What is normal?

I will find a location and shoot maybe 5 to 20 shots of a single item. Sometimes a little more. Mostly due to limited time or access. I then get home and hate every shot. Either my framing sucks or my focus is total crap. It's a horrible feeling. I usually try to fix my mistakes in aperture and hope for the best.

I read some photographers take 2000 shots of a single subject. That makes me feel a lot better. If it takes a pro 2000 shots, then how can I get something great with only 10? Luck maybe?

Then comes the question, is it ok to manufacture the sky? Import it from an unrelated image. Is it ok to remove an electric tower from the landscape? Add a person or two? Maybe. I prefer to share a realistic vision of the subject rather then create "art" that didn't exist.

HDR or just Tonemaped?

Tonemapped

Someone asked me recently if the above image was an HDR image or just tonemapped. Sometimes it really is hard to tell. First to answer the question, the above image was tonemapped with the Photomatix Plugin for Aperture. I also used a circular polarizer when I shot the image.

Unedited version of the above image

Tonemapping is a pretty dangerous form of editing. You can easily go way too far and make an image look like a cartoon. For sure it is all about personal taste and I know some people really hate it. I enjoy how it can bring out the clouds and bring out detail in grass and trails.  I try pretty hard to find a good place that allows things to be bright but still realistic.  When it comes to urban exploration images, I really enjoy heavily tonemapped colors.

True HDR Image of Mt. Diablo

The above image was created using a true HDR process. 3 bracketed images were combined and then tonemapped in Photomatix.

Marsh Creek hillside

I took this HDR image a few days ago while driving through Brentwood. I have probably past this location 20 or 30 times and had never even noticed the rocks on the hill let alone the trees.  But I had pulled into a small side road to take a photo of the nearby ranch and saw the perfect hill for a picture.

This photo was featured this week by The Digital Visual.

HDR image shot from a tripod and a Marumi Circular Polarizer. Tamron Ultra Wide angle lens. Edited and in Aperture on the Mac.

Hello World

I guess this is my first post to this new blog.

About me. I work for an East Bay software company and in my free time I am a landscape photographer with a little urban exploration thrown in.  Most of my photos are taken in in East Bay parks or on the back roads.

I currently shoot with a Nikon D5100 and mostly use a Tamron Ultra Wide Angle lens.  Photos are usually edited with Aperture on the Mac.

I have been shooting photos since high school but only really got serious about a year go with I picked up the Nikon.  I am still learning and building my skills. I once read a quote that your first 10,000 photos are crap. I am just over 5000 on this camera at the time of this writing. I will let you be the judge.

Your feedback and comments are always appreciated.