Stock: The Quill Pen

The Quill Pen — a faux quill pen on black

A ballpoint pen with a decorative quill against a black sheet. At the bottom-left is a book with yellowed pages, which would be perfect for using the pen in.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/160, F3.2, 50mm, ISO400, 2008-04-19T19:43:37-04, 20080419-234337rxt

Photo: Modern Architecture

Modern Architecture — a diagonal of a building against an orange sky

The side of the photography building at Daytona Beach College, with my camera turned to the side. The sun was right behind the building, which provides the gradation of brightness. The structure looks like it has a chunk taken out in the middle, but that’s how they build ’em nowadays.

The orange—I made the orange, there was no orange. I added vignetting and upped the contrast. It looks good now, like a sunset or deathly blanket of clouds.
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Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/320, F8, 22mm, ISO100, 2008-03-07T14:35:59-05, 20080307-193559rxt

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Photo: The Gaze

The Gaze — a couple looking into each others eyes

Through the eyes of love… or something like that. These are students from my college, who posed for this photograph.

Some of my classmates think they’re about to break into a fist-fight, or that she is backing away fearfully. That wasn’t my intention, but the interpretation is your call.
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Canon Elan IIe, EF 50mm 1:1.4, Kodak 125PX 35mm film, 2008-04-14, the-gaze-rxt

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You can use the model’s likeness for anything not defamatory. You are one of my “licencees.”

Photo: Rose of Purity

Rose of Purity — an isolated white rose

A white rose, floating on a background of white. I was going to have the backdrop as a bunch of other flowers, but decided to do something different. This is from my induction into Phi Theta Kappa; white represents purity (and black impurity?).

I was working in poor light for this, so I pumped up my camera’s sensor to ISO1600. The rose is very grainy, which serves as a conceptual counterpoint to the ideal of the title. You can see my idea (of the rose being the odd one out among the other flowers), but I abandoned that and instead made it the only item on a white canvas, in an almost creepy way (does the lack of boundaries scare you?).

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/80, F2, 50mm, ISO1600, 2008-04-19T20:06:38-04, 20080420-000638rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Looking for more stock roses? Try these: Simplicity (pink), Implicity (yellow), Complicity (pink x2), and Rose of Orange.

Photo: Crystal Rain

Crystal Rain — two blue raindrops suspended in the air

These drops are falling off my roof at my house. It was sunny out but still sprinkling. I got these two drops just as they were falling, with a nice, discreet background. The title is because they look like crystals (they’re shiny and reflective :grin: ).

I added contrast, sharpness, and color, and darkened the edges.
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Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/4000, F5.6, 47mm, ISO400, 2008-04-05T18:20:56-04, 20080405-222056rxt

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Leaving deviantART Forever

Yesterday I was contemplating what’s been holding me back in my photography and online publishing of my photography, and I’ve decided it’s maintaining my deviantart.com gallery. Since I started my own website at richardxthripp.thripp.com in December, I’ve continued to post photos to deviantART, because of my many followers there. Unfortunately, this kind of multi-casting derails too much of my time. I post each photo as prints for sale at deviantART, such as Bubble in the Sea, and that takes fifteen minutes because of their tedious interface for cropping and presentation (no one buys them). The other inconvenience is making keyword lists and linking between photos on each site (which I do manually). While I could continue to post photos to deviantART without these frills, the root of the issue is having to go to two places when I should be putting all my efforts here, my home on the Internet forever.

So, I’m breaking it off. I’m never going back to deviantART again. This is a huge step forward. I won’t be hassling myself to publicate my photos, and I’ll be focusing my efforts in one direction instead of splitting them in two. I’ve been at deviantART for two and a half years, and have had 116,000 views for my artwork. But if I’m every going to become solvent here, that won’t cut it. My last photo at deviantART was Night Meets Day. The end.

I’m finishing up my classes for Spring; last day is May 9. If you read my back to school entry from the start of the semester, you know all the crazy courses I’m taking (sixteen credit hours). Unfortunately, most of the assignments are bunched up now, with tests, essays, and projects due every class day. That’s my excuse for my limited appearances here. I wanted to take the summer off, but in order to enter Florida State University’s computer science studies (my intention, as mentioned in the about me page), I have to go through pre-calculus, calculus one, and calculus two. Since I’m learning trigonometry now, and those must be done in order, I can’t do the classes by spring of ’09 (my deadline for my AA degree) without taking pre-calculus this summer. Six weeks in May and June. I’m paying out of pocket (BrightFutures doesn’t like summer-schoolers), but at least the book is the same as trigonometry (college textbooks cost hundreds of dollars per semester). And I’ve chosen my fall ’08 courses: calculus / physics / speech / biology. It’s nice to have a plan.

I’ve mostly abandoned digital photography in the last two months, as my film photography teacher demands undivided efforts. I’ll post a couple some time (scanning them in and removing the dust specks is time-consuming; even if they look fine by eye, the scanner seems to add dust). I’m elated to be abandoning film forever in a couple weeks. There will be nice, shiny digital photos only. I’m glad I’m not subjecting myself to Daytona Beach College’s photography program; I couldn’t put up with such a structured approach.

my photos on my bookshelves

I’ve cleared the junk in my room and dedicated my bookshelves to my photography. My Dad (God bless him) added the shelves on the left recently, where I house my best prints. There are stacks of them, because I have many and give them out all the time, to promote photography as an art form (too often, photographs are cooped up in big frames with $200 price tags to look respectable). I used to be unable to keep track of them, but now I can just wake up and pick up one of each to give out on a walk whatever. Life is clear.

On my about page, I talk about why I’m going into library science. I’ve been employed at the Holly Hill library since 2006-11 (part of Volusia County’s libraries). In January of this year, Lisa (the librarian of three years) was transferred out, and the assistant librarian (Sharon) retired last week. Those were the only full-timers, so it’s interesting to see people come and go. Sad too when they’re friends, like here. The new lady doesn’t like photography (it’s a shame, because photography should be beloved by all :wink: ). I did have a table set up in February, like the bookshelves above. I gave away nice photos such as Leafy Droplets and Simplicity. The ones in my shop are nicer because I mat them on white cardstock and put my signature on the back.

I still get comments from our patrons now about how they enjoyed my work and have it on their fridge or in an album. That’s why I love being a photographer.

Photo: Night Meets Day

Night Meets Day — sunlit leaves against a moonlit sky

Leaves from the American sycamore tree in my yard. This photo is with my new polarizing filter; I made the sky look as dark as possible with it, and put the moon in the frame to make the scene a cross between night and day. So the moon didn’t become a blurry white blob, I closed down to F18, so I increased the ISO speed to 800, but the grain works well here. So you have the sunshine of late afternoon, but the dark blue sky of a moonlit night.

Though the polarizer took care of making the sky dark, I added some contrast, toned down the colors of the leaves, and added heavy vignetting (darkening at the corners), to keep your eyes from wandering off the edge. I also brightened the moon a bit.
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Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/50, F18, 50mm, ISO800, 2008-04-11T18:15:36-04, 20080411-221536rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Bubble in the Sea

Bubble in the Sea — an ant, trapped underwater in an air bubble

These are some Loquat fruits that my Dad was washing off (for their cancer-fighting properties). When I looked at them, I saw this going on: an ant, trapped in an air bubble, with another ant outside the bubble, already drowned. The ant in the bubble was moving around, trying to escape. I ran to get my camera; used my small digicam, as it focuses this close while the lenses I have for my DSLR won’t, and captured this scene.

Ants are people too! Actually, they aren’t. They type here is red imported fire ant, which we have far too many of in Central Florida.

I removed some specks of dirt (can’t have dirt on my fruit), plus added contrast to liven things up. I burned in the corners slightly, and dodged the blue areas so they can better play off the yellow and orange bits.
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Canon PowerShot A620, 1/2, F2.8, 7.3mm, ISO50, 2008-03-18T15:52:18-04, 20080318-195218rxt

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The “Pure Photography” Myth

Pink and Purple Sunset 3, an example of heavy editing

I do whatever it takes to make the photo look good, but I try to avoid spot editing like removing stray tree branches, power lines, etc. Unlike most, it’s not for “ethics,” but because it’s a terrible pain to remove elements while holding to a realistic ideal (no smudge marks, dark spots, obvious cloning, etc.). Spot editing with a soft brush for dodging, burning, or desaturating is easy, but for removing distractions, it’s easier to recompose or chop down a tree than to fix it in Photoshop (usually). If you’ve spent three hours meticulously removing telephone poles, houses, and reshaping trees like in the title photo, then you know why (right is mirrored to show continuity).

I get a few hecklers saying that efforts are no better than a forged bank note, and must be labeled as photo-manipulations—the Scarlet Letter to any “real” photographer. To them I say: how could I dare claim that of my work when I’m doing basic stuff like color shifts and increasing contrast, while others are spending days weaving dozens of photos into a cohesive vision? If anything, it’s not the ambitious photographers that are the trouble, but the people who press “auto levels” and then call their pieces digital art.

To all the fledgling digital photographers: don’t let anyone tell you that you’re “cheating” by editing your creations. This is the new revolution; this is your photography. Go wherever your art takes you. You’re stymying your creativity by not enhancing your photos. Know that when to stop is not when the image is looking too different from the “original,” but when it is looking bad on its own accord.

Over-saturated version of Pink and Purple Sunset 3

^ This is no good. When colors go to solid pink or blue, there is no detail or brilliance there; just an unshaped blob of light. Sometimes, like in the silhouetted trees, no detail looks good. It takes a human to know this, not Photoshop. You are that human. Let no one stand in your way. You are the artist, and the world is your canvas.

For more about this, read Being a Free Photographer.

Photo: The Sky’s Ceiling

The Sky's Ceiling — blue raindrops on glass

Raindrops resting on a car’s moonroof. This is looking up from inside, so my title means that this is the glass ceiling in the sky, which the water rests on.

I was going to make this black and white, but prefered the blue tint for being reminiscent of rain. I added contrast and vignetting by burning in the corners.
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Canon PowerShot A620, 1/60, F3.2, 7.3mm, ISO50, 2007-04-10T17:04:39-04, 2007-04-10_21h04m39

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.