Photo365-20100122 – DVR: The Business End, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/80 sec @ f/1.8, ISO 2000, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
No thrills here in today’s picture. This the “The Business End” of my homemade DVR. It can record all four of the network television stations in full HD at the same time. The DVR will also record one cable TV station in HD too. However, the killer feature is the commercial skipping. I am not talking thirty second skip or regular old fast forward like the TiVo or cable company provided boxes do. My DVR finds the commericals and skips over them instantly while we are watching a show. No wonder why I think I have an addiction to TV!
Photo365-20100121 – Don’t 4get Me, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/80 sec @ f/1.8, ISO 2500, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
I was walking around the house tonight looking for an interesting subject for the project when I wandered out into the garage and found this snow shovel casting an interesting shadow. The note my fiancee left on the shovel made it an even more compelling subject. I had the camera set on aperture priority mode and the ISO set to Auto. The camera needed to use ISO 2500 in order to get the exposure. While I am still not pleased with the low light performance of the Canon 7D body in general, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of this high ISO shot.
In post processing I applied a Lightroom preset to get the dark vignetting and orange-ish tones.
Photo365-20100113 – Haunted Hanger, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/80 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 640, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
I went on a photowalk tonight around the hotel to find something interesting for today’s photograph. I was on the second floor of the hotel lobby when I spotted this light fixture hanging over the check in desk below. I snapped a few shots and hoped for the best.
It was not until I brought the photograph into Photoshop and started to play around with my new Wacom tablet and onOne PhotoTool 2 package that I was able to unlock the potential of this image. The first effect I applied was the upward ghosting of the light. This is most easily seen right above the light shades as a sort of lit fog. My next step was to add a defocus effect around the outside edges. The Wacom tablet and pen came in handy here when I needed to mask out the effect from the left-most and right-most lights on the fixture. The pen allowed me to work quickly but accurately to make sure the defocusing effect did not impair these two lights. Lastly, I applied the film frame around the image. I picked this particular frame because it adds an eerie feeling to the old style chandelier.
Photo365-20100104 – Marriott by Night, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/60 sec @ f/1.8, ISO 160, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
Work sent me off to the far away and exotic land of Mount Laurel, NJ for the week. After putting in a long day at the client, I headed to the hotel to check in and drop off my things. I broke out the camera and took a stroll outside of the building to see what new and interesting things were ready to be photographed. The first interesting subject to preset itself was the lit Marriott sign in the parking lot.
I played around by taking several different shots using both wide and narrow apertures. I made sure to change my perspective multiple times while I was locked into each aperture setting. Today’s photograph was my favorite of the series.
In post-processing, I found myself using one of Matt Kloskowski’s presets once again. It was called “Matt’s Sin City – Light Red”. I found this free preset on Matt’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips web site.
Photo365-20100103 – Puppy Posture, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/30 sec @ f/1.8, ISO 3200, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
Here is Leila, our one year old yorkiepin puppy. She was hanging out with us in front of the fire tonight. I had my camera at the ready because I was still waiting for my inspiration to come to me for the project picture today. I applied a Matt Kloskowski preset called “Matt’s Vintage New York – 02” to the photograph in post-production. I found this free preset on Matt’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips web site.
Photo365-20091226 – Peace in Lomo, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/15 sec @ f/1.8, ISO 1600, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
I know I said no more pictures of the tree. That is why I am going to call this a picture of an ornament, and definitely not the Christmas tree. It is very difficult to ignore our huge tree in the house when I have no ideas coming to me late at night.
The post processing gives this picture its magic. I used a Matt Kloskowshi Lightroom preset called Matt’s Lomo Effect (Strong Blur). There have been several days when I tried applying this preset to a picture, but it never looked right until today.
Photo365-20091221 – New York State of Time, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/60 sec @ f/2.0, ISO 1600, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
If this post seems a bit different than the rest, it is. I am writing this photoblog post on my iPhone while sitting in a movie theater waiting for my friends to arrive. While the interface is no where near as polished as the normal we. Page web page which I use to create the entries, the iPhone application is very handy to help pass time and keep the project up to date.
Today’s photograph is of one the three clocks we have hanging in our dining room. This clock, showing the New York City skyline is my favorite of the three. I lived just across the river from New York City in Hoboken, New Jersey for three years. This view of the skyline, albeit a more modern skyline, was part of my everyday sights.
I chose to process this picture with a New York inspired preset. Not only was the name of the preset perfect for the subject, the style of the preset gave the photo an old fashioned feel to match the historic skyline depicted on the clock.
Photo365-20091216 – Mug for the Ages, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/8 sec @ f/1.8, ISO 800, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)
Yesterday I had some new gear delivered. The new gear consisted of a gray background, thirty inch reflector disc and a reflector disc light stand holder. I wanted to play around with the light disc tonight and thought that using it in the basement to control the light from the recessed lighting would be a good exercise. I set the mug up on the dry bar and played around with the reflector disc until I liked the lighting.
In post production, I used Nik Silver Efex Pro to apply an antiqued look to the photograph. I felt it was appropriate due to the age of the mug.
Photo365-20091214 – The Plastic Kind, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/8 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 400, 200 mm (EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM)
The autumn wreath on the back of our front door has been calling out to me over the past few weeks to take its picture. I finally got around to it tonight. I used my 70-200mm lens and zoomed in as far as it would go in order to get a tight closeup of some of the leafs on the wreath. Out of the three lens that my fiancee and I own, the 70-200mm lens lets us get the closest closeup. However, we have to stand at least six to eight feet away from the subject in order to get it in focus. The lack of a good macro or close up lens has me reevaluating, once again, whether or not my next lens purchase will be a 100mm macro or a 24-70mm / 24-105mm all-purpose. I have thought about purchasing an extension tube to use with my current lens, but I would much rather have a dedicated macro lens that lets in much more light.
I brought today’s photograph into Photoshop so that I could play around with Topaz Adjust presets on it. Ultimately, I picked a present which enhanced the fine details in the fake leafs and made the colors pop. As a last step, I applied a slight darkening vignette.
A self-proclaimed tech-geek, I enjoy anything powered by batteries or electricity. I'm not happy until I understand the full potential of any new gadget I get my hands on....
