Here are a few of the photos I took while in Oregon. They are mostly uninspired I think, but some of them are nice. I don’t know, I guess I just wasn’t on those days. I really just wanted to get these up since they’ve been sitting on my computer since June.
My sister Elizabeth came to visit me for a few days last week here in New York. It was her first time, so we did all the normal touristy stuff you do on your first trip to New York City: we hit Central Park, we went to Times Square, Juli and Isa walked around Soho and Chinatown, we ate at John’s of Bleeker Street, we ate cannolis, we took the Staten Island Ferry, we went to the gigantic candy store on Third Ave, we went to Motor City, we ate Polish food, we hit McCarren Park, we drank coffee, we ate, we hung out. It was a successful trip, overall, with Isa already planning her return trip this summer with her roommates in tow.
Of course, it was an opportunity for me to be out and make some pictures.
I spent a lot of time during the development of this set playing with spot adjustments in Lightroom. I typically don’t like the photos to look TOO processed, but I like a crunchy richness to the final photo. I found there is a fine line between looking processed and looking natural with the paintbrush and graduated filter tools, and while they can definitely help an image maintain its focal point, they can really make things look cheeseball if used inelegantly.
When I sit in a telecine session watching the colorist color film, I’m always in awe of the ease with which he makes adjustments to specific color ranges within a defined area. He throws a window on the image, tells it only to color a certain value of red, feathers that, and makes whatever adjustment he likes. Awesome. The local adjustment tools in Lightroom are a little like that, without all the super powerful masking tools. It’s like telecine light. I would love to have a comparable toolset within Lightroom. I know I can do all that stuff and more in Photoshop, but that means I have to start Photoshop and that can go to hell. Lightroom has certainly matured since its 1.0 version, but it can be even better.
Now I just need a computer that doesn’t choke to death on my raw files.
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Felix Baumgartner is set to become the first person to break the sound barrier in free-fall when he attempts to jump out of a balloon at the edge of space. Jumping from a height of 120,000 feet, he’ll break the sound barrier just 35 seconds into his 10-minute fall in a specially designed suit that will protect him from the extreme conditions.