A lot of the time when I see street photography portraits they have this very distinctive look to them, which is what I’ve tried to emulate this week. This photo was taken whilst I was travelling in Cambodia, I don’t know why but something just drew me to the expression on this guys. Having listened to his stories about his family and life in Cambodia it was nice to capture what I like to think is a moment of reflection. I wanted to add a gritty, sharp look to the image that focused on the feeling of reflection it gives me.

Original

I actually did a decent amount to edit this one. I wanted to focus on the eyes (wish I could remember this guy’s name) so I cropped down. Then to get my desired effect I desaturated the image and applied some photoshop magic to get that extra detailed look. It’s quite long to explain so I’ll just link you to the video I learned it from! (It’s really good and teaches a ton of Photoshop tips for travel photographers). After that I was pretty much done, I increased the brightness in his eyes because that’s where I wanted the focus to be, added back the slightest bit of colour to his skin and lastly  just added a pinch of film grain.

This is definitely one of my favourite shot from my time in Asia!

So, here I present to you, the ubiquitous “My Garden In The Snow” shot…

Week 3

Baby it’s cold outside

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And of course, you can keep up to date with me on here to. http://www.ashersphoto.com just incase you didn’t know.

Don’t forget to go and look at Week 2 on the Project 52 page either! Week 3 shall be appearing soon. After all, with all the snow, theres nothing better than staying inside in the warm working away on the computer.

As of now, that is it. The website is fully functional! If you’ve any feedback or think theres that special something I’m missing feel free to comment or get in touch with me using the brand new contact form on the Contact page! And don’t forget to have a flick through my links and check out the guys I’m following.

Ps. Yet to look into the calendar but its on the list. Especially as I’ve started to get a few events lined up for the coming year.

Beautiful lilies for my birthday (34). They really are beautiful, despite the above photo–a week later and most of the buds have bloomed. The white flowers are a tiny bit frilled. But, as you can see, I’m not making any attempt to actually capture these pics in an attractive manner, just trying to remember to take a picture! Hopefully I’ll improve over the year.

For this picture I kept it pretty simple. I thought the original was a little flat so I employed a plethora of boosts. I boosted the exposure to add some more light then tweaked the curves to get a bit more contrast and some deeper tones. I then upped the saturation to give some of the colours (like the green) a little bit more punch, ever so slightly sharpened the shell just to bring out the amazing level of detail, and then finally I added a slight vignette just so that the eye is ever so slightly more drawn to the main subject….as if you could miss it!

Original

As you can tell from the original it makes quite a difference. Ladybugs are normally associated with being quite cute so I don’t why I’ve gone for what seems to be a more dramatic tone, maybe its the way it’s perched on that plant like it’s a throne? Either way it was a fun edit. So what do you think?

For next week I’m thinking of trying out split toning. Fun, fun, fun… let the research commence.

T.

By the time the weekend rolled around I was itching to make something sweet but didn’t want to kill my week of great eating and weight loss. I made a few things this weekend (recipes coming soon!) that involved cocoa powder and they all felt like a total treat even though they were super healthy. This year I’m going to slow down, take the time to research healthy but satisfying treat recipes, and make as many as I can for you and for me. Success in health is all about compromise and I’m totally committed to proving that it doesn’t have to be torture.

This week, being January and all, I entered the world of green smoothies.  I’d always been a little wary of them but, perusing Pinterest one day, I found this lovely blog with this recipe for a green smoothie that promised to taste good.

Reader, it does.  Really good.  I’ll be honest, there was an alarming amount of green in there but it tastes kinda yellow… *that’s a good thing*

So, here I present Week 2 – Something Good

Something Good

Its a tad late but I have been busy sorting out a few photo sharing sites for me to use alongside this blog, as well as continuing to update the website.

Things are nearly completed, and when they are, I’ll be making an announcement with all the information required for you to follow me!

Also, as January has progressed, I’ve slowly been searching away for what shows and events will be happening this year, along with a couple of holidays, that I’ll be looking to photograph. 2013 promises to be a busy year for me and my photography that is for sure!

I’m going to look into having some form of calendar so that you can keep track of where I’m heading and what to expect throughout the year. Hopefully its something I’ll be able to implement on here.

I’ll be making the announcement soon so don’t go to far!

Project 52 is basically to take a photo of your little one, once a week, every week, for a year (Hence the 52!). Some are using it as a way to develop their photography skills where as others are just keep a record of their children growing up. I think it’s a brilliant idea as there’s so much change in children within a year. I can’t wait to see how Jack changes throughout 2013.

So with that, here is my first photograph of the project. Please bare in mind that probably around 90% of my photographs will be taken via Instagram/blackberry so not great quality.

This picture of Reggie was taken this weekend. One of Reg’s favorite things is the late morning sun that comes through our front porch door. He’s always been a sun kitty; finding any/all patches of sun, enjoying them belly up, eyes closed. I chose this photograph for Week 1 because it is a perfect portrait of my boy. I love how the sun glistens off his back and has back lit his face. The sun bouncing off the hardwood floor also somehow perfectly catches the tan accents on his belly, elbows, and hind legs. This is Reggie as I know and love him: carefree, observant, happy, and cozy.

So….every Sunday, I shall be showing you lovely lot my attempts at photography and hopefully *fingers, toes etc crossed* there’ll be an improvement over the weeks.  I’m not following any themes so it’s all made up by me!

Is anyone else doing a photo project this year?

Week 1

Christmas Dismantled

This week’s theme is “Self-Portraits”

Almost Seven Years Worn

This is a macro image of my wedding rings post-processed into a black and white. I love how worn, scratched, and dented the rings have become when you look reaaaallly closely.

Project 52 has a million different names and guidelines and goals but essentially what it is is a 52 week photography project where you publish one great photo from the week for an entire year. I have done a 365 Photo Project before but that was a little intense. The goal for me here is quality and not quantity, so Project 52 seems like a good fit.

Project 52, in a nutshell – For the next 52 weeks (all of 2013) I will post one really great picture that I took, once per week for 1 year. I will take every picture on my SLR camera. No iPhone pictures and definitely no Instagram reposts. My goals are to go outside and see more of my world, to use my SLR more because it really is an amazing piece of equipment, and to consciously bring my SLR with me even though it seems like a pain. I’m not going to set a specific day to post Project 52 photos like I do with The Monday Mix. Most likely they will be posted on Sundays but my plan is to post the shot when I know I’ve gotten The One for the week.

Here I go!

What a way to end the year…spending time as a family ay home relaxin. We made homemade new years hats to wear to ring in the new year. We custom made them to fit our own personal likes. My son and daughter made it till 11pm, which for them was good as they are usually in bed by 830pm. They got to see the ball drop in New York anyways. Happy New Years to everyone!!