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365-206 Stranger in a strange land

DGuidas — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 02:04:37 +0000

So I am working out of town for a few more days and I’m having a tough time with my photography. I don’t know what it is but I’m not really happy with the direction it has been going the last few days (weeks?). I thought it would help being in a different city but so far it has been a little difficult. Of course my shooting time has been limited to the end of the day. So I feel the pressure to get a shot in and most likely just “shoot something” to at least get a photo in for the day. Plus, the city I am in isn’t that large but I find it tough to get around in, especially while trying to look for photo opportunities at the same time. I know I just need to relax, learn about the area, take my time and look around, and then just focus on the type of shots I want to do. So hang in there and I’ll try to turn this rig around. Pentax K20D, DA 17-70.

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Look into Darkness

365-205 Still in B&W

DGuidas — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:46:44 +0000

The past few days I have been liking the black and white versions of my 365 photos better than the color. I try to like color in most of my shots but if the color isn’t really a main component to the image, I feel that black and white enhances the elements of the photo better, especially when it comes to urban shooting. Black and white just seems to work better in urban environments. Maybe because it’s all about texture and form and shadows more often than catchy colors. Whatever the reason, I don’t easily rule out color. For instance, the pink mailbox and the green ’57 Chevy in my photos from a few days ago. The mailbox HAD to stay in color and although the Chevy shot may have worked in black and white, I felt the green added to the image. So, there you go……I have no idea what I am talking about. Pentax K20D, DA 17-70.

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Lookin’ For Adventure

365-204 A humanoid day

DGuidas — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 04:18:28 +0000

So I was driving through town and spotted yet another protest dummy sitting on a wall. This time at the local newspaper office. I shot a portion of a dummy before (365-164) at another location but I couldn’t figure out what the purpose was. Well today I discovered, from what I read on the dummy, it is an anti smoking demonstration. I took a few closeups but I liked wider shot showing the juxtaposition with the street. I think it looks a little odd just sitting there off to the side. And speaking of odd, at that very newspaper office there is a newspaper vending box out front that has arms sticking out of it. I thought that would be a nice complment to the dummy shot. Both with Pentax K20D, DA 17-70.

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Paper Man

365-200 One mans treasure

DGuidas — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:29:07 +0000

Whoa..200th photo! Although my 365 project is pushing me to new heights (and lows), I really can’t wait until it’s over, at least from my blog perspective. I feel like I am punishing my subscribers with daily emails about my posts of questionable interest. Next year I will only post on occasion when I have a nice selection of very good photos. So the quality should improve as the quantity goes down. But that’s next year. For now, fittingly, we have a photo of junk.

This is basically the only photo I took today. I was meeting with a new (but temporary) employer whose office is in an older urban area. The area is a playground of old crap to take photos of but I didn’t really have the time. I shall explore there again in the future. I spotted this yard of junk as I was leaving town and thought it was interesting. this is as wide of a shot I could get because I shot through an opening in the fence. The sign at this establishment said that theuy buy and sell anything. It looks like it.

Pentax K20D, DA 17-70mm

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Just Junk

365-198 A Volvo P1800E

DGuidas — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:42:14 +0000

It’s still the weekend so I’ll just focus on one subject today. I spotted an old Volvo P1800 in a dealers lot the other day and today I thought I would try to get a few shots of it. I just stuck with my DA 17-70 lens with a polarizer on my Pentax K20D and walked around the car. I focused on details instead of overall shots, as usual. I ended up liking the shot of the interior through the glass the best for my 365 shot. I went with a funky color cast using Nik Color Efex on that shot. I used Nik on the other shots also, trying different styles. Again, I’m just experimenting with the plugin, so my photos should get back to normal after the trial runs out. I think when you have a series of photos of the same subject you are supposed to keep a consistent look between them. Oops!

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Volvo P1800 Interior

365-196 Why I am not a landscape photographer

DGuidas — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:11:46 +0000

I didn’t get around to taking any photos until late tonight because I didn’t have a camera with me while I was out earlier. Since it was near dark when I went to get a shot I thought an evening sky reflecting in the lake would be nice for a change. There were enough clouds in the sky to make it somewhat interesting but by the time the light got right the clouds were almost gone. So a basically clear sky doesn’t make for a very nice reflection. I added a pop of fill flash on the grasses to attempt to jazz the photo a little but obviously that didn’t help it much either. Oh well, I’ll leave these types of photos to Peter Lik and I’ll stick with pictures of old crap. Pentax K20D, DA17-70.

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Dusk at the Lake

365-194 All seriousness aside

DGuidas — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:45:12 +0000

Normally I don’t like to take the “I ate this” type of food shots for my 365, but there’s always an exception. Who can resist a cool creamy treat on a summer day? This is a banana ice with vanilla custard from Rita’s. Photo shot with Pentax K20D and DA17-70. I took this wide open at f4.0 to show how well this lens performs in such situations.

But to make up for this typical 365 photo I’ll throw in a few shots around an old building in town. These are more my speed. All taken with my Super-Takumar 50mm. As I mentioned the other day, I am still trying out Nik Color Efex so I used that for processing these shots, with the exception of the b&w leaves which were done with Nik Silver Efex.

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Gelati

And now for MY normal stuff:

365-191 Hangin' at the courthouse

DGuidas — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:03:45 +0000

Well I wasn’t really hanging out (although there are some questionable characters who do) but just stopped by for a few photos. Sundays are a nice time to check out some of the architecture around the downtown area because there are few people milling about. I thought I would go onto the steps of the courthouse and get a different view of things since I’m not usually up there for any reason (I think that’s a good thing). I saw the whiskey tax sign and thought it would make a good shot because it seems odd. It’s probably for some type of re-enactment because I don’t think folks are actually concerned about taxes on whiskey. I took a few other shots in the general area while;e I was there. The hotel in the last shot is the George Washington Hotel which once housed presidents and the Beatles, according to legend. Pentax K20D, DA17-70, DA55-300, polarizer.

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Daily Shot

365-188 Tres

DGuidas — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 04:29:28 +0000

OK, it is my third day of camera movement/slow shutter experiment photos. OK, so I’m not getting any better at it. OK, I’ll stop……eventually. I’ll try not to go there tomorrow but I can’t guarantee it! If a normal shot comes my way, then that’s what it will be! Otherwise….who knows? For kicks I’m throwing up a black and white version also. It’s a little more mysterious but I’m drawn to the color version. Pentax K20D, DA17-70

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The Bench by the Path

365-185 Hmmm, what can I shoot today?

DGuidas — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 03:09:46 +0000

The 4th of July in the USA. Besides hotdogs the usual subject to photograph is fireworks. This is the first time I ever bothered to shoot fireworks in about twenty years. the last fireworks photos I took were on Kodachrome 64 at the city of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh still puts on an impressive display but I stuck around the small town today. We have fireworks in the city park but I decided to shoot from a high school parking lot. A nice vantage point but you miss the feel of being right underneath the explosions. I thought I could get a little bit of the town skyline in the shots but things didn’t quite line up that way so I just focused on the explosions. In the end, I don’t think the photos do any justice to the fireworks. But, it was nice to view them anyhow. I also took a nice shot of the old historic section of the school on my drive to the parking lot and thought I would post it also. Pentax K20D, DA55-300 (fireworks), DA17-70 (school).

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365-182 Must stay strong

DGuidas — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:42:56 +0000

I am about at the halfway point on my 365 project and I have to admit it’s getting a bit tedious at times. I seriously believe that I’m running out of subjects locally. I can’t really afford to travel much so getting away for new sites is kind of out of the question. There is nothing I would like better than to show you a sunset beach shot or a wonderful mountainscape on a dewy morning but both such areas are a little too far away. I know there are fans of the grunge shots but my options are dwindling there also, at least in areas I have access to (both legally and illegally). But I’ll keep plugging away. I’ve come this far so I may as well finish.

Todays photo is a broken wall on a building in town. the cracks were almost at sidewalk level so composition was difficult at best. I tried the live view but I had direct sun on the screen and couldn’t really see it either. I just pointed and shot. I couldn’t really avoid the shadow in the right corner though. The building houses a closed bar and restaurant supply store that I thought would provide some good photo subjects. I took a few shots in the window but didn’t really like them. I’m glad I saw the wall. Pentax K20D, DA17-70.

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Broken Wall

Inside the B&R supply store:

365-181 Hip to be square

DGuidas — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:12:52 +0000

A rare square crop from me today. I saw this shiny truck near a gas station I was at and thought it would make a good 365 subject. I went with the square crop because it was parked next to a wall and there was nothing but pavement on the other side. In other words, nothing that was significant for the photo. Plus the crop emphasized the squareness of the big rig. I used a few Topaz Adjust and Nik Silver Efex layers during processing. Pentax K20D, DA 17-70.

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Peterbilt

365-180 Forget all your cares and go

DGuidas — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:40:39 +0000

Downtown.

Explored around the downtown area today. Well, OK, downtown doesn’t cover that much of an area. I probably have covered the area pretty well over the last few months but I think there is always a shot somewhere. I was able to park my vehicle and look around the old parking garage that is soon to be demolished or sold or renovated or something sometime soon, depending on which newspaper article you’ve read. The late afternoon light sometimes transforms things that otherwise don’t attract my attention. My 365 shot is of the elevator in the garage. It’s a glass elevator on the street side and I was shooting through a couple layers of dirty glass or plexiglass which kind of added to the grunge. A touch of Topaz Adjust blended in during processing enhanced the colors a bit. Shot with my Pentax K20D and DA55-300. Other shots taken with the Da55-300 and DA17-70.

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Levels No.2

365-175 Just one

DGuidas — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:21:29 +0000

Only one shot for today. I’ve seen this chain tightly wrapped and locked around this pole near the park many times and thought about getting a shot of it. It’s been that way as long as I can recall and I thought it looked kind of cool. Simple as that. Pentax K20D, DA17-70.

In Secure

365-170 Thank you Nik

DGuidas — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 02:01:43 +0000

Nik Silver Efex, that is. I spent near ZERO effort taking a photo today. Hey, I can have a day off once in a while, huh? It was a lawn care day in between rain showers so I was dragging a little after things were done. My wife and I went out to grab a bite to eat and I stopped at a small garden in town to see if I could grab a shot. I was really lazy, the light was fairly low, but I grabbed a few shots around the garden and left. I actually thought they wouldn’t turn out very good because I was shooting with low shutter speeds and not taking time to compose well or even hold the camera somewhat steady. I ended up liking the composition of this sundial shot the best but the original color shot seemed to lack something. So I tried a black and white conversion with Nik Silver Efex and it was OK but lacked something also. Going back to Nik I thought I would try the infrared preset, which I don’t use very often. It looked pretty cool on its own but, being my usual self, I thought I would bring some of the color back in. I reduced the Nik opacity a little then boosted the saturation of the greens, for the plants, and red, for the bricks, on the color layer. I ended up kind of liking the image. Whew! Pentax K20D, DA 17-70

Timepiece

365-162 A little window shopping

DGuidas — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 01:45:11 +0000

There is a town near where I live that has a number of small antique shops. They are fun to browse through once in a while since they not only have actual antiques, they also sell what I would classify as memorabilia. Those kitschy relics from the 50′s and 60′s. Neat junk basically. The stores were all closed when I drove by today but I always wanted to take a few photos of the displays in the windows, so I parked at the nearby public lot. I keep a roll of paper towels in my truck so I grabbed a few sheets and moistened them with windshield washer. A handy thing to have when trying to shoot through windows. Having clean glass is always nice. Because of glare on the glass I had to have my lens flat against the windows which limited my composition somewhat. My 365 was actually taken through the window at a nearby diner, which was also closed. I just liked the way they had all of the coffee cups neatly and uniformly stacked. All of these shots are natural light and with my Pentax K20D and DA 17-70.

Stacked Joe

365-159 Little pink houses

DGuidas — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:17:25 +0000

Well I don’t really think this was an actual house at any time. I think it was more of a roadside business of some type. I can’t really remember what it was but it’s on a the side of a busy road south of Pittsburgh. I pass by it quite often and thought about photographing it some day but I was always on the wrong side of the four lane road. Today I remembered the building and the late afternoon lighting seemed perfect, so I drove by to capture it. I processed it sort of muted colors because I think it just fit the scene a little more than the bright color recorded by my camera. The pinkish hue reminds me of a Florida type home. All it needs is a flamingo in the yard! Pentax K20D and DA17-70.

One Chair No Waiting

365-158 No deep insights

DGuidas — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:49:27 +0000

Not much to add today. I basically stayed around the house. I saw some rose petals had fallen from my neighbors rose bush and went over to take a look. I saw the petals in this plant with really cool curvy leaves and I liked the contrast in color. Pentax K20D, DA17-70

Ravage

365-156 Just playin' around

DGuidas — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:22:48 +0000

I saw this cherub figurine in a gift shop window and snapped a shot. I only took the one shot and didn’t think much of it when I did. The straight shot was decent enough but I thought I would throw a little processing fun in the works for a change. In Photoshop, I Did a Topaz Adjust layer and an orton effect layer and played around with opacity on each layer for the final balance. The good (or bad) thing when doing this type of image “enhancement” is there really is no correct final result. It is whatever you want it to be! My only regret with the shot is that I would have liked to have shot it at a wider aperture to blur the background (reflection) more. Pentax K20D, DA17-70

Cherub in the Window

365-155 Roadside blunder

DGuidas — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 02:02:52 +0000

It was getting dark and I haven’t taken a single photo for the day yet. Not feeling like traveling too far from where I was I thought I would try some long exposure shots of highway traffic. I know, real original eh? I thought I would be able to get a clear shot from the edge of a nearby supermarket parking lot so I went to check it out. I could see the highway well enough but even though there was a curve in the road, the vantage point didn’t offer much from a composition standpoint. I took a few shots anyhow, including multi-exposures and they turned out well, but just lacking in something, so I scrapped the idea. These daisies were on the bank between me and the road so I tried a few shots of them. There was a slight breeze so I’m amazed any of them looked sharp. I would have prefered a brisk wind for a streaking effect or no wind at all. Instead it was just enough to make them look out of focus. Of course they may be out of focus because it was almost dark when I was shooting! Not a great photo, but I’ll take it! Pentax K20D, DA17-70mm.

Side of the Road

365-152 When all else fails...

DGuidas — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 01:46:39 +0000

…go for color. I was on the southside of Pittsburgh this afternoon and even though there is plenty of old architecture around I just wasn’t seeing anything. The bright sunlight was too harsh and when I looked in the shady areas everything looked kind of….well…neat and clean. Nice, but not good for photos! So when I saw this brightly painted and weathered entryway, I thought it would at least be a colorful shot, if nothing else. And that’s what happened today – nothing else. I took a few other shots but they’re nothing to brag about either. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. All with Pentax K20D, DA17-70mm.

Gated Entrance

365-151 Train Train

DGuidas — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:16:29 +0000

A few details from down by the tracks in Arden. All with Pentax K20D and DA17-70 or Super-Takumar 50mm.

X Factor

365-149 It's a holiday weekend...

DGuidas — Mon, 30 May 2011 03:03:02 +0000

….in the USA, at least. So I figured I wouldn’t get many views today. That’s fine because I had a lot to do today and none of it had anything to do with photography. By the time I was done it was near dark and I thought I would try to find something to shoot for my 365. Armed with my newly acquired cheap tripod (which I’ll discuss in a later post), I thought I would attempt a night shot. I had visions of capturing some cool long exposure with streaked lights and blurred movement but there was nothing to be found. Everything was kind of quiet. So as a last resort I knew the Old Main building at W&J college is always well lit. It was and I shot it. The tripod worked well. Pentax K20D, DA17-70.

Building at Night

365-143 Tunnel vision

DGuidas — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:17:05 +0000

Got to kick around Pittsburgh this evening. I actually managed some twilight shots – something I don’t get to do very often. I liked this shot of the walkway because of the mixed lighting which created the greenish light inside the tunnel. Pentax K20D, DA17-70. I’ll throw a couple more shots up tomorrow.

Green Way

365-142 Have a seat

DGuidas — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:33:59 +0000

County seat that is. I didn’t have much to shoot today. Didn’t really try. So when I was driving through town I thought I would see if there was anything interesting. I liked how the metallic signs on the courthouse doors were almost glowing and, it being Sunday, the streets and sidewalks were deserted. A simple straightforward shot of the front of the building taken with Pentax K20D and DA17-70. I played around a little with curves and contrast in Photoshop to enhance the textures. I like the coldness of the steps compared to the warmth of the building and doors. Click on the pic for best view.

County Seat