Archive for the ‘photography’ Category
Project
Been wanting to do this little photo project for a while, so I created the site recently and got it started finally. 50mm Normal.
-G
Megapixels? Over 4 is overblown for most people…
More detail than I'll ever need...
I’ve said it for years… my 4MP Olympus camera was the last time the megapixel count on a camera actually concerned me. Oddly, I recently found an old article by Ken Rockewll that explains it pretty well. I usually don’t read much of his stuff, but it explains it in a way that is easy to understand.The bottom line? Don’t worry about megapixels unless you are going to crop like a madman… and if you are, then consider developing your composition much more than getting a new camera.
After thinking about it and then googling… I also found these… enjoy, and don’t let the marketing of megapixels suck you in…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/technology/08pogue.html
http://gizmodo.com/5155942/giz-explains-why-more-megapixels-isnt-always-more-better
Web-rez photo that the first image was cropped from...
Photo history at it’s best!
Kodachrome is dying this year… this is from when it was introduced… Amazing stuff…
Catching up, with pictures…
I can’t believe how the time just keeps ticking, ticking… in to the future… How long ago was THAT on the radio? That said, what follows is a small photo journey of what we’ve been up to! Enjoy.
Thankful, again…
For the third year running, we spent our Thanksgiving morning and early afternoon serving a meal to anyone who came to our tent out at North Austin Christian Church – right next door to a number of low-income apartment complexes. It is really a grounding experience, and one that our kids have come to expect us to do. I’m so happy that this is now “normal” for our family Thanksgiving. The picture above is Suzie holding a sweet child that she also took care of last year as a newborn… Her Mommy remembered Suzie from last year, and Suzie talked to her and her extended family at length.
Christmas card picture time…
It’s that time of year… the time when I break out the remote for the camera and take pictures of the whole fam… from the wrong side of the camera. It’s a pain, but a fun family event as well, which makes everything cool. These are some shots with me on the correct side of the camera and the kids on their best side as well. Enjoy!
Down under with the boys…
With some extended family in town, the boys and I went down (literally) in to a local cave (“Inner Space Caverns” in Georgetown Texas) with them… I have wanted to visit this cave for, well, almost four years now. I have always enjoyed caves, and I think the boys have the bug now too.
Going down… the rest of the post is some cool pictures!
Daddy’s little girls…
We were at Disney World when the “Father Daughter Banquet” was happening for our Dads and girls at Church, so I took my gorgeous baby girls on a date after we returned. Cheesecake Factory, Beverly Hills Cihuahua, and my babies. It doesn’t get much better. Needless to say, we dressed up! The rest of the post is photos of my sweeties!
A few sprayscape pics…
A few weeks ago we had a fun little time with the younger kids at a local sprayscape… some quick shots to post…
The “creative” WDW picture selections…
Are in my photo albums: Click!
Instant gratification…
I may get around to writing about it, but that would likely just bore you… so here are the pictures from a week at Walt Disney World…
A few quick kid shots…
Friday night we did the usual dinner thing and headed over to “the cows” for ice cream and wandering. I took my old 75-300 Tamron lens out to see if it still worked… It’s a 35mm format, so the focal lengths are off for the digiSLR. The focal length thing is actually not a problem, but I’m not at all happy with the lens performance. Regardless, I pulled some OK pictures out of the bunch. It’s hard to mess up pics with such an adorable family… Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »
Owwww! My hands hurt! (Thanks, Noah!)
My eldest goatboy took me down to the rock climbing walls yesterday. My hands hurt and I have no grip today. We had a lot of fun. Thanks, buddy! Oh, and I also found out my son is a pool shark while we were waiting for an open time slot to climb… next time, your allowance is on the line, boy! Read the rest of this entry »
Friday night of Labor day weekend… Austin fun!
Friday nights we try to go out to eat – this week it was Chuy’s Green Chile Festival, so we had to go there… no complaints here! We went to the Barton Springs location, and decided that since we were close to downtown we would have some fun down there.
We took a little side trip to REI where Han scored some new Reef flip flops for eight bucks a pair, then hunted down some dessert. Read the rest of this entry »
Art is what you make it, not what you take it with…
This image and the one in the previous post were made with my phone. I get so tired of hearing people talk about their Canon X15 or their Nikon N10K. It has been argued quite well that once digicams went over 4MP it’s more about compression than quality. My point is that gear doesn’t make a hack in to an artist. The latest 40 gigapixel body won’t make anyone a photographer, but will empty many poseur’s wallets. Of course, the consumer rags don’t help – nearly every photo magazine is 90% marketing new and “better” equipment. I’ve stopped buying them for that very reason.
So what am I trying to get at here? Stop worrying about what camera you have. Be concerned with your art, not the endless parade of gadgetry and marketing… A cell phone camera has capabilities only limited by your creativity. Focus on making a more pleasing image rather than thinking the next piece of gear will make your work better.
The most important piece of photographic equipment…
Has nothing to do with your camera. More later, but THINK about it.
Another Monday with God’s Children
This week it was HOT. It was also cool to see some friends out this week – check out my buddy Kobe above – he was the cookie man this week. Noah was chipboy again, and Han, well, she and her budz were the Condiment Princesses again.
As usual, the neighborhood children were there en masse, and had fun, food and fellowship. These kids are the reason we go out there. Enjoy this week’s pictures. Read the rest of this entry »
Downtown
Downtown! I remember the song from “Little Shop of Horrors,” a favorite movie of mine… (YOU’LL be a DEN-tist!) but the song was originally from Petula Clark in 1965.
“You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares and go Downtown… ”
We did just that a couple weeks ago. Suzie had read about this new fountain installation at Butler Park in downtown Austin - it’s one of those “in-ground with L.E.D. lights” fountains for kids to play in – supposedly there are 25 sequences of light and water, changing every 15 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
The best pics from Saturday…
The guy with the camera is telling you something, Ma’am…
Took a couple hundred pictures while out with the family… no need to add much text. They speak for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
Some pics from Saturday…
We were at the capitol this weekend, took some shots of a very over photographed capitol dome, hopefully they’re interesting… I enjoy the flow and feel of the concentric arcs and the atypical non-straight up shot… the geometry of the architecture lends itself so well to various interpretations…fun fun. Read the rest of this entry »
Seeing love for my bride…
We were at the outlets last week and I had a point and shoot – I decided to “see love in everything” for my wife, so I looked around for letters in normal things. I gave myself a rule that I could not take a picture of a “real” letter on a sign, and was looking for specific letters… It worked, sort of…
Suzie, 
!!!
Friends should not have to go through this…
Caitlyn will tell you cancer sucks, and as a parent,
I wonder why these young friends are on this journey.
But then again, these are no ordinary friends…
Had a great time with Han and Caitlyn and the camera this morning.
click!
da ‘barb…
Messing with the rhubarb photos…
(link to larger version)
Grandma’s garden, images – Inspired by Nope…
Dave Perry (my Brother Nope, DNB…) posted an incredible shot of a rhubarb on his Gardening blog a few weeks ago… Here at the inlaw’s in Gold Beach, OR, I saw some of their rhubarb coming up, and had to grab some pictures… thanks for the inspiration, Dave. Mine are total hack shots, but I got a couple passable snapshots.
Oregon…
The wreck of the Mary D. Hume, Gold Beach, Oregon
We came to Oregon last Tuesday/Wednesday to help Suzie’s mom recover from a complete knee replacement… unfortunately, that has also meant the wicked and unrelenting stomach flu for Emma, then Noah, then Hannah and now Suzie – She and Emma are in bed as I type. Ethan and Papa and I did get out yesterday – we went to Prehistoric Gardens, and geocaching – those will be posts in themselves.
The Gallery – Use it!
Hey you guys, part of the reason I installed the gallery was so you could rate and comment on each other’s photos… So do it already! Nobody learns if nobody comments. I’ll play, too, of course.
…a fun photo taken recently at our judo class…
“Who is testing whom?”
This section started as giving tips, so…
When I think of awesome photography, the first print publication that comes to mind is National Geographic. I’ve told people before – if you want to take better pictures, don’t rely on some hack like me – look for great pictures and then decide why they are so good from your perspective… then emulate the goodness.
Here is a link of digital photo snacky goodness for you: http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-tips
Go shoot.
A more traditional photo challenge: Tree
The theme is a single word. Interpret it as you wish, upload to the appropriately named folder in the gallery. Have fun. Go shoot.
Painting with light? What is photography, anyway?
[Photogram: Hands and Paintbrush], 1926
László Moholy-Nagy
“….all a photograph does is describe light on surface. That’s all there is.” – Gary Winogrand
If you see photography as a means for recording only the real world that you “see” then this will be difficult – that’s the point, really. Photography is a visual art. Your film or sensor is a canvas, or a brush – your choice. It records light. Nothing more. If I limit the records my sensors make to trying to depict reality, I am selling my creative soul short. Read the rest of this entry »
A famous light painting… er… photograph… a precursor post to my thoughts on painting with light.
On his way to the Riviera to photograph the painter Pablo Picasso, Gjon Mili talked in Paris with Picasso’s nephew, the young painter Javier Vilato, who quoted his uncle: “If you want to draw, you must shut your eyes and sing.” Read the rest of this entry »
Some of the fun from the night assignment!
They are of course in the albums, but I wanted to post these – Andrew and Gary are having fun with the night exposures! Nice shots, guys!
Using the gallery
If you hadn’t uploaded any images, I deleted your album and ID on the gallery. Why? Because I enabled self registration and when you register, it will create an album just for you. 
So go try it, and let me know how it goes: Visit the gallery.
-Gus
A light in the darkness…
There are half a dozen people here all interested in photography. Let’s have a little contest/learning event.
It’s effectively winter, and those of us that work inside can feel limited by the amount of daylight this time of year. I want to try something different that might get you thinking about seeing things with a new creativity and using features on the camera you might not use very frequently. Think about light as something your camera uses to create an image – something fluid and malleable, your artistic medium. Use your camera as the brush to paint light on to the sensor – your canvas. You might really enjoy the results…
Turn your flash off, or set it to the “s” or “night” setting. Go out at night, even in your neighborhood. Find some lights. Shoot them. Don’t worry about moving. See what your camera sees when you do it… The rules are easy. No full power flash, no tripod, night time. That’s it. There is an album for this endeavor on the gallery site – registered users can upload directly to the album!
Post as many images as you like to the album by the end of February.
Shameless referral but cool…
OK, I had some prints made on canvas and am really happy with the results, so I am referring you guys to the outfit that did the canvas prints. Mark, Nate, since you are local, they will let you pick them up if you choose to make any. Nate, you’ve seen the prints – they are the ones hanging in our “butler’s pantry” of the kids faces…
The outfit is www.canvaspress.com and your referral number is STRA9332
ALSO… I updated the gallery to allow self registration! When you register, it will create an album for you automatically.
-Gus
Please…
Go check out the albums, vote and comment – you don’t have to do mine, but please do Mark’s and Nate’s! Also, if you want an album, please let me know!
www.gusstrand.com/photo
Thanks!
-Gus
New Spot for this endeavor…
I created a new spot for you to upload and us to comment.
www.gusstrand.com/photo is the link.
I also have invited another person to play. John is a coworker and photonut. Mark has also joined us – he has a good number of pics there for you to rate and comment on.
Nate, Gary, I have given you each an ID in the new place. Let me know and I’ll email you your password. You should each be able to upload to the album there that you have, and create sub albums.
I have tried to make this as easy as possible for you, and have added plugins to the gallery software that will automatically resize all images to an 80% compressed 1024pixel largest dimension image if the original is larger than that, and everyone has a 100MB space quota. You can also upload a zip file of multiple images to your album(s)!
Go play… upload some stuff in your folders! I have enabled “rating” and “comments” for the uploaded images – the purpose of this section was for us to help each other take better pictures, so the link above takes that to a new level with the rating and comment capability. I’ve copied all of the comments from here to their respective photos there as well.
If you want to play with us, post here, and I will set you up.
Check out the site… click around… rate the pics and give feedback!:)
Depth of field…
Okay, why write about it when there is Wikipedia? If you want to know more than the average bear about the science of depth of field, read the linked article. It brought back some photo class flashbacks for me. Too long ago, I left studying Aeronautical Engineering for Fine Art to get away from formulas… But there is good info in the top pieces of the webpage: Read the rest of this entry »
Two more from Nate…
Dude, I need you to post about your pictures!!! Everyone else is! Speaking of that, here are two more I received from Nate for your comments… Read the rest of this entry »
A few guidelines
OK – wow! This is taking off… To that end, I need to clarify a bit to keep things in the spirit of why I created this spot.
I had two friends in a matter of weeks ask me about taking better pictures. I usually have a camera with me. Often, it is merely an Optio WP (see the recent ireland and Holand trip pics on the main page.)
That said, I must reiterate: I AM NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER. Click this link if you want to know why I say that.
Now, some clarifications…
1. We’re speaking to content only at this point. The images posted here are cubic resized from emails sent to me. I have not and will not be editing them beyond a decent resize to fit the format here (which means 450px wide.)
2. When commenting, assume the person submitting the photo does NOT have photoshop. I don’t have photoshop, for that matter. I refuse to buy it, and have enough integrity not to pirate it. Well, wait. I do have 5.5, that I got via work about five years or more ago, but I don’t use it. I am a GIMPaholic. Software is not for debate here at this point.
2a. DSLR or even a camera with manual control is not in everyone’s arsenal. We will be speaking to some “basics” here that are apropriate, like a post I will be working on on depth of field.
3. If you want to add an image to the thread, you have to already have it hosted somewhere. Just add a normal html img tag in your reply.
4. At this point, I am the only one to start posts. Sorry. If this takes off, I will create a quick phpbb board for it and we can all play, but you’ll still need to host your images somewhere and link them. Of course, if you want a thread started, email me (gusatgusstranddotcom… I am reasonable.:)
I hope that helps. This seems like a fun spot already…
Peace,
-Gus
Another one from Nate
Comments from the shooter first? or… Read the rest of this entry »
First photo from Nate!
I just got this from Nate. Care to tell us about it, sir? What do you like/how does it make you feel, etc? Read the rest of this entry »
More input is better…
I’ve invited a couple of REAL photographer friends to play here. So far, Mark and Nate, you guys are the reason I created this spot, but I thought some real photo talent input might help us all.
To that end, I asked Dave (www.davidperryphoto.com) and Gary (www.photosnw.com) to join us, and bring others who may have asked them the same things you guys have been asking me. Dave, Gary, if you decide to play with us, thanks and I look forward to your insight!
-Gus
Composition Challenge: Rule of Thirds
Assignment number one: Practice some composition with the rule of thirds.
The camera doesn’t matter. You can be using a point and shoot or a high end DSLR – if your image is not pleasingly composed, it’s not pleasing.
Your assignment? Send me two or three images that you have taken while keeping the rule of thirds in mind. I’ll post them, we’ll discuss them!
If you want to read a bit about the ‘rule’, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds
…and here is the above image with a grid overlay… just to show how the formula was intentionally applied in the photo.
Oh – and just for the record, rules are meant to be broken. Just because an image doesn’t follow the rule does not mean it is poorly composed… but as a guideline, this is a good place to start.
Photofun? A category for friends to discuss photos…
I’ve had a couple of friends approach me about taking better pictures. They assume I can take decent ones, and asked for some input. So…. here we are. Mark, Nate, this section is our little payground. You will notice that the posts here do not show on the front page, it’s an area where we can just discuss pictures.
-Gus
I’m NOT a photographer.
“I’m a photographer.”
I hear people say that and I go a little nuts. I have a little experience with pictures and a degree in Fine Art Photography (and another in Communications,) but do not call myself a photographer. I’ve spent the last 25 years with a camera close by, and I’m not a photographer.
networking
