Selenium Contrail

As I’ve previously revealed and explained, I am drawn to monochrome images. Although I’ve spent very little time experimenting with selenium-toned images, it does seem to be a bit more difficult to find a subject which is effectively displayed in this tone. Historically, selenium was (and still is) added during the print-making process to increase print permanence while maintaining overall contrast. This is accomplished as the selenium toner converts a portion of the silver in an image to silver selenide (ok, enough of today’s Chemistry lesson).Of course these extremely toxic compounds are strictly relevant to film only; however, the visual effect and benefit is far from dead. I captured this image last night outside my home just after sunset. Two convergent contrails are visible; however, the lower vapor trail was very brightly lit by the retreating sun. I experimented with different developing techniques (all digital of course) and ultimately settled on this selenium-toned version.By the way, my crazy work schedule should be subsiding in the next few days, so I plan to spend more deliberate time (hopefully further than ten feet from my home) capturing new and unique images and keeping this blog up-to-date. I trust that you all are enjoying your weekend!

Chromatic Toothpicks

I have to be completely honest…I stumbled upon this today when I was retrieving these toothpicks for their typical use. I opened the container, and believe it or not, they were distributed like this already. The bright colors really grabbed my attention, and I was in need of an image for today anyway. I didn’t use any special lighting or reflectors for this image. I simply grabbed a scrap of matte board as a background, purely because it was within arms-reach. I also propped up a sheet of cheap printer paper nearby to serve as a make-shift reflector, filling in the shadows cast by the container itself. For the amount of time it took me to set up, capture, and edit this image, I think it turned out pretty good.

I just like it

Ok, so you were lead to believe that I only captured one image that I liked from my backyard tonight. Well, here’s another one.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I really enjoy producing monochrome images. I feel the brain has more capability to focus on a subject’s form when it’s not overloaded with multi-chromatic (is that a word?) information. Just recently I started to experiment with warm-toned monochromatic images by actually starting with a sepia preset in Lightroom. I then tweaked it quite a bit to my liking. Some other trends of mine you’ll start to notice are vignetting (no good reason, I just like it), high contrast, and once deep blues pushed as close to black as I can get them.

Remember, this is a place for experimentation. If you think I’ve gone off the deep end with any of these, please say so. However, maybe it’s you who’s catapulting into the deep. Have a great weekend!

Impressionistic Backyard

 

It’s only day number three, and I’m already having trouble coming up with something to post.  I could blame it on a number of reasons…from my current crazy work schedule to my loads of fun grocery shopping at Wally World (I’m sure you can sense the sarcasm through the 1’s and 0’s).  Either way, it is the perfect position in which to be.  This is exactly what I was looking for…a challenge.

 

I’m actually pretty excited about this image.  It was inspired by landscape photographer William Neill who has been building a large body of work he has entitled Impressions of Light.  The process is actually quite simple, technically.  It mainly involves moving the camera in different directions during the exposure.  These movements could be drastic or very minor, depending on the desired effect.  However, you still need to monitor exposure, since you’re fundamentally still capturing the levels and color of light.  This process definitely involves a great deal of experimentation (good thing this is a lab), which is only made easier with the instant feedback of digital photography.  

 

As you know, I’m attempting to be deliberate about discovering intriguing images in my immediate world.  Since I was pressed for time tonight, this was actually captured in my backyard.  I took about fifteen additional shots, and this is the only one I really enjoyed.  Of course to create the mood, some development was required utilizing Adobe Lightroom.

 

I hope to create many more of these impressionistic images in the future.  It’s very relaxing and enjoyable since you’re not consumed with perfect focus, depth of field, and so on.  I think all photographers should ‘let their hair down’ and play once in a while.  Give this a try, and discover the inner Monet that may be held hostage deep down.

Amidst the ‘concrete jungle’

I’ve complained far too long about not being able to capture many natural images amidst the ‘concrete jungle’ that is Houston, TX. Well, I’ve been proven wrong. This image was captured less than two miles from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, which is in the heart of the highly-developed Clear Lake area of Houston. I actually took this photo this past Saturday (Feb 2); and as promised, it will be the only image I’ll use that was taken prior to the creation of this photoblog.It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm morning along Armand Bayou with an awesome stream of clouds that added interest to an otherwise mundane deep blue sky. These trees have been stripped bare of any life over the years, but I think they’re much more striking without their ‘clothes’.

Natural progression

Here I go. I’m plunging into the world of photo-blogging. Almost a year ago my wife and I started our first blog to capture the birth and development of our daughter. Well, that has proven to be quite a handful to keep up, even though we post to it once every other month (if that much)! So, naturally, I’m starting another blog of my own. Over the past several months, I’ve found that I really enjoy viewing and reading others’ photoblogs. And as I greatly enjoy capturing my own images of the world around us, it’s only a natural progression of my blogging experience to start my own photoblog.

My intent for this site is two-fold. First, I really enjoy sharing my latest images with others. So I’ve decided to use this site as sort of an experiment in different imaging techniques, subject matter, and recipes (photo editing); hence the name Lightsmith Labs. And finally, maintaining this blog is my attempt at challenging my skills and creativity each week. My goal is to update this site at least three times a week with brand new images. I will never use images captured prior to this blog’s inception (except for my first post and where otherwise noted).

So, here I go. Please join me for the ride by subscribing to the RSS feed, so you’ll always know when I have a new post. And always feel free to comment on each post…good or bad (naturally I reserve the right to remove the bad if I want).

On with the photos!