Continuous Learning

This is a re-processed version of one of my previous images that I had made couple of years ago. Since then I have improved my processing know-how which is evident in this image when you compare this with the old one.

More recently, I have picked up few new techniques...so know I am debating about processing this image one more time. This dilemma is a result of continuous learning which I guess is a good thing...

Urge

Urge, a photo by hdvegas on Flickr.

Lately, the light conditions in Las Vegas have been terrible for photography. Finally, we had a cloudy day with some scattered thunderstorms and the 4th of July holiday allowed me to fulfill my urge to make some landscape pictures. I headed to Red Rock NCA and made this HDR image. The light conditions were not that harsh and I did not have to make an HDR. But again today was all about fulfilling my photographic urge…I rarely try HDR and have never made an HDR image of the Red Rocks. I did go a little overboard with my processing but I again had an urge to make a cliché HDR image.

Happy Independence Day!

Quality is more important than quantity

In this digital world, when the price of the memory cards and hard drives are constantly dropping, everybody, including me, tend to take numerous pictures, which we would not have taken otherwise (especially, when using films). As a matter of fact, this is one of the biggest advantages of digital photography. The other advantages of the digital photography include the ease of reviewing, organizing, managing, editing and sharing pictures. There are so many free software and websites such as Picasa, iPhoto, Flickr, etc. that allow us to do perform these essential steps. However, most people ignore these essential steps and their workflow include - clicking, downloading and sharing. We get emails and links from our friends and family sharing hundreds of pictures of their vacations or the events they participated in. The perennial excuse is: “We did not get time to arrange and select the pictures…” But they expect us to spend time to go through and enjoy bunch of mediocre pictures that we cannot relate to.

Quality is more important than quantity. Following is a quote from the book –  “Visual Poetry A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs by Chris Orwig”:  We [photographers] are good at collecting, too, but sometimes we don’t know how to let go. The best photographers in the world drop images in a fury...It is not enough to take award-winning photographs. We need to know how to find them…to proceed by elimination-to know how to discard, as the gambler says, that is the great technique of selection. 

Recently, I was helping my buddy Jacob edit some of his pictures that he made during his Alaska Trip. Below are couple of examples of “before and after” editing of some of his favorite pictures. It is clear how bit of editing – auto toning, adjusting white balance and playing with some of the readily available tools can make a big difference.

In my opinion…reviewing, ranking (weeding out pictures) and editing pictures should be essential part of any photographer’s workflow.

P.S These pictures were edited in Lightoom

Monsoon Sky

Over the past couple of weeks clouds have been hovering over the valley. This has resulted in some spectacular sunrises and sunsets. I was able to make some time last Monday evening and was able to capture this beautiful sunset.

I was able to also make few panoramic pictures of the Las Vegas Strip during sunset. This particular one is made by stitching 5 images in Adobe Photoshop.