Tones on Tuesday #45 09.11.12

I cannot believe that 11 years ago this Tuesday I woke up to the news of the World Trade Center attacks and the images that could not possibly be real. I will take a moment to remember that day and all those whose lives were cut short. The day will pass and we will all go back to our lives, because I truly believe that is the best way to honor the memory of that fateful day.

Thank you for sharing your photos last week! It was amazingly difficult to pick just 3!

Dina at 4 Lettre Words

I love the depth of field in this photo and how it focuses in on the flags and headstones. You can feel the honor and remembrance in this shot. It also seemed fitting for this week. Thank you for sharing and for linking up Dina!

Jaymi at Live, Love, Travel

This perspective is stunning! I love the lines of the staircase and the way that the black and white adds a sense of softness and a sense of drama. Thank you for linking up each week Jaymi! 

Elena at Cropped Stories

What an adorable photo! I love the thoughtful expression, the pose and the softness of the black and white. Thank you for sharing with us Elena!

Dina, Jaymi and Elena please go HERE to grab your showcase button.

Now it's your turn to share your photo with altered tones. Here are the guidelines for Tones on Tuesday:

• The basic idea is to share one photo where you have altered the tones. Such as a black and white, sepia toned, selective coloring or colored photo. Feel free to share the original and edit, or just the edit.
• Please share a photo that you have taken and edited yourself.
• One photo per photographer please. If you have more than one photo in your post please indicate which one is for Tones on Tuesday.
• Please link up with your permalink and not your blog address.
• Attach the Tones on Tuesday button or a link back here to your post.
• Leave comments for at least 3 other participants, share the love :o)!
• Have fun!

<center> <a href="http://scatteredhorizons.blogspot.com" target="_self"><img border="0" alt="Scattered Horizons" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_U2oqLh1UmXZMxfX_WPVaPVWJYh_HuiqvmOJi2frJOmTvsFe8rQPCPuzZfqD9Rm5Lz1E9ijR7i5_09GjPNDZeIcGNOwpU1VlkboGqGPGHxc0q-s28fzb99utdKzU6TvONWyodJtseQ/s1600/tonesontuesday2.jpg"></a> </center>

Disclaimer - By participating you give Scattered Horizons permission to share your photo on this blog. Photographers will be given credit for their work.

I mentioned last week that I drove my brother to a wedding in Lake Chelan and had a brief opportunity to photograph the sun setting over the lake. For me, the feeling of this sunset was of a quiet drama with the dramatic colors and the stillness of the setting. I haven't been shooting much lately with the start of school and my 6th year of teaching. I have been reflecting on my photographic journey lately. I am a bit conflicted about the fact that I shoot so many sunsets. On the one hand sunsets are always an amazing experience for me. I feel at peace and connected to my faith and my self in a way that I don't often find in other moments. On the other hand I want to push myself and find other subjects to photograph to broaden my style. How do you push yourself, yet remain true to what you love to shoot?

Settings: ISO 100, 18mm, ss1/40, f/5.6

"The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man." - Euripides

Joining the link ups below. Be sure to check out the beautiful shots and join the Tones on Tuesday link up found further down!

        

Fourth of July 2012!

My favorite holiday just happens to be Fourth of July. I connect with the sense of patriotism and the ideals of freedom, sacrifice and bravery. And then there are the fireworks! There is just something about a fireworks display that makes me happy. The color, the sense of wonder and the sheer beauty is such a wonderful way to celebrate this country that I live in and those who have made and continue to make it possible for me to live free.

For this Fourth of July I am visiting my dad who lives in Astoria, Oregon where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. They have a fireworks display over the Columbia that is done from the East Mooring Basin. I had never been, but was excited to experience a new fireworks display with my dad. We got there a couple of hours before the fireworks were set to start which was perfect timing because we were able to park right across from where the fireworks were going to be set off before the parking lot got full. While we waited I spent some time scoping out the area and photographing the sunset.

Settings: ISO 100, 55mm, ss1/320, f/22 (sunlight wb)

Settings: ISO 100, 18mm, ss1/30, f/22 (sunlight wb)

Finally, the sun dipped below the horizon and that meant the second amazing show of the night was going to begin. I wasn't sure where would be the best vantage point to see the display, so I just found where the tripods and photographers were lining up :o). Last year I got a few good firework shots using auto mode. This year I was determined to shoot in manual and be more intentional about my shots. Prior to heading out I read a couple tutorials, one from The Organic Bloom and one from Digital Photography School. 

For my set up I used my tripod, my 18-55mm lens and my remote control. I set the ISO to 100 to prevent grainy images, my aperture to f/11 to get a wide depth of field, manual focused so that the whole scene was in focus and set my shutter speed to bulb (which leaves the shutter open from when you press the remote button until you press the it again). I had never tried this type of set up before so I really didn't know how it would work out, but once the fireworks started I got into a rhythm. With my remote and the timer on my camera I had two seconds before the shutter opened and then I left it open between 3-12 seconds depending on how many fireworks were going off and how many I wanted in the shot. After a while I found that the best timing was to hit the remote right when I heard the boom and to leave the shutter open until the firework(s) began to fizzle out. 

I LOVE the results. They are so different from what I captured last year and I feel like the preparation really paid off. The 3 shots below are from the beginning, middle and the finale of the show. I really like the trails of the firework reaching the sky, the colors and the framing around the fireworks. For editing I did basic settings in Lightroom on all and for the second shot a removal of distractions and the Fresh and Colorful action by Pioneer Woman in Photoshop. I think the first one is my favorite, but that could be due to the sunset :o). What do you think? 

I hope you had an amazing, safe and fun fourth!

Settings: ISO 100, 18mm, ss12secs, f/11 (on tripod, shutter on bulb)

Settings: ISO 100, 18mm, ss7secs, f/11 (on tripod, shutter on bulb)

Settings: ISO 100, 18mm, ss7secs, f/11 (on tripod, shutter on bulb)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -  The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

    

Also linking up for the Firework Challenge at Kent Weakley's Blog

What I Learned From Critique Me

I often mention Courtney and her site Click it Up a Notch here on the blog. I cannot say enough good things about what it has done for me. It gave me the confidence to try manual with Courtney's information and her support and feedback. I love her information and the way she looks at all aspects of photography in the types of topics she covers. She also hosts a weekly feature called Critique Me, where photographers submit a photo and other photographer's critique the image. I have participated by providing critiques for many images and I feel like it has helped me to see things I otherwise would not have seen. It really does help train your eye as Courtney says :o).

So I decided to submit an image. I was a little nervous, but at the same time I was looking forward to seeing my photo through other's eyes. I find that critiques done in a positive manner are an amazing way to learn and grow as a photographer. I must say that I was not disappointed :o). In an effort to process what I gained from the experience I am going share the things I learned about my image and about my photography. 

First of all, here is the image I submitted:

Settings: ISO 200, 50mm, ss1/1250, f/7.1 (full manual, sunlight wb, SOOC)

It was taken on New Year's Day at Indian Beach in Ecola State Park in the town of Cannon Beach, Oregon with my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 Lens, a Christmas present. It was a beautiful day on the Oregon Coast, my favorite place to travel to take photos and I spent a lot of time walking the beach and photographing the different views and the changing light. What I liked about this photo was the way it captured the bit of the stormy feel to the clouds, the colors of the sky, the feel of the waves and the reflection on the beach. I first posted this photo with my photography goals for the year. You can see more photos from this adventure here, here and here. 

With that said, I went into the Critique Me process wanting to know what I wasn't seeing because I was so enamored with this photo and the experience it captured. 9 people responded with wonderful compliments and suggestions for improvement. I decided to take each critique and edit the photo and then do a final edit combining what I gained from the experience as a whole. 

Here are the edits based on the critiques. Click to make them bigger...

In order - 1. cropped and upped the saturation/vibrance, 2. cropped out some of the beach, 3. cropped out some of the sky, 4. less severe crop, 5. upped the saturation, blacks and contrast and adjusted the watermark, 6. subtle crop and adjusted the watermark.

Based on the critiques and the editing process here are just a few things I learned that I want to put into practice as I go forward:

1. Being more cognizant of the whole frame and of the rule of thirds - I am aware of the rule of thirds and the power it has to draw the eye in a photo. When I am out "in the field" so to speak :o), I am often so focused on getting the settings right that I am not conscious of looking at the whole frame. I try so hard to capture the landscape as it and as it feels to me (hence the focus on the settings) that other aspects fall away. My goal going forward is to be more aware of the whole frame and of the placement of the horizon and other key parts of the scene in the frame. 

2. Trying to capture "less" in one photo - Since I began this photography journey a focus of mine has been to identify my intention or goal with a photo. This has been coming easier to me, but I often find that I have more than one intention. While this works for me as I know what I want the photo to say and why I made the choices I did, I don't think it translates as well when I am trying to evoke a feeling with a photo. Therefore, I am going to try to hone in on one thing that I want to communicate with each photo. Less can be more :o).

Hopefully you are still reading or maybe you just scrolled down to the results of my Critique Me journey, which works too :o)! Lastly, I want to share a final edit I did after the critiques and thank each and every person who provided feedback. The process has been invaluable and one of the most powerful catalysts for growth I have encountered on my photography journey thus far. Thank you Erica, Amber, Kim, Laura, Benita, Rachel, Laureen, Alessandra and Beth for your positivity and suggestions! And of course a huge thank you to Courtney for this opportunity!

For this final edit in Lightroom I did a slight crop to a more natural break in the rocks and to break up the photo more by thirds. I upped the saturation/vibrance, blacks and contrast and did some work in the tone curve to decrease the lights and shadows and increase the darks. I also decreased the size and opacity of the watermark.

"Feedback is the breakfast of champions." - Ken Blanchard

I would love to know what you think of the final image in order to continue this unique chance for growth!

Linking up to SOOC Saturday, check out the other SOOC shots! Also linking up with The Simple Things and Scenic Sunday. Be sure to take a look at the beautiful photos there as well! And of course Click it Up a Notch :o).