The Dassler Effect's Photos and Art II Archives

May 09, 2008

Climatron with Kermit's Crazy Clone

Posted by jackdas at 01:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 08, 2008

Le Chat de Jardin en Coleur

Not sure that is the right form of "in" to use in French, but in response to Heidi V.'s question from the last post here is the kitty in full color, because, well, this cat is worth seein in full color. He/she? was beautiful and very friendly. He/she was stuck in a tree, how cliche, and one of he Garden helpers had to help. And then it seemed to be a bit aimless, but finally seemed to find some direction. Here is the color. Make sure to click on the cat (perhaps a little scratch behind the ears) to see the full size.

Posted by jackdas at 03:24 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Le Chat de Jardin

Posted by jackdas at 12:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 07, 2008

Giving Chihuly His Due

I think, perhaps, the genius of the forms can be better seen in black and white.

Posted by jackdas at 01:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Reason We Sneeze

I cannot remember whether the water in this picture was in motion or covered in an oily scum, but I think it was the former. I took it though because of the leaves or pollen on the water and the sunny reflection and the lily pads.

Posted by jackdas at 01:13 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 05, 2008

Details

toothy grin small.jpg

Posted by jackdas at 09:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Tanya at the Garden

Not only did Tanya very kindly give me a ride to the Garden on Friday, but she very patiently stood through my first baby photo shoot, and then, also patiently, agreed to pose for the shot below. Pretty cool. The scultures at the Garden just now are pretty trippy, and some rather gaudy and crazy, but the workmanship is amazing and they can produce some pretty cool photographic effects.

Posted by jackdas at 12:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Duck...Duck.....Goose!

Posted by jackdas at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 04, 2008

Gateway to the East

Posted by jackdas at 12:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 03, 2008

A Garden is a Lovesome Thing

Posted by jackdas at 11:44 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

May 02, 2008

Celebrating Their Beauty Alive as Well

Posted by jackdas at 12:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 29, 2008

I Went Outside Today and Saw This Strange Substance...

...It was all liquidy and shiny and beautiful, spilling and dripping all over the flowers and trees and leaves.

Oh, yeah, right. Sunshine!

As a self-confessed photographic apostle of finding beauty in gloominess, somethimes it is good just to remember the cleaness, the joy, and the lightness of sunshine.

So, here are a few shots. Ok, so about half of them still have a fair bit of chiarascuro about them. Still, no apologies, dappled sunlight is lovely for all of that contrast.

Posted by jackdas at 03:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 27, 2008

Three of The Cathedrals

Posted by jackdas at 07:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 26, 2008

Springtime Snow

Posted by jackdas at 02:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sources and Source

Posted by jackdas at 01:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Favorite Flower

Posted by jackdas at 01:51 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 25, 2008

Slightly Stylized

So, all of the colors in this set are real, but like with my current blog banner of a dandelion flower in white flower petals, I have chosen to amp the colors and sharpen the contrast of these shots today.

Posted by jackdas at 01:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 24, 2008

What a Difference a Day Makes

Posted by jackdas at 06:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 23, 2008

But At Least One More of the Tulips

Posted by jackdas at 11:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

And Here Come the Irises

Posted by jackdas at 11:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 22, 2008

Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night...But Maybe Tulips

Posted by jackdas at 11:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 21, 2008

Some Verticals From Saturday...

...with one converted horizontal shot on its edge (can you tell which one?) and one square one. Also, there is another one with the waterdrop as fisheye effect, which I was not specifically looking for on Saturday, but sure will be from now on. And might I suggest this as a soundtrack for this entry.

Posted by jackdas at 11:36 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Two of the Living for the One of the Dead

Posted by jackdas at 12:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 19, 2008

From the Balcony

Posted by jackdas at 11:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

And the Odometer Rolls Over

It is a somewhat of an arbitrarily chosen marker, as I have surely deleted many pictures that never made it off the camera and on to the hard drive, but some time in the very wee hours of this morning, my camera took its' 10,000th picture and began counting again. I spent the entire night at a lock-in for my church and took about 375 pictures, but despite being tired and needing to get home to sleep, I could not resist the day which was so perfect for photography (well at least of the sort I like to shoot), with its backgrounds of dark grey skies or dark wet earth or tree trunks, which nicely set off the beautiful colors of spring, which were made even more vivid today by the beads of moisture from the softly falling rain. Below are a couple of examples. I was going to only post horizontal shots today just for variety (even though they are smaller), but I cheated a bit on a couple of them. I might bring out some of the veritcals in the next day or two, as there are some pretty cool ones.

Oh, and another very exciting thing happened in my photographic life yesterday as my first external flash arrived in the mail. And, my goodness, it does make for ever so much nicer flash photographs, and I have not even really even begun to learn to use it well, though the evidence from last night makes me very excited to do so. And, then on the way home, another blessing. Driving by the Missouri Council of the Blind thrift store, I saw a tripod in the window. I circled back and found a tripod for $30 which was $15 today on 50% off day. And it is a really nice one, and will nicely replace my current one which is less than functional in some pretty significant ways. Needless to say I am ver blessed and excited.

Oh, and the lock-in was very cool and involved a trip to Coachlite Roller Rink, but that deserves a post of its own. In the meantime, I might have to check out Roll Bounce.

Finally, be sure to look closely at the water droplet in the picture below as it pretty much acting like a fish eye lens and creates a cool effect.

Posted by jackdas at 10:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 16, 2008

From the Street

Posted by jackdas at 10:50 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

April 13, 2008

Early Sabbath Morning Beauty for Brother Adrian

Posted by jackdas at 01:54 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 10, 2008

Flag on a Windy Night

Posted by jackdas at 11:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

On the Balcony

Nathan planted some lovely flowers.

The quality of the rains reminds me a bit of the Monsoons, except they were eagerly anticipated, coming at end of hot, dusty summers. Nothing quite like the gentle thunder of a monsoon in the mountains. A bank of clouds pouring down a green, wet hillside. The raging torrent of muddy waters pouring down rocky, mossy gorges. Sweet tea made with powdered milk at home.

Hello, flower.

Hello, squirrel.

Posted by jackdas at 01:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 07, 2008

Bruised

Posted by jackdas at 08:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Still

Posted by jackdas at 08:50 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 04, 2008

On Older Photo for a Languishing Blog

Posted by jackdas at 03:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 28, 2008

Broken in the Midwest

Posted by jackdas at 11:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hearts Unfold Like Flowers Before Thee, Opening to the Sun Above

Posted by jackdas at 11:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 25, 2008

Opening

Posted by jackdas at 11:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

With Winter Go the Oranges...But Here Come the Tomato and the Corn

Posted by jackdas at 11:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 24, 2008

The Jonquils Series Continues

Posted by jackdas at 10:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Easter Fountains

Posted by jackdas at 10:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 18, 2008

What the Rains are Bringing

Posted by jackdas at 08:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 17, 2008

Eight More Verticals From Roll 28

Posted by jackdas at 01:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 15, 2008

Soulard Saturday

I went to Soulard with flatmate Peter, but did not actually manage to buy anything. I did work up the courage to ask three people if I could take their pictures, which is progress for me, and skill I need to work on if ever I want to take more interesting people pictures. I would have asked the duck, too, but he did not seem to mind.

Not sure which of the next two should come first.

lucky day

Posted by jackdas at 10:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 11, 2008

Pigeon in Sepia

Posted by jackdas at 01:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 09, 2008

Primavera!

Posted by jackdas at 12:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 08, 2008

The Very Last of the Spaghetti

Posted by jackdas at 05:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

On Its Way

Posted by jackdas at 12:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 07, 2008

After the Snow Day

Posted by jackdas at 01:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 06, 2008

Study Break Miscellany

Posted by jackdas at 12:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 04, 2008

More Metal Tree: Sepia, Sunset Edition

metal tree.jpg

Posted by jackdas at 12:03 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 01, 2008

A Fine, Soft Evening

Posted by jackdas at 11:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Camera I Use and How I Use It

In response to a request, here is a blurb about the camera I use and how I go about taking shots and processing them. Oh, this got longish, so if one section bores you, feel free to move on to the next.

The Introduction
I think part of the reason I do not readily talk about my photographic techniques is because I am a bit embarrassed that they are rather simple, and my camera does much of the work. While I was doing research to buy my camera, I came across a person who said that if you are going to buy a D-SLR and simply use the automatic settings, then you might as well not bother. Well, I do not use the fully automatic mode, but I do use the Program mode, which is largely automatic. I do get do get to decide whether or not I get to use the flash, however. I generally do not, though, unless it is a party or something indoors and I am taking snapshots. Part of the reason I do not use the flash is more out of lack of knowledge, but also I like the non-flash look whenever I can get away with it. And, also, I am waiting to do my flash learning when I buy an external flash. I do change the ISO settings, however, to work with the light available. The higher the ISO setting, the lower light one can shoot in, though the pictures also get correspondingly grainer, or not as fine.

The Equipment
Regarding equipment, I did buy a D-SLR, even if I don't often use its manual settings, though I do sometimes, primarilly for the fine quality of the sensor. The camera I have, the Canon Rebel XTI, does not have the sturdiest of bodies, but it does have a really decent sensor. Also it has a built in sensor cleaner which is nice. If you buy this camera, I would recommend not buying the kit lens and either buying a really cheap, and cheaply made, 50mm lens by Canon which evidently takes super pictures, because the actual glass lens in it is pretty decent and lets a lot of light in, allowing one to take pictures in very low light and to blur the background nicely. The lens I have is the Canon EF 28-135 with Image Stabilization, which I like a lot, though, I cannot get really wide shots at all, and this can be a bit of a bother when taking pictures of groups or large landscapes. If you want a wider angle but not as much zoom, and can spare the extra $100, this is nice, though I prefer my own, or alternately this new product, which is an image stabilized version of the normal kit lens the camera normally comes with, but this is pretty cheaply made.

I do recommend getting an image stabilized lens, though, as it really helps in avoiding blurry shots. Also, I should note, there are camera systems from other manufacturers that are equivalent, if even a bit cheaper. I like my Canon, but whatever brand one goes with, it is good to do a fair bit of research first and talk to folk. If anyone one wants to talk to me about my set up, they are welcome.

The Process
When I am taking pictures, usually I will take two or three shots of something if I am really excited about it and want to make sure to get a good shot. It is best for me, if the situation permits, to zoom in on a shot after taking it and check if the bits I want to be in focus actually are. This is important, as one can sharpen pictures a little, but poor focus cannot really be amended.

When I get ready to use the pictures. I process them using Paint.net, which one can get free on the Internet, though one has to download the .net framework from Microsoft too, which is not really a problem. There are more complex free programs online, but I like this one, largely for its relative simplicity.

Even though I have slipped down the slippery slope of what I call "amp-ing" my images more than I initially intended, to make them pop more, I generally try to recreate what I saw through the lens, or only add a little bit more pizazz. This is a rather important philosophical and aesthetic question for me which warrants its own post, and has (though I wrote this post long before I got a digital camera and the example I have included is laughable). Still, I almost always stick with only changing the brightness, contrast, color saturation, and lightness. I also do sharpen pictures on occassion. I do use other effects from time to time, but in these instances the picture has moved beyond a photo for me to some thing else, a digital painting of sorts or something like. Also, with brighteness, you must understand that your computer or laptop settings effect how it will look on other computers or printed out when you send it to Walgreens or wherever you get your prints made. One can get one's monitor calibrated, which I need to do, or just try and err and try again.

Another, tip I recommend is to keep your original file unspoiled and save the image you have changed with a different name, that way you can go back and do some thing different with it at another time, if you like. This does eat up hard drive space, but that is getting cheaper all the time. And, speaking of hard drive space, either get a program or create a system which allows you to find your pictures easily. I have "Rolls" which are numbered on my hard drive of batches of pictures. When I think one roll has enough shots in it, I create a new folder. A rather silly nod to film cameras, but it works for me.

The Conclusion
Well, Dora, I am sure that is more than you wanted to know, but there it is, somewhat simply put actually, if you can believe that. But still I guess my process is more complicated than I thought, but still relatively quite simple compared to most photographers, I believe.

Posted by jackdas at 04:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 29, 2008

Mostly Brown

Posted by jackdas at 01:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 25, 2008

The Second Last Snowfall?

Posted by jackdas at 12:27 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

February 23, 2008

Tonight

Posted by jackdas at 02:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 20, 2008

Night Trees

Posted by jackdas at 06:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 19, 2008

Promises to Keep

Posted by jackdas at 01:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 17, 2008

A View From the Nap

Posted by jackdas at 11:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 16, 2008

The Photoshow is Almost Here! Here's the Scoop!

pied beauty graphic.jpg

Posted by jackdas at 01:52 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

February 12, 2008

Black Mamba: One Day, Again, We'll Just See the Grace In It's Moving

Posted by jackdas at 03:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 11, 2008

Feeling Bullish

Posted by jackdas at 10:16 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

"Hey, I Thought This Was Strictly Black Tie"

Posted by jackdas at 12:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 09, 2008

Thirteen from the Day

Posted by jackdas at 11:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 03, 2008

Snow in Black and White

Posted by jackdas at 01:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 02, 2008

Prayers on Ice

Posted by jackdas at 04:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 01, 2008

Ice, Snow, Post

Posted by jackdas at 06:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Laptop, Candle, Blinds

Posted by jackdas at 06:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 31, 2008

Stretching to the Light

Posted by jackdas at 06:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 21, 2008

Fun With the Softening Tool

Posted by jackdas at 12:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 18, 2008

Photo Show Castoff

Alas, when you don't keep track of things and accidently resize something and save it in that size, you can't really use it for enlargements. But since I took so much time messing with these and juxtaposing them side to side here, here you go. Not perfect, but you get the picture. Ha ha.

Posted by jackdas at 11:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

On a Cold, Cold Day

Nature

Artifice

Nature and Artifice

Posted by jackdas at 02:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 05, 2008

Uncorking the New Year!

This fun, lucky shot features another good friend who is gone across the ocean and also a flatmate and the author of the enjoyable and thoughtful Sweet Chicken blog in the background. It was great to have both around to enliven the New Year's Eves goings-on.