Category Archives: Stock Photos

Free photos by Richard X. Thripp, for manipulation, commerce, or other use.


Photo: The Ephemeral Branch

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The Ephemeral Branch —

A tree branch swaying in the wind, with a UPS truck on the highway behind it. I like how the light and blur turned out. I closed down all the way (F22) so I could use a 1/20 second shutter speed, then holding the camera steady while snapping away to get this. The branch is about to leave this world; it’s just your imagination! That’s what makes it ephemeral. :grin:

I dodged (brightened) the leaves and added contrast with the curves tool.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/20, F22, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-05-09T15:05:17-04, 20080509-190517rxt

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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: Into the Woods

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Into the Woods — trees, nature, and green leaves off on the trail

Go into the woods… do not be afraid. :sunglasses: This is my Grandma’s yard. There are houses around, but from where I shot this, they’re all obstructed by trees. The lighting and colors were nice, since we had a rainy white sky.

I added contrast and a glow effect.

Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/60, F3.5, 18mm, ISO100, 2008-06-20T16:31:07-04, 20080620-203107rxt

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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: The Fountain

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The Fountain — water from a man-made fountain, frozen in motion

A coquina-rock fountain out front of the City Hall in Holly Hill, Florida. I used a 1/1600 shutter speed to freeze the water drops. The bright green lawn and yellow rocks matched well. I tried a shot from down low, with the water against the sky, but it was too dark and lifeless. This is certainly more attractive.

Just simple contrast improvements. I cloned out two distracting droplets at the bottom of the frame, and a red stop sign in the background.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/1600, F3.5, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-06-12T11:12:14-04, 20080612-151214rxt

Download the high-res JPEG or download the source image.

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

Photo: The Rebellious Grasshopper

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The Rebellious Grasshopper — a yellow bug hanging upside-down

I found this bug in our yard, hanging upside-down from a branch on a tree. He looked at me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. That’s why he’s rebellious.

This is the sequel to the free stock photo, Yellow Grasshopper.

I added contrast and burned the corners a lot to contain the creature.

Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/100, F5.6, 50mm, ISO800, 2008-06-10T017:16:31-04, 20080610-211631rxt

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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.

Stock: Leafy Sky

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Leafy Sky

Leaves on a tree, with my camera pointed toward the clouds. This one is unconventional as a stock image as it’s horribly over-exposed on the right, but I’m making an artistic statement and this may translate into your use. If not, just use the left half of the image.

Download the high-res JPEG or download the source image.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.
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Buy a 4*6 copy for $0.95 (USA only). Lustre finish. After adding, go to your shopping cart.

Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/200, F8, 18mm, ISO100, 2008-01-12T15:16:26-05, 20080112-201626rxt

Photo: The Graceful Flag

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The Graceful Flag — a United States flag keeping still on a windless day

The stars and stripes fly low on a windless day. There was a nice background of clouds, so I shot this of the flag from the ground. I placed the pole off-center a bit, as that’s more appealing to the eye.

I added some contrast and color through curves.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/800, F7.1, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-06-12T11:14:07-04, 20080612-151407rxt

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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: The Sun-Kissed Rose

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The Sun-Kissed Rose — a pink rose under the noon sun

A bright pink rose under the noon-day sun. This is normally the worst time to take pictures; the sun was directly overhead. But it didn’t turn out half-bad here; all the light is on the flower, so the background is dark, and the petals are nicely highlighted. It does reveal the defects in the rose, but that gives an air of honesty and truthfulness… right? :grin:

There was a lot of dirt on this rose; small specks, but annoying still. I spent a lot of time with the spot healing brush in Photoshop to take them out. Next was to add contrast and blacken the background, and then I got the finished photo you see here.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/640, F3.5, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-04-23T12:37:07-04, 20080423-163707rxt

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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: The Explosion

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The Explosion — the world pops using zooming

This is a cool effect called zooming. While the photo is exposing and the shutter is tripped, you zoom the lens while keeping the camera steady. That way, the middle of the frame is sharp but the edges have cool motion blur. I used it here on some trees in my yard, and at the bottom you can see our clothes line (we avoid the dryer to save energy). It looks like the world is exploding!

Read more about the technique in How to Use Zooming for Explosive Photos.

Since the zoom effect is in-camera, there wasn’t much to edit here. I just added contrast and toned the colors a bit.

Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/8, F14, 18mm, ISO100, 2008-04-20T18:30:51-04, 20080420-223051rxt

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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: The Sibling Flowers

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The Sibling Flowers — A red flower and a white flower together

A pair of flowers; one white, one deep red. I shot this at the garden section at Wal-Mart; the flowers were already close together, but I moved them closer. It’s a good combination. I got as close as my lens would focus to cut out the background.

I under-exposed compared to my camera’s meter on purpose, as it was blowing out the whites in the auto-exposure mode. In Photoshop, I desaturated everything, but left color in the red flower and a bit of green in the leaves. I didn’t go all the way to black and white, as I feel the green adds to the mood. Then, it was just a matter of darkening everything and adding in some contrast. I also cloned out distracting highlights at the top and burned the corners slightly.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/125, F3.5, 50mm, ISO400, 2008-05-04T18:54:55-04, 20080504-225455rxt

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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: The Sky’s Mirror

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The Sky's Mirror — blue raindrops from a stormy sky, on a glossy window

These raindrops were on the back window of a friend’s car, after the rain (appropriately). This was as close as I could get with my 50mm lens; I put the focus right in the center, so it fades out toward the edges. I liking how the reflections of light and clouds in the background turned out. You can see an outline of each drop on the underside of the window below, which is also interesting.

This is the spiritual successor of The Sky’s Ceiling and possibly Crystal Rain; check them out to see how my ideas are evolving.

The blue colors were largely fabricated. I darkened the photo and added contrast for effect.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/400, F2.8, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-05-22T17:05:05-04, 20080522-210505rxt

Download the high-res JPEG or download the source image.

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