133: Ominous

Well, not really ominous. It's another from my river study series that got a brutal pounding of post processing. It was a gllomy, overcast day, so the clouds were interesting looking. Still getting used to the heavy PP stuff, so this is close to what I wanted. Gotta practice!

Click for a larger view

132: The Road to Nirvana

More ladybugs. I had originally found four, so that's what you see here. Had bad backlighting as you can see, so I apologize for that. This was more an exercise in DOF and composition more than anything.

Yes, the wine was good as well :-)

131: Ladybugs Know Best

So while sweeping up in the country, I came across a bunch of ladybugs. Yes they were already dead, so I can honestly say no bugs were harmed in the making of this picture.

This is inspired by a few photos over at DPC that involved gluing dead bugs and taking fun photos and leaving everybody wondering how they got the bugs to cooperate like that.

Anyways, you can't tell, but two of the bugs are missing their heads. I found them like that! I swear!

The wine was really good, too. I nice Italian wine that my boyfriend has reviewed on his wine blog. Link is on the right.

Click the picture for a larger view

130: Toronto Skyline

Yah Blogger is working now! CN Tower in all it's glory, the Rogers centre where the LEafs play (I think) and Lake Ontario!

I'm heading out of town to dial up land for a few days. I'll be back on the weekend to update. The full Toronto gallery can be seen here if you feel inclined to check it out. They are pictures from the DPC GTG on MAy 6. Great to meet a bunch fellow photographers, joke around and take pictures.

129: Sail Away

Beautiful boat that was cruising through the harbor in Toronto.

I'm not nautically inclined, so I know nothing about what type of boat this is, but I thought it was neat

128: Wide Angle

So one of the fun things about these get togethers is seeing what other lens (or is it lenses) people have, and trying them out. This is my lens, but I had the opportunities and time to really try my wide angle fish eye out.

The interesting thing about my fish eye is that there is not that much distortion. This shot has very little distortion compared tos ome fish eyes shots I've seen. But it does make great 'from the bottom up' shots.

And just because I feel like it, another bottom up fisheye shot


I checked on a fellow PAD blog and noticed I was off by one on the numbering of the posts, so that is why there is a random gap in the numbering

126: En Route

I am not so hot at bird shots. I got one decent one in NY because they are accustomed to humans and fly away. Now I understand why everyone who shoots wildlife loves those (heavy) 500mm lens.

Not a greta shot, but I like the opposite way the wings are, and the shadows in the water.

125: JUMP!

This is Joey Lawrence

A very talented, young photographer who was willing to humour us with jumping over Di's rubber duckie.

The duckie is on the floor, in all its duckie glory :-D

124: Hogtown!

So I spent the weekend in Toronto. I stayed with a good friend of mine who I used to work with in Montreal and his girlfriend (a friend as well :-) ). They have just moved into a cute apartment right downtown.They have a view out their window of the water, and a fabulous open concept apartment.

This particular shot was taken with my 16mm fisheye lens. I had intended this for the night challenge, but the fisheye distortion doesn't quite work in this shot. The only thing really fish eyed is the CN tower, so it just sort of looks odd

This is the view from my friend's terrace on a terrace of the building. Not to shabby! The terrace has a backgammon and chess table (bring your own pieces) and little picnic benches as well. It will make a fabulous place to chill on a summer afternoon.

123: Wine...

For a real comparison review, you must check out my boyfriend's wine review blog here. I preferred the merlot. It was interesting because he gave me a true blind taste test. Normally, I would not consider myslef a big merlot fan, but I enjoyed it more than the cab/shiraz blend.

The picture is a quickie edit, just some WB adjustment and contrast in RAW and some levels in PS

I am heading to Toronto tomorrow, and my friends I am staying with have just moved, so they I don't know how much internet access they have.

When I get back on Monday, I will update the blog with (hopefully) fantastic photos from the DPC Toronto GTG and whatever else I happen to take pictures of!

See you Monday!

122: Sun Goddess

This is our sun goddess, Callye! She was the one who provided all our wonderful reflected fill light. Thank you!

121: Pensive

Yah! Blogger is working. So, a re-edit from the studio shot. One light with snoot and a reflector for fill. Some hard core editing since the background was white. Ended up grey in the picture, so lots of tweaking and masking in PS to get it here. Covnert to B&W and voila!

120: Pyramid

OK, having fun again! Cheers!

119: Callye's Bobo

This is Callye's bobo, or booboo. Here in Quebec, you get a boo-boo, it's called a bobo. Boo-boo is actually a derivative of bobo, which is French. Google is great!

The piece she is rehearsing requires her to jump up and hang onto a tall wall. The way to get up involves running towards the wall and then doing a sort of pseudo climb up the wall. This means her left knee gets knocked into the wall at high velocity.

Knee + high velocity + wall = HUGE bruise. She showed me the bruise and I said, we HAVE to take a picture! It will probably only turn more pretty colours this week!

Yes I"m holding my awesome remote in my hand :-P

118: Jean Seb

So, one thing we discovered was that we were placing our models too close to the backdrop. This picture seems to have vignetting, but it's more because the backdrop we were using was dirty where Jean Seb was sitting than because of lighting problems. We pulled our model several feet from the backdrop, and it solved a lot of the problems we were having earlier. Thanks John!!

The other thing we discovered was that the reflector is more than just a really cool wind generator for making someone's hair fly around. This time around, we used the gold side mostly. We used one light as our main source, and used the reflector, which made a huge difference in shadows on the model. We used two other lights for the backdrop.

117: Studio Revisit

So, this is being posted for Friday, but reality is this was taken Saturday.

We (Jean-Sebastien, Callye, and John) and I went back to the studio again. This time, since we had an idea of what studio stuff is, we decided to focus on more technical things, like 'Rembrandt lighting' and other classic portrait studio things. We also learned a couple of great lessons.

This, however, is me being a goof. I was showing off my remote shutter as we were getting ready to do some fun group stuff. As we were switching lights, we figured it made a good refreshment break as well ;-)

We don't wear our shoes (in less you are the model) on the paper, since it's white, so I've got my boyfriends nice and comfy wool socks on. Glad I brought them!

116: Real picture of the kitty

So after yesterday's debacle, you get a realy picture of the kitty.

115: What to do with a baaad picture

Typical of cats. There is a cat in our neighborhood who meanders around, and will even walk into your apartment if the door is open. She (I think) was sitting on my neighbors porch, so I thought, cool, snap a few pictures and I've got my PAD (well two since I missed this one).

Of course, the cat gets up and starts coming my way. Decided I was hers and did the rubbing thing, and of course, then proceeded to stretch with her behind to me.

So, I took an out of focus picture, and butchered it, just for the heck of it. I think it's horrific, but the best part, is I get to call it 'art' because I created it!

114: 1 done, 3 to go

Today I wrote my last exam for this year. One year down, three to go. So what you're staring it are my notes and textbooks from this semester. I know, lots of paper. I'm a nerd and type my notes because otherwise I wouldn't be able to study off of them.

Next semester will include organic chemsitry, molecular biology, laboratory techniques, biometry (statistics), and either an essay writing course or a management course. CAN'T WAIT!

Next semester will be tons of work. In the meantime, I get to go to Puerto Rico and volunteer in a lab. Plus I get to enjoy the summer in Montreal :-)

113: Challenge Entry

This is a challenge entry

This will be erroneous double spaced nonsense

In case someone stumbles upon my blog

And is hugely offended

I posted my picture

And destroyed all anonymity

And am trying to have

An undo influence

On the voters

Who are oh so easily swayed

If I asked them to change their vote

On my picture

I actually think if I asked people to change their vote on my picture, they'd vote me down.

If you still want to see the picture

Go ahead!