Expression of Innocence

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Greetings—

Today's photo is a debut showing from "The Celtic Camera" private archives.

Taken in October of 2006, we see The Appalachians, as viewed from just a few miles outside of Jellico, Tennessee, headed south on ... what is it, U.S. 75, I think? Yes, this was another of those, "Stop the car, NOW!" moments that so many spouses of photographers are forced to endure ☺. I just love the way the foreground trees framed this shot, what with the mountains in the background and all. The sky kinda cooperated a bit, too, sure; seen better, but it could been far worse ... no clouds at all!

Oh, and I assure you, the weird sky thing going down on the right side of the photo is just that ... a weird sky thing. Hence, I left it as was, as opposed to trying to "clean it up." Might've been some smoke from nearby wafting through, just not sure ... but it was what it was so it stays! ☺.

Thanks for stopping by today!

LISTENING TO
"Overture, 1928" from the 1999 album Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory by Dream Theater
(STREAM: Pandora Internet Radio)

Slainte,
Gareth — The Celtic Camera Photography

Most photos seen here on "The Way I See It" are available for purchase as wrapped canvas, mounted or framed fine art prints, mugs, cards, T-Shirts and much more. Personal and commercial licenses are also available. Simply click on the image above and follow the "Buy" button.

Ben Ali Gator

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Greetings—

May I introduce you to the one and only Mr. Ben Ali Gator. You may recognize him from the 1940 animated Disney classic film, "Fantasia." I distinctly remember seeing this film as a child when I was around 6 years old. I absolutely loved it.

I also distinctly remember rediscovering it when I was about 17 years old, this time under the influence of certain "substances." It blew my mind! Those days of reckless abandon and experimentation are now long behind me but ah ... feckless youth, eh? A story perhaps for another time.

Today's photo is another in my recent series of Photoshop Stacks Depth of Field Macro photography. Do take a moment to click on and view the large version of this shot; you'll see how every section of the subject in this photo is in tack-sharp focus, no matter where it lies in the plane of view.

If you're curious about this kind of photography you can read my recent article and tutorial on this photographic technique right here.

And hey, if you're a business owner in the greater Chicago/Milwaukee area and are looking for this kind of quality photography for your products—whether it's food, engine parts or tchotchke's—do give me a holler and we can get to work right away.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

LISTENING TO
"Non-Brewed Condiment" from the 1973 album Then! (Live) by Allan Holdsworth
(STREAM: Pandora Internet Radio)

Slainte,
Gareth — The Celtic Camera Photography

Most photos seen here on "The Way I See It" are available for purchase as wrapped canvas, mounted or framed fine art prints, mugs, cards, T-Shirts and much more. Personal and commercial licenses are also available. Simply click on the image above and follow the "Buy" button.

Sunset At 70

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Greetings—

The arguing
Deliberate with a sorrowful sin
They are mammoth beyond their bullshit
The passion keeps going
Listless, helpless
But never mellowing
The temperamental eyes rolled back
In disgust
At yet another altercation
Backlit
Blurring at the edges
Empty hands
At how many harbors
The refugee
Look for landmarks
In a different
Light
Everlasting death distorting through the sky

Today's photo is a debut showing from "The Celtic Camera" private archives. It was taken during a drive between Tybee Island and Savannah in Georgia as my wife was driving ... at approximately 70 miles per hour, hence the title.

LISTENING TO
"Song of the Albatross" from the 2004 album Pilgrimage by Pilgrym
(STREAM: Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio)

Slainte,
Gareth — The Celtic Camera Photography

Most photos seen here on "The Way I See It" are available for purchase as wrapped canvas, mounted or framed fine art prints, mugs, cards, T-Shirts and much more. Personal and commercial licenses are also available. Simply click on the image above and follow the "Buy" button.

You Don't Know, Jack?

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Greetings—

Damn, this was fun!

It'd been a couple of years (at least) since I'd done some multi image Depth of Field stacking and this is the first of my recent labors which I'll be showing you. Yes ... I have more! BwaHaHaHa! ☺

If you're not familiar with this type of shooting it's basically a technique to increase the depth of field in your macro photos through a combination of shooting and software.

After deciding on and setting up your subject you first want to close down that aperture; in the neighborhood of f/8.0 to f/16.0. Frame and compose your shot and then set your lens to manual focus. Now, focus on the part of the subject that is furthest away from your lens and take your first shot. Now take a series of photos (at least 3) gradually focusing on parts of the subject that get closer to your lens. Far, middle, close ... easy, eh?

If you shot in RAW, go ahead and do what ever it is you think you need/want to do to your shoots in Adobe Camera Raw ... just be sure to do the same thing to all images! Save them out from ACR to your preferred file format. Now, fire up Photoshop and go to:
File > Scripts > Statistics. You'll get a dialog box like this:


Select Mean from the Choose Stack Mode drop-down menu at the top, go grab your files via the Browse button and then click the Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images box. Don't worry, if you used a tripod for your shots (Sorry, forgot to mention: use a tripod! ☺ ) they will align properly; don't let the word "Attempt" throw you. Click okay and let it do its work ... shouldn't take too long.

Once the stacking process is done you'll now have a brand new file called, "Untitled-1." Be sure to do a "Save As" on this so you don't have a wonky-named file floating around.

When you look at this new image you'll see that your subject is completely in focus from the front to the back. Pretty cool, huh? Now just go ahead and process your shot to your liking and viola ... you have a macro shot with huge depth of field. Go on now ... give it a go!

Oh, and just for reference, Jack here is only about 3" tall from surface to top of his head and a little over 4" deep from his back to his toe.

And hey, if you own a business in the Kenosha, WI area and you're looking for product photography of this quality, please do stop by my main web site, grab my contact info and let's get to work, eh?

Thanks for stopping by today ... see ya in a few days for my latest posting!

Slainte,
Gareth — The Celtic Camera Photography

Most photos seen here on "The Way I See It" are available for purchase as wrapped canvas, mounted or framed fine art prints, mugs, cards, T-Shirts and much more. Personal and commercial licenses are also available. Simply click on the image above and follow the "Buy" button.