Playing with Paint Shop Pro

Nothing too exciting here, just some kiwi and lots of boredom.

Besides photography, web design is a hobby of mine. This last week I have been busy revamping a couple of sites and created a new site for the McCartney Center. (www.owischool.com) I haven’t had much free time to shoot photos. I am hoping to make it out the end of this week. Bryon’s recent post of the robin has not only got me itching for spring, but it sparked some ideas for a spring photo series.

Flowers are usually not my thing, but last week I stopped by the funeral home to visit with the family of my longtime neighbor who had passed away. I couldn't help but notice a interesting arrangement of flowers and started to come up with ideas for some flower shots. I personally don’t like the typical “seed package” photos that you often see and would like to do some experimenting. If the weather doesn’t cooperate with me this weekend, I may have to visit the floral shop and see what they can hook me up with.

Valley High School Jazz Band

A soloist from Des Moines' Valley High School performs for the judges during Charles City's annual Jazz Festival held at the middle school auditorium.

Photo © by Allen Murray

Another From The Snow

Cameron Murray, 6, makes tracks in the snow while looking for the perfect sledding hill.

Click on photo to a open larger view in new window.
Photo © by Allen Murray

Empty Playground

As you can see, I made it out to snap a few pictures of the most recent snow fall. I had planned on heading to an old barn, but gravel roads were not in the best condition and I didn’t want to add to the Sheriff’s Department’s growing list of accident reports. Besides, my daughter has been look for such a day to try out her new sled so a trip to the park seemed like a much better idea. I took a hand full of the typical snow covered evergreen trees and a few of the quiet little creek but really had my mind set on finding something different, maybe even abstract. I trekked across the golf course to investigate possible photo opportunities away from the snowball-hurling children who found humor in trying to hit the man with the camera. I made it to the picnic/playground are and started shooting. What really captivated my interest was the merry go round. I was positive that some abstract art was just waiting to be captured. Although the picture I posted of the merry go round isn’t actually abstract, I think it projects a similar feeling as the black over white bike rack series I shot awhile back.

On kind of a technical note: I did play with the photo in PSP. I cloned out a small tree trunk and a few “impurities” in the snow. I noticed these when shooting, but couldn’t really reposition myself without cluttering the background. I also didn’t want to put tracks in the snow and opted to deal with the issues in the digital darkroom. I also adjusted contrast levels which resulted in some lost of color in the band around the edge of the merry go round. I isolated the edge and bumped up the color saturation and thought I achieved the results I was after.

On my cheap 15 inch laptop screen, the photo looks dull, but has good color.
On my 17 inch CRT, the photo isn’t dull and has noticeable color
On my 19 inch analog flat panel, the photo looks good, but the color doesn’t have ‘punch’
On my 20.1 inch digital widescreen flat panel, the photo looks great, but the blue and green is darkened to almost black.

With the exception of the dull image produced by my laptop, I actually don’t mind the differences in displays, each producing a different visual effect. I am curious as to how other people’s monitors render the image.

A Dirty Canada Goose

A dirty Canada goose. Not the most original photograph in the world. A good friend talked me into riding along with her to Mason City where she attends school at NIACC. She had two classes lasting two hours. Winter weather in Iowa seems to leave significantly less photo opportunities and I've been having a hard time coming up with new and exciting things to shoot while just out and about. I figured a couple hours alone with my camera would be productive and decided maybe a trip to East Park would spark my creativity. I was wrong. I could not get into the mood to shoot and could seem to only focus on the fact that everything was muted colors of browns and grays, or covered in sand and dirt. A few 'not so great' photos were the results of my (lack of ) effort.

I did enjoy the warm weather and the peacefulness of the park that morning. In hindsight, I have actually thought of several photos that could have been. We will see what happens next time.

After a winter of very little snow fall, I woke up today with a decent dusting of snow on the ground and more white stuff falling pretty heavy. I have had my eye on a old dilapidated barn not too far from here and with this falling snow, I may just find my creativity.

Photo © by Allen Murray

The Good Amaretto

I spent a couple of hours playing with lighting again yesterday. I shot about 80 photos and got about a dozen I liked. I definitely need more practice. The good news is, most of the errors I made were easily identified. I took some notes, did some research, and am ready to try again.

Last fall while taking pictures at the Threshers Reunion, I introduced myself to Bryon Houlgrave (see link at right for his blog). I remember him telling me that if I was serious about photography, I should invest in a DSLR. I am currently shooting with a Fujifilm FinePix SLR-like and have noticed more and more the limitation of my camera. I really do need to upgrade, but have a hard time justifying the cost when I just shoot for fun. I constantly bounce back and forth between committing a month's worth of my salary towards my hobby and putting my money towards 'needed' items. Exhibit A – My 1989 Buick La Saber verses my current photo gear. Together my camera and tripod alone are worth double the value of my car. Most people say I should invest in a car, I am not so sure.

As this great debate continues on inside my head, I will continue to be committed to learning all I can and taking advantage of the equipment I have.

Photo © by Allen Murray