Rob's 365

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3972156173/" title="1-October-2009 - Ports by robertrex365, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2486/3972156173_e0ff843f42_b.jpg" width="1024" height="391" border="0" alt="1-October-2009 - Ports" /></a></center>

45/365.
A few days back there was a pretty double rainbow I photographed. This is what was going on behind me a few minutes prior. San Juan's Club Nautico, the local marina. It's very close to Isla Grande Airport, and you can see a plane taking off on the upper center left, probably to some even more exotic destination. Yes... I am jealous of the even smaller islands that are prettier.

HDR Panoramic. Only 2-3 more days of this

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3976225902/" title="02-October-2009 - El Morro, Spanish for The Morro by robertrex365, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2604/3976225902_08b3ed0a3b.jpg" width="500" height="334" border="0" alt="02-October-2009 - El Morro, Spanish for The Morro" /></a></center>

46/365.

Hopefully this is one of the last times I have to do this.... my gear returns tomorrow evening... yay!

Anywho, at El Morro, just before sunset. I really do love the skies here.... I really do.

HDR.

 

[The Mom]

Rob, I'm really enjoying these. I find the juxtaposition of the beautiful with ugly to be very insightful, as it mirrors life in general.

 

[mkt]

yeah!!! I got photo of the day again!

http://www.gadling.com/2009/10/03/photo-of-the-day-10-3-09/

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3978143431/" title="03-October-2009 - Doorway to Smelling. by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3487/3978143431_dff8208c7b.jpg" width="334" height="500" border="0" alt="03-October-2009 - Doorway to Smelling." /></a></center>

47/365.
Thank zod that Nikon hasn't yet invented a way to capture smells on your camera. If they did, I wouldn't buy that piece of gear.

Anywho... in Old San Juan, we're used to colorful doors. Here's another one! It's just as colorful, in a completely different way.

HDR. My baby should be in my hand tomorrow so no more of this posting outtakes nonsense after this (unless my baby doesn't come back to me till Monday).

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3982678248/" title="04-October-2009 - Dinner by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2465/3982678248_0cf4675e32.jpg" width="500" height="334" border="0" alt="04-October-2009 - Dinner" /></a></center>

48/365.
My baby returned today... and I went to the Old City. Rather than something typical, I went down to Paseo de La Princesa to try out a new (old) lens, The man next to me caught a fish, and I caught this pic.

Bon Apetit.

HDR.

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3985057367/" title="05-October-2009 - Campaign for Dignity by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3488/3985057367_02d39ecb20.jpg" width="334" height="500" border="0" alt="05-October-2009 - Campaign for Dignity" /></a></center>

49/365.
It's a bad time to be in Puerto Rico... an explosive time. An extremely unpopular governor who promised change and won by a landslide has followed through on his change. Unfortunately he didn't say what change he intended, and instead has had to lay off tens of thousands of government employees or face a government shutdown. This combined with the increasingly socially-conservative/puritanical policies enacted be his legislative cohorts have caused this (among countless other protests).

I'll stay neutral when my camera is near me, lest I end up with a broken camera. However, when the camera is put away, I wear my heart on my sleeve.

While I see the point behind the layoffs, I feel the government was too rash in executing them. I feel not enough thought was put into the self-sufficiency of the affected agencies, I feel not enough thought was put into privatization of some government services, and I feel no thought was put into doing this less than 2 months before the holidays.

I digress though. This isn't the forum to rant.

HDR.

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3989519061/" title="06-October-2009 - Puerto Rican Realpolitik by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/3989519061_cd9dd99b12.jpg" width="500" height="334" border="0" alt="06-October-2009 - Puerto Rican Realpolitik" /></a></center>

50/365.
Oh how I wanted to photograph something beautiful today. But I didn't. Why? Because I saw city workers, using city resources, on city time to spray paint over posters and graffiti critical of the government layoffs (for some background, the mayor of San Juan, where this picture was taken, is pro-layoffs and anything else the governor does).

Notice how the only things sprayed over are those critical of the layoffs. Everything else is pretty much intact. Some may argue that those ads were illegal... if that's the case, then every ad should have been sprayed over. This is trying to block free speech... nothing more. This is a corrupt government trying to silence its critics. Nothing more.

Maybe I'll do something pretty later.

HDR.

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3991642486/" title="07-October-2009 - Sleeping Giants Lie by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2664/3991642486_a64237aff7.jpg" width="500" height="334" border="0" alt="07-October-2009 - Sleeping Giants Lie" /></a></center>

51/365.

Buildings in Hato Rey. Not much else to say.

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3993612227/" title="08-October-2009 - Unpaid tickets by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2621/3993612227_940571d626.jpg" width="500" border="0" height="334" alt="08-October-2009 - Unpaid tickets" /></a></center>

52/365.
There are a lot of abandoned buildings in the side streets off of La Milla de Oro in Hato Rey. Some become homes for the homeless, others are boarded up and used for their parkings spots, and others remain empty hollow shells of their former selves. But they all become eyesores to the masses... and beauty to me.

Not this one though. This one became a dump. For parking tickets. And water bottles. And its access point is the open stairwell here. I imagine at one point there was a tree in place of this trash.

Shame too. It's a nice mid 80's building.

HDR.

 

[WDW Vacationer]

Great! I love following this!:wave:

 

[WDWFigment]

Hey Rob, are you looking for any constructive criticism on any of these shots or just looking to share? I figured I'd ask rather than make an ______ of myself if you're just sharing.

Some great shots, by the way!

 

[mkt]

Hey Rob, are you looking for any constructive criticism on any of these shots or just looking to share? I figured I'd ask rather than make an ______ of myself if you're just sharing.

Some great shots, by the way!

Both really... criticize away Part of the idea of the 365 day project is to improve your photography.

Btw, since you're a bit of a lens junky, I am curious how you feel about obscure glass. Not lensbabies and things like that (although I own a lensbaby), but rather russian glass. I'm thinking of buying a Jupiter 9

 

[WDWFigment]

What the heck...I typed up a response last night and now it's gone?! (Or maybe I never hit submit...damn wine).

Summary of points:
1) If multi exposure HDR, make sure your negative exposure is low enough that you don't have any blown highlights. This might require as negative as -2.67 or -3.

2) Try experimenting with depth of field a bit more. You have a few killer shots that would be 'even more killer' if you used a shallow DoF to isolate the subject.

3) If I recall correctly, you're a Photoshop afficianado? Try experimenting with the shadow/highlight and exposure/gamma settings rather than tone mapping once or twice. This isn't a criticism of any or all of your shots, I think they look good. I just want to make you aware of the magical power of those two tools if you already didn't know. You probably do already know, but just in case...they rock.

Unfortunately, I am not a big consumer of exotic glass. It's usually cost-prohibitive for me. I love it in theory, though. I think people should 'think outside the box' when it comes to lenses. So many people go 1st party only. Granted, a lot of Sigma/Tamron/Tokina/etc. lenses absolutely suck, but there are some gems out there. For instance, it boggles my mind that the Nikkor 35 1.8 is in such high demand right now when the Sigma 30 1.4 is only a bit more expensive, and outperforms it. Don't get me wrong, that Nikkor looks like a sweet lens, but the Sigma rocks. That Jupiter 9 looks nice.

 

[mkt]

2) Try experimenting with depth of field a bit more. You have a few killer shots that would be 'even more killer' if you used a shallow DoF to isolate the subject.

Do you mind pointing out a few shots that would be improved this way? I’m curious.

3) If I recall correctly, you're a Photoshop afficianado? Try experimenting with the shadow/highlight and exposure/gamma settings rather than tone mapping once or twice. This isn't a criticism of any or all of your shots, I think they look good. I just want to make you aware of the magical power of those two tools if you already didn't know. You probably do already know, but just in case...they rock.

I do have a masters degree in Graphic Design and a current Adobe certification… lol . I do use the Gamma/Exposure options regularly, but I rarely (if ever) touch the shadow/highlight… perhaps I’ll experiment with them.

Unfortunately, I am not a big consumer of exotic glass. It's usually cost-prohibitive for me. I love it in theory, though. I think people should 'think outside the box' when it comes to lenses. So many people go 1st party only. Granted, a lot of Sigma/Tamron/Tokina/etc. lenses absolutely suck, but there are some gems out there. For instance, it boggles my mind that the Nikkor 35 1.8 is in such high demand right now when the Sigma 30 1.4 is only a bit more expensive, and outperforms it. Don't get me wrong, that Nikkor looks like a sweet lens, but the Sigma rocks. That Jupiter 9 looks nice.

Thanks for your opinion on this. I don’t really care about the brand as long as it does the job right. I’m also looking at a Russian made tilt/shift lens (a real one, not my lensbaby), since one can be had for 25-50% of the price of a proper Nikon one. For now, I bought a Diana F mount adaptor and some Diana lenses to get in with the trendy Holga effect to get me through my oddball phase. Seriously, for $60, I’ll risk it.

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/3998696308/" title="09-October-2009 - Urban Jungle by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2516/3998696308_b0a190da28.jpg" width="334" border="0" height="500" alt="09-October-2009 - Urban Jungle" /></a></center>

53/365.
In my experience, an Urban Jungle is an amount of urbanism with the denseness of a jungle. In Puerto Rico the real jungle appears in the urban Jungle.

 

[mkt]

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrex365/4001767131/" title="10-October-2009 by robertrexdotcom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2669/4001767131_4d99cc8c74.jpg" width="334" height="500" border="0" alt="10-October-2009" /></a></center>

54/365.
I love the view from Sagrado and down the hill towards the beach. I do. Unfortunately, I felt blah yesterday.... so the shot is equally blah.

 

[WDW Vacationer]

I am really enjoying this! I don't think any are blah as it gives me a glimpse in to a place SO different from where I live.

 

[WDWFigment]

Do you mind pointing out a few shots that would be improved this way? I’m curious.

I think the last three days would be fairly good examples (although they would all require slight variations in composition to accomplish this effectively). They are all a little busy as is, but have awesome subject matters.

Actually, on second thought, that urban jungle shot rocks as is. Really though, most of your shots rock as-is.

I do have a masters degree in Graphic Design and a current Adobe certification… lol . I do use the Gamma/Exposure options regularly, but I rarely (if ever) touch the shadow/highlight… perhaps I’ll experiment with them.


Thanks for your opinion on this. I don’t really care about the brand as long as it does the job right. I’m also looking at a Russian made tilt/shift lens (a real one, not my lensbaby), since one can be had for 25-50% of the price of a proper Nikon one. For now, I bought a Diana F mount adaptor and some Diana lenses to get in with the trendy Holga effect to get me through my oddball phase. Seriously, for $60, I’ll risk it.

The shadow/highlight tool is HUGE for increasing the dynamic range in a shot. That is the first step in my processing after basic adjustments in ACR. After that, I usually adjust exposure and gamma to bring more contrast and depth into the shot. I follow up with some selective unsharp masking and increased vibrance through LAB color adjustments. I do "other stuff" as necessary for each specific image but I usually do all of those things on every single image I process.

I'd like to hear more about your luck with the Russian tilt/shift lens. That intrigues me. The Holga stuff not so much; I haven't quite understood the blow up in appeal of that look.

 

[mkt]

I'd like to hear more about your luck with the Russian tilt/shift lens. That intrigues me. The Holga stuff not so much; I haven't quite understood the blow up in appeal of that look.

I'll be lucky to find an early build Nikon mount one stateside. rugift.com sells them, but there are horror stories from people about waiting 3-4 months to ship.

I'm hoping to have some time next week to experiment with the lensbaby and start uploading. They have 1G lensbabies on Amazon with a Nikon Mount for like $70, which got me into it.

As far as the Holga goes, that's more of a work thing. I have several web design clients that are bands, and a few that are record labels. If I can take a few crappy holga shots of the band, I save the time it takes to photoshop crap into the photo and make each one unique.

btw... you've gotten me started on the search for the Tokina 11-16