Favorites Part Twenty

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3155/2705908517_e07eda6250_b.jpg)

This was one of the first pictures I had taken after being back from Hawaii back in July. I was in a bit of a funk because I wasn't finding Central Illinois to be as interesting to photograph. Mandy and I decided to go check out the West-Newell boardwalk with our dog and I figured I'd take my camera and see if it would put me back in the mood.

Good thing I did! It totally got me back into the frenzy and I ended up taking a ton around Danville during the rest of the summer. Sometimes it can be hard to appreciate what surrounds you as being unique or interesting, but you have to realize that what surrounds you is absent from people in other parts of the world... thus making it interesting for them to see. I.E. people that live on the beach dream of going to the mountains.

This was another one of the first photos where I touched the contrast slider. The wood was pretty boring to begin with, but a little extra contrast really brought out the detail in it. Looks like I went a bit crazy with the green in this, but oh well.. I was still new to editing. :-)

Favorites Part Nineteen

I took this when I was at a graveyard near Danville Gardens. This was one of the first times I achieved an effect I was surprised and happy with in post production. The glass in plain view is very grey and ordinary, but I cranked the exposure on this way up while playing around with it and was amazed at the colors that appeared.

It was kind of a stepping stone for me in that it encouraged me to try different things in post... which might be good or bad, depending on who you ask, haha.

Fun

Last night I had a photoshoot with Carly Delzell which was really fun. It took a bit longer than I figured it would (took about 4 hours from set up to tear down) but it was quite worth it since I think we took some cool pictures.

I don't know if I chose the best mix of pictures to take as far as marketing purposes go (bloody toilets probably don't encourage people to get senior portraits taken by me), but it's no fun if I can't try out a few different things once in a while. We got a couple of cute pictures inbetween the crazy ones. :-)

Favorites Part Eighteen

I took this one in the summer while at Mandy's parent's pool. She was wearing a yellow swimsuit, the ball is yellow. I think having them both be yellow is one of the main reasons I like this a lot, the colors fit.

This was also around the first time I started messing with the contrast slider in Lightroom, which over the last few months has become my best friend. The photo has a pretty decent crop on it- I cut out the lower half because there was just a cute stomach and no yellow, and I didn't really think it was relevent.

Overall, this is one of the happier looking pictures I've taken. I think it's good to have a range of styles and emotions in photography... while it is fine to focus on a certain niche, you should always try a few different things now and then.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotomy/2710651284/sizes/o/in/set-72157606668759786/)

Favorites Part Seventeen

Woohoo, done with Atlantic City! Talking about so many photos taken in the same place is so boring.

This next one was taken around Danville, IL. If you go down West Williams street, heading towards Henning Road, the street turns into Hungry Hollow Road once you go around the corner. Go another couple hundred feet and you find the Hungry Hollow Bridge! Newly built in 2007, it's a pretty nice bridge.

I originally planned to take photos of it at night, because I thought there were some spotlights on it. So I go there with Mandy one night, and there was absolutely no light! I threw in the towel for that night, and a few days later I went back around 4-5 PM, near sunset.

I parked a few hundred feet from the bridge and got a few pictures of it while walking towards it, but I decided that I didn't really like any of them that much, and I wanted to get some water in the picture. So I walked down the banks and headed West along the Vermillion river (I think). Actually I have no clue what river it is, either the Vermillion or the Middle Fork.

Anyways, I found this nice spot and took a few pictures from this angle. I was able to edit out all the power lines in photoshop, so it gives it a much cleaner picture. This is one of my favorite pictures I have taken in the Danville area. I just love the brightness of it as well as the reflection in the water.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotomy/2716197130/sizes/l/in/set-72157606668759786/)

Favorites Part Sixteen

Here is another Atlantic City photo that I took indoors. There was a miniature watershow going on, and I took a few different photos of it. I cropped this to give it a panoramic view, though it is really just one image. Later on I edited out that bit of pink in the top right corner.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotomy/2733965357/sizes/l/in/set-72157606668759786/)

Favorites Part Sixteen

Number sixteen was another picture taken in Atlantic City. This one is a bit more abstract than all the others though.

Chad and I were walking through an Addidas or Puma store, I forget which, and I saw this pink and white purse that I thought looked just amazing (I was drunk). So I snapped a picture of it. Later on, I did like the lines and the pattern on the leather, plus the texture of it all. I fired up lightroom, edited the colors to be something less girly and gave it a tighter crop. Most of my photography is not abstract, but I figure one here and there won't hurt any.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/myotomy/2734796816/sizes/l/in/set-72157606668759786/)