Punaro.com » Photography

Antwerp

Derek — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:30:45 +0000

The detail on some of the buildings in Antwerp is just incredible, especially the guilded ornamentation. Here are a few mostly closeup shots for a change.

Antwerpen-Centraal

Derek — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:06:22 +0000

Apparently I have a thing for old rail stations. Who knew? One of my favorite shots from my first trip to Europe was from Antwerp Central train station – it’s the background image I’ve been using on the site:

I was really excited to have the opportunity to go back again and see what I could take this time shooting with my rented 10-22mm. I’m actually really happy with some of the shots, even this first one which I wanted to be similar to my favorite, but still try to get something different out of it. I think it was successful. I was really happy to have had the wide angle – so much that I ended up buying one.

Zum Schiffchen

Derek — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:03:22 +0000

In case you’re just tuning in, I’m slowly processing and posting photos I took on my last trip to Europe, in the spring of 2010.

We’re still in Dusseldorf, time for dinner. I’ve been to Germany twice and both trips required a stop here. I highly recommend the sausage platter (not a big stretch for those that know me well) and of course the local Altbier.

The Trees

Derek — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 02:18:51 +0000

Düsseldorf

Derek — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:44:02 +0000

Ciao Italia! We have finally moved on to Germany! Düsseldorf was our only stop, and my photos are all from the Altstadt (old city). While there wasn’t snow, it was cold along the Rhine, yet there were still a ton of people walking around and, of course, drinking Altbier. But more on that later. Here’s five pics…

Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio

Derek — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:38:59 +0000

Just one quick shot tonight. This is the courtyard of Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio. I love the moss growing in the cobblestones, and the light rain really makes the color stand out. Someday I’ll have to come back to this shot and add in a non-blah sky, but for now… just look at everything else.

Into the light

Derek — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:00:23 +0000

Storming through the castle series

Derek — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 01:10:48 +0000

This photo you have actually seen before here when I was playing around with Photoshop and desaturating the floor. Here is a more realistic version of the coloring. I just added a bit of vignetting to this photo, and the next which is the same courtyard, different vantage point.

A small courtyard

Derek — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:19:40 +0000

Yeah… since it’s been almost 2 years since being in Europe, and now that I have Lightroom, I really have no more excuses for not finishing with this photo set. Plus, I’ve got a free photo book coupon that I want to use for this trip, so time to get back to work.

I just loved this little interior courtyard in the castle.

Upgrading to Lightroom

Derek — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 05:06:55 +0000

So… let’s quickly recap since it’s been a couple months since I posted anything. My PC finally died (which was really Amanda’s old PC because my last PC died first, and I just adopted hers). Got a new PC. Picked up a copy of Adobe Lightroom with my nonprofit discount because as it may be apparent, it takes me a long friggin’ time to post process all the photos I take. I have tons that I have yet to really even look at, much less post. I was using the painful process of shooting RAW, adjust and convert using Canon’s Digital Photo Pro, then tweak for web and style in Picasa. Stop laughing, professional photographers, I know. So, besides needing something to speed up the workflow, I badly needed some better tools, as while I’m often happy with the shots coming out of the camera, I’ve been disappointed in my ability to really do what I wanted to do with them in post.

Enter Lightroom.

So I actually spent a couple hours going through some of Adobe’s online tutorials to get some insight into how to really use the tool. Very helpful. I learned all sorts of things I would have never discovered on my own. Then I set off to adjust a photo of the Terminal that I love, but hated certain aspects of. Here it is:

Love the tone, hate the noise and the darkness of the Baggage Check arch. So, I tried out a multitude of Lightroom tweaks and got this:

I could easily fix the perspective distortion, the chromatic aberration and the luminance noise, perk up some of the darker areas, and easily add back in the lens’ vignetting after adjusting the cropping. Not bad for a first time shot at using Lightroom!

Next up… transferring it to Photoshop to remove that damn EXIT sign…

Ariella goes to Preschool

Derek — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:24:21 +0000

Monday was Ariella’s preschool open house/orientation. Of course I snapped a few photos…

Today was the first official day of preschool – no parents! You can see how concerned Ariella was about this…

Of course she was fine with the whole experience. And now she can finally tell people that she does something other than gymnastics!

John Deere and Friends

Derek — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:54:57 +0000

On our second trip to the Fair, we convinced Ariella to skip the paid rides and head over to the train exhibit. Right next to the train was this beautiful sea of green. I had fun with these pics…

Ok… one train photo.

Erie County Fair Digital Camera Shootout Winner!

Derek — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:08:39 +0000

For the past few years I’m hemmed and hawed about entering some photos in the Fair’s photography competition. This year I saw the Fair advertise a “digital camera shootout”. You were to show up at a designated date and time, they would assign you a category, then you would have two hours to shoot as many photos as you liked. At the end of your two hours, you had to return and pick one photo to submit as your entry. No editing allowed outside of whatever you were allowed to do in-camera. That’s ok – that’s how I like to shoot, and constraints are sometimes a good motivator.

Of course, when we got there it was just starting to rain. By the time I was finished checking in, it was pouring. The category I drew? “Rides.” I didn’t even make it the 500 feet to where the rides started before my sneakers were soaked. And of course, none of the rides were running. So I figured if I couldn’t beat the rain, I was going to have to join it and tell the sad story of closed rides due to rain. So I started by shooting this:

Ariella and Grandpa were walking around in the rain with me (Amanda stayed behind with Cambree inside where it was drier) and I figured that they made a more interesting subject.

The shot I liked best stylistically was this next one, but I shot 3 frames and each one the focus was off. It’s tough shooting one handed with an umbrella in the other hand! When I saw it on the computer I knew I couldn’t submit it.

Tried another ride worker shot…

Then we met back up with Amanda and Cambree and I tried a couple variations on the Ariella looking sad because the rides were closed theme. She wasn’t very cooperative. I really wanted to get one of these with her holding the umbrella standing all by herself. Didn’t happen.

We had time to take one more walk through the midway and the rain had stopped. Ariella was running from one ride to another and Amanda had the idea of putting her in front of the height measuring stick. I had a bunch of frontal shots, then the runner up shot:

And finally, the big winner:

I was amazed to find out I won not only first place in the “Rides” category, but “Best In Shootout” too! I was blown away! I thought it was a decent shot, but it pales in comparison to what I see some of my pro buddies shoot on any given day. Kudos to those shooters who work with kids on a regular basis. I don’t know how you keep up with them and get great shots consistently. I’m also not typically a portrait photographer, but trying to shoot closed rides wasn’t going to work without another focal point to tell a story.

I guess winning is motivation enough to try it again next year!

Kids

Derek — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 16:22:02 +0000

I’ve been taking plenty of photos lately, especially since finally acquiring a Canon 10-22mm which I’ve been saving for I don’t know how long anymore. The problem is that I never have time to post-process. Partially that’s because my computer is slow and I’m still working of a 17″ CRT monitor, which is just not enticing me to work on photos.

But, what’s the point in taking them if I’m not going to post them? So here are some recent shots of the kids…

Neon Deere

Derek — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:44:41 +0000

And now for something completely different…

So, back when I owned my Eclipse I bought all these neon lights. When I traded it in, I pulled them all out and they were shoved in a box doing nothing. Last year I had the brilliant idea of throwing them on my John Deere LA145. It has all these air intakes and I thought the red neons would make it look angry… like the engine was ready to spit fire.

I never got around to taking pics of it, but John Deere was asking on their Facebook page for fan photos, and I thought this was a good excuse to finally do it.

My wireless flash trigger was being a total PITA, so aside from the photo with me in it which has the flash on camera shooting through a grid, the others are all long exposures with me hand-holding and manually triggering the flash.

The ceilings of Castle Sforzesco

Derek — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:00:45 +0000

Some of the ceilings in the rooms of Castillo Sforzesco were just amazing! Here were some of my favorites…

Sforzesco Continued…

Derek — Mon, 30 May 2011 00:47:05 +0000

Great Grandma’s Birthday

Derek — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:53:55 +0000

Amanda’s Grandma’s birthday was at the end of February, and since all of us except Cambree have come down with some sort of cold/bug I have some time to sit at the computer and finally process some photos. Here’s a slideshow…

Castello Sforzesco

Derek — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 03:43:02 +0000

Yeah, that whole post one Europe photo a day thing was a failure. So was getting them all done before Christmas. So since it’s been a year now since we were in Europe, I’m giving up on the promises and just posting photos whenever I get around to it.

And so we begin with Castello Sforzesco…

Cambree… awake

Derek — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:22:18 +0000

Haven’t posted many photos of Cambree lately because until yesterday she was still in constant sleep mode. Now she’s finally staying awake for awhile and giving us some face time. So here’s one shot of her room…

And three of those ohsocute faces…