LeStro's Photos

Moved!

2008-09-10T23:59:00.003-04:00

Hello, everyone

LeStro's Photos has moved to a new location. Please update our bookmarks and RSS readers to reflect this change.

www.lestrodesigns.com/blog

See you there!

Blue Flowers

2008-08-15T20:44:00.001-04:00

Just some color correction with curves in LAB mode, and a layer with partial overlay blend.

Lillie

2008-08-01T10:06:00.002-04:00

A little experimentation with Curves to get a high-key effect.

Evanescence

2008-07-20T01:19:00.004-04:00

So much in this picture disappeared the moment after I took it! These bubbles were generated by an automatic bubble machine. They were remarkable, especially the ones that contained multiple bubbles themselves. Most of the work went into the taking of the picture, not the post-processing, as I quickly realized that the auto-focus would never work. So I switched to manual and was able to follow the bubbles in the air while focusing. The flare was... well, only a happy accident.

f/8, 50 mm, 1/160 sec., ISO 200

Happy July 4th!

2008-07-04T02:40:00.002-04:00

Field

2008-06-27T00:08:00.002-04:00

I took a few pictures of the same scene as a landscape, but the way the clouds came out in this wide angle shot was perfect for this portrait.

It is made up of two different treatments of the same RAW photo. The field/trees needed to be overexposed, while the sky needed to be underexposed. Most of the processing time was spent isolating the sky from everything else.

f/16, 18 mm, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

Sunset Cloud 2

2008-06-18T00:14:00.004-04:00

This was taken the same evening as the picture in the previous entry.

The processing was similar, except for a little dark gradient added at the top. The difference is, of course, the cloud itself, and a slightly shorter focal length.

f/8, 40 mm, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

Sunset Cloud

2008-06-12T00:34:00.003-04:00

This was taken a few hours before another storm passed through, so the clouds were building up and reflecting the light of the setting sun in wonderful ways.

I used two Curves and one Levels layers in LAB mode to enhanced the contrast, darkening the blue of the sky and making the sunlight more golden. I also decided to layer another copy of the picture and blend it as a partial linear burn.

f/8, 55 mm, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

Electricity

2008-06-02T00:03:00.006-04:00

In this shot, I find the juxtaposition of God's awesome display of electricity and man's attempt to master it fascinating.

f/4, 31 mm, ISO 200, 1/60 sec.

Maestro and His Shadow

2008-05-26T23:12:00.004-04:00

It looks like this subject is turning into a series: black and white portraits of Maestro!

In the other photos in this "series", I saw him in one of his usual spots and took a picture. In this case, however, he was kind enough to pose for me, and wait there until I was done composing the shot. So, I suppose that makes him my first official model...

The color conversion was done in LAB mode. I used a couple of layers with different blending modes (partial overlay) to increase contrast, and also selected the carpet with the lasso tool to darken it with Curves. Maestro's nose and left eye were much too dark, so a little dodging was necessary.

As always, I welcome your comments.

f/6.7, 43 mm., ISO 400, 1/90 sec.

Lamp and Sky

2008-05-23T22:43:00.005-04:00

Here is another photo that has been subjected to selective desaturation, with yellow as the only color spared.

The B&W was obtained by desaturating the red channel, as it offered the most interesting contrast in the clouds. The yellow of the bulb was isolated by Photoshop with the "Select color range" command.

I also added a mirror gradient layer (black and transparent) to frame the shot a little more and darken the mood.

This photo was actually taken in broad daylight. Here is the original for comparison.

f/22, 24 mm., ISO 200, 1/60 sec.

Face-off

2008-05-18T20:31:00.003-04:00

Even though Liliana's face cannot be seen in this photo, I think it speaks volumes about her and Maestro's relationship...

The picture started out too dark, so a couple of adjustment layers were necessary. I decided against reducing the noise, as it seems to me it adds to the mood. Another "mood booster" is the transparent vignette that helps to draw the viewer into the scene.

f/4.5, 45 mm, ISO 800, 1/60 sec.

Le regard

2008-05-08T03:11:00.005-04:00

Here is yet another photo of Liliana, a profile this time. The light turned out perfect for this picture, even though I had nothing to do with it: Lillie was looking out the window at the time, in the late afternoon.

The editing consisted of a conversion to B&W by only saving the lightness channel in LAB mode, followed by one Curves layer. Contrast was further enhanced by a second layer of the picture set to a partial Soft Light blending mode. I also cropped it, as the original was a landscape layout and made the composition uninteresting.

f/5.6
55 mm
1/90 sec.
ISO 400

Evening Power Lines: second stock sale

2008-05-03T20:45:00.000-04:00

I just had another photo of mine downloaded at Dreamstime. It is actually one of the first pictures that I ever planned to submit to a stock agency.

Since this was the beginning of my learning about photography, post-processing was minimal: just a little color adjustment in LAB mode.

ISO 200
f/4.5
26 mm
1/90 sec.

The Barn

2008-05-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

This is a photo of a barn that I see regularly. I like its straight lines, proportions, and the fact that it sits isolated in the middle of a field. All of these characteristics help it reflect the seasons and changing weather patterns without distraction. I will probably post many different views of this barn. My family thinks it humorous that it is one of this Parisian's favorite buildings!

I had a look in mind for this photo as I started editing it that I did not know how to obtain. I have seen it a lot and reminds me a little of what Ansel Adams did. I experimented quite a bit and ended up with 9 layers in Photoshop. They include the usual Levels, Curves, Desaturation, but also a couple of duplicate layers with different blending modes (Overlay, Darken), and a red photo filter. I even had to isolate the sky from the field and building to process them separately.

Well... I think I got close. What do you think?

ISO 200
f/16
26 mm
1/250 sec.

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Trees

2008-04-30T09:55:00.000-04:00

(taken by Amy)

This beautiful photo was taken by Amy on the grounds of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye castle where Louis XIV was born. At the end of this row of trees is the famous 2.4-kilometer stone terrace built by landscape architect Le Nôtre. It overlooks a large part of the Parisian region as well as sections of Paris.

Amy took this with a Konica Minolta Point&Shoot camera. The photo, with its symmetrical straight lines, really highlights the formality of French gardens.

ISO 200
f/3.4
7.7 mm

Snowy Path

2008-04-23T09:34:00.002-04:00

Here is a little reminder of the season that just ended, and a good candidate for some experimentation with vignetting.

I used a layer mask with an ellipse to get the vignette effect. But, at first, the corners were completely black, and I did not care for it very much. So I decided to make that layer transparent and obtained the shadowed corners. What do you think of it?

To do the B&W conversion, I used a desaturation layer, and increase the contrast with a Levels and a Curves layer.

f/22, ISO 400, 55 mm, 1/125 sec.

Lillie's Light

2008-04-14T21:28:00.000-04:00

I find the light and shadows projected onto the wall by this light post fascinating. The complexity and clarity of the geometric angles made it obvious this photo would be in B&W. After isolating the ceiling and applying a Gaussian blur filter, I used a desaturation layer to convert it from color.

ISO 800
f/19
Focal length 40 mm
Exp. time 0.1667 sec.

First Stock Sale!

2008-04-10T01:32:00.001-04:00

I have just sold my first stock photo! The sale was done by stock agency Dreamstime.

A few months ago, as I started learning more and more about photography, I decided it would be a fun challenge to submit photos to various microstock agencies. The process is more rigorous than I had thought, as every picture is examined by professional photographers and needs to meet their standards before it can be added to the site's catalog. Needless to say that many of my submissions were rejected. However, the reviewers often add helpful critiques to the rejection emails, so this has been a good learning experience.

You can see my Dreamstime portfolio here.

I did not do much editing in this case (that is the preference in stock photography): only a Curves layer in LAB mode to increase the intensity of the colors.

Exp. time 1/350 sec., focal length 26 mm, f/16, ISO 200.

Joy

2008-04-03T12:56:00.000-04:00

Once again, my photofriday.com weekly entry is a photo of Liliana. I am not writing anything about the circumstance of the shot, except that I wish you could hear the sound that accompanied it...

For the first time, I experimented with gradient masks in Photoshop. I am looking forward to learning to use all the possibilities they offer. I may have overdone it this time, but I thought it would really emphasize that little angelic face. What do you think?

f/5.6, ISO 800, focal length 26 mm, exp. 1/45 sec.

Westie in his favorite spot...

2008-04-02T15:21:00.000-04:00

My dog Maestro loves laying in the sun. Throughout the day, he finds the warmest spot to sleep, and follows it as the sun moves. Sometimes, when the angle of the light through the window is such that only a square inch is left, we find him sleeping there... with his nose catching the last rays.
This photo was relatively straightforward. I did the B&W conversion in LAB mode, then added a couple of Curves and Levels layers. I also had to dodge the bottom of his right paw, as it was completely black.

f/16, ISO 200, focal length 45 mm, exp. time 1/125 sec.

Icicles

2008-03-29T02:52:00.000-04:00

This photo was taken during the last (?) freezing rain of the season. I pushed the white balance to give it a blue tint, in order to emphasize the coldness of the day.
I applied a little noise reduction to minimize the effect of the high ISO, caused by the lack of light that day. I also took the shot without a tripod.
Of course, I finished with one Curves layer.

Aperture Priority
ISO 800
Focal Length 55 mm
f/8
Shutter Speed 1/90 sec.

Yellow Road

2008-03-26T20:49:00.001-04:00

This photo was obviously edited in Photoshop! First, there were two road signs in the foreground that were too distracting. Then, I used five different Curves, Levels, and Hue/Saturation layers to obtain enough contrast in the trees without making them too dark.
The yellow lines were the easiest. Since they were the only yellow element, I duplicated the photo and used Select/Color Range to select them, erase the rest of the color photo, boost the saturation a little, and superimpose them on the B&W version.
Please let me know what you think.

Pentax K100D Super
Aperture Priority mode
ISO 400
Focal Length 55mm

I found it!

2008-03-25T01:33:00.000-04:00

This is my entry to photofriday.com for this week. When I saw that the challenge is "Found objects", I immediately thought of this photo of my little girl Liliana, triumphantly brandishing her favorite French flashcard!

The processing was really minimal: only a Curves layer and a moderate application of the Neat Image noise reduction filter plug-in for Photoshop. I debated leaving the noise intact, but in the end decided against it. I am not sure it was the right decision. As I am starting to find out, photography and music have this in common: there are many different creative solutions possible. The artist always needs to choose, and this subjective decision means discarding valid and possibly superior artistic alternatives.

Shot at f/5.6, focal length 26mm, ISO equiv. 800, no flash.
I appreciate your comments.

Black and white tree: winter scene

2008-03-23T15:59:00.000-04:00

I saw this tree while driving on a country road. I quickly turned around and stopped the car on the edge of a field to take the shot, when a truck pulled next to me and the driver asked"Are you OK?" This has happened to me several times since I have gotten "hooked" on photography!
f/22, ISO equiv. 200, focal length 38mm, Pentax K100D Super. Then, in Photoshop, B&W conversion in LAB mode, and a simple adjustment with a Levels layer.
I welcome your comments.

A boat dock on a foggy day

2008-03-21T10:07:00.000-04:00

This was a very foggy day , with low light. I used a noise reduction filter pretty heavily, which not only decreased the noise level, but I feel added to the mood of the shot.
The original was taken at f/16, ISA equiv. 200, focal length 55 mm.

Backlit tree on a winter morning

2008-03-19T00:15:00.000-04:00

f/16, ISO 200, focal length 50mm, RAW format

I have started shooting in RAW occasionally. The control it gives over the white balance makes it worth the extra work.

For this shot, I applied Curves and Levels to the sky only, which came out gray in the original. The rest was not processed very much, with the exception of a billboard on the right side that I had to erase.

Hello!

2008-03-16T00:25:00.000-04:00

Welcome to LeStro's Photos! I am a new photographer, trying to learn and improve everyday. Because I have learned so much from other bloggers, I in turn want to help others (in a limited way) by posting photos and information about how the shot was taken and about whatever post-processing was done. I also hope to learn more from your comments.

Here is the first photo. It is of my dog Maestro, a westie (West Highland White Terrier). I thought it appropriate to start with him, as his nickname (LeStro) is the inspiration for the blog's name.

The photo was taken in Aperture Priority mode, f/19, ISO 800, focal length 35mm. Exposure time came at 1/10 sec.

Then, in Photoshop, I converted it into LAB mode to use the lightness channel as the basis for the B&W version. I then duplicated the layer, set the top layer on multiply blend (15%), along with a couple of adjustment layers (Levels and Curves).

Et voilà!