This is a portrait of my daughter playing in the sandbox this afternoon. She really wanted a photo of the green bucket. This photo was taken around mid-day, with the sun to the camera left and behind her head. We were under a patio cover, so there was some shade directly over us, but still quite bright to the left.
Here’s the image as Aperture processed the RAW file out of the camera:

ISO 1000 f/ 5.6 t 1/640 One of these day’s i’ll remember to adjust the ISO when I go outside!

Not bad, but there is some wash out from the bright sun. This is where I really wish I was in the habit of using the lens hood, I believe it would have helped here, but i’m not sure. So here are the edits applied in Aperture(Mac App Link):

Crop: removed a bit from the top and the right hand side
Enhance: Contrast(0.03), Vibrancy(0.03)
Levels: Auto Levels(luminance)

Those edits leave use with this image:

Which is much better, but I think it can still improve some, so into Perfect Photo Studio we go!

This is a screen grab from a first stop into Perfect Portrait:

And then a very subtle effect from the Portrait Color Boost Effect:

Here are some before and after thumbs:

A fun portrait improved in post processing.

The rest of the 343 images in my picture a day project can be found at:  my Smugmug page

On a recent trip to Disneyland I sat outside the window as the confectioners were making Mickey and Minnie Candy Apples. The process fascinated me enough to want to try it. So I started the process today, by coating the apples with a layer of caramel. I also grabbed a few photos along the way. This image was my daily photo #343/365, posted on 12-09-2011. I’ve also made all images clickable to larger versions.

Two Thumbs before and after:

I didn’t think this image needed a lot of processing, buy I decided to see if I could improve it a bit, here’s the Original:

ISO 1000 f/2.8 t 1/50

Here’s the Screen grab of my edits in Aperture:

Adjustments as follows:

White balance: Temp(3950.65), Tint(4.00)
Enhance: Contrast(0.40), Vibrancy(0.20)
Levels: Auto Levels(luminance)
Edge Sharpen: Intensity (0.54), Edges(0.22), Falloff(0.69)
Vignette: Gamma, Intesity(0.64), Radius(0.65)

Not much really, some minor level adjustments and a few other tweaks gives us this image:

I think it’s better, but I wanted to see what I could do with some cool tools from Perfect Photo Suite from OnOne Software, so I opened this image in Perfect Photo Suite

and jumped into the Effects pane and clicked on the “color and tone” set of filters and used Auto Fix, I then create a new layer and went back to the effects pane and selected the “textures” set of filters and used the fibers filter and adjusted the opacity to 20%. Here’s a screen shot from Perfect Photos studio:

Which provides the final image:

I’ve never been a huge texture fan, but I think this works, I like what it did to the background.

The Christmas season provides unique items to photograph. The snowball lights that are in the foreground seem like a fun light source, so far I’m not satisfied with my results so far…. There was lot of light wash from other lights around, so i’m sure that’ didn’t help. When the white balance goes crazy I move towards thinking about sepia and B&W conversion, which is what I decided to do here.

Here’s the initial raw file:

ISO 1000 F/2.8 1/20 .33ev

Initial edits:
White Balance: Temperature (3148.59)
Enhance: Contrast(0.06), Saturation(1.07)
Sharpen: Default(i’m not exactly sure what default is, I’ll try and remember next time)
Vignette: Gamma,Intensity(0.60), Radius (0.50)

Here’s file after initial edits:

So I decided to see what some effects in Perfect Photo Suite would do

I chose a Warm Gray Violet Effect added to a new layer at 80%. For some reason I’m stuck on 80% opacity lately, I find
the hint of color interesting I suppose.

Here’s the final image:

Yesterday was Monday and a busy one at that… Long day at work and my son’s Christmas program at school led to little time for photography. This image was a bit of a scramble for day #339 of 365 in my year long project. I found this Lantern that holds a candle if one wishes, ours doesn’t have a candle btw. This was taken on our dining room table lit from the chandelier above that added a yellow cast to the image. So let’s look at the process.

Before and after thumbs:

Here’s the original raw image as displayed in Aperture before edits:

ISO 1600 F/2.8 1/50

Here are a screen grab of the edits applied in Aperture:

White Balance adjustment: to 2850K
Levels: Auto Levels(Luminance)
Sharpen: Intensity(.61), Radius(1.82)
Vignette: Gamma, Intensity(0.61), Radius(1.51)

This is how the image looks after those edits:

At this point I opened the image up in Picture Photo Suite from OnOne Software:

Using the Effects pane in the Suite I added a High Key B&W filter at 80% and clicked apply.

Here is the final photo:

Fairly simple edit that makes a difference.

I am a fan of photography. I love the creation of art. Looking at an object and thinking can this look interesting in a photograph? I also like tweaking poorly exposed images and seeing if something can be made of nothing. I’m not an expert, but I have lots of tools that I have fun with. I don’t use Photoshop, as I didn’t upgrade in time to keep the lower priced upgrades and I didn’t want to spend full price on the package when I already had tools that work for me. I primarily use Aperture from Apple, I’ve dabbled in Adobe Lightroom. In my mind it’s a Canon vs Nikon discussion. They are tools, use what works for you. Right now, I like the way the tools are laid out in Aperture and the way it interfaces with plug ins from Nik software and On One software. The two add ons I use most, they will work with Lightroom and Photoshop as well. So here’s my first post of my post processing flow.

ISO 1000 70mm 1ev f/10 1/800
Overexposed and washed out… but since i was in the middle of the highway, no time to fiddle!

Here are my initial adjustments to the RAW file in Aperture:

Straighten: -.45
Enhance: Saturation (1.05); Vibrance(0.20)
Manual Level adjustment on the left side of the histogram.

With a little tweaks the image looks a lot better. For fun I wanted to see what some filters from On One’s Perfect Picture Studio would do.

I chose the Radiance Glow filter in the Effects tab and then adjusted the effects layer opacity to 80% which provided a final image below:

I’m pretty sure I could have achieved the same result, bumping up the saturation and vibrance in Aperture without using a filter from OnOne’s Picture Perfect, but I find it a bit faster and useful to find what I want using the filter interface. I think it’s a bit more interesting now.

I’ve been an Amazon Prime customer for a few years now and have enjoyed free 2 day shipping. For awhile now all of my Prime orders have been upgraded to one day shipping, but the past few book orders that I’ve placed they have arrived the same day. I’m not sure if this is because i’m lucky to live near a distribution center or if Amazon is slowly building out their distribution infrastructure to allow for this kind of service. It’s incredible to order a book at 10am and have it at your door step at 5:30pm. The savings in shipping fees alone have more than covered the $79 annual fee.

If you’re looking for a unique Christmas gift for someone that frequently buys items online or listens to music and streams movies Amazon Prime might be a gift worth considering.
Anyone else getting same day service from Amazon.com?

So, I have come to realize that taking videos and photos of model railroads is a learning process. Our layout is tucked into room with a slanted ceiling, kind of like an attic. Therefore it takes a billy goat to get around. Which means find spots to hold a camera is difficult at best. I’m on the hunt for a good tripod for the iPhone 4s so see if that helps.

Of course I could get a camera dedicated to video, but what fun would that be! What’s great about the iPhone 4s is, iMovie on the iPhone. I can shoot some clips, edit on the phone, save to the Camera Roll from iMovie and then upload in HD(ok it’s only 720P, but who’s counting anyways) to YouTube. Which I can then post here. Which means I can do it from anywhere! Sure would be great to be able to figure out how to export directly from the iMovie app to my YouTube account. If one figures that out I’d love to hear what the fix is.

The Sandquist Railway is a two level O Gauge layout that includes a helix with 081 and 090 radiuses, that takes the trains between the two levels.

We are modeling the end of the Steam engine and the beginning of the Diesel era. Think 1955 or so.
We are roughly modeling the Western Pacific railway from the middle of California to the middle of Colorado, passing through the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The Mountain that covers the helix is over 8’ tall!

We are using Atlas O track and with 56 switches.
Switches are controlled by Z-stuff for Trains DZ-2500 switch machines
Powered by Lionel Legacy control.
Accessories include:

• Gantry Crane
• Cattle car and loader
• Saw mill
• Atlas O Roundhouse kid(http://www.atlaso.com/oroundhouse.htm)
• Crossing guards and Signals from MTH, Lionel and Atlas O controlled by sensors by Z-Stuff for Trains

A video clip of 31 photos from the month of October 2011 as a video slideshow.