Meet Chloe!

This is Chloe. She's the German Shepherd my brother adopted a couple of months ago. While I visited, I thought I would get some shots of her to post up here because I absolutely love dog photos and love them even more in black and white. Also, this is the last California post. Sad panda!

Honestly, I find black and white portraiture absolutely fascinating. Candid photos are the best, but I've also seen some stunning studio shots; if it works, it works. Dogs, in particular, are awesome to shoot because they normally do whatever they want to and not really what you want them to do. This, however, means you end up with a fantastic, real photo. Not trying to convince you of anything, not contrived, just real. This 'realness' is the reason puppy/cat videos are so popular on Youtube. Show them those curious, innocent eyes and people go crazy. 

Therefore, a good rule to go by when shooting if you have just one: always focus the eyes well. Obviously composition is important, but a well-shot eye is key for a great, rather than just good photo.

 Hmmm... I feel a black and white binge coming on. I have a feeling I'll be showing you some dramatic things next week. Stay tuned!


And as always,
Happy trolling!

Poor, Unfortunate Photographs

As I near the end of the California posts, I'm feeling sad for all the unfortunate little photographs that haven't fulfilled their destiny just yet. Sadly, they must remain in the iPhoto womb until I decide they have a time and place to be posted. Or is it iPhoto crib? Have I mentioned it's slightly weird to think of photographs as babies? Please don't judge me. 

This second to last set of photos comes from the trip to Reno (technically Nevada, I know). Unfortunately, we encountered a snowstorm on our last day while driving through the Sierra Nevada mountains. So, yes, it snowed in the "snowy mountains," go figure.

Anyway, as much as it sucked for my brother to get out in the middle of the highway and put chains on the tires, it was pretty amazing seeing frosty pines and mountaintops for a few hours. If anything, I took a ton of pictures!

Mind you, out of one hundred shots I maybe ended up with ten usable ones because the car was constantly moving and the landscape didn't change terribly from one shot to the next. It's like having a hundred different photos of the same pine tree. The photo directly above, however, is different in that I actually got our view from inside the car. 

I suppose that about sums it up for my snow photos. See you in a few days with the final set! Don't worry, they're really cute.


Also, if you got the Little Mermaid reference, you're awesome and I accept you as my friend.

Happy trolling! :D

Bottled Poetry II

Aaaand we're back! Since we last saw each other, you drank a delicious glass of wine and I stumbled upon what could be the greatest find of the month! (Besides the new iPad, duh) It's called ROLLIP and it's a website that offers free photo filters. They have about forty different filters and it's ridiculously easy to use them. You choose a filter, upload a photo, and they give you a preview and download link. There's no need for an account or any kind of sign-up, and they offer your image in its original high resolution, as well. It's great for anyone who doesn't want to mess with photo-editing software, but still wants to spruce up their photos a bit. Click HERE to check it out! 

    

Obviously, I tried Rollip out for myself, and loved it. Not only is it fast and convenient, but it's also fun. My favorite filter thus far is one of the retro ones, as demonstrated with the photos at the very top and bottom of this post. I've always struggled with manually getting the vintage look, and this filter gets it right in just one click. I'm slightly jealous. 

This 'vintage' photo actually depicts the bottle I mentioned in the previous post. It's the 1976 Chardonnay that won Chateau Montelena first place at a famous French wine tasting. 


So, that's all the winecapades for now! See you in a few days again when I have more photos of Cali!
Also, how I feel about chocolate ---> HERE


Happy trolling! 

Bottled Poetry

The trip to Napa Valley was definitely one of the most anticipated of all my stops in California. Luckily, it surpassed all my expectations and was just as stunning as I had expected. In the car ride alone I must have snapped at least 100 photos! But actually stopping at the wineries was the best part, by far. Below is the second and most beautiful stop of the day, the Chateau Montelena. It was built in 1882 and is one of the wineries that helped give California wines a place in the wine world. 

    

    

The grand chateau is nestled into the side of a mountain and surrounded by the estate vineyard and a lake with Chinese-inspired gazebos.  


Inside the chateau is the tasting room, where everyone (including me, of course) gathered for a very yummy wine tasting. I'm not a big cabernet person, but I can certainly appreciate a good red, and I have to say they had a very good red. Most of the wines they offer for tasting are reds, although they were made famous back in 1976 for a Chardonnay. But I'll explain more about that in the next post!

For both our sakes, I've decided to split the Napa post into two, so I'll post the second installment in a couple of days. In the meantime, go grab yourself a glass of wine. I'm sure all this talk about grapes has made you thirsty!


Happy drinking! :)
Check out the Chateau website HERE.

If you're going to San Francisco

...make sure to wear a jacket. I took a breathtaking but chilly sunset cruise upon arrival in San Francisco last week and was unfortunately stubborn enough to not bring along a jacket for the brisk bay air. So, if you go, seriously, take a jacket.

I actually spent the entire week in California and got the chance to visit quite a few places. However, I have literally hundreds of photos so I'll split the posts about my trip based on the place the photos are from. The bay area was my first stop and it was beautiful! My first photo opportunity was a bay cruise around Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Aside from the obvious indulging in clam chowder and calamari, we also perused around Lombard Street, Chinatown, and the general area for a while before heading home for the night.

Interestingly enough, all the photos were taken from either a car or a boat. Advice: taking pictures from a moving vehicle is a lot more difficult than when standing still.

I'll post Napa Valley photos in a couple days!

Happy trolling! :)

The Light Effect

This week I decided to try something I've always found fascinating: light writing. It's not exactly a new idea, but I've never spent a reasonable amount of time testing it out before and so decided to see where I could push it. Most of the first shots I tried were simple shapes and words: 

After having success with several of those, I incorporated other objects and people into the photos:

The last shots I tried only incorporated the lights off-camera:

I feel as though these last two could have been more easily done in Photoshop by taking two different photos and splicing them together, but there's something rewarding about finding a way to do it in-camera. The first photo was done by having only the blue light turned on, on the left side about one foot away from his face. For the second photo, he turned the blue light on first, made a happy face, and turned the light off. Then he turned the red light on for the angry face. Since his face moved slightly during the exposure time, the two halves are a little off, but the resulting photo has a creepier effect. The last image was done using the same concept, except this time he intentionally moved his head so as to create a "ghost" effect. 

All you need to recreate any of the photos taken here are two LED lights, a camera that allows a custom exposure time, and a tripod! I bought the red and blue LED lights from Academy. You can purchase them in-store or online HERE for about $8. They come in a variety of colors and are small but extremely bright.

If you already own a DSLR, it should have a 'bulb' setting. This allows you to expose the photo for as long as you hold down the shutter button. Basically, this means that the camera will capture any movement that happens during exposure. This also means that a tripod or some form of stabilization is recommended. Even minute hand-held camera movement can change the resulting image drastically. 

My camera settings: ISO 200, f/1.4

Good luck creating your own light images! And also, very special thanks to my awesome helper!

Happy trolling :)