Running... Again?

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  If you know me you know there was a time about 10 years ago or so where I was running. A lot. At least 5 days a week and at least 5 miles a run. I wasn’t training, I wasn’t preparing for a race or a marathon. I just found myself enjoying the time spent running. I wasn’t obsessed with numbers, but I kept track of them all and liked seeing improvements in time and distances. It was good physical health and mental health. Then I tweaked my knee. Not bad enough that I couldn’t walk on it, just a tweak that told me I needed to back off of running for a little bit. So I decided on 2 weeks. At the end of 2 weeks I aborted a run very early as the pain was still there. 2 weeks became 3, became a month, became 5 years. 
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Silver Efex (Photocentric)

I probably shouldn't be writing this post right now, but I just finished a webinar on my new favorite photo plug-in, Silver Efex Pro2. First, let me just say I find it kind of funny that after all the advances made in photography, from black and white to colorful 3D images, that a well done black & white photo can speak to me more. And, apparently, flipping the toggle button in the image editor to black & white just doesn't cut it. I had no idea that there are as many, if not more, slider, toggles, and options in turning a color photo into a black & white one. Honestly, the sheer power of Silver Efex Pro (SEP2) overwhelms me, and a 45 minute webinar leaves me with just enough info to be dangerous.

If you're on Google+ (and really, why aren't you) I posted my first image with SEP2 last week. It was originally shot in color in the middle of the day, and because of the harsh mid day sun lacked any real drama or feel to it. I took it into SEP2, and using just the presets got this, which I like better.


It was a fun shot, which is what I wanted it to be. After a little time in SEP2 and a webinar I used a different photo to try. This one is also an HDR shot that I felt was lacking, but with SEP2 I was able to try some other creative tools. 


Are these shots perfect? Not by a long shot, but they are fun to play with, and work with. Hopefully I'll have some better shots to share in the near future.


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Popular posts from this blog

Running... Again?

Image
  If you know me you know there was a time about 10 years ago or so where I was running. A lot. At least 5 days a week and at least 5 miles a run. I wasn’t training, I wasn’t preparing for a race or a marathon. I just found myself enjoying the time spent running. I wasn’t obsessed with numbers, but I kept track of them all and liked seeing improvements in time and distances. It was good physical health and mental health. Then I tweaked my knee. Not bad enough that I couldn’t walk on it, just a tweak that told me I needed to back off of running for a little bit. So I decided on 2 weeks. At the end of 2 weeks I aborted a run very early as the pain was still there. 2 weeks became 3, became a month, became 5 years. 
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The Pros and (Mostly) Cons of Upgrading to a 4K Monitor

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I'm in the process of getting back into photography which will mean a new camera, more on that in a later post. But the first step for me was a new computer, one with the horsepower to handle a modern day camera and its RAW files. Along with the computer comes a new 4K monitor. 4K is great for media consumption, right? Your characters on your favorite show or movie really look detailed and realistic. Scenery looks wonderful. Everything looks great, right? Wrong. You know what doesn't look great? That photo I took in 2012 that I thought was sharp but is very much not. I transferred over my past catalogs of photos over to Lightroom Classic and eagerly began opening up some of my favorite photos. At first I was happy with how the colors looked and how the scene was composed. Then I noticed it was a little soft. Well I had just gotten a new contacts prescription so that must be it. Changed to my glasses and the photos were even blurrier! I went through photo after photo and most ca...
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