D 68 - Contrast, Cord and Candle

HDR is for the people.
It's a tool to master, just as I thought. Can be used to benefit a fitting scene.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442. Tripod.
RAW files edited it Lightroom and merged to HDR in Qtpfsgui.

What I learned

I don't have a comfort of having a vacant room for a photo studio. So any arrangement including a backdrop and an arranged lighting takes a few minutes to set up. I have scarce time for photography with a 2-year old child running around and this extra time feels almost like wasted. The results of taking time to set up are evident but it arranging objects in space isn't what I love in photography. It's a necessary burden.

As long as photography is my hobby, not my job, I'll tend to do only the most fun part of it.

D 67 - Yatta Elefante

As I said, I will fool around with HDR some more. This is single light source photo.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442. RAW files edited in Lightroom and merged to HDR in Qtpfsgui.

What I learned

I think that at least one of the photos has to un-clip even the deepest shadows. Because with the brightest photo in a series having black areas I get this blue noise in the HDR again.

It is either that or the result of some noise which my Olympus does tend to make.

D 66 - What the Hell?

I never liked HDR. It was just another gismo filter to me. So I decided to give it a try. You never know, maybe some day I'd need it and it'd be good to have some practice.

Aw...

I sat for an hour trying to get rid of some ridiculous blue noise in the shadows of my photo sequence. And I couldn't tell why they finally disappeared.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442 on tripod. Qtpfsgui open-source program for HDR.
Yes, that's the name of a software, not demon.

What I learned

I may be wrong.
I might have done something wrong while I shot the photos for HDR.
Maybe the contrast was too high or something.

But as far as I see it today, results of HDR making are random. You just toss your photos into this giant pot of sliders and parameters and options and see what you get. Than you stir the mixture and look at the new result.
Trying to understand the meaning of all those parameters seems like a science of it's own.

It was a nightmare.

I'll try again tomorrow!

D 65 - Neuroplant

Those hairs on twigs of this plant were intriguing me for few days. They are bright red and make a nice contrast against green body of the plant. The moment I changed it into black and white photo and manipulated the color mix in Lightroom a bit I found it to take alien, electron microscope look.

Equipment

Samsung S630 on a gorilla tripod.
I manipulated color mix and contrast and cropped the photo by about 50% in Lightroom. I added some yellow/green hue by split toning.

What I learned

I need a macro lens with a 1:1 magnification for my Olympus E-510 DSLR. I used to scorn macro-photography as a strange hobby for insect hunters but it does open new spaces for abstract works.

D 64 - By accident

Not much to explain there. A play of words.
I was looking for a shot with some pattern, a rhythm.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

I have reconciled with my standard zoom kit lens.
It has no less than two very good alternatives in Olympus E-system, but I'm on a tight budget and this is a decent piece of optical equipment to say the least. It was unfair to hold against it the fact that it is made of plastic and has more adequate brothers in the family.

D 63 - Nothern

I love to be reminded about how far North and East Poland lies compared to the rest of EU. I helps me to remember about this other part of me that cares about solstices and thunderstorms more than about career and bills.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD1442.

What I learned

Recently I read on... pardon my memory but I can't recall. Anyway I read that landscape photography is not about the objects but the light.
Confirmed.

D 62 - Washed away

This time I went for one of my all time favorites - soft photo with pastel colors.

Equipment

E-510 with Helios 44-4 lens.

What I learned

More like 'what I'd like to learn' this time. I can't catch the conditions required for such pastel-color effect. I know it when I see it but I can't make it happen when I need it.

D 61 - Through the looking glass

It looks like I get into a habit of running late with posts on the weekend. I think that it may become a regular thing since I try to devote my weekends to myself and my family. Photography is included in this package but editing and posting is not.

I should post those weekend photos en masse somewhere between Sunday and Monday evenings.

This one shows my use of ad hoc filters.

Equipment

E-510 with ZD4015 lens made through a foggy window.

What I learned

I just noticed that "family", "kids" and "portrait" tags usually come together. Don't I have any more family than my son?