38/365-2 Old School

"Will and A Quill"

37/365-2 Shadow

"Thoughts and Feelings"

We were surprised this morning by a light dusting of snow.  Though it was bitter cold, I ventured outside determined to get a good macro shot of snowflakes.  I spent about 15-20 minutes outside; that was all the 18 degree temperatures that my hands could take.  When I came inside, I immediately uploaded the pictures to the computer; dismal failure!  Though I had some OK shots of the snow in general, the snowflakes themselves eluded me.  Noticing a few shots that had some potential, I ventured outside again, confident that I could do it this time.  Again, no success.  Now having two strikes, I went to Google hoping I could find some technical advice.  And, I did.

I discovered that most of the snowflake shots that I have seen have had an incredible amount of post processing.  Many of them use "stacking", something I had not heard of until today.  One of the photographers said that his snowflake images were using a composite of 30-40 different shots.  No wonder I can't do it!

This got me thinking...

I'm not sure how I feel about that kind of post-processing.  The images are gorgeous and it gives us the opportunity to see a beautiful natural creation in amazing detail.  I'm OK with that.  What I have decided that I am not OK with is photos that are super processed and we are supposed to believe that they are exactly the image that was shot.  I had to come up with an analogy to figure this all out in my head.  

It is the difference between wearing a little bit of make-up to enhance your natural beauty and having plastic surgery to become something fake.  Photographically speaking, make-up, to me, is minor tweaks like contrast, saturation, sharpening, even a little exposure alteration .  Plastic surgery is what I read about today with stacking, cutting and pasting bits and pieces of various photos so that everyone looks perfect.  Life isn't perfect.  We don't all look perfect.  There is always going to be someone in a group shot that is looking the wrong direction.  That's the photo we remember.  We need to get away from the idea of having to "fix" everything.  When we create images that have all been "corrected" we are documenting the moments and the life that we wish we had, not the one that we are living.

The same is true for performing musicians.  When we hear a recording, we are hearing the best of multiple takes all spliced together.  We are not listening to a performance.  We are listening to a collage of the the best moments of many performances, a greatest moment, if you will.   I remember as a freshman in college hearing Jean Pierre Rampal in concert.  I was super excited to have such an opportunity.  The performance was excellent, but it was not perfect.  There were imperfections and there were outright mistakes.  I wasn't sure what to think.  As I reflected on that experience over time, I realized that Jean Pierre Rampal was a human being just like me.  We, human beings, aren't perfect creatures.  We aren't perfect musicians. And we aren't perfect photographers.  

All that said, I do like to play with the possibilities in post processing.  To me though, these extreme makeovers to a photo ought to be like dressing up for a masquerade party.  There is no question that you are dressing up as someone or something that you are not.  When it is made obvious that you are altering a photo in an over-the-top way, go for it.  Have fun!  Make it creative! make it artistic!  Make it your own!

I don't mean to be on a rant here, but so many people feel inadequate about so many different things in their lives because what they believe to be a real is actually fabricated.  This is the whole ethical dilemma surrounding the excessive amount of Photoshopping done on models.  Let's just get real, accept ourselves and each as we are.  I think we'd all be a whole lot happier.

Back to the day's photo...

We had snow, but no sun.  A lack of sun made photographing a shadow with natural light impossible. I used a flashlight as the light source in the above photo.  I'm not sure what I was hoping for with this image, but this is what I got.  Therefore, it is my photo of the day.

There you have my thoughts and feelings.

36/365-2 From Above

"Beat Me to the Top"

I really wanted to take a serious photo today, which I did I think, with the photo below.

After I took this one, I started goofing around photographing random objects from above.  When all was said and done, I really liked the abstractness of the first photo.  Maybe I just need some sleep and the world will look a little different.  Tonight, whimsy came out on top.

35/365-2 Heartwarming

"Warm Hand, Warm Heart"

I have discovered that I really love black and white and monochromatic photos.  Most of the time when I convert a photo from color it is for artistic reasons.  This one, though I think the red filter adds to the effect of the image, had to be converted out of necessity.  I shot it rather hastily after we got home from school.  Weber had on a red and white plaid shirt.  I had on an orange and blue plaid shirt.  The combination was...hideous at best.  We didn't have a whole lot of daylight left so I wasn't even thinking about what we were wearing.  Rarely do I give much thought to what I am wearing.  Live and learn.

34/365-2 Soft (Macro Monday)

'Soft"

I came home from school with not much light left in the day and not much energy.  I am coming down with something, hopefully only a cold.  I thought about the prompt throughout the day but had no good ideas.  It is "Macro Monday" and I really want to improve my macro shots, but the stars definitely did align for this to be the day for any improvement.  It was a feat just to get a photo taken.

At the point that I got home, the only soft things that were dancing through my mind were Kleenex and my soft flannel Peanuts sheets.  The sheets have already been featured in a photo recently and I didn't think used Kleenex was a desirable subject.  In a desperate move, I went for the make-up brush.  It is soft and I got a little practice with the macro lens.  I must really be sick; I had not much enthusiasm for the process today.

In the midst of my pity party I decided to have a few what they used to call "Uh-Oh" Oreos.  I like the vanilla cookies with the chocolate filling better than traditional Oreos.  I know - that is probably some kind of abomination.  It is even worse that I live with a professional baker and have access to really good sweet treats and I was eating Oreos.

As I took my cookie apart, because we all know a kid will eat the middle of an Oreo first and save the  chocolate outside cookie for last,  I noticed that the chocolate icing is pretty darn soft, softer than the white creme filling.   So here is another "soft" macro shot.

33/365-2 Silhouette

"The Right Side of the Equation"

It made me chuckle that the part of the morning paper that I caught Weber reading was the obituaries.  It"s a good day when you find yourself on the right side of this equation:-)

32/365-2 In the Dark

"The Thinker"

This is my stare off into space and solve the world's problems look.  Right now, however, all I'm thinking is that I'm glad February's self portrait is out of the way on the first day of the month!