So I went through a couple images today, to try out a new editing style. This style is a lot more work, with a lot less effect. I am trying out my own style mixed with the iHDR style that Jay and Varina have perfected. It produces a more subtle edit and a more true to life feel. Im not sure that I like it as much, as my style is exactly that, mine. 

I feel that my work is art because I get to spend time putting emotion and feeling into the images. I put part of myself into the image with how I process it. Now these are a more true to life feel, but something about them just don't seem to speak to me as much. But I had to try it out and see. 

The image to the right was created using 3 bracketed exposures, mildly blended with a fully tonemapped HDR. The image on the bottom was created from one single image, edited 3 times for the foreground midground and background, then blended together and touched up a bit. Let me know your thoughts on this style compared to my personal style in the comments below, or over on my facebook or google+ page.

Hope you enjoy :)

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So todays image was a bittersweet shot.

We were out early one morning to capture the sunrise at the dunes. I had my bag of gear which I set up to capture a time lapse. I might add that I set it up in the wrong direction. I was about an inch off of composing the sun into the side of my frame (another time where my apps would have come in handy. I have become too reliant on my apps, I need to learn how to look up the direction and just use a compass for pre composing shots((But setting my camera up an inch from the perfect composition in darkness and cloud cover, in a foreign country, in the opposite hemisphere, was pretty darn close if you asked me)) Which means the shot I set up on an interval timer is relatively useless. 

Fortunately I set off to explore the dunes with the Fujifilm X-E2 and a 14 mil lens. I loved using the small mirrorless camera to just grab random handheld snapshots. After the sunrise had not happened due to cloud cover, I lost hope in seeing a good sunrise. Then what do you know the clouds part a few times for 30 seconds here and there and offer some beautiful rays to capture. 

Well I had been shooting the whole day before with the X-E2 and had not replaced the battery. So as I had had already packed my gear up, and was heading back, all I had to shoot the quick sun bursts was a dead X-E2. I switched it on and noticed the battery flashing along with the dreaded words JPEG in the format box. I tried to go change the camera back to RAW but the camera died again before I could make the switch. 

The sun rays left and I kept walking. Then yet again they shone through and so I left the camera off and composed a shot with my mind, knowing somewhat of what the 14 mil lens on a crop sensor would have in frame. I quickly snapped the camera on holding down the shutter button and heard that lovely artificial shutter sound of the X-E2 as it snapped the shot while simultaneously shutting down due to lack of power.

I got 3 JPEG shots by doing this, which was good that I did get the shots. However, it was bad in the sense that while I did get the shots, they were compressed JPEGs which meant I wouldn't really be able to edit them at all. But none-the-less I had to at least post one. Mainly because I was impressed by how well I was able to compose a shot without using the viewfinder, just based on my ability to see the way the camera sees. 

A couple days later Jay Patel was instructing on shooting star trails and he also accidentally had been shooting in JPEG with the X-E2 due to the fact he had just updated the firmware and didn't switch the camera back to RAW format. So I told his wife I was going to make a shirt that said I SHOOT JPEG (photographer joke) and she (being the clever wife she is) said to spell it out JayPEG. Thus giving birth to my next shirt and the title of "I SHOOT JayPEG". 

Anyways, this image is un-cropped, and very lightly edited (which was no fun for me since I love editing) Image. I hope you enjoy it all the same :)

Cheers

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And here are the other two blind JPEGs I managed to get. 

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Now it wouldn't have been a successful photo trip to Australia without some shots of a koala bear :)

These fellas sleep for 18 hours a day so they are pretty rare to spot in the wild. My Australian host said he had never seen one in the wild, and that even the ones in captivity were always just asleep in the tree tops. 

Lucky for me I was able to get some shots of one that came down for his daily meal. He was only about 10 feet from me as I snapped away and he seemed to be posing for the camera at times. 

I took about 50 shots, all of which were unique and interesting, but I had to choose one for the pic of the day. So I posted 4 different shots on my facebook page earlier today, and asked people to vote on which one should be edited as the Pic of the Day. This shot was the winner by just a couple votes, so I did a little lightroom and photoshop magic to make this cute fella the Pic of the Day

Hope you enjoy :)

I got a request for a B&W photo today so I thought I would pick a shot from one of the fuji cameras that was by my side throughout my entire Australia trip. This shot was from the Fujifilm X100s, which is the best street photography camera I have ever used. It is a fixed lens (23mm f2) camera with an APS-C size sensor that delivers amazing image quality in such a small package. Ha sounded like an advertisement. If only they paid me or gave me gear, to any readers that have fuji connections ;). 

Anyways this was taken downtown Sydney, about a block from my hotel. I was walking to the car, on my way to shoot the city from all the secret vantage points Leigh could take me to. Since I had all my gear in my bag on my back, the fuji was my street shooter to stop and get quick shots of interesting things like this. 

I love being able to just see and shoot, no prepping, no lens decisions, just photography. It is an incredible little camera and I'm glad it was on my side while I was there. 

Hope you enjoy :) 

It's my wonderful wife's birthday today so I am not spending much time on a pic for today. This shot however, taken off the "jetty", behind our ocean villa in port stephens, didn't need much editing. So it makes a good quick pic of the day. Hope you enjoy :)