Bringing Chaos into the Ordinary
This is underneath the pier at Fort Myers Beach in Florida. Guess that’s why I called it Under The Pier And Dreaming. I’m original like that.
This was done in HDR using Aurora 2019. One image and done. I haven’t shot bracketed images in about forever when you can do HDR with one anymore. The program does a good job with just one image so why bother.
Enjoy
This is the fishing pier at Fort Myer’s beach. Shockingly enough this was my first trip ever to Fort Myer’s beach so I really had no idea that the pier even existed.
I set up my trip in the water as I took this photo. Some guy was behind me going what you shoot? I was like the sunset over the pier. He goes brilliant and busts out his cell phone for the same shot. He ended up following me and getting the same shots I was getting for about 15 minutes.
I did this one in subtle HDR. I didn’t see a need to go nuts about it. Plus I prefer the subtle versus the so damn obvious versus of HDR.
Anyways. Enjoy.
This was taken at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve when I went through there. There are a few areas where they have set up viewing platforms so I figured I might as well use them.
I wanted to incorporate the lily pads and get the reflections in the image as well. I luckily took several images because the first image I worked on turned out not to be in focus. Good thing you can just copy settings in Lightroom and be done with it. Once I took it into Photoshop did some dodging and burning to bring out the reflection and add density to the trees.
Figured why not play some more and took it into ColorEfx and added a few more tweaks here and there. Final bit was just cleaning up the dust spots and then sharpening. Professional hint, sharpen then clean else you may get some weird artifacts.
Enjoy.
This set of images is really all about light for the most part. However, they were all shot around my Mom’s house in Fort Myers, Florida. I really never left her front or back yards. Well, one shot was technically on the neighbors but he doesn’t have a fence so it counts! Plus you can see my Mom’s fence so clearly it was around the yard.
These images were shot on 2 cameras. The Sony A7ii using a 16-25mm 4.0 and a Canon 55mm 1.2 that just showed up in the mail while I was in Fort Myers. The other camera a Sony RX100iii. The images were shot over different days.
Enjoy
This one is from beautiful Southwest Florida, aka, Fort Myers. So I took this when I was living back in America. Then again, Florida and Thailand are basically the same temperature and climate, except we don’t smacked by hurricanes here on the Gulf of Thailand. Instead we get monsoon rains. Nothing says fun while going 60km/ hour on a scooter while getting smashed in the face with rain.
I took this photo from a pontoon boat while on Estero Bay. We rented the boat to go fishing but it was surface of the sun hot. I mainly went to provide sarcastic comments and to drive the boat. I’m better at one than the other. Not saying which. Of course I brought a camera so I took a few shots while I wasn’t skippering or being sarcastic.
Editing this was just me playing around with Intensify and then just a bit of a dodge and burn and called it done.
Enjoy.
Part of the storm series I did when I was in Florida. This was just a bit of pink cloud left over from the first storm as the second storm moved in.
While I am shooting regularly, as I indicated, it’s not always for publication. Yet, I keep my eyes open for opportunities to do some personal work and I think I have found something interesting I can shoot quickly using one of my smaller cameras. Little bit of life in Thailand. Hoping to get to it this weekend but have some stuff already scheduled so will see.
Editing this was a bit different. I did my normal workflow but then immediately went to Intensify and used my favorite preset. Still wasn’t happy so I loaded up Color Efex and had a run through it. Played with a few sliders until I was happy and then called it good to go.
Enjoy.
Shot this in Fort Myers, Florida when I was there. This was after the first storm rolled in and the next one was coming.
Been shooting a lot lately. Just not stuff I can publish here as its for a client. Been great to shoot stuff I’m not used to. So used to landscape photography that I never really messed with flash work. Now I am shooting people in a run and gun style with a flash. Bit of a learning curve but a good one as I know flash photography in theory and have done a bit but now it’s something I am doing almost daily.
Think with photography you either push yourself or you get bored. I love landscape and travel. Thing is now that I do it for some pocket change I have to put the client first and me secondary. This is forcing a challenge for to find the time to shoot my own personal work as now I shoot at night, edit during the day and turn around and repeat. Good because I like it. Bad because personal work goes out the window.
Editing this was mostly my normal workflow. I have been playing with Intensify a lot. I am in the phase where I like to bring out the details and get away with it. The Nikon D5500 is a solid little camera. The resolution is amazing so I can push the files. Hence I did.
Enjoy.
Took this while I was in Florida on Estero Bay near Fort Myers. Was on a boat in the middle of the day.
Sadly this is one of these place holder images I do that should be apart of a series but I haven’t had time. Since moving to Thailand I have been busy with so many other things that editing has taken second place.
This time I had to edit photos for someone else on a quick turn around. So I have been editing most of the afternoon to get them done and turned over. So I’m a little fried from looking at Photoshop right now.
Editing wise this was normal workflow. Then I took it into Intensify to bring out the clouds a bit more. Originally masked it in at 40% and it was way too much. Took it down to 13% and got the effect I was looking for. Bit of a dodge and burn and good to go.
Enjoy.
Shot this in Florida while the rain was doing its weird lull before the next torrential downpour hit.
I missed this photo when I was doing the curation. For some reason I never paid much attention to it because it looks like a missed shot, that is until I blew up the image and saw that I had the two women in motion rushing in the rain with their umbrellas out.
After doing some basic edits I realized I had a very decent photo on my hands and figured why not give it an edit.
Did the usual workflow then punched it into Intensify which I am into right now for some reason. I just went ahead and hit a preset. Was happy so didn’t mask anything in. Did some dodging and burning to balance the image and bring out some details in the clouds but in the end super happy.
Enjoy.
Shot this off boat in Estero Bay in Fort Myers, Florida. Always were cool clouds in Fort Myers.
I have been shooting a lot of clouds and I have a series planned when I get around to sorting them out. Right now just doing the I live in Thailand thing which is a lot of fun. There were more than a few nights that went into mornings by the time I got home from the previous night out. Since I’m heading to week 3 living here that has slowed to a crawl and now I am focusing on shooting more stuff. Sadly with the heat or the rain it makes things difficult and I do have work to do from time-to-time which means I have to actually do stuff before just walking out with a camera for a stroll around the neighborhood or even taking a ride on the bike to a temple.
Editing this was the usual Lightroom and Photoshop workflow. I debated on a square crop but like the layering effect with the water, ground, cloud, and sky. Gives you a sense of perspective. I did run it through Intensify just to give the clouds a bit more pop and masked those in.
Enjoy.
