Tag Archives: contrast


Photo: The Yellow Symphony

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The Yellow Symphony — vivid flowers against a warm sky

Yellow flowers from an roofless flower shop; you can find good photos anywhere. I took this from a low angle, so you can’t see any people or products in the background; just the sky. There’s interesting stuff among the stems and flowers below, but most people just look at the flowers at the top.

I spent a while changing the colors; I was debating between cooler blue tones or warm red and yellow, finally choosing the latter after comparing. There was an out-of-focus flower that creeped into the bottom-right of the frame that I cloned out, and I applied contrast enhancements and a subtle glowing effect. I let the sky go to pure white and the shadowy jungle below the flowers to black, because those areas don’t deserve detail.
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Canon PowerShot A620, 1/1000, F4.5, 7.3mm, ISO50, 2007-06-08T14:23:26-04, 2007-06-08_18h23m26

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Photo: The Stuccoed House

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The Stuccoed House — a lit, yellow home at night, with three ghosts

A thirty-second exposure of my house at night, with the lights on. Our house has creatively applied stucco that is painted yellow, so it makes an interesting and reflective texture, particularly with the yellowish indoor lights. The ghostly figures are of me standing next to two windows and in the light behind the house; I stood still in each spot for eight seconds to achieve the effect (took four tries). I don’t own a proper tripod, so I used a step-ladder; it does well in a pinch.

For the glowing effect, I used a gaussian-blurred layer with soft-light blending in Adobe Photoshop CS3. Other than that, I added contrast and color, burned the sky, and dodged the ghosts.
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Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 30″, F3.5, 18mm, ISO400, 2008-03-22T22:11:14-04, 20080323-021114rxt

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Photo: Ashes and Embers

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Ashes and Embers — fiery red embers in a fireplace

Leftover embers in my wood-burning stove. The foreground is crumpled paper that didn’t burn thoroughly; makes for some interesting folds, colors, and patterns. There is still a bit of fire left in them.

I burned in the highlights a bit, made the colors redder, and added contrast. I was hand-holding the camera and the scene was dim, so I went up to ISO1600; the original is grainy. It’s nice grain, though, which I kept, though you can’t see it except at higher resolutions.
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Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/30, F1.8, 50mm, ISO1600, 2008-02-28T21:00:45-05, 20080229-020045rxt

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Photo: Golden Tapestry

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Golden Tapestry — a golden sun behind silhouetted branches

A golden sunset behind a mess of tree branches. Took this right across the street of my house. It’s the same location and type of tree as A Morning of Fog, but very different lighting.

Darkening and added contrast give this its feeling, though the original is more technically accurate.

Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/3200, F9, 55mm, ISO100, 2008-03-19T19:03:08-04, 20080319-230308rxt

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Photo: Leafy Droplets 5

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Leafy Droplets 5 — sparkling raindrops on a leaf, in black and white

A leaf with raindrops, in black and white. The sun came out after the rain for this photo, so the contrast was high.

I converted to black and white in Adobe Photoshop, then did basic sharpening and contrast enhancements.

Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/250, F8, 55mm, ISO100, 2007-10-31T16:09:32-04, 2007-10-31_20h09m32

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Photo: Leafy Droplets 4

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Leafy Droplets 4 — a green leaf with dark raindrops

A leaf on a tree in my back yard, which raindrops stick to with ease. This composition was the best; the leaf looks flat, till you get to the top where it fades out like a horizon line. I like how the droplets are linked together with water resting on the veins of the leaf. It was still raining at the time; I was struggling, holding the umbrella while using my camera. :grin:

I burned in the areas that were too bright, and added contrast to achieve the dark mood. This was a fun edit, as I got it to look just as I wanted.
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Canon Rebel XTi, EFS 18-55mm, 1/80, F5.6, 55mm, ISO400, 2007-10-27T17:13:25-04, 2007-10-27_21h13m25

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Photo: Leafy Droplets 3

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Leafy Droplets 3 — drops of water on a vivid green leaf

A rainy green leaf reflecting the bright, overcast sky. This is the same type of leaf from Leafy Droplets 2, but with natural colors and a new angle. My reflection is in some of the raindrops, but I don’t think it hurts the piece.

There were some specks of dirt on the leaf that I took out, and I added contrast and sharpening. I exhibited a lower-contrast version of the photo before posting it here.
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Canon PowerShot A620, 1/160, F2.8, 7.3mm, ISO50, 2007-01-18T13:33:17-05, 2007-01-18_18h33m17

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Photo: Leafy Droplets 2

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Leafy Droplets 2 — a dark orange leaf with raindrops

A dark, orange leaf with drops of water. It was still cloudy so the lighting gave contrast, without being too harsh. I decided to fade to black at the top-left, which should add intrigue. This is a re-edit (old version); the leaf started as green, but orange is more interesting and stylish.

I changed the colors through curves in the Lab color space, burned in the parts that are now black, added contrast, and cropped from 1:1.33 to a 1:1.5 aspect ratio.
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Canon PowerShot A620, 1/25, F2.8, 7.3mm, ISO50, 2006-11-08T07:46:00-05, 2006-11-08_07h46m00

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Photo: The Rebel

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The Rebel — a girl smoking in front of a no-smoking sign (shameful!)

Sarah rebels against the no-smoking signs. I posed her for this; she didn’t notice the sign till afterwards. Somehow, we didn’t get in trouble. It was noon-time, but fortunately the light wasn’t too harsh.

This is from 35mm black-and-white film (developed, printed, and digitized). I decided to burn in sign (in Adobe Photoshop); it adds punch. Don’t smoke kids! Cigarettes are too expensive.
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2008-05-22 Update: This is on my new Gawker Artists page! Read more here.

Canon Elan IIe, EF 50mm 1:1.4, ERA 100 35mm film, 2008-02-29, the-rebel-rxt

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

Photo: Ketchup 3

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Ketchup 3 — a row of black ketchup bottles

These are the evil, dark ketchup bottles. This is a normal still life arrangement, but I used a shallow depth-of-field which I find more interesting. Enjoy!

I made the background pure white, added contrast which darkened the bottles, and brightened the labels. The labels look weathered and are dodged unevenly, which is the look I want.
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Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/5, F1.8, 50mm, ISO100, 2008-01-20T20:23:20-05, 20080121-012320rxt

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