along with plenty of beans. Since the participants actually stay on grounds of Cantigny and live in their tents over the weekend they also prepare their own meals. Below is a photo that shows the types of items that may have been found being prepared during the time of the Revolutionary War.

Children and adults alike gathered around the cannons on display. There was all kinds of discussion about the armaments of the time and a wealth of information provided to visitors.

Ammunition during revolutionary war times was much different than that of today. In the images below this gentleman was demonstrating the melting and preparation of the lead and pouring the molten lead into molds. It was an interesting process to watch.

I’ve many more photos and story to tell but I will write about that later. I would like to talk a bit more about Cantigny Parks and Gardens. There are year round activities at Cantigny and there are things to do for the entire family. I encourage you to visit http://www.cantigny.org/ and when you are in the western Chicago suburbs plan a visit.

In regards to the photos and the edits I had recently obtained a product from Alien Skin software called Exposure 4. This editing software allows you to take your digital images and give them a variety of B&W or Color film effects. I know that there are a lot of free applications that do this type of editing but I enjoy the outcome of Exposure 4 the best.

Here is a video about one of the features of Exposure 4

Now we all pretty much know that photography did not exist during the revolutionary war but I wanted to give my images an older look with some impact. I chose to edit my images with the B&W - Vintage Calotype - Sepia (no grain or blur) filter. After showing my images to my family they said that they like how the edited images look authentic. I’m glad they like them and I hope you like them too.

There are many more images on my Facebook Page.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Candy Corn Photography

2012-09-07T11:11:00.001-05:00

I don't recall when, but at some point in time I purchased this Martini glass made of a thick green transparent glass. For some reason I think I used it for jelly beans. But for now I feel the Fall approaching and the Halloween candy is on display at the Walgreens drugstore.

One of the types of candy I used to get on Halloween was Candy Corn. I remember when I was really young, maybe around first grade, I used to bring my Halloween candy home and dump it into a big pile. Next, I would separate my "favorite" candy from the "ok candy" and from the "don't like" candy so I ended up with three piles of candy.

I would try to trade the candy I didn't like with my sister or classmates for stuff I wanted. I would become a bit persuasive about the deals I would make too. I would spruce up the deal by offering two or three of my "don't like" pieces of candy for one of my favorites. If the other person would hesitate the trade agreement I would remind them that they will end up with more candy not just one piece. It seemed that the trigger words "more candy" was pretty effective for me when it came to trading.

In my youth Candy Corn was not a favorite, it sat in the pile of "ok candy" for some time. When I got to eating from the "ok candy" pile it was at the time when all of my favorite candy was gone and my candy trading days were over. My pile of "ok candy" was all I had left to enjoy. It turned out that the "ok candy" was probably the most cherished and enjoyed candy at the time. See, there was not a whole bunch of candy left and I had to make it last until it was time for candy canes at the Christmas season.

Ah but I digress to my youth. While at the Walgreens today I bought a couple bags of Candy Corn. Tossing a couple pieces of Candy Corn in my mouth and enjoying the texture and flavor reminded me of Halloween in my youth. What candy takes you back to fond memories of your youth?

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Photography of Suspended Rain

2012-08-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

It was Sunday, August 26, 2012 and it was a bit of a rainy day. I stayed home and thought about what I could photograph. Initially I wanted to photograph something in HDR. I stepped outside and looked around. The heavy rain had stopped leaving sparse raindrops falling. Then I caught it out of the corner of my eye and it grabbed my attention. It was the drops of rain suspended in a spider web. I decided that this was to be the subject for my shoot.

The deck was wet so I decided I was not going to use I was not going to use a tripod. For this shoot I was going to hold the camera as low as possible, point at the spider web, let the camera do its autofocus and snap the picture. Without looking through the viewfinder and without using the live view of the camera I was shooting blind. I knew I would be using post processing to generate the image I wanted.

In total I took sixteen photos and did some quick edits. Here are some of the images taken edited but not cropped.

To me these are ok images and a bit unique. There was one image that stood out more than the others and here it is ...

I like this image for several reason. I like the green in the background that was captured from the wet grass. I like the effect of the wet deck boards. I like how it all comes together showing the detail in the spider web and the suspended rain in the web. It was an interesting effect.

In the last image I used Smart Photo Editor to get the detail and colors to pop quickly and easily. Smart Photo Editor is one of my favorite go to photo editing programs.

So what could be learned from this photo shoot. One, in certain instances you can rely on the capabilities of a DSLR to capture what can create an interesting image. Two, move the camera around the subject to capture various background effects. Three, you can shoot blind with practice.

I have another photo of of a spider web on my Facebook Page, here is a direct link to that image
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=396079003780242&l=3635327f04

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Cousins on the Beach - Photographic Edits

2012-08-10T13:46:00.000-05:00

Photo edit for today Friday 8/10/2012

This is the original image for today’s edit. I like what is going on in this image from the colors, to the subjects and to the sunset.

For this image I did a regular edit in Smart Photo Editor. I cropped it a bit and modified the colors. It gave the boys a bit of a silhouette effect and I was looking for that. It also darkened the clouds and water while increasing the effect of the sunset.

I modified the previous image a bit more and added an oil paint effect. Playing a bit more with editing I added a bit of realism to the oil paint effect and got this result. There is something about this edit that I really like.

For this next image I did a straight b&w conversion. I like the shades of gray and the results of the conversion.

Larger images are on my Facebook Page for better viewing.

Photo editing can have dramatic effects on images. It is always good to take great photos and camera effects can be pretty stunning also. Personally I like capturing images and editing them. It’s a bit more time consuming but I have almost endless editing options.

Take some time with your photography, get to know your photo effect options. Take time and learn what you can do with both camera and software photo effects. Before you know it, you may create something you truly enjoy sharing.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers.

You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Craft Fair Photography

2012-06-15T12:07:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went to the Wisconsin Dells for some rest, relaxation and fun. Little did we know that the Taste of the Wisconsin Dells was taking place during our trip but it was. I had my iPad with me so I went online to get a schedule of events. On Saturday and Sunday they had a craft fair going on too. First thing I thought of was to bring my camera.

As usual I took plenty of the typical family and tourist photos as we walked through town, but I was really looking forward to the craft fair on Saturday. When we got to the park there were tents set up all over, we did our typical stroll through and from time to time something would catch my eye.

When I saw this I thought of a slogan to go with it ...

Anytime is a good time for fishin'!

As we walked on I saw this ...

Now let me take a moment to explain something. I know that the people that create these crafts intend to sell their goods at a craft fair and do this with the intention of making some money with their talents. Before I just go taking pictures of items in their tents I politely ask them if I can take a picture.

When I took the image above I was asked why I want to take a picture. I told the kind lady that we have a number of wine corks in a collection at home and I would like to make something similar with my photography and she said I could take the photo.

Sometimes there are things that are just a little funny that strike my eye like the images below.

Continuing along there was a tent with these very well crafted butterflies. Again I asked if I could take a picture and the gentleman said yes you can. Next he thanked me for asking. I told him he was quite welcome, it's better to be kind and ask than to be rude and assuming.

Then there was the Nutman. People couldn't help but walk by and ask "How much are your nuts?"

Then I saw some more pictures to take that were slogan worthy.

Duck Duck Goose!

What are you lookin' at?

Really!!! You gotta take of picture of me doing THIS!

Come on now! GET OFF MY BACK WILL YA?

This was a good weekend for me when it comes to photography and ideas. So when you travel carry your camera. Now there were some shots that I took using an iPhone. Just doing a bit of knowledge research. Anyhow, it pays to be kind! Don't forget that. If someone says "No" respect that, be kind and move on.

From this venture I thought of a couple of crafts I might be interested in doing myself, not to sell but for my own enjoyment.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

Isle of Capri, Italy - Photograph to Art - Digital Editing

2012-05-25T11:05:00.000-05:00

Last month on my Facebook page I posted a photo, but before I display that image I want to take a moment to talk about digital editing. Technology these days is always changing, I don't need to tell many of you that what we buy today can be old technology in a week and sometimes less.

Many of us have watched digital photography just explode by leaps and bounds from cameras to software. Besides photography I really enjoy editing photos. I try find new software that is useful to me to make my images different.

Let's take a look at a photo I took many years ago while on the Isle of Capri in Italy.

This image was not taken with a high end camera. It was one of those compact digital cameras. While walking in this area of shops I saw this and thought to take a photo of it. I like the photo as is but I decided to play around with this image to see what I could create. So let's take a look at an edit I made of this image.

Compared to the original, this edit brought out a lot more in the image. I thought to myself that it looked pretty good and I posted this to my Facebook page.

Recently I found a different software that makes photographs artsy. My Grandfather was a magnificent artist. I did not catch that skill in the passing of the genes. What I did get was his ability to photograph and his skills in architecture and engineering drafting.

I have always wanted to learn to take an image like this and create a painting. Well, I simply don't have the time. Nor do I have the talent or patients to create my own art. Thanks to technology though I was able to take the image above and create the following artistic versions.

These images gave me an idea of what an artist could do with my photo. The great thing is that I don't need to be an artist to create these.

The next thing I did was played with the contrast and black levels of the image to create the next image.

Then I brought this image into the software I am testing. The next few images are what I was able to create.

I like how simple editing can change the whole effect of the artistic rendering. To me, this adds to the my ability to enjoy my photography in a whole new light. Who knows, someone might be interested in purchasing this stuff down the road.

I encourage you to take time to experiment with various photo editing software from time to time. You may stumble upon something you will really enjoy.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

See my work for sale at http://tms-photos.artistwebsites.com/

Bird In The Rain Photo - Self Critique

2012-04-11T10:43:00.000-05:00

According to my notes, I took this photo of a bird in the rain in August of 2008. The original photo, in my opinion, was not that good of a photo. For some reason, at the time that I took the photo, I must have found something interesting about it. Let's take a look at the original image.

My first thought at looking at this is that it lacks detail, color and vibrance. Again that is my opinion. Others that have seen the image did not provide any real positive comments, and that's alright with me.

After taking some time to think about this photo a bit more I think it could have looked a lot better if the image captured the total reflection of the bird in the water puddle it was standing in. Also, I noticed that I cut off a portion of the birds tail.

One more thing to keep in mind is that this image was not taken with a DSLR, it was taken with a compact digital camera that was not of a high quality.

What I did with this image made it better. Using a photo editing software called Smart Photo Editor, I applied four different filters to create this ...

I really like the colors and effect that I was able to create so quickly and easily. It is in this image that I really could see how the image could have been so much better if I had captured the birds reflection and the complete tail.

The point I want to make is to really think about what you are looking at when you compose a picture. Photo editing can only do so much but the final image is the result of what the photographer sees and captures. More importantly, it is what the photographer thinks about capturing and takes that picture.

All was not lost though, I used this image with the Instagram application and here is the results of that ...

All things considered I like the results of this image.

On another note, take time to consider what images you delete. I have made it a point to keep all of my photos and backing them up on multiple external drives. You never know, you may be able to make them better than you think.

The programs and links used for this article were ...
Smart Photo Editor http://www.smartphotoeditor.com/
Instagram http://instagr.am/
PhotoScape (for batch resizing) http://www.photoscape.org

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

See my work for sale at http://tms-photos.artistwebsites.com/

Photo Editing with Smart Photo Editor and More

2012-03-24T14:14:00.002-05:00

I've been having too much fun lately. I have this photo editing software called Smart Photo Editor (link provided at the end of this article) and it is by far the easiest and quickest way to edit your digital images.

I have written articles about this before and I have several images on my Facebook page that have gone through Smart Photo Editor processing. Today I want to take an image and run it through some quick edits. I'll get started right away with an image I took in 2011, let's take a look at it ...

Here is what I like about the image. It is an image of a blooming flower and it has rain drops on it. Other than that, the color isn't that great and the background of the image isn't that good either. So I would like to improve the image and potentially crop it.

So the first thing I did was to open the image in Smart Photo Editor and did some manual adjustments using the Brightness Contrast etc. features. Here is the outcome ...

I like the results already. The edits are typical of what you might find with Photoshop or other photo editing software.

Now Smart Photo Editor has a lot of filters and effects, many of them I use over and over again and are stored in the "Favorite Effects" list. Today I decided to take a look at other filters that I have not used as frequently. I came across the "Hue saturation and contrast filter" and here is the outcome of using that filter ...

Now the filters have sliders in them that allow you to tweak the filter to your liking but I liked the results of the default filter and saved the image as is.

So then I wondered what the image would look like if I applied a couple of my favorite filters. So let's take a look ...

Again, I am really pleased with the results. In this image I used the default settings of the "Hue saturation and contrast filter" and the "Hyper-real filter" and I think I like it.

Now when it comes to editing images there is a lot of personal preference. In other words, what I may really like others may say that's too much, or that's not enough, or you should do this. I am all well and good with that. But the beauty of art to the eye is in the eye of the beholder. On the other hand, if I was working with a client I would want to know what pleases them and work to satisfy their needs.

Now so far I have shown you some really simple things to do with Smart Photo Editor, but you may be wondering how long did it take to do all this. Well first let me say that I take time during my editing to take notes of the edits I do to images so I have reference for the future. The edits themselves are quick. I spent 25 minutes this morning selecting the filters for editing the image and taking notes on the edits made to the image. Without note taking and filter selection time the editing was done in moments.

Than I decided to use it on Instagram (from my iPad) and here are the results of that ...

Next I used my Poladroid application to make a Polaroid version of the image and here is the result ...

I like the "Poladroid" application because it provides that old fashioned polaroid effect and I can use photoshop to add text in the white space on the bottom like we used to do back in the day with a pen.

So from one simple image that was not all that good in the beginning I was able to make some pretty good images that I can enjoy for a long time.

The programs and links used for this article were ...
Smart Photo Editor http://www.smartphotoeditor.com/
Instagram http://instagr.am/
Poladroid http://www.poladroid.net/
PhotoScape (for batch resizing) http://www.photoscape.org

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

See my work for sale at http://tms-photos.artistwebsites.com/

Project Wide Open Where Old Tech meets New Tech

2012-03-09T08:46:00.002-06:00

This project was inspired by Jared Polin of FroKnowsPhoto.com who recently had a project called "Wide Open." The purpose was for photographers to take pictures of their subjects with the f/stop wide open. So thanks to Jared Polin for the inspiration and thanks to Cantigny Parks and gardens for hosting a tour of their greenhouse.

In this, my project, I added a twist of old technology meets new technology. In other words, I used my old manual 50mm lens from my Pentax K1000 on my Pentax K7 DSLR body. My 50mm lens has a close focus at 17.7 in and at wide open the f/stop is set at f/2.

While on the tour at the greenhouse I physically moved the camera until the subject was in focus in order to take the pictures below ...

Now the image above is cropped and I liked the outcome. The image could have been a bit more in focus if I closed down a stop or two on the lens, but that was not the purpose of this project.

This image (above) was not cropped and is not a spectacular photo but it is an example of the specific focus capabilities of a wide open lens at close focus.

I like what is going on in the in the image above in regards to all of the background colors. Again, due to the limitations of this specific project, the fern tips are not all in focus. This could have been corrected by closing down on the f/stop but it is worth noting that the background effects would change also.

In the image above there is a lot of color and background color melding going on. This is my favorite image from this project.

Spring is in the air even though it is only March here in the Chicagoland area. Take some time to get out and capture the beauty that is around and share it with your family and friends. Also take some time to explore your aperture. With all of the flower beauty and plant life you may capture a spectacular image.

For all of us in the U.S. the clocks spring ahead this weekend. Not sure that I am ready for that but I guess I'll have to deal with it.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

"LIKE" my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

See my work for sale at http://tms-photos.artistwebsites.com/

Facebook Page Marathon

2012-03-02T10:36:00.000-06:00

Today I want to do something different because I am different and I love photography. I will be the first to admit I am not the best photographer but I will also admit that I have plenty of friends and family that have loved my pictures over the years. That is the most important part, being able to share my photography and you getting to enjoy it.

This is not all about me, it's about all of us who enjoy what we do and being able to share that with others. With that in mind, I would love to connect with as many photographers as possible with the various forms of social media, and this means you too.

In my blog I write about a variety of photography topics. I don't write as often as I would like but that is due to a disability and I am working on getting better. In simple words, I have good days and bad days but I still keep trying.

So today I decided to have a "Facebook Page Marathon" and it needs you to participate. Here's my thought. Below, I will have a link to my Facebook Page, all I ask is that you "Like" my page. In return, I ask that you provide me with a link to your facebook page, if you have one. You can do that via Twitter or in a comment at the end of this posting. That's pretty simple isn't it? I hope so.

In return, you will see the work that I have done and ideas about photography that may help you or your friends take better pictures. I am still learning more and more about photography and I hope to continue doing so by all of us sharing with each other.

I look forward to meeting more of you during this adventure.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

My Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

See my work for sale at http://tms-photos.artistwebsites.com/

Cantigny Winter Wonderland Photography

2012-02-25T17:07:00.000-06:00

As I write this I reflect on yesterday, Friday, February 24, 2012. What a day it was here in the Chicago Suburbs, specifically at Cantigny Park and Gardens in Wheaton, IL. The ground and trees were painted by a magnificent layer of snow that was a dream for me. I kept hoping for that perfect snowfall to go out and capture photos but it just had not happened until yesterday.

Besides the snowfall, this is my second photo project where I am shooting in RAW format. I should have been doing this for quite a while but we do learn from our mistakes and move on. I know I will be shooting in RAW all of the time going forward.

My camera for this trip is a Pentax K-7 with a standard 18-55 zoom lens ISO 100. I was ready for the day.

The images posted below went through a couple, few rounds of edits. Since I don’t have Adobe Lightroom (yet) I used Photoshop Elements and tweaked them. Each image will be followed by edits using Smart Photo Editor using multiple filters. I like the effects created so far. I feel I could have made them even more interesting if I spent more time on them, but I just don’t have that kind of time today. So let’s get started with the image presentations.

It was great to get out and take these scenic snow photos and just as much fun editing them. I must confess, I was a little disappointed with the lack of snowfall here in Chicago this season. I'll tell you this though, yesterday made up for it.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

My Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

See my work for sale at http://tms-photos.artistwebsites.com/

Bedroom Window Snow

2012-02-17T12:09:00.001-06:00

To be honest, there has not been a very good snow season this year for me and photography. I have taken some snow scene photos but it has not really been what I was looking for. With that in mind I decided to go through some of my older snow photos to see what I had done before. The image below was taken on 2/6/2008 according to the image properties.

It seems I set up this shot looking out the bedroom window. Looking at this image today, I like it. This is the type of image I was hoping to get this year so I could use my DSLR to take a pic. Since I did not have that opportunity this year I decided to play with this image with Smart Photo Editor. Below are the results.

So even though I did not get to use my DSLR as much as I wanted to for snow scenes this year, I was able to have some fun editing this and sharing these with you.

Enjoy Life, Take Pictures!

BTW ... On Twitter I am @TMSphotos ... I am always willing to connect with photographers. You are also welcome to follow my Blog here. I try to share knowledge, information and experience of my photography.

My Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/TMSphotographyChicago

See my work for sale at http://tms-photos.artistwebsites.com/