Explorations In Learning » Photography

Light Painting

Magan — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:37:16 +0000

This photographic technique is pretty easy to do. Set your camera to a low ISO and slow shutter speed. Make sure your camera’s on a tripod or something steady, and pick up a light source such as a flash light, which is what I used. I know that my focus is way off as evidenced by my blurry portrait, but at least the light part came out well.

This one almost looks the previous one, right? But I created this in Photoshop going off of Fabio’s tutorial. I didn’t follow it directly; instead of using the pen tool, I just straight up used the brush tool with specified settings. Actually, I’m not fond of how it came out since it doesn’t look that realistic to me. I probably should’ve added a very soft glow to it.

Dolphins, Sharks, and Travel Photos

Magan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:40:45 +0000

Saturday: After watching Planet Earth, Jungles, we watched the Shallow Waters edition. The Planet Earth videos are seriously awesome! One of my cousins said that you can tell a shark from a dolphin by its tail. I never really thought about it, but it’s true; sharks swim side to side, and dolphins swim up and down (look at their tails to see the difference). Here’s a drawing I Googled.

Sunday: I discovered something about myself (and others, too, perhaps?) that I never really noticed before, and it’s not something I like, so I’m not going to share. Ha!

Today: Take travel photos like a pro! I’m in a library right now, so as soon as I get the chance, I’ll test this out. I definitely need to improve my [limited] photography skills and pretend that I’m a tourist. No one needs to know…

Creating HDR Photos

Magan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:07:43 +0000

Follow Ryan McGinnis’ tutorial here.

After yesterday’s sprinkle, today’s Texas heat combined with the humidity made it especially unbearable to shoot outside, but I wanted to see if I could create the HDR look with photos of the backyard. Mine isn’t spectacular but it must have been because I shot a poor photo in the bright sunshine. Also, I couldn’t find my tripod, and my shaky hand definitely shows in the sky.

Show me you can do better than this. Please.