Uploads from Anna Gorin, tagged canon

Sunset on Lake Lowell

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:54:58 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

A little difficult tonemapping a scene with this much dynamic range and the added complication of the different patterns in the water from the separate exposure lengths, but I got something passable eventually. If you look closely, I think you can see the blurry silhouettes of a flock of birds circling around the shore.

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Flower crown, IV

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:54:59 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Well, I got a lot of use that day out of the flower crown, stuck it in the fridge hoping to keep it fresh for some more shooting, and, as you might expect, it quickly drooped into a sad sight of wilted leaves and fallen petals. But it was pretty while it lasted, as were the weeping cherry blossoms outside.

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Shoe-love

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:54:58 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

A very cute idea from my friends' engagement session - love the contrast in their shoes!

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Seaside romance, III

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:55:00 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

That reflection - eeeee! That's my best description of how I felt about that entire scene. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. All the colors and the light and the rocky shelf...perfect.

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The baker

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:05:08 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Unexpectedly slow week for me as far as work and other commitments, so since I've been unusually inspired lately with stock photography sales and selections, I thought I'd expand my horizons a little and photograph things that I wouldn't ordinarily, such as the process of baking bread (a bit messy going back and forth between the camera and dough, but I don't think it caused any actual damage). And even if it never sells on an agency - meh! It's fun for me anyway.

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The epic engagement, II

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:02:33 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

My strobist skills definitely need work - still trying to figure out the different light modifiers and when to use what, but this was one of those occasions where I immediately knew I should have brought a snoot. The bare flash, which I had set a few feet off-camera, was supposed to throw light just on the costumed couple, but instead was bouncing all over the place and illuminating the sagebrush very unnaturally - not good! With a little repositioning of the flash (and spot-darkening in ACR for some still-bright sagebrush), it looked okay, but now I know.

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What is dead may never die

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:08:32 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Not sure if that's a completely accurate title for this, but I like making semi-obscure references. Hey, I get bored.

Anyway, I think the contrast is so fascinating here - the healthy forest and towering mountain and shimmering reflections... and then these horribly depressing tree stumps scattered all over the reservoir floor. The looming storm clouds kind of add to that jarring feeling, too. I guess they really needed the water in the reservoir here but it's a shame seeing nature looking so destroyed.

No tonemapping here, just some manual exposure blending of my bracketed shots. Vertical panorama of two horizontal frames, and in exciting news, I finally figured out that the Photomerge setting that will lead to the least distortion in panoramas is the Collage setting. Wish I had discovered that sooner. My first attempt at this, I think I used the Cylindrical setting and I tried to fill in all the gaps using the Warp tool - it worked eventually but horrible IQ at 100% from all that messing around! This one is far, far sharper.

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Posing on broken glass

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:58:50 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

"Let's head that way!" I suggested. "There's this great old fire escape that I've shot some portraits by before, I think it will look great for this session."

Except the fire escape was no longer there. Sometime between last October and now, it must have been torn down (I hope the building isn't still occupied). Still, the wall by where the fire escape used to be is one of the grungiest places I've ever seen in Boise, and I think it was an acceptable alternative. Probably a safety hazard but damn it looks awesome in photos!

(By the way, I'm about ready to hit the roof with these new Flickr changes. I didn't think they were THAT bad at first... until I got four photos ready to upload and the damn Upload button wouldn't work. Nor would it let me save any of my descriptions. Hello typing them all out again! Ugh. Flickr why.)

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Wyoming summer

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:51:18 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Golden plains? Check. Scattered evergreen forests? Check. Towering mountains? Check. Thunderstorms on and off all day? Check, check, check. Sounds like summer in Wyoming to me!

I did take bracketed exposures for this but hated the tonemapping result in Photomatix. There wasn't really enough dynamic range to need HDR, anyway, so I went a more traditional single-exposure route.

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Golden dogwoods

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:51:18 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

The rest of the spring blossoms are lost for the season, but the dogwoods are still going strong. The golden spot in the background was the evening light reflecting off the car bumper - ha! Kind of spoils the golden natural look once you know, but it was just so pretty.

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Abandoned, II

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:51:17 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

I think this actually showed up a bit prettier as a photo than in real life - in real life, the light on the foreground was too dim to be that interesting, but it actually looks pleasant and peaceful in a photograph. Still prefer the clouds in black and white, though.

This was another of my focus blending tests, where in one set of brackets, I focused on the section of the fence closest to me, and in the other set, focused on the barn (again, this is due to my noticing that my shots at f/22 just aren't sharp enough and I need to shoot landscapes at a wider aperture if I can maintain the DOF). Then I used Photoshop's AutoBlend Layers tool to merge them. The verdict? The trees in the very, very far background toward the mountains are slightly sharper in the set where I focused on the barn rather than the fence. But so slightly that you'd barely notice. I don't think this focus blending is worth the hassle unless I'm including something a foot from the camera in my shot and can't back up. But I did try!

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The human element

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:51:17 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Pretty sure I have a few shots of this scene with no people and just that amazing tree stump against the epic backdrop, but I like this one with my friend more. I think we all just wanted to stand there gazing into the distance that day! Sometimes you need the human element.

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When will my reflections show

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:51:18 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Whoops, I cloned myself again. This was completely inspired by Liisa Härmson's photo, to which I had an immediate "Oh! I know exactly how I could do something like that!" reaction. I just wanted it to have more of my high-saturation, outdoor backlighting look to it (and hopefully not copy her photo too closely!).

The only hard part was figuring out how to get my reflection into the mirror when it was angled. The eventual solution was a duh moment, but for a while I kept seeing my reflection in the mirror, thinking "Perfect!", taking the shot with the self-timer, and finding that I didn't show up in the reflection on-camera at all.

Since I don't think I'm a vampire, I figured the only other explanation was that since the camera was viewing the reflection from an entirely different angle than I was, just because I could see myself in the mirror from a certain angle didn't mean the camera could. And then purely by accident I figured out that if I could see the camera in the mirror (even if it meant standing at a really unexpected angle from the mirror and not seeing myself at all), then the camera could see me, too. And once I figured that out, the rest was a piece of cake.

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Peace on Payette Lake

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:49:37 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

First time driving to the far side of Payette Lake, and man is it gorgeous. Nice to get away from the main crowded marina area! It was mid-afternoon so the light wasn't ideal, and I'm not a fan of the tree that crept into the upper right-hand corner, but it's still such a pretty scene.

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The epic engagement

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:49:37 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Definitely the most epic engagement session I've shot. And one of the best parts from my perspective as the photographer was how amazing the sunset was that night - absolutely no sky replacement necessary. And of course it's nice having friends whose idea of a great time is dressing up in costumes and weaponry to take their engagement photos :)

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The Wasteland

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:49:36 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

May is the cruelest month.

I thought I'd get up to McCall to beat the heat in Boise last weekend, but as it turns out, there's a reason people don't go hiking in the mountains mid-May. The roads were fine in town, but driving up to the Boulder Lake trailhead was a muddy adventure, and I learned from the few other hikers that the lake itself wasn't even accessible without snowshoes. Even the parts of the trail without snow were a little iffy - doesn't look like they've been cleared for the season from all the fallen brush accumulating over the winter.

However, Boulder Meadows Reservoir, a short walk from the trailhead, was quite accessible, so I trekked to the far side and back again and called it good. Have you ever wondered what happens when people create a reservoir in the forest? Looks like it kills all the trees. And then when they drain most of the reservoir due to low rainfall? You get to see the skeletal remains of the trees. Fascinating but a total wasteland. Reminds me of Isengard after Saruman's through with it.

This is a toned-down HDR composite, one composite for the foreground and one for the background for maximum sharpness. To be honest, I don't think it was necessary - comparing the sharpness in the background from when I focused on the trunk in front to focusing on the roots in back, I didn't see a noticeable difference. But ever since I noticed how soft my shots were looking at f/22, I've been experimenting with wider apertures for landscapes and worrying about DOF. Doesn't look like I have much to worry about after all.

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Wildflowers, telephoto-style

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:49:36 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Photography is not for the faint of heart when it comes to watching your bank account. I finally, finally invested in a 70-200mm 2.8 lens, and even off-brand (Sigma) and used, it cost a pretty penny. I haven't done extensive testing with it quite yet, but what I have shot so far is really sharp! Definitely a huge step up from Canon's 55-250mm in IQ, and about ten times as heavy.

Loved these blue wildflowers on the hillside - had hoped to get some pretty backlighting on them, but the sun wasn't in the right position. The shady look is pretty though.

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Abandoned

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:49:37 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

This barn a few miles south of Donnelly, Idaho, is in stellar condition compared to some of the others I pass en route from Boise to McCall. I mean, it's mostly still vertical, which automatically sets it apart from a few. The light was flat, flat, flat by the time I stopped by here, but the cloud patterns were so interesting that I figured if I got my brackets right, I could do something cool with a black and white HDR landscape. Usually it's a tough decision for me to ditch the colors in a landscape, but when it's this dull, it seems like the natural course.

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A river runs through it

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:06:28 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

I had no idea this valley (downstream of Anderson Ranch Dam - another place I didn't know existed) was even here until I decided to go out on a limb and take a random side rode off Highway 20. Such a pretty sight! Just wish I could have gotten more in the center of the valley without the hill blocking most of my view, but unless I learn how to levitate, that's not going to happen!

Also, I've been so proud of myself lately for using a tripod on all my landscapes that I've been shooting at f/22, just because I now can. But looking at my photos at 100%, I'm starting to wonder whether my Sigma 17-50mm lens isn't so great that stopped down and that's what's causing some of the softness. Time to go on another adventure and do some more landscape tests!

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Riding into the sunset

nobody@flickr.com (Anna Gorin) — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:06:29 -0700

Anna Gorin posted a photo:

Silhouettes are the best. And this sky, and everything! I was so excited about this shot. The flare, eh, I could have lived without it, but that's a bit hard to avoid when I'm including the sun itself in the frame.

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