It's All About Perspective

I like to experiment with perspective.  These are shots that I was trying to get from Gizmo's height, a bug's height, and just generally critters close to the ground.  I ended up simply putting my camera on the ground and tilting it, then taking the shot.  It's interesting to see what I ended up with.  I also took a shot of a tree budding while having that sharply in focus and everything else out of focus.

Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/7.1; 1/500sec; taken 04/18/2015

After:

Processing: Temp +12; Contrast +31; Saturation +12

Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/5.0; 1/1000; taken 04/18/2015

After:

Processing: Temp +12; Contrast +40; Clarity +29; Saturation +14

Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/5.6; 1/1000; taken 04/18/2015

After:

Processing: Temp +29;  Contrast +48; Clarity +19; Saturation +26

This one I really like because up close is out of focus, mid way is focused, and long range is out of focus.

Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/5.6; 1/1600; taken 0418/2015

After:

Processing: Temp +14; Contrast +17; Clarity +19; Saturation +10

Gateway to the Deer

Here, I was trying to capture a gateway or tunnel type of shot.  This is inside the deer pen and will eventually act as corners to further divisions within in the pen.

Before:

ISO400; 20mm; f/14; 1/200sec; taken 04/18/2015

After:

Processing: Temp +10; Contrast +7; Clarity +17; Saturation +5

The Backyard

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am in that this is actually part of my backyard (that is a creek running through in about the center of the shot):

Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/11; 1/125sec

After:

Processing: Temp +10; Contrast +24; Clarity +14; Vibrance +17; Saturation +17

Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/11; 1/100sec

After:

Processing: Temp +19; Tint -24; Contrast +50; Saturation +26

Old Momma Relaxing

Old Momma is getting some much needed rest and relaxation.  Turns out she was sick at this time.  Not long after this shot, she miscarried her fawns.  We had to knock her out and load her up with mediation while I had to reach into her vagina and pull out all the bones and tissue that I could get ahold of in order to keep her alive.  Ten days later, she still seems to be doing fine.


Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/8.0; 1/100sec; 04/18/2015

After:

Processing:  Temp +17; Contrast +14; 

Gizmo Jailed

Poor Gizmo ends up jailed just as much as Sophie!  Gizmo likes to run off and doesn't listen to anyone when it's time to come back.

ISO400; 55mm; f/11; 1/100sec

Before:

After:

Processing:  Cropped; Temp +10; Tint +14; Contrast +17: Clarity +33; Saturation +17

Sophie Jailed

Sophie is such a great girl, but she does love to chase and kill things.  So, she's always on a leash.  I saw this and envisioned a jailhouse shot.

Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/5.6; 1/200sec

 After:

Processing: Temp +24; Clarity +29; Saturation +26

Roscoe the Great Dane

Roscoe is a fantastic larger than life Great Dane.  He is awesome.

Before:

ISO400; 23.13mm; f/4.0; 1/20sec

 After:

Processing:Temp +38; Whites +29; Vibrance +19; Saturation +29

Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/5.6; 1.0 sec

 After:

Processing: Temp +26; Clarity +24; Vibrance +7; Saturation +14

Before:

ISO400; 35mm; f/4.5; 1/25sec

After:

Processing: Temp +29; Exposure +1.67; Contrast +52; Clarity +12; Vibrance +38; Saturation +36

Countryside Landscapes

These are taken of the sunset from a friends house.  I purposely sought to put everything in shadow and capture only the sky and sunset.

Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/20; 1/3200

After:

Processing: Temp +24; Blacks -14; Clarity +24; Saturation -5

Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/40; 1/180sec

After:

Processing: Temp +12; Exposure -0.24; Contrast +71; Clarity +40; Vibrance -7; Saturation -2

Mating Rituals

These little statutes were here at the house when we bought the place.  They are in bad shape, but I think they turned out pretty cute in this shot.  The processed image is much better than the original image and I'm much happier with it.


Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/11; 1/125sec

After:

Processing: Temp +29; Tint -14; Exposure -0.12; Contrast +26; Shadows -14; Blacks -21; Clarity +43; Saturation +60

Gizmo

Gizmo is very excited to see me even when I'm only gone for three seconds.

Before:

ISO100; 18mm; f/5.0; 1/160sec

After:

Processing:  Temp +17; Whites +40; Saturation +17

Lake Landscapes

I love taking shots of the lake and surrounding trees.  My preferences has always been for trees with no leaves, but spring is great because you get a little bit of both.  I really like to catch the detail of the reflections in the lake and I think I picked up a lot of that in these shots.

Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/5.0; 1/40sec

After:

Processing: Temp +17; Vibrance +24; Saturation +17

 This was such a dreary gray day and you can really see that in the before shot.  I like the processed shot because I was able to green up everything while still maintaining a lot of the dreariness of the day.
Before:

ISO400; 28.13mm; f/4.5; 1/60sec

After:

Processing: Temp -12; Tint -26; Contrast +24; Clarity +40; Vibrance +19; Saturation +14

I wanted to bring out the detail in the shot and the reflection in the lake.  I don't know which I like better....the before shot or after processing.  I feel like they are both pretty good.
Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/10; 1/40sec

 After:

Processing: Temp +17

I really liked the sky behind the tree in this shoot.  So, I chose to process the shot in such a way that really brought out the blue sky and the contrast between the tree and the sky.  I also like the nice straight lines of the tree with the slightly off kilter angle of the shot in general.  The angle I didn't really think out in advance, but I saw the shot and knew it would be good.  It was more of a gut feeling.

Before:

ISO400; 18mm; f/11; 1/100 sec

 After:

Processing: Temp -19; Tint +14; Clarity +7; Vibrance +24; Saturation +36

Lake Visitors

ISO800; 35mm; 1/125sec; manual telephoto lensEach year we have geese come and check out the lake to see if it's suitable for them to have their babies.  Sometimes, we have several pairs of geese that fight between themselves over who was there first and that is always fun to watch.  They make a lot of noise and sometimes they seem to dive bomb each other.  On this day, the geese were visiting and all getting along.  This shot is across the lake so the geese aren't as easy to see.  But, the reflection of the geese and the trees are very nice.

Before:

ISO400; 55mm; f/5.6; 1/13sec

After:

Processed:  cropped, Temp +14; tint -17

It started to sprinkle and I was trying to catch the motion of the water.  That was a lot harder than I thought and something that I haven't been practicing.  I need to study up on the best way to capture motion and try again.
Before:

ISO800; 35mm; 1/125sec; manual telephoto lens

 After:

Processing:  Temp +10; Tint -10; Clarity +100; Saturation +14

Using the saturation feature in Lightroom really brings out the colors in photos.
After:

Processing: Temp +24; Tint +2; Exposure +.36; Contrast +19; Clarity +31; Saturation +27

Before:

ISO800; 35mm; 1/125sec; manual telephoto lens

Old School Farming

An old piece of farm equipment that was here when we bought the place and was never moved.  It brings character.

Before:

ISO400; 35mm; f/11; 1/125sec

 After:

Processing:  cropped; temp +7; contrast +40

Processing:  cropped, converted to black and white; temp +7; blacks -55; contrast +55