Pic of the Month: December ‘10

by | Dec 31, 2010 | Pic of the Month

Pic of the Month: December ‘10
Christmas Bells It amazes me how pleasing compositions unexpectedly produce themselves. Of course, it’s hard not to come away with a winner when one is standing on a mountaintop at sunrise with mist rising out of the valleys, or on a beach at sunset directly following a torrential rainstorm. But it’s those everyday,... Read More »

Remnants of the Past

by | Dec 24, 2010 | Stories & Expeditions

Remnants of the Past
You might say I received an early Christmas gift the other day. A fellow from church drove me into the backwoods to a place that a photographer like myself considered to be, almost literally, a treasure cove. Obviously traveling off the highway, and then down a two-lane for awhile, and then on a typical, one-lane... Read More »

Quick Portraits

by | Dec 19, 2010 | Tips & Tricks

Quick Portraits
Have you ever had someone, or a group of people, ask you to take some portraits for them just “really quick?” The IT department at HQ did this just a few days ago. I was warned a few days earlier, but hadn’t had any time to prepare. Well, here are  a few things I learned: Choose a nearby location. All the... Read More »

Blurry Effects

by | Dec 15, 2010 | Tips & Tricks

Blurry Effects
Last weekend, in Indianapolis for a Christmas Conference, I experimented a little with taking pictures completely out-of-focus. This is a very modern technique, but can look nice if used properly. In "Christmas Inspiration," complete blur transformed a very cluttered looking picture into something quite... Read More »

Why Photoshop is Fantastic

by | Dec 10, 2010 | Tips & Tricks

Why Photoshop is Fantastic
Lamppost Soliloquy What you can do in Photoshop is just out of this world! I knew this picture was useless unless I could somehow add some light inside the lamp. Once this was accomplished using another picture taken back in January, I darkened up the background using blending modes, cloned in some extra branches to... Read More »

Why I Crop

by | Dec 6, 2010 | Perspective

Why I Crop
I was editing pictures the other day while my brother Daniel was reviewing memorized Scripture verses on Memverse. When he broke the silence with an animated chuckle, and I turned to see what he was up to. He was looking over at me and had evidently seen that I was in Lightroom’s Develop Module cropping a picture. He... Read More »

Winter Stroll

by | Dec 4, 2010 | Stories & Expeditions

Winter Stroll
It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to break away from the stuffy office, magnetic computers, and a demanding schedule to just roam around the great outdoors with a camera! No, it wasn’t for long, just a few strolls from one building to another. But it was great fun experimenting with snowscape exposures (+2/3... Read More »

Pic of the Month: November ’10

by | Nov 30, 2010 | Pic of the Month

Pic of the Month: November ’10
Hangin’ In There As I was going through the pictures I had taken over the past month, this one clearly stood out as the one with the most suggested activity: that split-second moment between swinging out of the tree and landing safely on the ground. Well, suggested at best; it really wasn’t as perfect timing as the... Read More »

Back to Backpacks

by | Nov 19, 2010 | Recommendations

Back to Backpacks
After returning from Peru, I knew the backpack I had chosen for travel, the Calumet BP935 Small Backpack, was not the one for me. It was very nice, but here were the drawbacks for me: Did not fit my back very well. Even with a waist strap, it was just too big for my body, and most of the weight still hung on my... Read More »

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