So I got a chance to shoot at a local machine shop today, I had to get out of the house and clear my head a bit.  It was a fun time of shooting.  I only got to shoot for 45 minutes, but it was worth it.  Here’s what I caught in my whirlwind of shooting…

Found these nuts and blots covered in grinding dust.

Found this on the side of the machine, pretty sure it was some type of gear box.

Main controls on one of the milling machines

Settings dial for the one of the machines.

It is amazing what you can find in places.  I came away with some shots I really enjoy.

Images Captured with 1D Mark IIN 100f2.8 (images 1 and 4) 16-35f2.8 (images 2 and 3) on Lexar digital film.

So I have been getting emails, comments on my Facebook page, and so on saying I need to BLOG MORE!!!!!  And they are right I do need to blog more, and believe me i want to.  Some times I just don’t have anything interesting to say and I don’t want to subject you to the ramblings of a photographer…  But I have been out in Mississippi for the last 5 days and have been getting to shoot a bit here and there.  I have got to go to a few places that have been really neat to visit, one was the Ames Plantation, which is a working plantation that the University of Tennessee uses for research.  A lot of the old buildings from the 1800’s are still standing and it made for some fun shooting.

Above is what was left of an old tack room, that is just about done for.

These two where of the school house that was on the property.  Inside it had a single pot-belly stove to keep the place warm in the winter months and held about 16 desks.  It had all kinds of details to shoot so I picked some of my favorites.

Out behind the Blacksmith shop I found a pair of old milling stones with soe of the grooves still intact.  According to what I was this one was actually in use for some time in the late 1800’s and then just tossed aside.

At one of the old quarters on the property I found this hand made chair with a woven leather seat.

Captured with 1D Mark IIN 17-40f4 on Lexar digital film.

Post processing done with NIK Color Efex 3.0 and Silver Efex

Hey Everyone,

Well I know it has been almost a month and a half since I blogged and for that I apologize but for personal reasons it just could not be helped.  If I could have I would have but there was not any way possible.  But, now i am slowly getting back in the saddle and getting back behind the camera.  Since I was feeling a bit rusty I decided just to take a stroll around the yard and see what I could find string about after the first couple of rains in my home town.  So I figure to start out light and get back into it I would slap on my Canon 100f2.8 and have some fun doing some hand held macro work.  This would build the hand hold technique back up and give me small targets that I did not have to chase around.   So here is what I found…

These were all shot in the yard, just having a good time.  I found some cool mushrooms growing out front and a very cool seed pod hanging from a tree.  I finished them in post with Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Silver Efex.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

OK so I have been getting emails saying I don’t blog nearly enough and that I need to kick things is gear.  So to that end here is something for your reading enjoyment.  Below is a pair of images (Before and After).  I have been playing around with Color Efex 3.1 to see how far I can push it before I take an image beyond the limits of what I still consider an image.  At the same time I have been playing with Color Efex using smart filters.  You may ask why, and I say why not?  It is there, try it out and see what it does.  So here is the before image of a shot I took on Sunday up in the Sierras.  The sun just broke over the mountains and blasted some light into the aspens.

This is a straight shot from the RAW file no edits or anything.  I decided to try out this new technique that I have been playing around with since San Juan, and thought it might work here.  After looking at the full size version of this, I think this technique is almost read for prime time.  So after a conversion to a Smart Object I dove into Color Efex 3.1, and had some fun, and this is what I came up with.

If you can imagine it, this effect used 3 filters, and no I’m no going to tell you which ones; otherwise, you wouldn’t learn anything.  I will give you a hint.  They are in the book.  Two of the filters create the overall effect and the last is just a fine tuner.  That is why I used the Smart Objects in this case.  If something isn’t right when I get done creating the effect, then I can go back in by double click whatever effect I need to adjust.  From there I can make minor adjustments to each filter separately without have to go through the process of deleting a layer and creating a new one.  If you think you can figure out which filters are used drop me an email and I’ll let you know.

Image captured with 1D Mark IIN 17-40f4 on Lexar digital film

Well it is time once again for the wild time in the desert.  What is it that I speak of??  None other than Photoshop World live from Las Vegas.  On the way to Vegas i of course had to stop by the Md Greek and get a 32oz strawberry milkshake, and then hit the road.  Just outside of town I ran across this old Dodge flatbed and ould not pass it up.  So I snapped a few shots and this is the result.

I took this wide shot of the truck and applied an effect from my upcoming book via Silver Efex Pro.

This one was a close up of the front grill that I finished using Color Efex Pro 3.0. This effect is also found in the book.

See you in Vegas…