photonelly.com

Well, if you see my little bunny friend here, you know something’s up.

As hard for it is for me to say this out loud, but it has come to the point where this amazing hobby of mine has to go on the backburner for awhile.

There are numerous factors playing into this very difficult decision – some positive, others negative – but I’m choosing not to dig into those right now. At the end of the day, my current workload and other demands on my time have left me very little opportunity to shoot new images. And even when I do get to break open the camera bag, I’m left with even less time to work with them in post and share them with everyone here.

Missing Maui

The other big impact this has on my overall happiness is that I’ll have to pass on the Maui Photo Festival this year – which is very unfortunate since I’ve been looking forward to returning ever since we got on the plane to go home after the ‘09 event.

I wish everyone involved with the MPF this year and those either returning or attending for the first time this year all the best – I really want to be there with you, and look forward to seeing the great shots and hearing about the wonderful experiences you’ll be having once it has come and passed.

What Now?

I don’t want to say this is the end of everything, so if you are so inclined, please bear with me as I work out my priorities elsewhere.  While I won’t be posting new images very often for the foreseeable future, I will try to add new content from time to time.  Whether it’s links to other photographers on Facebook or interesting articles or topics I come across, I’m hoping to keep this little site going so that when the time comes that I’m able to recommit myself, I can get going again rather quickly.

Many Thanks

I would like to extend a collective Thank You to everyone I’ve interacted with online or in real life as it relates to photography.  The last year and a half of really taking this hobby seriously has brought me so much joy, and networking and meeting other photographers has been a major part of that.

In a way, that interaction with my photography peers may be something that I’ll miss the most.  That, and the trips to Maui.

Happy shooting everyone, and keep those great images coming.  I look forward to rejoining you all someday.

– Kris

Another subtle but (I think) effective touch up to an old favorite with a minor tweak in Adobe Camera Raw and Topaz Adjust.

The Before Image

Overall a good image to start with.  Unfortunately it was not shot as a RAW file, so my options in ACR for recovering details in the shadows was somewhat limited. Fear not, though, as Topaz Adjust was able to help out there.

The After Image

The first change I made was in ACR to adjust the White Balance, since this was taken indoors and before I really knew how to use the Custom WB feature on my Canon 20D. You can see that effect in the white sheet under our furry friend here. From there, I increased the exposure compensation just a tad, but not too much because this was not a RAW file.

Next up, Topaz Adjust had its turn using the Exposure Correction preset and tweaking the Detail tab just a bit. You can see from the detail around his eyes and nose where there’s more detail and texture from his fur.  In the resulting image, his fur does end up looking a little lighter than it was in real life, but I’m willing to except that for the additional detail it provides.

Missing Our Little Friend

The photo is more special now than ever because our furry little friend is no longer with us. He passed last summer while fighting with a few medical issues on and off. This is by far my favorite image of Sky, and seeing it makes me wish I could still take more.

Thoughts?

Just like all editions of the Before and After series, let me know what you think of these adjustments and any other suggestions you might have.

– Kris

Photo: Our bunny Star in the process of launching out of her cage.

“Bunny blur” almost sounds like a technical term, doesn’t it?

Since Star here is unofficially becoming the site mascot when changes are made or things go wrong, I figured it would be fair give her the spotlight every now and again.  I’m also in the process of touching a few of her and our other rabbit – who has since passed – to move over to my photonelly flickr account, so I’ll probably have a few more uploaded in the days/weeks to come.

For now, check out the bunny tag for more photos of our furry friends.

- Kris

My little friend here is back to tell you about the new Blog Photos page I’ve added to the site.

One of the tasks I follow before posting a new photo on the blog is obviously making sure that I haven’t posted it already. I have my own tagging convention on Flickr that helps me track that, even with switch to a new Flickr account last year. What that let’s me do is see all my photos (kinda) in one place when doing this initial check.

At first, it lead to me creating the Blogged photoset on my Flickr account, which is actually what’s driving this new page. Not liking the small square previews or the 18 photos per page approach viewing this on Flickr, I decided to move it here to the site. Now, whenever I add a new photo to that set after posting it on the blog, it will automatically pop up on this new page as well.

Not Everything Yet

At the moment, the new page is only pulling photos from my photonelly Flickr account and not my original one that still hosts photos from the posts previous to the move. I’ve been re-processing the old photos and moving them over a few at a time, but to give you an idea of the numbers, there are currently 198 photos in the Daily Photos category and only 76 photos in the Blogged photoset.

Still, it’s a good sampling of where my camera has been and a feel for the variety of things I enjoy shooting.

Where to Find It

I decided to put the new page in the Portfolio section, so click there and find Blog Photos on the menu to the left-hand side. It may take a moment to load all the images, but once they’re up, click on any of the photos to see a larger view.

Links to the blog posts and back to Flickr will be added eventually.

Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome.

– Kris

Well, as much as we rely on technology and our gadgets these days, we must endure the delays that occur when we have to go without.

What started as a little scare last week with display on my primary development/darkroom laptop turned into an inevitable hardware failure, so I’m getting it ready for a visit to the service department next week. Of course, it has to happen two weeks after my warranty expired. D’oh!

I can still use the laptop, but I have to use a remote connection from my Mac Mini to get to it. Not exactly ideal for working with Photoshop on my gorgeous 24” monitor, not is it?

I have a temporary replacement machine coming this week, so I’ll either set that one up this weekend to do some interim photo work, or I may just break down and download the 30-day Photoshop CS4 trial for my Mac.  Playing by ear and how I’m feeling about the situation later this week.

Off Topic

So I decided to use another one of my bunny photos for this post, because every post should have a photo, right?

The last gratuitous bunny pic I had was back in November when I switched to WordPress, so I think that officially makes it a pattern for these random site updates, issues, etc. I’m thinking my little friend here may become my own version of the well-known Twitter Fail Whale, watcha think?

In lieu of new photos this week, I’ll still try and stay on top of things with posts in the Before and After and Facebook series, and maybe even a book review or two. I guess that’s another sticking point is that there’s a lot for me to do than just taking and editing photos. My work is never done.

– Kris